AVATAR coming to WDW

[bravetaylor]

I admit I'm trying to convince myself that this will be a positive addition to Disney. It's been a long time since the Lucasfilm franchises were added to the parks and I still see them as being "not Disney". I have grown to accept them due to how they were incorporated. Non-Disney elements work well at DHS since it is a celebration of several mediums. Disney's Animal Kingdom however as imagineer Joe Rhode has said is a celebration of the real. Real enviroments, animals, places. It's a celebration of our connection with the natural world. Yes, that was one theme of Avatar but the movie itself is wholly artificial....more than any other. I wish that an expansion of DAK was more of the same of what makes this park my favorite, beautifully crafted spaces of spectcular animal habitats and lush landscape. I do recognize that the yeti is not real nor was the idea of Beastlie Kingdom which I was very excited for. Those ideas were more exceptable to me because the felt homegrown and more decidedly Disney. A bought or rented franchise does not. I realize in today's world the trend it to snatch up popular entities before some other guy does seems to be standard procedure rather than developing creative origional experiences like Disney has done with their greatest E-tickets. I would have loved a whole lot more an additional continent added with more animals. To add the mythic and imaginary I would have been hugely excited for the inclusion of a Beastlie Kingdom featuring 20,000 Leagues and Journey to the center of the earth complete with lagoon and mountain ala Tokyo DisneySea. That seems so much more Disney. I would have been open to the idea of greek mythology as well. I was very critical of Avatar when I saw it probally due to its huge success. Visually it was stunning in 3D, however the characters were one dimentional and the screenplay was cringe-worthy. Oddly enough, the most positive thing I had said about it at the time of viewing was to check your brain and critical thinking at the door and just enjoy it like a theme park ride and you'll enjoy it. So maybe we can find a way to do that again.

[Jacca5660]

Disney's Animal Kingdom however as imagineer Joe Rhode has said is a celebration of the "REAL"?? Isn't this the same man the brought us the Yettie??? Just wondering. I mean it's been a long time since I've read any scientific papers on all those animals they've brought back from pre-history with those time machines.

[MmeLeota]

What's funny to me is that "Avatar theme park" continues to trend on Yahoo...

[mindflipper]

What's funny to me is that "Avatar theme park" continues to trend on Yahoo...

I'd prefer it if it was it's own theme park...

[boilerbabe]

Never saw the movie and don't care to either!

[Wizzard419]

If you liked Dances with Wolves, you will like avatar.

I actually wonder if disney will ever build another park in orlando? They may have the land, and even if money were no object, the consumer might not be wild on having to add more time to a vacation because of a new park.

[mindflipper]

I am amazed Disney would invest so much on a movie that will become passe in a few years. Look at Universal Studios Orlando: of all the rides/attractions the park had when it first opened, only E.T. The Extraterrestial is the only ride that is still in the park. The others - King Kong, Ghostbusters, Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, Alfred Hitchcock, and Murder She Wrote - have all been replaced or closed. Once the ride has outlived its usefulness it gets turned into another ride. Will Disney be able to do the same with Avatar once the public has totally lost interest in that film franchise?

[Jacca5660]

I am amazed Disney would invest so much on a movie that will become passe in a few years. Look at Universal Studios Orlando: of all the rides/attractions the park had when it first opened, only E.T. The Extraterrestial is the only ride that is still in the park. The others - King Kong, Ghostbusters, Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, Alfred Hitchcock, and Murder She Wrote - have all been replaced or closed. Once the ride has outlived its usefulness it gets turned into another ride. Will Disney be able to do the same with Avatar once the public has totally lost interest in that film franchise?

It depends on how Disney builds. They are doing great stuff with re-purposing attraction now. I think Disney is building Avatar to try and get some of that teenage-let's-go-to Universal crowd. I know my DSs would much rather go to IOA and Universal for a day a piece instead of staying on property the whole time.

[Wizzard419]

Since it's trying to build itself into a long standing franchise, they will probably have a similar effect to harry potter where it will be built and after the franchise is done there will be simply no updates and it will be the area of the park you go to score drugs.

[mindflipper]

I don't see Avatar lasting as long as HP to be quite honest. And even though the septology of books and the octology of films have been completed presently for Harry Potter, that doesn't mean it's necessarily over - more potter or pottermore? I expect eventually that Rowling will do the same thing Lucas did with Star Wars and allow authors to do authorized spin-off books that take place in the Harry Potter world...

[Jacca5660]

Since it's trying to build itself into a long standing franchise, they will probably have a similar effect to harry potter where it will be built and after the franchise is done there will be simply no updates and it will be the area of the park you go to score drugs.

Why pay the admission? You can do that at City Walk right now! Have you seen that place at night??

[Wizzard419]

You only have to buy a day and get a year free, the perk of selling within the park is that the police dept will be outside so you can destroy your stash before they can get to you.

[Wizzard419]

I don't see Avatar lasting as long as HP to be quite honest. And even though the septology of books and the octology of films have been completed presently for Harry Potter, that doesn't mean it's necessarily over - more potter or pottermore? I expect eventually that Rowling will do the same thing Lucas did with Star Wars and allow authors to do authorized spin-off books that take place in the Harry Potter world...

She's been a real nazi about that kind of thing and may try to milk it (through sony) but in that case it's more of a "Buy more stuff" than an mmo or more stories.

[Jacca5660]

You only have to buy a day and get a year free, the perk of selling within the park is that the police dept will be outside so you can destroy your stash before they can get to you.

And you have a ready market with all the CMs!!

[Wizzard419]

Don't forget the post sale demand for clean urine as well (presuming Disney and other theme parks do drug testing).