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

[SkiBum]

Just adding to confirm that the land will feature a few new rides, entertainment, shopping, and dining and will be expected to open by 2016. Expected cost of the project is $200 million.

Heh heh. Opening in 2016 and expected costs. I would venture a guess that both are wrong in the worst directions. Laughing at the announcement and not Brian G (formerly known as BriMan The Inquisitive).

 

[12th Man]

New Pandora aerials from MickeyXtreme! :drool:

 

[Jones14]

I think Avatar's location will help the park, in a weird way. The BF and I are HUGE fans of Animal Kingdom, particularly at night, but I've noticed that over the last year, once we get over to the Everest side of the park, we stay there until we leave. I can't tell you how many times we've skipped the Safari simply because at night, it's the only thing to do on the western side of the park (Lion King aside, but even that ends before park closing).

If Avatar's good enough (and I'd imagine that at least the E-ticket will warrant a desire to re-ride), then I'm certain more people who are there in the later hours will end up doing more than they would if they were in the park right now. It's easier to justify the long walk to Frontierland at 10:30 if you're planning on hitting up Splash and Big Thunder, for example.

 

[epcyclopedia]

So much foliage it's really difficult to tell where the walkways go.

I've been trying to figure out where the bypass to Lion King exits the land. No sign of it still.

The parking lot and road on the left in the pics is the backside of Rainforest Cafe and essentially leads directly to its entrance in the park. Interesting to see if they come up with a way to dump people in the park there from the land since it's so close to the exit.

Similarly, there's what appears to be a CM walkway akin to the Lion King bridge there on the left. It seems to have he sole purpose of letting CMs get from that backstage area by Rainforest to the entrance of the land without going through the land. That would support the rumors that the CMs within the land don't wear typical name tags and everything is treated like a thematic island.

 

[WAJAS]

So much foliage it's really difficult to tell where the walkways go.

I've been trying to figure out where the bypass to Lion King exits the land. No sign of it still.

The parking lot and road on the left in the pics is the backside of Rainforest Cafe and essentially leads directly to its entrance in the park. Interesting to see if they come up with a way to dump people in the park there from the land since it's so close to the exit.

Similarly, there's what appears to be a CM walkway akin to the Lion King bridge there on the left. It seems to have he sole purpose of letting CMs get from that backstage area by Rainforest to the entrance of the land without going through the land. That would support the rumors that the CMs within the land don't wear typical name tags and everything is treated like a thematic island.

There's a path just to the left of the restaurant that leads to the Lion King walkway. It isn't a bridge, but it does go under a bridge.

Bottom left corner of this image:

 

[epcyclopedia]

Thinking about the approach..

That turn from Island Merchantile down toward Tiffins has a whole lotta nothing to look at on the left side. And viewed from right at the entrance the bridge leads past many trees and such before opening into the land.

So from Disocvery Island there's not much of a visual entry like all of AKs other lands. Suppose it'll get something as we get closer to opening?

 

[epcyclopedia]

There's a path just to the left of the restaurant that leads to the Lion King walkway. It isn't a bridge, but it does go under a bridge.

Bottom left corner of this image:

Ah, that might be it. The orientation of the pic had me looking to the right side. And the wood panels on the wall that faces it to hide the backstage area are the right color.

The bridge is all stained a dark color like teak or mahogany or something. I guess it's more a boardwalk but it's elevated as it travels back to Lion King.

 

[Bulldog45]

Avatar is on AMC if anybody is interested... can't believe this movie came out in 2009

 

[Parkscope Joe]

If you guys want to remove any revisionist history from your minds, go back to page 1 and look at the reaction. This was very well received upon announcement.

Yeah and it was also then expanded upon, delayed, and budgets exposed. I'm not hiding anything here, but lets not pretend that the same circumstances apply to 2011 as they do now.

 

[Brian G.]

Heh heh. Opening in 2016 and expected costs. I would venture a guess that both are wrong in the worst directions. Laughing at the announcement and not Brian G (formerly known as BriMan The Inquisitive).

Haha. Just to add - a bit later, the budget than started being reported to be estimated between $400-$600 million.

 

[Nick]

Yeah and it was also then expanded upon, delayed, and budgets exposed. I'm not hiding anything here, but lets not pretend that the same circumstances apply to 2011 as they do now.

That's why I said it was very well received "upon announcement". Wasn't referring to anything after.

 

[Miketheboss]

 

[twebber55]

Ah, that might be it. The orientation of the pic had me looking to the right side. And the wood panels on the wall that faces it to hide the backstage area are the right color.

The bridge is all stained a dark color like teak or mahogany or something. I guess it's more a boardwalk but it's elevated as it travels back to Lion King.

its a boardwalk for sure

 

[Joel]

It looks like they have a decent-size expansion pad for when the last few movies come out (next century)..

light blue = berm they made to separate the land from the bus stops
dark blue = new row of bus stops added
red = what I see as a potential boundary to an expansion pad
green = expansion pad

only issue would be seeing the un-themed side of the land, but if the hole pad is taken up by a show building then it doesn't matter

 

[Speed]

New photo? Never seen it before

 

[Alicia]

It looks like they have a decent-size expansion pad for when the last few movies come out (next century)..

light blue = berm they made to separate the land from the bus stops
dark blue = new row of bus stops added
red = what I see as a potential boundary to an expansion pad
green = expansion pad

only issue would be seeing the un-themed side of the land, but if the hole pad is taken up by a show building then it doesn't matter

View attachment 3880

If only that space was used for the existing boat ride. Instead of 4 minutes and no plotline it could've been an 11-minute masterpiece like Pirates or Small World. Larger show scenes akin to the Pirates cannon-battle, and more than 1 Navi animatronic. Oh well.

 

[twebber55]

New photo? Never seen it before

i believe its from Disney's internal site. my guess is it will be released to the general public soon

 

[shiekra38]

New photo? Never seen it before

Livin' With the Na'vi

 

[twebber55]

Livin' With the Na'vi

living with the land looks nothing like that
it s a pretty impressive picture

 

[Mad Dog]

living with the land looks nothing like that
it s a pretty impressive picture

True...Interesting survey since you just brought Living with the Land up. Touring Plans blog just did a blog and Facebook survey asking people what their favorite boat ride at Epcot was. Living With the Land got 50% of the vote. Gran Fiesta Tour 25%.Frozen was around 20%. WS Friendship Boats 3%. 1,083 votes, so a pretty good sampling....Those results surprised the heck out of me.