Avatar land coming to Animal Kingdom!!

[damo]

This sums up my feelings exactly...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...isney-avatar-092211-20110921,0,5826653.column

 

[SaraJayne]

This sums up my feelings exactly...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...isney-avatar-092211-20110921,0,5826653.column

 

[pilferk]

And the Version of the ride that predated the version immediately before the "Johnny Depp Refurb" was even more un-PC.... and arguably, even better than the PC version in the middle.

That, actually, was the version I was referring to. Pre-Depp, when the pirates were chasing the women, not vice versa!

 

[pilferk]

Ducks are not chickens. Why don't you freak out over the humans eating other mammals?)

I would freak out (and do....when watching Temple of Doom) were humans eating other simians.

Ducks (and cranes) eating chicken and turkey seems...wrong.

 

[kidd_freeper]

They're going to base an entire area on ONE movie and sequels that haven't been released?

Disney doesn't learn from its mistakes.

Anyone here familiar with the "Dick Tracey" debacle?

See: http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2008/04/disney-mgm-studios-celebration-part_11.html

"Well, everybody at the WDC was so much convinced it (the movie Dick Tracey) will be a big hit that Walt Disney Imagineering designed a fantastic Dick Tracy attraction, a whole park area (at DHS) in fact.
An attraction where "Dick Tracy will recruit guests to shoot it out with gangsters bad guys"...

"It looked great, doesn't it? And not only the Dick Tracy Crime Stoppers attraction was envisioned for the Disney MGM Studios, but also for Disneyland, Anaheim for a whole new land: "Hollywoodland". And if you ask any imagineer who worked at WDI at that time and who had the luck to see the model, they will all tell you how great the attraction would have been.

Yes, but...the problem was that the box office of the movie didn't reached the WDC expectations, and, well, you know what kind of things happen when a "eagerly anticipated summer hit" finally is not that successful, don't you? That's right, all the plans were cancelled, and we're all still waiting for this Dick Tracy attraction..."

 

[wasabi girl]

This sums up my feelings exactly...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...isney-avatar-092211-20110921,0,5826653.column

This. Exactly.

 

[fromscratchmom]

You are not the only one. I'm still sucked in too.

But I'm also still really excited. Do I have more imagination than other? lol. I doubt that, but I just can't think of the possibility of a huge Disney project without my mind delving into all sorts of nifty ideas. I love the idea of seeing what they do with it, and like I said I liked the movie in spite of myself. I definitely had some criticisms of it. And I don't think I mentioned but I didn't even want to see it in 3-D which I generally don't like, gives me a headache.

But new stuff for the imagineers to sink their teeth into? I can't not get excited.

 

[Goofypop]

Narcissism at it's finest. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...isney-avatar-092211-20110921,0,5826653.column



I've read all the Potter books at least 10 times each (Seriously) and have seen each movie (with the exception of the last one that I've seen twice) about 10 times each. I love the franchise. Really. And I have seen Avatar twice. That's it. But I am so excited for this because of what Disney can do with it. Forget the movie. Try to look at this with zero regard for the movie. Think of how gorgeous this land is going to be. It will be amazing. Do I think Disney should have approached Peter Jackson with this idea? Yes. But they didn't. So you're either stuck with visiting Pandora or not going. Flip a coin.

Imagine how great it would be to visit Minas Tirith, the Shire, Rivendell, and Mordor. Eat and drink in a Middle Earth tavern. See Orcs, goblins, and elves walking around.

 

[nytimez]

They're going to base an entire area on ONE movie and sequels that haven't been released?

Disney doesn't learn from its mistakes.

Anyone here familiar with the "Dick Tracey" debacle?

Big difference here. Despite what you've read on these message boards, Avatar was a huge hit. It's made almost $3 billion globally so far -- or as much as the entire "Lord of the Rings" films combined.

People who dismiss that as a few rabid fanboys seeing the film again and again are delusional.

 

[pilferk]

They're going to base an entire area on ONE movie and sequels that haven't been released?

Disney doesn't learn from its mistakes.

Anyone here familiar with the "Dick Tracey" debacle?

See: http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2008/04/disney-mgm-studios-celebration-part_11.html

"Well, everybody at the WDC was so much convinced it (the movie Dick Tracey) will be a big hit that Walt Disney Imagineering designed a fantastic Dick Tracy attraction, a whole park area (at DHS) in fact.
An attraction where "Dick Tracy will recruit guests to shoot it out with gangsters bad guys"...

"It looked great, doesn't it? And not only the Dick Tracy Crime Stoppers attraction was envisioned for the Disney MGM Studios, but also for Disneyland, Anaheim for a whole new land: "Hollywoodland". And if you ask any imagineer who worked at WDI at that time and who had the luck to see the model, they will all tell you how great the attraction would have been.

Yes, but...the problem was that the box office of the movie didn't reached the WDC expectations, and, well, you know what kind of things happen when a "eagerly anticipated summer hit" finally is not that successful, don't you? That's right, all the plans were cancelled, and we're all still waiting for this Dick Tracy attraction..."

Couple things:

1) I don't see a byline, but I'm willing to bet that's a Jim Hill article. Jim tells a great story....but it's not always the whole story. A few pieces of concept art do not a greenlit attraction make. Lots of Imagineers come up with lots of blue sky ideas that never actually get picked up.

2) Avatar is not Dick Tracey. DT did horrible at the box office. Avatar did close to 2.8 BILLION. They're not even in the same galaxy, in terms of commercial success.

3) Again, you can't draw one set of parallels and NOT look at the others. For every Dick Tracey analogy, there's a Harry Potter analogy to be made. For every "Matrix" analogy, there is an opposing Star Wars analogy.

We don't know what Avatar 2 and 3 will do at the Box Office.

We know Avatar did crazy, disgusting, outrageous world wide (and domestic) numbers. We know Cameron has a pretty impressive resume since 1984, with pretty much NO clunkers. THAT'S what we know.

Everything else is unknown.

So you have a choice, as Disney: Wait until success is 100% proven (and, thus, give the competition a chance to swoop in OR risk that by the time you can get anything built, it's stale) OR Take a calculated risk.

Yes, it's possible Cameron tanks the franchise and Disney is left with a bomb to try to promote at AK. It's also possible they end up with a hugely HOT franchise that promotes itself and draws people through the turnstiles (something AK really needs).

But it's tough to point at this and say: Disney should learn from it's mistakes...and use Dick Tracey as the analogy.

 

[Pluto1976]

This sums up my feelings exactly...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...isney-avatar-092211-20110921,0,5826653.column

Yep, that article pretty much sums it up.

The first word that came to my mind when I heard about the Avatar land was, "Really?", the second word was "REALLY?", and the third, "REALLY?!?".

Maybe it's not too late for them to change their minds.

 

[fromscratchmom]

Maybe it's a kind of way of looking at it. For example, I like to read fantasy and I am a fan of the Eye of the World series. For all the years that I was impatient and to my great regret even joked once with a friend that the author had only one weakness as an author/storyteller: the inability to wrap up and finish and that he would die before he ever did... ouch, could a person feel worse about a casual joke? well...I have moved on. I've prayed for him and his family in their time of trials. And later on the other side, I have very few criticisms of the series or the author, beyond the years in between releases and their effect on me personally.

Now take George R. R. Martin. When I first picked up the beginning of his current series several years ago, I got pretty happy about thinking I had found another high caliber storyteller who could really design a whole world and get me to see it. But as it turned out I had to quit reading those books. They are just too dark and tragic. And I am not a wallowing in the muck kind of girl.

Would this stop me from getting excited about another new author in the future? absolutely not. why should it? I should be a pessimist from now on just because George R.R. Martin is all about hurting his characters and killing them? No. I can go right on being a basically happy person and seeing all the delicious possibilities and not worry about whatever dark demon is eating out that guy's insides. I hope he gets some relief from his angst at some point, but I am not personally destroyed by it.

And I'm not destroyed by the fact that the Disney parks have not been 100% successful in their various projects over the years either. The hope of their great successes remains. Its lives and lives in my heart. *cue the pixie dust*

Now if they happen to want my opinions.. I'll be happy to direct them towards the parts that I think have the best chances and away from the big danger zones I see.

 

[Goofypop]

Couple things:

1) I don't see a byline, but I'm willing to bet that's a Jim Hill article. Jim tells a great story....but it's not always the whole story. A few pieces of concept art do not a greenlit attraction make. Lots of Imagineers come up with lots of blue sky ideas that never actually get picked up.

2) Avatar is not Dick Tracey. DT did horrible at the box office. Avatar did close to 2.8 BILLION. They're not even in the same galaxy, in terms of commercial success.

3) Again, you can't draw one set of parallels and NOT look at the others. For every Dick Tracey analogy, there's a Harry Potter analogy to be made. For every "Matrix" analogy, there is an opposing Star Wars analogy.

We don't know what Avatar 2 and 3 will do at the Box Office.

We know Avatar did crazy, disgusting, outrageous world wide (and domestic) numbers. We know Cameron has a pretty impressive resume since 1984, with pretty much NO clunkers. THAT'S what we know.

Everything else is unknown.

So you have a choice, as Disney: Wait until success is 100% proven (and, thus, give the competition a chance to swoop in OR risk that by the time you can get anything built, it's stale) OR Take a calculated risk.

Yes, it's possible Cameron tanks the franchise and Disney is left with a bomb to try to promote at AK. It's also possible they end up with a hugely HOT franchise that promotes itself and draws people through the turnstiles (something AK really needs).

But it's tough to point at this and say: Disney should learn from it's mistakes...and use Dick Tracey as the analogy.

^ This.

 

[kidd_freeper]

Couple things:

1) I don't see a byline, but I'm willing to bet that's a Jim Hill article. Jim tells a great story....but it's not always the whole story. A few pieces of concept art do not a greenlit attraction make. Lots of Imagineers come up with lots of blue sky ideas that never actually get picked up.

2) Avatar is not Dick Tracey. DT did horrible at the box office. Avatar did close to 2.8 BILLION. They're not even in the same galaxy, in terms of commercial success.

3) Again, you can't draw one set of parallels and NOT look at the others. For every Dick Tracey analogy, there's a Harry Potter analogy to be made. For every "Matrix" analogy, there is an opposing Star Wars analogy.

We don't know what Avatar 2 and 3 will do at the Box Office.

We know Avatar did crazy, disgusting, outrageous world wide (and domestic) numbers. We know Cameron has a pretty impressive resume since 1984, with pretty much NO clunkers. THAT'S what we know.

Everything else is unknown.

So you have a choice, as Disney: Wait until success is 100% proven (and, thus, give the competition a chance to swoop in OR risk that by the time you can get anything built, it's stale) OR Take a calculated risk.

Yes, it's possible Cameron tanks the franchise and Disney is left with a bomb to try to promote at AK. It's also possible they end up with a hugely HOT franchise that promotes itself and draws people through the turnstiles (something AK really needs).

But it's tough to point at this and say: Disney should learn from it's mistakes...and use Dick Tracey as the analogy.

I saw Avatar in the theater. Excellent visual effects. And I got around the enviro-guilt thing by telling myself that this was an alien world and that's what happens there. It was good fun - but Avatar did not earn any deep interest like a Harry Potter movie did.

Will I pay another $12 to revisit another demonstartion special effects when Avatar-2 comes out? Unlikely - it'll depend on reviews, but they'll have to be stellar.

And yes, the point of my post is that Disney SHOULD wait to see how the Avatar sequels do. This is not a small investment that has been considered. In 10 years will there be a fanbase for Avatar like there has been for Star Wars? Or will Disney be making $500 million investments here and there to catch the wave of the latest (temporary) pop-culture craze? What new movie will replace Avatarland in 2020? Will there be adults who grew up on Avatar itching to take their kids to share their experience?

A single ride for Avatar would be a great first step. But to plan an entire land based on a movie and two possible flop sequels clearly shows that Disney hasn't learned its lesson from Dick Tracy

 

[Birdman1511]

Aww shucks...I was kindve hoping for a Bridesmaids land

 

[krb2g]

And the Version of the ride that predated the version immediately before the "Johnny Depp Refurb" was even more un-PC.... and arguably, even better than the PC version in the middle.



And for everyone who who's commented about why not a Star Wars Land... Maybe it's because of Lucas' infamous desire to keep a tight grip on all things Star Wars? It's one thing with Star Tours (which was developed in cooperation with Lucas back in the 80s), and Star Wars Weekends aren't really that big a deal as far as the legal side of it goes. But building out an entire land with more attractions and/or locations built upon George's universe, I can quite honestly see being a much more complicated negotiation process with George's OCD levels of perfectionism and desire to constantly "make it better" and not cede control of his baby. (You think JK's desires for WWoHP were strict, odds are George's would be much stricter)

The other thing about a Star Wars land is that they've just finished a major refurbishment of Star Tours (and spent a lot of money on it). Every report I've heard about it (I won't get to see it in person till December) has been really positive. But now that they've spent all that money, Star Wars fans have something new to experience, and I'd guess there aren't that many people who would come to see Star Wars land that weren't already coming to see Star Tours 2.0. Whereas with Avatar, they get two benefits: 1) a new group of fans (potentially) and 2) expand the capacity of AK, which is the least popular park (I'm sure Disney wants it to be a must-do to take a full day of the tourist's vacation week). I do think that DHS could use more attractions (especially another family-friendly E-ticket to ease the pressure on TSMM), but I can see how expanding AK would be more urgent from Disney's (and a bottom-line) perspective.

 

[laine&connorsmom]

WOW, call me leftist then if I care about the environment, and what's being done to our planet. Avatar Land is a great idea. Those who don't care for it, should just avoid this land, and not complain . Better yet, let's all sign a petition for Disney to bring DisneySea to WDW.

I think it is awesome!! For those of you who don't get why this fits in with AK...watch the movie! Whether you liked the movie or not....the message is one we all need to understand! I think if this is done right, it will be great!

 

[pilferk]

Maybe it's a kind of way of looking at it. For example, I like to read fantasy and I am a fan of the Eye of the World series. For all the years that I was impatient and to my great regret even joked once with a friend that the author had only one weakness as an author/storyteller: the inability to wrap up and finish and that he would die before he ever did... ouch, could a person feel worse about a casual joke? well...I have moved on. I've prayed for him and his family in their time of trials. And later on the other side, I have very few criticisms of the series or the author, beyond the years in between releases and their effect on me personally.

Now take George R. R. Martin. When I first picked up the beginning of his current series several years ago, I got pretty happy about thinking I had found another high caliber storyteller who could really design a whole world and get me to see it. But as it turned out I had to quit reading those books. They are just too dark and tragic. And I am not a wallowing in the muck kind of girl.

Probably already grabbed them, but:

Goodkind's Sword of Truth series
All the Feist books
Butcher's Dresden books (less fantasy, but still very good)

 

[pilferk]

I saw Avatar in the theater. Excellent visual effects. And I got around the enviro-guilt thing by telling myself that this was an alien world and that's what happens there. It was good fun - but Avatar did not earn any deep interest like a Harry Potter movie did.

Will I pay another $12 to revisit another demonstartion special effects when Avatar-2 comes out? Unlikely - it'll depend on reviews, but they'll have to be stellar.

A perfectly valid personal opinion.
I'm not sure (given some of the furor I hear on the sci fi boards/community and amongst Avatar fans in general) it's one that's widely held.

And yes, the point of my post is that Disney SHOULD wait to see how the Avatar sequels do. This is not a small investment that has been considered. In 10 years will there be a fanbase for Avatar like there has been for Star Wars? Or will Disney be making $500 million investments here and there to catch the wave of the latest (temporary) pop-culture craze? What new movie will replace Avatarland in 2020? Will there be adults who grew up on Avatar itching to take their kids to share their experience?

Calculated risk is part of business. If you want a business to ALWAYS play it safe...you'll want to follow a business like Kodak, which is dying a slow, painful death because it failed to see the writing on the wall in terms of digital tech.

The answer to your later questions is: Nobody knows. But you can't simply predict doom and gloom and not see clear that it could very well be bright and sunny skies. We. Don't. Know.

Kvetching based on worst possible scenario/outcome without a balancing view point would lead to complete stagnation.

A single ride for Avatar would be a great first step. But to plan an entire land based on a movie and two possible flop sequels clearly shows that Disney hasn't learned its lesson from Dick Tracy

Based on a movie that grossed 2.8 billion from a director who hasn't had a clunker in over 20 year...and who's movies make SCADS of money and sell SCADS of tickets (neither of which pertains to Dick Tracey/Warren Beatty, FYI).

As for proposing a "single ride"....in for a penny, in for a pound. Perhaps the Disney execs knew that, to get the rights, they were going to have to go "big" for Cameron (who is notoriously uncompromising in his vision) or they wouldn't get the deal.

Again, calculated risk.

And Dick Tracey <> Avatar. It's not apt. For all the reasons I outlined in the first post. They've got zippo to do with each other.

 

[Babbletrish]

I would freak out (and do....when watching Temple of Doom) were humans eating other simians.

Ducks (and cranes) eating chicken and turkey seems...wrong.

(gasp) Could it be... another avian biology geek here at Dis?

(Bro-fists Pilferk with her copy of Paul's Dinosaurs of the Air. )

Many, many words about a planned -and scrapped- Dick Tracy attraction.

This is the same Disney that had Gurgi's Munchie-Crunchies where Mrs. Pott's Cupboard now (or until just recently) sits in all the years between "Black Cauldron" and "Beauty and the Beast". And the snack bar at Castaway Cay is named Cookie's, which is basically daring Disney fans to get the reference. So, no, I don't think Disney cares all that much about a film's reputation; they just want to make cool attractions.

Aww shucks...I was kinda hoping for a Bridesmaids land

(Ignoring the fact that "Bridesmaids" was released by [dun-dun-DUN] Universal...)

On the same note, I reiterate from several pages ago: Defictionalize Jack Rabbit Slim's please. K Thnx.