By now, I'm sure many of you have heard that Animal Kingdom will be receiving a whole new land based around the James Cameron mega hit, Avatar. What do I think about this? Well, I'm not sure to be honest. Yes, it does seem strange that we are getting an entire land based on a film that is not Disney but at the same time, this is not the first time, Disney has worked with outside sources as they have worked with Lucasfilm to bring us Star Tours in Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios along with both of the Indy attractions in both parks.
However for Disney World, this is the first time that a non Disney based attraction or in this case land has been put in a park other than Hollywood Studios. Yes, you could make the arguement that Disney built Pixar Place but at the end of the day, that land has a stronger tie to Disney than Avatar.
I can see why they chose to place this unnamed Avatar, which I'll refer to as Pandora from now knowing that is the name of the world in the film. By the way, I haven't see the film either. The reason it makes sense to place Pandora in Animal Kingdom is because both the film, Avatar and Animal Kingdom try to send an enviromental message. Animal Kingdom has a message of we need to look after the animals here on Mother Earth while Avatar I think is about taking care our land (I'm ballparking here, folks).
Now I had two immediate thoughts when I heard this news, the first being "What?!" amd after I got past that, my next thought was. "Why didn't Cameron go to Universal?" seeing as Universal Studios already has on attraction based on a Cameron film, in T-2 3-D: Battle Across Time or heck even, Islands of Adventure.
On the same token, Disney may have wanted this because ever since The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has opened, Islands of Adventure has drawing in humongous crowds and Pandora would give that a run for it's money.
Would it be able to top The Boy Who Lived, for a while probably but on the same token, I could see this drawing a diffrent type of crowd because not everyone who likes Harry Potter likes Avatar. I don't know, it just seems like the little bit that I have seen of Avatar that it caters to an older audince. Not saying that's wrong but that's just my preception.
If Pandora does turn out to be successful, I could see the parks going the Star Wars route with this film franchise and probably get some Avatar events a la Star Wars Weekends. Just as long as Mickey and the gang aren't dressed up as those blue aliens, Disney can do whatever it wants with Avatar in my book.
Now Pandora isn't slated to open until 2013 right around the time of the first sequel coming out, which will be a great cross promotion. However this does make me wonder what types of attractions, they'll have there. Knowing that the second film supposedly deals with the water of Pandora, I'd like to see a water ride here. One where you actually get wet unlike Kali River Rapids. I think a flight simulator type ride where you ride one of those bird like creatures would be pretty cool too. Also, why not add in something where guests can see what they would like as Avatars sort of like Jake from the film. Again, people this info just comes from basic knowledge of the trailers and talking to my best friend.
Something along the lines of this picture would be pretty cool. I have a feeling that Imagineers will be able to come with something pretty cool that will capture the world of Pandora quite well. Still, I'm not sure how to feel about this because on the one hand as a Disney fan, I wish that they would focus more on Disney based attractions but on the other hand, I realize that Animal Kingdom needs some lovin' and some attractions.
Adding Pandora would be a great way to do that and as I have stated, it would draw in crowds but here again, it just feels weird. Not saying it's right or wrong, just weird. At the same time, we know so little about what is actually going on, so perhaps it's too soon to judge. What's your thoughts? Tell me in the comments. Peace.
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