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

[rhino4evr]

The "night time" factor is going to be huge on this. Instead of seeing the over crowded fire works show, or the old Illuminations, tourists will be flocking to Animal Kingdom at night to "fully experience" Pandora as it's meant to be experienced. Trust me, Disney will market it as such. If these go well enough, I could see them selling "after 4pm" tickets as well.

 

[twebber55]

The "night time" factor is going to be huge on this. Instead of seeing the over crowded fire works show, or the old Illuminations, tourists will be flocking to Animal Kingdom at night to "fully experience" Pandora as it's meant to be experienced. Trust me, Disney will market it as such. If these go well enough, I could see them selling "after 4pm" tickets as well.

i fully expect one of Joe Rohde's videos to be solely about the bio-luminescence

 

[Nick]

The "night time" factor is going to be huge on this. Instead of seeing the over crowded fire works show, or the old Illuminations, tourists will be flocking to Animal Kingdom at night to "fully experience" Pandora as it's meant to be experienced. Trust me, Disney will market it as such. If these go well enough, I could see them selling "after 4pm" tickets as well.

I could see "After 4" passes selling well. Locals are very favorable towards DAK and it's already a very chill place to hangout and now with the Nomad Lounge, Tree of Life Awakens, Rivers of Light and Pandora, I could see them doing that. If for no other reason to promote that DAK is a "night park".

 

[twebber55]

I could see "After 4" passes selling well. Locals are very favorable towards DAK and it's already a very chill place to hangout and now with the Nomad Lounge, Rivers of Light and Pandora, I could see them doing that. If for no other reason to promote that DAK is a "night park".

gotta think Nomad lounge and some evening Avatar will be pretty popular with locals

 

[Bulldog45]

This may be a silly question, but are there going to be any real animal exhibits in the land?

 

[Nick]

This may be a silly question, but are there going to be any real animal exhibits in the land?

There will be a "nature trail" as seen in other lands throughout the park. It's unknown what will be seen on it exactly though. I have a feeling it will just be a showcase for the bio-luminescence.

 

[Alicia]

There will be a "nature trail" as seen in other lands throughout the park. It's unknown what will be seen on it exactly though. I have a feeling it will just be a showcase for the bio-luminescence.

Glowing mice?

 

[GAcoaster]

So I got some new info from one of my insiders today:

-The one and only animatronic is only one right now, the spare is not ready yet. If it dies it is mounted on a cart and the CMs will pull it backstage and pull a "foliage curtain" to cover up the space it sits in.

-The loading of soarin over Pandora seems to be a nightmare. People on wheel chairs will need to transfer to ride which will slow the process. I would guess this will be a challenge for kids and the "American body shape" as well. This is also why the Lightcycle Coaster is NOT coming.

They told me it really is beautiful, but the fear is that there isn't much to do besides look at foliage. They are expecting many complaints.

 

[Mad Dog]

So I got some new info from one of my insiders today:

-The one and only animatronic is only one right now, the spare is not ready yet. If it dies it is mounted on a cart and the CMs will pull it backstage and pull a "foliage curtain" to cover up the space it sits in.

-The loading of soarin over Pandora seems to be a nightmare. People on wheel chairs will need to transfer to ride which will slow the process. I would guess this will be a challenge for kids and the "American body shape" as well. This is also why the Lightcycle Coaster is NOT coming.

They told me it really is beautiful, but the fear is that there isn't much to do besides look at foliage. They are expecting many complaints.

Kind of what I've said before. Beautiful , kind of similar to New Fantasyland being beautiful, but not much to do besides the rides. That's one reason that, though I'm really looking forward to Avatar, I don't think it will measure up to Hogsmeade or Diagon, both of which has so very much to do and immerse you for a long time, not just 30 or 45 minutes (not counting rides). I had that same opinion of New Fantasyland. Contrary to many others, I actually liked Mermaid and the 7 Dwarfs, loved Beauty & the Beast restaurant, thought it was really beautiful, but the land itself only occupied about 15-30 minutes of my time besides the rides. Outside of the rides there is nothing to do. You can only look at plants & landscaping for so long. And I'm really into landscaping.

 

[quinnmac000]

So I got some new info from one of my insiders today:

-The one and only animatronic is only one right now, the spare is not ready yet. If it dies it is mounted on a cart and the CMs will pull it backstage and pull a "foliage curtain" to cover up the space it sits in.

-The loading of soarin over Pandora seems to be a nightmare. People on wheel chairs will need to transfer to ride which will slow the process. I would guess this will be a challenge for kids and the "American body shape" as well. This is also why the Lightcycle Coaster is NOT coming.

They told me it really is beautiful, but the fear is that there isn't much to do besides look at foliage. They are expecting many complaints.

If they put a lot of benches and private areas in the land, I think people would use it to just hang out and sit with friends and family and relax.

 

[Mad Dog]

If they put a lot of benches and private areas in the land, I think people would use it to just hang out and sit with friends and family and relax.

WDW doesn't have much in the way of benches. They kind of discourage customers from sitting & relaxing. ...Universal is the other way. Benches everywhere. It's a stark difference in philosophy.

 

[Eckert]

WDW doesn't have much in the way of benches. They kind of discourage customers from sitting & relaxing. ...Universal is the other way. Benches everywhere. It's a stark difference in philosophy.

I actually disagree. I think Disney has far much more "hangout appeal" than Universal by far...there are tons more shaded and spacious areas dedicated to just sitting around at Disney's parks than Universal's. You can go to EPCOT (and maybe AK) and not ride a single ride and feel completely satisified with your experience. Universal is much more activity/ride oriented, I believe.

 

[Mad Dog]

I actually disagree. I think Disney has far much more "hangout appeal" than Universal by far...there are tons more shaded and spacious areas dedicated to just sitting around at Disney's parks than Universal's. You can go to EPCOT (and maybe AK) and not ride a single ride and feel completely satisified with your experience. Universal is much more activity/ride oriented, I believe.

Tough to find benches to sit on though. Yes, they have plenty of shady spots. They tease you with the shade, but don't give you anything to sit on, relax & people watch.

 

[SkiBum]

I actually disagree. I think Disney has far much more "hangout appeal" than Universal by far...there are tons more shaded and spacious areas dedicated to just sitting around at Disney's parks than Universal's. You can go to EPCOT (and maybe AK) and not ride a single ride and feel completely satisified with your experience. Universal is much more activity/ride oriented, I believe.

Disney could definitely use some more benches but I agree that their parks are more suited to letting the ambiance settle in. I enjoy just soaking in the atmosphere and walking through the Disney parks. For Universal, the entrance to IOA and the Jurassic Park areas are the only places that I feel the same way. I do wonder if Disney has a lot of benches but that they are always in use and thus it seems like there is a shortage.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Disney could definitely use some more benches but I agree that their parks are more suited to letting the ambiance settle in. I enjoy just soaking in the atmosphere and walking through the Disney parks. For Universal, the entrance to IOA and the Jurassic Park areas are the only places that I feel the same way. I do wonder if Disney has a lot of benches but that they are always in use and thus it seems like there is a shortage.

Disney removed a lot of benches and just never put them back.

The hub used to have benches and umbrellas on nearly all of the spokes leading to the lands.

Epcot's promenade had much of the same thing, pretty much everywhere there was a space between countries. Those were ripped out for food/wine kiosks and never replaced. Same for benches in various parts of Future World.

There was a long time when the breezeways even had no benches.

 

[Mad Dog]

Disney removed a lot of benches and just never put them back.

The hub used to have benches and umbrellas on nearly all of the spokes leading to the lands.

Epcot's promenade had much of the same thing, pretty much everywhere there was a space between countries. Those were ripped out for food/wine kiosks and never replaced. Same for benches in various parts of Future World.

There was a long time when the breezeways even had no benches.

:thumbsup:

 

[Disneyhead]

I know that Disney removed all the benches along all the parade routes because people were standing on them, falling off, and then suing Disney.

 

[GAcoaster]

Also because if you remove the benches you can fit more people. That's how attendance at MK keeps growing while there is no more physical space or attractions to serve those people.

 

[Nick]

I actually disagree. I think Disney has far much more "hangout appeal" than Universal by far...there are tons more shaded and spacious areas dedicated to just sitting around at Disney's parks than Universal's. You can go to EPCOT (and maybe AK) and not ride a single ride and feel completely satisified with your experience. Universal is much more activity/ride oriented, I believe.

Tough to find benches to sit on though. Yes, they have plenty of shady spots. They tease you with the shade, but don't give you anything to sit on, relax & people watch.

I know that Disney removed all the benches along all the parade routes because people were standing on them, falling off, and then suing Disney.

The lack of, and removal, of benches is predominantly at Magic Kingdom.

Animal Kingdom actually has the most places to just sit down and relax out of WDW parks, imo.

 

[belloq87]

They told me it really is beautiful, but the fear is that there isn't much to do besides look at foliage. They are expecting many complaints.

So the rides are a couple of duds, or what? If they're even halfway decent, coupled with beautiful aesthetics, I don't really know what more people would want in terms of having something "to do." It's just one land, after all.