Avatar Land

[rteetz]

I suspect at D23 we'll get another vague possible season but at destination D in november we'll get a firm date if they know it. This thread is a good example on how people are going to delay vacations so they can come to see it after it's opened. Unfortunately it also means they can't really say the target date if it looks firm because it impacts business and they aren't going to impact the summer or fall to say it now.

There is no D23 this year.

 

[Accident]

There is no D23 this year.

shows how much I'm paying attention.. ok so november for the next vague when it may not open guess

 

[Lee Matthews]

Looks like my trip to WDW is being pushed back a year to October 2017, so now is my hope they get their skates on

 

[brich330]

With the issues at Shanghai I would safely plan on at least a slight delay. They don't like having shell out to much money at once. It could upset there almighty shareholders who I guess
they think will release the Kraken if they do.

 

[rteetz]

With the issues at Shanghai I would safely plan on at least a slight delay. They don't like having shell out to much money at once. It could upset there almighty shareholders who I guess
they think will release the Kraken if they do.

Avatar is already paid for though. Shanghai isn't affecting that new land. Shanghai has and will affect toy story and Star Wars land though.

 

[Eoghann]

Avatar is already paid for though. Shanghai isn't affecting that new land. Shanghai has and will affect toy story and Star Wars land though.

Well... that depends.

If they are really as over-budget as some rumors claim then the additional money has to come from somewhere, so there could still be an impact on smaller elements of the land and timing.

However, I think the badly need Avatarland in order for night time AK to work so I can't see them delaying it very much.

 

[rteetz]

Well... that depends.

If they are really as over-budget as some rumors claim then the additional money has to come from somewhere, so there could still be an impact on smaller elements of the land and timing.

However, I think the badly need Avatarland in order for night time AK to work so I can't see them delaying it very much.

Avatar is over budget but I haven't heard of anything being cut. It would be hard to cut anything big this far into construction. I'm sure they could cut small stuff that most guests don't know about but that's about it.

 

[Eoghann]

Avatar is over budget but I haven't heard of anything being cut. It would be hard to cut anything big this far into construction. I'm sure they could cut small stuff that most guests don't know about but that's about it.

I'm not saying it's going to happen, actually I think it's unlikely, but if they wanted to save money because of the over-runs some of the things they could do without changing the announced features include greening the engineering crews, reducing crew sizes and reducing hours. All of which potentially could impact the opening date for Avatar.

People often talk about budgets as though they are set in stone, but they really aren't. Big companies make these sorts of adjustments all the time. The only actual guarantee that a project won't be hit by a schedule change or a budget cut is when that project is complete.

 

[brich330]

I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but I'm actually looking forward to this land more than I am Star Wars. Star Wars Land look cool, but it will be packed for years like Diagon Alley. I know Avatar Land will also be packed however I don't think it'll be quite the commotion that Star Wars will be. I hope after all of this they start focusing on Epcot. It needs some love.

 

[Eoghann]

I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but I'm actually looking forward to this land more than I am Star Wars. Star Wars Land look cool, but it will be packed for years like Diagon Alley. I know Avatar Land will also be packed however I don't think it'll be quite the commotion that Star Wars will be. I hope after all of this they start focusing on Epcot. It needs some love.

I'm not sure that either land will be packed in the way Diagon Alley is. The ride queues will be absurdly long but I don't think it will feel packed. Diagon Alley was designed to be cramped and claustrophobic, Avatar and Star Wars will given their huge acreage will likely be quite spacious.

 

[DVCcurious]

Since New Fantasyland was a large expansion that happened recently can anyone figure out what Disney "promised" as the opening dates back when New Fantasyland was announced vs what the "actual" opening date was?

Then we'd have a pretty good comparison. For example, if Disney said New Fantasyland was opening in 2011 and it opened in 2013 then we could assume that Avatarland would also open 2 years after the original "promise"

 

[rteetz]

Since New Fantasyland was a large expansion that happened recently can anyone figure out what Disney "promised" as the opening dates back when New Fantasyland was announced vs what the "actual" opening date was?

Then we'd have a pretty good comparison. For example, if Disney said New Fantasyland was opening in 2011 and it opened in 2013 then we could assume that Avatarland would also open 2 years after the original "promise"

What? New Fantasyland wasn't announced to open in 2011. It also opened in phases, the first phase in 2012, second phase late 2012/early 2013, and final phase in 2014.

Avatar isn't supposed to open in phases. It will all open in 2017 whether it's early, mid or late in the year we don't know but it's supposed to open sometime during that year.

 

[DVCcurious]

Were the dates the phases would open announced years in advance? Did the New Fantasyland phases open on schedule? If yes, then we could expect Avatarland and Star Wars Land to open on schedule.

That's all I'm saying, if you want to see whether Disney does things "on schedule" then look to the most recent major project and see if that came in "on schedule" and use that information to speculate whether their next major project will be "on schedule" or delayed.

 

[Eoghann]

Were the dates the phases would open announced years in advance? Did the New Fantasyland phases open on schedule? If yes, then we could expect Avatarland and Star Wars Land to open on schedule.

That's all I'm saying, if you want to see whether Disney does things "on schedule" then look to the most recent major project and see if that came in "on schedule" and use that information to speculate whether their next major project will be "on schedule" or delayed.

They generally only announce dates when they are very close to them or in vague terms like "Summer 2017".

On the rare occasions they don't... well... see River of Lights.

 

[DanBoris]

Were the dates the phases would open announced years in advance? Did the New Fantasyland phases open on schedule? If yes, then we could expect Avatarland and Star Wars Land to open on schedule.

That's all I'm saying, if you want to see whether Disney does things "on schedule" then look to the most recent major project and see if that came in "on schedule" and use that information to speculate whether their next major project will be "on schedule" or delayed.

Fantasyland was an odd case since it was announced with one set of attractions (the fancy M&Gs) but was switched to the Mine Ride very late in the development process, so it's hard to use it as a measure of what is expected.

 

[rteetz]

Were the dates the phases would open announced years in advance? Did the New Fantasyland phases open on schedule? If yes, then we could expect Avatarland and Star Wars Land to open on schedule.

That's all I'm saying, if you want to see whether Disney does things "on schedule" then look to the most recent major project and see if that came in "on schedule" and use that information to speculate whether their next major project will be "on schedule" or delayed.

Disney doesn't announce specific dates far in advance they use 2017 or summer 2016 to be vague and have time in case they are delayed a bit.

 

[RayO]

There is hope. An AK CM friend of mine and I had a conversation about Avatar Land. This is a direct quote: "You should see avatarland. Man that **** is coming along." I did edit one word, but they are impressed on how it currently looks. Wither or not that means the internal attractions will be completed on time is another story. The externals are looking "amazing."

 

[rteetz]

There is hope. An AK CM friend of mine and I had a conversation about Avatar Land. This is a direct quote: "You should see avatarland. Man that **** is coming along." I did edit one word, but they are impressed on how it currently looks. Wither or not that means the internal attractions will be completed on time is another story. The externals are looking "amazing."

That's what I've been hearing. Even universal fans are impressed.

 

[disneynutz]

My family has learned to give anything new, time to mature. CM training, working the bugs out, waiting for the "new" rush to be over is worth the wait.

Bill

 

[RayO]

I have an educated guess, and will say to keep an eye out for Summer 17. I won't say any more than that.