Pandora: The World of Avatar Announcement, Construction, & Preview Discussion

[Octobers Fade]

A water ride would actually be pretty neat. Someone refresh my memory, though - did we see any aquatic creatures/bodies of water in Avatar?

With JCs fascination with the deep ocean I can almost guarantee that the sequels will feature some water...
And they just may use the attraction to introduce new aspects of the Avatar universe that will appear in the films later. JMO

 

[Tbad556]

With JCs fascination with the deep ocean I can almost guarantee that the sequels will feature some water...
And they just may use the attraction to introduce new aspects of the Avatar universe that will appear in the films later. JMO

It has been confirmed that Avatar 2 will focus on the oceans. Therefore, a water ride could definitely work.

 

[BJCool]

From THEME PARK TOURIST

• Drop Tower - A fantastic way of giving amazing views over the new land could be through the use of a drop tower and I'm sure Disney could shake a bit of fairy dust to create a slightly different slant on this traditional attraction (as it has already proved with the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror).

Could be interesting. A combination of a 3D screen/drop ride experience disguised by a hometree facade.

 

[JungleSkip]

I am totally on the bandwagon for a Star Wars Land. I would DIE. But that being said, I think that right at this moment, AK needs it more. People have had reason to be excited about DHS lately (Toy Story, ST2), while people have only had negative things to say about AK (Yeti). You can work on DHS with small improvement too. Like filling in the former Notre Dame Theater, or putting anything in Sounds Dangerous. Small steps can be taken with DHS since you still have very big draws for the park. I think the general public needs more reason to go to AK. Because as much as the park might "stink", everyone still loves riding RnRC, ToT, and Toy Story. That's a lot harder to say about AK.

True, but DHS is still in need of a big new land, IMO. And it was the lowest attended park last year.

I'm not saying DAK didn't need something. It obviously did. What I'm saying is that if they wanted to base a land in a park after a big name franchise outside of their stable, it should have been Star Wars.

 

[Octobers Fade]

True, but DHS is still in need of a big new land, IMO. And it was the lowest attended park last year.

I'm not saying DAK didn't need something. It obviously did. What I'm saying is that if they wanted to base a land in a park after a big name franchise outside of their stable, it should have been Star Wars.

DHS would make money hand over fist, if GL wants that...

 

[TheDecemberists]

Or. Instead of Star Wars. We could finally get Lord of the Rings into a theme park.

But yeah, if they want high merch sales, Star Wars is the only thing I can think of that would even come close to Harry Potter.

 

[JungleSkip]

Or. Instead of Star Wars. We could finally get Lord of the Rings into a theme park.

That as well, which could have also fit into DAK.

But I think there are very big issues with the ownership of LOTR/Hobbit's rights, and it's a confusing situation, so I can understand not acquiring them. But they already have the Star Wars rights and a seemingly good working relationship with Lucas.

But yeah, if they want high merch sales, Star Wars is the only thing I can think of that would even come close to Harry Potter.

Star Wars could potentially pass Potter. If there was ever to be a true "Potter Swatter". Star Wars is the only viable option at this point.

 

[Jymmymack]

I think the products for avatar are prob gonna be reallly cool

I'm just saying people really like Avatar, but there isn't really much to merchandise from it. Disney fuels the collectible side of Star Wars merch by providing park-exclusive action figures and vehicles as well as the usual t-shirts, lightsabers, and blasters. HP has a bunch of stuff that is for sale in the books/movies, but has never existed in "our" world until now. So, the demand to own what Potter and his friends "own" is very high. But with Pandora, what is there to own? It's a natural environment. They could certain have some fun with interesting food and drink, but actual merch? Sure they will sell t-shirts and some collectible stuff, but my point was a counter-point to the argument that Disney coveted HP's merch sales and thought Avatar could match it.

And I would love to see a high-tech dark ride and a high-tech water ride be the main attractions.

 

[JungleSkip]

I'm just saying people really like Avatar, but there isn't really much to merchandise from it.

Yup. Someone on another site just did a little experiment. He typed "Avatar", "Harry Potter", and "Disney/Pixar's Cars" into Walmart.com or Target.com.

Avatar had something like 12 merch results, most of which were the different versions of the DVD.

Potter had something like 250 results.

Cars had 700 some.

Avatar isn't a merch money make. However, as for Disney expecting it to, they ALWAYS over estimate on things and expect the sky. They expect TRON: Legacy to make somewhere between the Transformers sequels and Avatar at the box office.

And I would love to see a high-tech dark ride and a high-tech water ride be the main attractions.

With the current budget quoted as in the 500 mil range, you're only gonna get one of them. Radiator Springs Racers is Disney's newest high tech ride, and it costs over 400 million.

We'll get a E-ticket out of this for sure. But I don't think people should be expecting 2.

 

[Jymmymack]

Yup. Someone on another site just did a little experiment. He typed "Avatar", "Harry Potter", and "Disney/Pixar's Cars" into Walmart.com or Target.com.

Avatar had something like 12 merch results, most of which were the different versions of the DVD.

Potter had something like 250 results.

Cars had 700 some.

Avatar isn't a merch money make. However, as for Disney expecting it to, they ALWAYS over estimate on things and expect the sky. They expect TRON: Legacy to make somewhere between the Transformers sequels and Avatar at the box office.



With the current budget quoted as in the 500 mil range, you're only gonna get one of them. Radiator Springs Racers is Disney's newest high tech ride, and it costs over 400 million.

We'll get a E-ticket out of this for sure. But I don't think people should be expecting 2.

Radiator Springs Racers only cost $200 million. Let's say you had a $250 million dollar main attraction (on par with Potter's budget), that would leave $250 million left over. I don't see why a $100 million water ride + $150 million dollar themeing would be out of the realm of possibility.

 

[JungleSkip]

Radiator Springs Racers only cost $200 million.

No, it doesn't. Not even close. They may be telling people it only cost $200 mill, but it costs over double that. How do I know?

1) I have a friend who works on the project, and he told me.

2) Leemac, a person who works for the company and is a financial guy said this about John Lasseter and RSR today, "And John's influence in the parks is largely limited to CarsLand now - especially the $400m fiasco that is Radiator Springs Racers."

Also, a 100 million dollar water ride from Disney wouldn't be advanced at all as people are clamoring for. Mermaid cost 100 mill. Mermaid is far from revolutionary.

 

[Jymmymack]

Then you still kind of proved my point. That is an inflated price tag brought upon by the failures of planning. You don't call something a "fiasco" if it was brought in on budget. They won't have a $400 million budget for one ride.

 

[JungleSkip]

Then you still kind of proved my point. That is an inflated price tag brought upon by the failures of planning. You don't call something a "fiasco" if it was brought in on budget. They won't have a $400 million budget for one ride.

And? WDI DOESN'T know how to spend money wisely. It's been proven time and time again in the past decade.

We'll get 1 E-ticket if the budget is 500 million, and two smaller attractions if we're lucky, especially considering they want shops and restaurants in this thing.

 

[Jymmymack]

They don't know how to spend money, that's exactly my point. I'm not saying that there will be two big attractions, I said that's what I would LIKE, I'm just saying that knowing WDI, they think that $500 million will go much further than it will (and it could, if they knew how actually stay on that budget) and thus plan "accordingly."

 

[JungleSkip]

They don't know how to spend money, that's exactly my point. I'm not saying that there will be two big attractions, I said that's what I would LIKE, I'm just saying that knowing WDI, they think that $500 million will go much further than it will (and it could, if they knew how actually stay on that budget) and thus plan "accordingly."

Ah, didn't get that from your previous posts.

And yea, I'd like to see 2 big attractions, but realistically I know that's not going to happen. I think it'll end up being very similar to Carlsand. Which isn't bad in any stretch.

 

[Jymmymack]

Radiator Springs Racers cost $400 mil, huh? Ridiculous. It looks great and I'm super excited, but that's a third of the budget of the entire re-design of DCA.

 

[JungleSkip]

Radiator Springs Racers cost $400 mil, huh? Ridiculous. It looks great and I'm super excited, but that's a third of the budget of the entire re-design of DCA.

Yup. I laughed at my friend when he told me that in January. I thought he was joking. When he told me he was dead serious, all I could do was shake my head. There's no fathomable reason for a ride to cost that much.

 

[Jymmymack]

Only the best for Lasseter's baby. Cars is turning him into Lucas.

 

[TheDecemberists]

Only the best for Lasseter's baby. Cars is turning him into Lucas.

Save that for when/if he ruins previous movies via re-release.

 

[Jymmymack]

Save that for when/if he ruins previous movies via re-release.

He's running Pixar's name into the ground with all of the Cars-related stuff. First, he said that he was sick of direct-to-dvd movie sequels at Disney, then he releases a ton of Cars direct-to-dvd spin-offs, as well as creating the "Cars Toons." He's enamored with the brand (and the money it makes) and completely disregards everything else. Cars 2 was complete indulgent crap. They took the heart and soul of the first movie (really the only thing it had going for it) by leaving Radiator Springs. And don't even get me started on Monsters University. "Let's make a sequel to Monsters Inc, what's the worst thing we could do for the development of the characters? Oh, I know! Drop Boo, and then make it a prequel with lots of college hijinks! Can't lose!"

Sorry, completely derailing the thread here. Proceed.