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

[epcyclopedia]

Couple of bits...

AK cast has a "pongu" (party?) on May 1st that seems to be an open invite to explore the land and food and such - but very strictly for AK cast. They seem to want to get AK cast in there to experience it, still upset over how Night Safari previews went with global entertainment cast taking most of the spots. That group will enter via the Tiffins bridge and so will all of the following CM previews.

And feedback I've heard on the food has been good - yeah that specialty drink tastes watered down and once you realize it's Powerade it all makes sense - and the desserts are both good but not "cake" rather mousse in a gel sort of shelling. The decor with the 3 layers is perplexing people. It has to be explained - which to me indicates it isn't reading well.

 

[epcyclopedia]

More info:

The original AK cast previews are via a paper voucher they gave out by having cast stand in line and then select from available time slots until the paper passes were gone.

All other WDW cast put in for a sort of raffle. Those are being confirmed today and cast are getting emails assigning time slots - and that email is specifically stating that entry to the area will show up like a FP in the Disney app. It also notes entry to individual attractions may follow the same process (shown as FP but essentially just limiting entry to once per time period) and that the whole thing is a test/adjust period.

So we shall see what comes of all of that.

 

[shiekra38]

Couple of bits...

AK cast has a "pongu" (party?) on May 1st that seems to be an open invite to explore the land and food and such - but very strictly for AK cast. They seem to want to get AK cast in there to experience it, still upset over how Night Safari previews went with global entertainment cast taking most of the spots. That group will enter via the Tiffins bridge and so will all of the following CM previews.

And feedback I've heard on the food has been good - yeah that specialty drink tastes watered down and once you realize it's Powerade it all makes sense - and the desserts are both good but not "cake" rather mousse in a gel sort of shelling. The decor with the 3 layers is perplexing people. It has to be explained - which to me indicates it isn't reading well.

What do you mean by decor with three layers?

 

[epcyclopedia]

What do you mean by decor with three layers?

Hit my spoiler posts for full details further up thread - but in general you have the aesthetics of the failed mining project (the first movie) then the ACE travel people's stuff that sometimes uses leftover mining infrastructure, who then decide to decorate with Navii art pieces as if it were a museum. So three layers and they don't umm.. read well.

Futuristic military in decay.
Futuristic sleek ultra modern travel amenities.
Natural fiber woven pieces, mudwork, clay pottery of Navii.

Think of a modern art museum in an old factory that's showing an exhibition on Aztec art.

 

[GadgetGuru]

At Tokyo DisneySea's Tower of Terror, you could ask for this free cool English brochure that walked through the ride's story in great detail.

I'm really betting on something like that coming to Pandora. I don't think people are going to understand and appreciate the land without a primer.

 

[epcyclopedia]

It's gets especially confusing when you throw in "natural Pandora" as a fourth factor and how it has somewhat overtaken the military stuff.

It's odd to see futuristic stuff both in decay and new sleek presentation side by side.

 

[DragonSlayer]

At Tokyo DisneySea's Tower of Terror, you could ask for this free cool English brochure that walked through the ride's story in great detail.

I'm really betting on something like that coming to Pandora. I don't think people are going to understand and appreciate the land without a primer.

Wish I'd known this!

I can understand this not making much sense to most people. In @epcyclopedia's theoretical museum-factory-exhibition example, we can recognise the identity of each of those three elements so we can decode what's happened historically and why the environment looks as it does. In the Avatar context, all three layers are foreign, and as unidentifiable as each other. People won't have a point of reference from which to base their understanding.

 

[epcyclopedia]

It's like those sci-fi shows where a high tech army base is inside of some old building - but in this version that "old" building is a few hundred years in the future but then also a few hundred years old compared to the "modern day" of the narrative.

And then there's weird plants and nuts and IKEA lamps.

 

[Christian G]

Had my park orientation for HS and missed the sign up for the CM preview. This is disappointing. :bang:

 

[epcyclopedia]

Had my park orientation for HS and missed the sign up for the CM preview. This is disappointing. :bang:

No worries young'n - the longer you're with the company the more new and exciting ways they'll find to dissapoint you.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Umm..

Well..

Is it normal for the prezzie of parks to use his memos to ask the CM's to ask their friends and families to come see the new land that's opening...? Like a call to action..?

 

[Jones14]

Umm..

Well..

Is it normal for the prezzie of parks to use his memos to ask the CM's to ask their friends and families to come see the new land that's opening...? Like a call to action..?

The Team Member newsletters onUOTeam have the same sort of thing for Jimmy Fallon/Volcano Bay, so yeah, I'd say it's pretty normal.

 

[epcyclopedia]

The Team Member newsletters onUOTeam have the same sort of thing for Jimmy Fallon/Volcano Bay, so yeah, I'd say it's pretty normal.

But in a manner that very specifically is asking them to ask people to show up?

I'm used to "share your experience" and "be sure to tell guests about..."

This is very much "ask your friends and family to see it."

 

[Jones14]

But in a manner that very specifically is asking them to ask people to show up?

I'm used to "share your experience" and "be sure to tell guests about..."

This is very much "ask your friends and family to see it."

I can see what you mean, but it's just different ways of saying the same thing.

Disney's always been more heavy-handed than Universal in regard to those sorts of things anyway, so it doesn't bother me.

Edited to add: Disney also sends that info out through email, whereas at Uni we get it through a website, so it also seems to follow that the former is going to be less coy and more upfront, since it is only going to be seen by employees.

 

[epcyclopedia]

I can see what you mean, but it's just different ways of saying the same thing.

Disney's always been more heavy-handed than Universal in regard to those sorts of things anyway, so it doesn't bother me.

The tone just struck me as very odd. It's all about how one half of the important stuff of opening is the gears and cogs operational stuff and getting it all to work... but then the other half is getting everyone you can convince to show up.

I can't tell if they just want a picture ready show of force to battle the news coverage Potter received or if this is the first sign of desperation at what's already a bit of a tepid response.

 

[Jones14]

The tone just struck me as very odd. It's all about how one half of the important stuff of opening is the gears and cogs operational stuff and getting it all to work... but then the other half is getting everyone you can convince to show up.

I can't tell if they just want a picture ready show of force to battle the news coverage Potter received or if this is the first sign of desperation at what's already a bit of a tepid response.

I'd have to read it myself to comment on the tone, but I'm thinking that it's the former in terms of what their goal is. I think if they were really getting desperate, they'd drop the curtains and start showing off Flight of Passage as much as possible.

If they feel they've created enough intrigue to justify keeping their main draw under wraps, I don't think they're too worried.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Considering that, the whole piece is framed as a reference to the Shaman of Song from the boat ride - calling out and beckoning a response.

Which to me says they think the boat ride is the main draw.

The utter lack of information about Flight of Passage reads to me like a movie being released with no fanfare - why waste the marketing dollars for a decided flop?

If it's an amazing attraction why isn't Disney promoting it..?

 

[Jones14]

Considering that, the whole piece is framed as a reference to the Shaman of Song from the boat ride - calling out and beckoning a response.

Which to me says they think the boat ride is the main draw.

The utter lack of information about Flight of Passage reads to me like a movie being released with no fanfare - why waste the marketing dollars for a decided flop?

If it's an amazing attraction why isn't Disney promoting it..?

I think it's more that it's easier to get decent footage of the boat ride because FoP is mostly screen-based and they don't want to make the headliner look bad.

Forbidden Journey and Gringotts were similarly undersold. I still remember seeing the same clip of Harry on the Quidditch pitch over and over back in 2010. Star Tours doesn't get much screen time in the Star Wars Awakens commercials; that doesn't mean Star Wars Land is going to flop, just that screen rides are harder to capture the essence of.

 

[epcyclopedia]

There's a lot of footage of people pretending to ride Soarin...

Fallon gave us a ride clip.

That there is no ride clip at all is troubling.

 

[fryoj]

Considering that, the whole piece is framed as a reference to the Shaman of Song from the boat ride - calling out and beckoning a response.

Which to me says they think the boat ride is the main draw.

The utter lack of information about Flight of Passage reads to me like a movie being released with no fanfare - why waste the marketing dollars for a decided flop?

If it's an amazing attraction why isn't Disney promoting it..?

"ride a Banshee" seems to be a pretty big part of their marketing.