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More big-time news coming out of Disney this week!
This one is HUGE!
Via the following link…
…Disney has provided us with further details about the previously-announced AVATAR-inspired land coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando.
And of course, in reading deeply into the details and in analyzing the concept art provided, I have some very specific thoughts and insights as to what we can expect from this massive new expansion to this park.
First, lots of controversy in the Disney fan community about the inclusion of Avatar into a Disney theme park to begin with. Let’s put this to rest. Avatar is the perfect fit for Animal Kingdom. Naysayers will say Avatar’s PG-13 rating, the film’s violence, and it being a non-Disney product in its inception are all reasons for why the film has no place as a stand-alone land at one of its theme parks.
Yet we only need to look to Indiana Jones to prove that Disney can withstand a little edgy violence with any movie product it encompasses into its theme park domain. Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye begs us to compare the ride to Temple of Doom, arguably the most violent and controversial of the Indiana Jones quadrilogy, complete with devil worshippers who can literally rip the heart out of an innocent sacrifice and keep him alive via their voodoo magic. That’s hardly the G-rated whimsical Cinderella magic Disney is stereotypically known for.
Avatar is no different, and yet at its core, the film takes a decidedly environmental stance in its message, and the entire film is truly about respecting the harmony of nature, and the inhabitants within.
On a thematic level, this is the perfect fit for Animal Kingdom.
Let’s look at this concept art…
The floating mountains of Pandora. To have them pull this concept off in real life, the stuff of purely science fiction and fantasy, just awe-inspiring. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter may have a fantastic force-perspective construction of Hogwart’s Castle, but something about the organic construction of a living, breathing floating mountain, with waterfalls, vegetation, teeming with life, is an absolute game changer.
I can’t think of another Disney attraction in recent memory that truly delivers an organic environmental visual component through a land or an E-Ticket attraction. Radiator Springs Racers at Cars Land might traverse through a mountainscape, but it doesn’t necessarily call specific attention to any sort of environmental message in its theming. So in a sense, this truly is a one-of-a-kind adventure Disney is embarking on.
And then there’s the nighttime perspective of Pandora. Disney, very clearly, had been looking for an experience to justify keeping Animal Kingdom’s gates open during the evening. As far as I can remember, every time I have ever visited this park, it always closed around 6 pm.
With Disney also announcing a new nighttime river show, which I suspect will be very similar to World of Color at Disney California Adventure, other evening entertainment offerings, and even visually transforming their marquee Tree of Life when the sun goes down, now there is finally a reason to stay late, perhaps even make this park a multi-day destination. This is huge for this park.
But in another Disney first, I don’t recall a specific land undergoing such a dramatic transformation in its experience between day and night the way Avatar Land is going to. Sure, when the sun goes down, Tomorrowland lights up with its neon, and tiki torches are lit at Adventureland. A ride on the Jungle Cruise at night offers a bit more of a dramatic experience.
But Avatar Land’s story will be told differently. A boat ride through a river on Pandora will be stunningly different in its visuals between day and night. Guests will be compelled to stay and experience the world of Pandora during the evening.
The big E-Ticket mega attraction looks to be a ride on a Banshee. The fan community is making an assumption the ride will utilize the Soarin’ Over California ride system. I suspect, and hope, Disney and Director-Creator James Cameron have something more special in mind. Disney is pretty good about not over-utilizing its existing ride experiences across neighboring parks.
The “troop transport” ride vehicle system, for example, first utilized on Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye in Anaheim was replicated at Animal Kingdom in the form of Dinosaur. I suspect this is the reason the Indiana Jones ride was never brought to Orlando.
Similarly, Epcot Center has its version of Soarin’ and so I think its safe to assume this system will not be duplicated on Pandora. Besides, this is Disney’s counter-move to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which in itself invented an entirely new state-of-the-art ride experience. I would expect nothing short of a similar groundbreaking technological marvel from Disney in the form of this Banshee ride.
Groundbreaking. Game changing. Epic. Spectacular.
More young adult in its target demographic.
Disney is sending a strong message to the theme park world to get ready. Right now, they are on a trajectory that ups the ante even from Potter. Truly exciting times.