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

[Alicia]

So...

Spoiler

I was able to do a test meal at Satu'li Canteen. We were allowed to peek out at the rest of the land, but were brought in through the back and could only go as far as the outside seating at its entrance within the land. You could watch them painting the mecha-suit thing for Pongu Pongu and otherwise assembling the rest of the land.

Overall first impression - Satu'li reminds me of a mix of Sunshine Seasons circa 2005 (right after Soarin first opened) and Sanaa at AKL. For the seating area the semi-walls with the sort of rolling stone shape should ddefinitely remind you of one of those area, but then the base sort of modern composite tables and such distinctly reminds me of The Land redo. Like if Sanaa's decor was a museum pieces on exhibit at The Land, which happened to be housed in an old warehouse.

It' hard to explain but there's like 3 levels of "theme" being presented. First, the old quonset hut that was the canteen for the mining company. It's rusty and old. Then, the tourism ACE people move in and retrofit to go ultra modern. That's why it looks a lot like The Land in choices of finishes and such. Then because it's part of their cultural exhibit thing they have Navii items on display and then bring in the stone/mud walls as area dividers, and woven artwork hanging from the ceiling and such.

It's interesting. There is a LOT of queue for the ordering area which seems to outweigh the available seating. Ordering seems to all be ultra-modern atop old military type quonset. So you have like bare concrete walls with zone/sector/etc industrial stuff spray painted on with stencils that are fading away and then modern lighting and fixtures and such that would fit right in at Epcot. Lot of stainless steel. But to get to that ordering area you have to go under this massive area of woven hanging nets/panels.

In the mud/stone miniwalls they also have niches with navii artifacts like bowls and tools and such. So it very much feels like modern art museum with an otherworld exhibit. It also feels a little sparse, well, minimalist if anything. Tables and chairs are all modern.

On to the food. The cheeseburger pod was yummy. The boba that came on the coleslaw sort of thing was yummy.. the chips were just meh chips. I wish i had gotten the make-your-own beef bowl, but i wanted to try the pod in case those went away. The tofu bowl my friend had was yummy. The nonalcoholic drink was meh. Coke products were available and it's like electric umbrella where you fill it yourself.

Oo, you'll like this - real plates/bowls and silverware. The bowls are sort a resin thing and have a sort of asian aesthetic with the dark grey outer coat and the sort of teal or jade looking interior color. They're all in "natural" looking sort of handformed rough shapes too. The silverware is just silverware and the cups are the standard disney cups.

Didn't use them but the credit card readers at the order points have the ACE logo on their screen.

The blueberry cheesecake was a highlight, even if it does look like a weird alien egg. There's a glass walled area where you see them cooking on a big grill thing.

Being that close the mountains they still felt a little small - like not tiny, but smaller than Everest or Hogwarts which both feel like they're very big when you're near them.

How to best capture the overall feel.. the layering.. You sit at a modern table made of some interesting composite in a very modern chair with an interesting geometric lattice back, and then look up at the old rusty quonset hut ceiling - the old rusty air system linger up there in the darker area.. below which is brand new stainless steel ductwork and lighting fixtures with ultra-white bulbs and such.. and then hanging down amid that is woven navii art pices that usually wrap around a hanging navii light fixtures.. a nut, a shell, etc.. like the ones seen in the pathway lights so far.

Looking out into the land you could also see rusty old pipework, then some super modern scifi looking metal thing, and then some navii artpiece or something.

Love the theming layers. Very interesting. As a lover of Sci-Fi and Cameron, this place may actually end up impressing me after all, at least on that level.

 

[Mad Dog]

Same. I'm going opening day plus 2 more days for the chaos. I want to know the details but at the same time be surprised. lol

Do you think they'll bring out the flying dragon for the grand opening?

I don't think that still exists. I could be wrong, but I believe I read that it was just a one time fly by.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Oh yeah!

Spoiler

The specialty drinks can come with the Pandoran Flute cup. Couldn't get one but saw them. They look like a cup made of bamboo and then have the pan flute attached to it by a belt around the cup. The flute comes off the cup and reportedly is a legit pan flute.

Sorry I keep remembering random things:

Two more tidbits:

Spoiler

The condiment area has maple syrup tubs and little bottles of Tabasco sauce so I postulate the canteen will serve breakfast.

And the bathrooms... are modern clean feeling restrooms with dyson airblades (and paper towels thankfully). They're outside the canteen attached to the side of the outdoor seating awning. The weird bit is that the structure is old mining company looking and rusty and overgrown but the second you walk in its modern and shiny. Basic white gloss tile, at head level a mosaic tile band in blue tones, blue countertops and dividers. I guess ACE renovated.

The canteen workers are all ACE and know their backstory. Their costumes are brown khakis pants, maroon long sleeve undershirts, and then a Star Trek overlap panel chefs kind of top in mustard, mesh under the arms and sides (but thick mesh in the same mustard color.). They look a lot like the costumes from Sunshine Seasons but with a nod to Star Trek.

Other costumes seen from a distance also looked like they would belong at Epcot. Same sort of fabrics and that paneled look with the back flap that most future world costumes have now.

 

[Disneyhead]

From Cameron's FB Page:

“Great to be working with the best team in the business! Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four sequels. The journey continues December 18, 2020, December 17, 2021, December 20, 2024 and December 19, 2025!”
Read more at All Four Avatar Sequel Release Dates Confirmed!

Here is how it should actually read:

“Great to be working with the best team in the business! Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four sequels. The journey continues December 18, 2020, or maybe December 17, 2021, if not then most likely on December 20, 2024 and if we can't pull it together by then, most definitely by December 19, 2025!....maybe."

 

[Alicia]

Two years in a row -big gap- two more years in a row.

Seems about right.

 

[giant4203]

Yeah lol maybe...avatar 2 was originally supposed to have been out last year...3 was originally supposed to be out next year...would have stopped hundreds of pages of "is the ip relevant" talk lol

 

[Scott W.]

So...

Spoiler

I was able to do a test meal at Satu'li Canteen. We were allowed to peek out at the rest of the land, but were brought in through the back and could only go as far as the outside seating at its entrance within the land. You could watch them painting the mecha-suit thing for Pongu Pongu and otherwise assembling the rest of the land.

Overall first impression - Satu'li reminds me of a mix of Sunshine Seasons circa 2005 (right after Soarin first opened) and Sanaa at AKL. For the seating area the semi-walls with the sort of rolling stone shape should ddefinitely remind you of one of those area, but then the base sort of modern composite tables and such distinctly reminds me of The Land redo. Like if Sanaa's decor was a museum pieces on exhibit at The Land, which happened to be housed in an old warehouse.

It' hard to explain but there's like 3 levels of "theme" being presented. First, the old quonset hut that was the canteen for the mining company. It's rusty and old. Then, the tourism ACE people move in and retrofit to go ultra modern. That's why it looks a lot like The Land in choices of finishes and such. Then because it's part of their cultural exhibit thing they have Navii items on display and then bring in the stone/mud walls as area dividers, and woven artwork hanging from the ceiling and such.

It's interesting. There is a LOT of queue for the ordering area which seems to outweigh the available seating. Ordering seems to all be ultra-modern atop old military type quonset. So you have like bare concrete walls with zone/sector/etc industrial stuff spray painted on with stencils that are fading away and then modern lighting and fixtures and such that would fit right in at Epcot. Lot of stainless steel. But to get to that ordering area you have to go under this massive area of woven hanging nets/panels.

In the mud/stone miniwalls they also have niches with navii artifacts like bowls and tools and such. So it very much feels like modern art museum with an otherworld exhibit. It also feels a little sparse, well, minimalist if anything. Tables and chairs are all modern.

On to the food. The cheeseburger pod was yummy. The boba that came on the coleslaw sort of thing was yummy.. the chips were just meh chips. I wish i had gotten the make-your-own beef bowl, but i wanted to try the pod in case those went away. The tofu bowl my friend had was yummy. The nonalcoholic drink was meh. Coke products were available and it's like electric umbrella where you fill it yourself.

Oo, you'll like this - real plates/bowls and silverware. The bowls are sort a resin thing and have a sort of asian aesthetic with the dark grey outer coat and the sort of teal or jade looking interior color. They're all in "natural" looking sort of handformed rough shapes too. The silverware is just silverware and the cups are the standard disney cups.

Didn't use them but the credit card readers at the order points have the ACE logo on their screen.

The blueberry cheesecake was a highlight, even if it does look like a weird alien egg. There's a glass walled area where you see them cooking on a big grill thing.

Being that close the mountains they still felt a little small - like not tiny, but smaller than Everest or Hogwarts which both feel like they're very big when you're near them.

How to best capture the overall feel.. the layering.. You sit at a modern table made of some interesting composite in a very modern chair with an interesting geometric lattice back, and then look up at the old rusty quonset hut ceiling - the old rusty air system linger up there in the darker area.. below which is brand new stainless steel ductwork and lighting fixtures with ultra-white bulbs and such.. and then hanging down amid that is woven navii art pices that usually wrap around a hanging navii light fixtures.. a nut, a shell, etc.. like the ones seen in the pathway lights so far.

Looking out into the land you could also see rusty old pipework, then some super modern scifi looking metal thing, and then some navii artpiece or something.

Very interesting.

I could also never have pictured you using the word yummy.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Yeah lol maybe...avatar 2 was originally supposed to have been out last year...3 was originally supposed to be out next year...would have stopped hundreds of pages of "is the ip relevant" talk lol

The original release date was 2014.

 

[Mad Dog]

From Cameron's FB Page:

“Great to be working with the best team in the business! Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four sequels. The journey continues December 18, 2020, December 17, 2021, December 20, 2024 and December 19, 2025!”
Read more at All Four Avatar Sequel Release Dates Confirmed!

Here is how it should actually read:

“Great to be working with the best team in the business! Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four sequels. The journey continues December 18, 2020, or maybe December 17, 2021, if not then most likely on December 20, 2024 and if we can't pull it together by then, most definitely by December 19, 2025!....maybe."

I think Cameron has Attention Deficit Syndrome to a very high degree.

 

[Brian G.]

I think Cameron has Attention Deficit Syndrome to a very high degree.

He's an uber-perfectionist. I bet 10 to 1, he's been so focused on making sure Disney gets Avatarland right, he didn't want to lose that focus and get distracted by anything else.

 

[twebber55]

he s a guy that definitely works at his own pace and on his own timeline

He's an uber-perfectionist. I bet 10 to 1, he's been so focused on making sure Disney gets Avatarland right, he didn't want to lose that focus and get distracted by anything else.

interesting point that i havent thought of
also im hoping with this project he (JK did) holds disney to a higher standard for th eland

 

[Mad Dog]

He's an uber-perfectionist. I bet 10 to 1, he's been so focused on making sure Disney gets Avatarland right, he didn't want to lose that focus and get distracted by anything else.

I was joking about that. Should have added an emoicon.

 

[Brian G.]

I was joking about that. Should have added an emoicon.

There's always a bit of truth in humor though.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Hey @twebber55 please use the +Quote feature and editing posts instead of posting back to back. Been cleaning up a lot of your stuff. :thumbsup:

 

[Speed]

 

[twebber55]

Hey @twebber55 please use the +Quote feature and editing posts instead of posting back to back. Been cleaning up a lot of your stuff. :thumbsup:

sorry man will do better BTW this is a nice view

 

[epcyclopedia]

My problem with promotional videos like that is that it is from an angle a guest will never be able to see the area.

Ok, so they do sweeping overhead views for lots of areas, what's the problem?

Well, this one in no way uses context to show it's an elevated view. In something like a promo for Everest or Mine Train you see people on the ground to give context. You don't know where the ground is in this image unless you know the context from recognizing the rockwork portions being showcased.

To an extent I understand why - we talked before about how the promos with people were shot awkwardly upward to avoid the lack of finishing on the paths. And at the ground level they are still putting everything together.

But this one particularly troubles me because it's not ground level, extremely selective in framing, and throws the real scale of what's being seen totally off.

It might as well be an iPhone camera going through the original model.

 

[Miketheboss]

My problem with promotional videos like that is that it is from an angle a guest will never be able to see the area.

Ok, so they do sweeping overhead views for lots of areas, what's the problem?

Well, this one in no way uses context to show it's an elevated view. In something like a promo for Everest or Mine Train you see people on the ground to give context. You don't know where the ground is in this image unless you know the context from recognizing the rockwork portions being showcased.

To an extent I understand why - we talked before about how the promos with people were shot awkwardly upward to avoid the lack of finishing on the paths. And at the ground level they are still putting everything together.

But this one particularly troubles me because it's not ground level, extremely selective in framing, and throws the real scale of what's being seen totally off.

It might as well be an iPhone camera going through the original model.

There is literally a bridge straight ahead nearly at the same level where this is being shot.

 

[violarum]

I got a chance to tour the land, and while I will not be able to offer any spoilers, I can comment that the layers of theme that epcyclopedia mentioned run rampant throughout the land. The old and rusty presence of RDA meets Pandoran wildlife growing on and through it, to then be met by ACE's modern touch for all facilities. And, of course, the Na'vi presence with the lashing and weaving on almost everything (which is really beautiful stuff, ahem).

The sense of scale is questionable at times, particularly when you focus on the floating mountains, but then you see shots like in the promotional video above and those put everything into perspective (literally). That shot highlights the entrance to Flight of Passage, and it's not at all lost to the guests.

 

[epcyclopedia]

I feel like that shot is way off from reality, but meh, we won't agree or disagree until the land is open. I mean, it comes down to rest at the top of a palm tree.

As for weaving - it's better than I thought since it seems to rely on fronds and such and avoid beadwork in general, but I'm still not sold on it aesthetically. Also have serious doubts about how it will age.