Disney release preview of avatar attractions

[lockedoutlogic]

I agree this has the potential to be one of the best themed lands in the world....Zholt Hormay who was responsible for carsland and mysterious island at Disney sea is creating the rock work
DAK will go from a park that closes before dark to THE park to visit at night
this will change the dynamics of WDW

Woah... Throttle back.

If done well it will be a significant addition...but the IP is still gonna be a dud.

Youre gonna get a ton of confused faces walking past this thing when it opens...struggling to remember what avatar is.

That won't effect it too much if done well...but there's little draw on the surface.

Remember...people don't wait 2 hours to take a picture with Elsa because the IP didnt matter... She's usually - frankly - kinda haggish anyway...
You know I'm right on that one

 

[DDLand]

there is no stated public figure

Pardon, you're accurate. However the fact that every news story cited 1.1 billion and never adjusted that figure seems a bit dubious don't you think? I'm pretty sure Disney may have something to do with that...

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Is one of the rides a boat ride and not that fake stuff like Star Tours. I want to actually move around a building not sit in one spot.

Agree...Disney simulators stink. They've yet to replicate anything close to Spider-Man... And that was Only built 17 or so years ago

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Pardon, you're accurate. However the fact that every news story cited 1.1 billion and never adjusted that figure seems a bit dubious don't you think? I'm pretty sure Disney may have something to do with that...

As they always do...
They always inflate/deflate budgets to suit them for PR effect

You know what the "official" pricetag for animal kingdom was? 800 million..


Guinness published 2.2 billion in 2000...
Much more accurate and a boatload of joe rohde frivolity at the time

 

[WendyLou]

Looks beautiful!

 

[DDLand]

As they always do...
They always inflate/deflate budgets to suit them for PR effect

You know what the "official" pricetag for animal kingdom was? 800 million..


Guinness published 2.2 billion in 2000...
Much more accurate and a boatload of joe rohde frivolity at the time

What was most scary was how it was only half finished...

 

[twebber55]

Woah... Throttle back.

If done well it will be a significant addition...but the IP is still gonna be a dud.

Youre gonna get a ton of confused faces walking past this thing when it opens...struggling to remember what avatar is.

That won't effect it too much if done well...but there's little draw on the surface.

Remember...people don't wait 2 hours to take a picture with Elsa because the IP didnt matter... She's usually - frankly - kinda haggish anyway...
You know I'm right on that one

Woah... Throttle back.
oh locked out you are absolutely one of if not the best poster on this site....and believe it or not I agree with most of your postings but I sure hope you re around here in 2 years when this opens and we can discuss what actually happens

If done well it will be a significant addition...but the IP is still gonna be a dud.

Youre gonna get a ton of confused faces walking past this thing when it opens...struggling to remember what avatar is.

That won't effect it too much if done well...but there's little draw on the surface.

Remember...people don't wait 2 hours to take a picture with Elsa because the IP didnt matter... She's usually - frankly - kinda haggish anyway...
You know I'm right on that one

oh locked out you are one of if not the best posters on here and I agree with you most of the time
but I sure do hope you are around in 2 years when this opens and we can discuss this land based on its merits

 

[rteetz]

btw OLC rejected Avatar as well as Cars land

OLC does what they want and they are doing just fine without them. Their FLE will be incredible. Then they are adding a new port in DisneySea which is most likely frozen as it's been said they will get 500 million dollar Arrendale land.

 

[rteetz]

Is one of the rides a boat ride and not that fake stuff like Star Tours. I want to actually move around a building not sit in one spot.

One ride is a boat ride and the other is a simulator Soarin type ride where you ride on a banshee

 

[DDLand]

We know they were gunning for Oriental Land to build it (wouldn't you guys say that spot in TDS that's likely now Frozen related would've fit the bill?) but we're rejected flat out.

btw OLC rejected Avatar as well as Cars land

Yep, like I said.

As for:

expect to see this either in Paris or HK in the next several years

I'm not so sure. Disney is all about that IP, and brand. Why should they support Avatar in more Disney Parks when they're bursting at the seems with great content?

Star Wars, Pixar, WDA, Pirates, Marvel, Disney Princess, etc.

They're swimming in it. I'd expect Disney holds off moving forward with that to gauge how these new Avatar movies do.

Plus Cameron is a pain.

The only advantage these properties have is the fact that they've already been developed, (which may be reason enough for Disney. Love that $ savings) still it seems too early to make proclamations like that. A wait and see approach is better.

 

[twebber55]

OLC does what they want and they are doing just fine without them. Their FLE will be incredible. Then they are adding a new port in DisneySea which is most likely frozen as it's been said they will get 500 million dollar Arrendale land.

I agree
the point I was trying to make was, the poster brought up how avatar land was rejected by OLC but didn't mention other things proposed to them that were being rejected like cars land....sometimes the whole story needs to be told

 

[twebber55]

Yep, like I said.

As for:


I'm not so sure. Disney is all about that IP, and brand. Why should they support Avatar in more Disney Parks when they're bursting at the seems with great content?

Star Wars, Pixar, WDA, Pirates, Marvel, Disney Princess, etc.

They're swimming in it. I'd expect Disney holds off moving forward with that to gauge how these new Avatar movies do.

Plus Cameron is a pain.

The only advantage these properties have is the fact that they've already been developed, (which may be reason enough for Disney. Love that $ savings) still it seems too early to make proclamations like that. A wait and see approach is better.

because avatar was incredibly popular around the world like Europe and asia
sometimes we need to recognize that even though I don't like something there is a huge audience out there for it
but like I said, lets have this discussion in two years when this opens to see how successful it is

 

[DDLand]

because avatar was incredibly popular around the world like Europe and asia
sometimes we need to recognize that even though I don't like something there is a huge audience out there for it
but like I said, lets have this discussion in two years when this opens to see how successful it is

The popularity of Avatar isn't extremely relevant to Iger's strategy. He wants people going to Disney Parks, thinking about Disney Brands, and buying Disney merchandise.

Avatar falls down on the job in two of those criteria.

I'm not an expert on the popularity of Avatar in Hong Kong or Europe, but what Iger has made very clear is just how critical he views brands. Avatar is a no go in that respect.

@twebber55 you're the only one making bold predictions around here... As I said a wait and see approach is better.

You're swaying way too far to the instant success category. Let's not try to predict what theme parks will be getting it yet. There are serious momentum issues that you can't ignore. It does look beautiful though.

We'll see...

 

[twebber55]

The popularity of Avatar isn't extremely relevant to Iger's strategy. He wants people going to Disney Parks, thinking about Disney Brands, and buying Disney merchandise.

Avatar falls down on the job in two of those criteria.

I'm not an expert on the popularity of Avatar in Hong Kong or Europe, but what Iger has made very clear is just how critical he views brands. Avatar is a no go in that respect.

@twebber55 you're the only one making bold predictions around here... As I said a wait and see approach is better.

You're swaying way too far to the instant success category. Let's not try to predict what theme parks will be getting it yet. There are serious momentum issues that you can't ignore. It does look beautiful though.

We'll see...

the only bold prediction im making is I think it will be every bit as big as cars land
the rest of both of our comments are opinions, saying avatar is a no go is your opinion period, obviously they feel the highest grossing film of all time can be easily adaptable in a theme park setting establishing DAK as a night time park
gotta think this and ROL will drive attendance, how much remains to be seen

I think the bigger bolder prediction is that of Pandora's impending doom

 

[DDLand]

expect to see this either in Paris or HK in the next several years

the only bold prediction im making is I think it will be every bit as big as cars land

I'd disagree. That's a whopper right there. Before seeing results, before discussing with partners, before seeing how the perpetually delayed movies do, and before Star Wars was bought you think they're just going to build it?

Hold your horses, several hundred million is a bold prediction.

Now as for Carsland parity, maybe. I'm not so sure though. Remember Carsland is what turned DCA into one of the largest theme parks in the world by attendance. Actually a better comparison to CL would be Everest. That's what put DAK on the map just like RSRs.

Avatar is all about maximizing existing infrastructure, and getting guests to stay full days. You're probably not going to see the 20%+ attendance growth like Cars Land. Impossible really. Will it be a great addition? It's looking like it.

Though that IP still stinks.

the rest of both of our comments are opinions, saying avatar is a no go is your opinion period, obviously they feel the highest grossing film of all time can be easily adaptable in a theme park setting establishing DAK as a night time park
gotta think this and ROL will drive attendance, how much remains to be seen

I think the bigger bolder prediction is that of Pandora's impending doom

Wait a second @twebber55. You took my quote completely out of context.

The popularity of Avatar isn't extremely relevant to Iger's strategy. He wants people going to Disney Parks, thinking about Disney Brands, and buying Disney merchandise.

Avatar falls down on the job in two of those criteria.

I'm not an expert on the popularity of Avatar in Hong Kong or Europe, but what Iger has made very clear is just how critical he views brands. Avatar is a no go in that respect.

I think my quote speaks for itself.

You're right about opinions.

Yeah, that is a bold prediction. When did I say that? Calm down, and read what all of us with concerns are saying. I understand not wanting to think projects are automatically DOA. I'm one of the people around who thinks Shanghai is going to work. Sometimes you do have to realize concerns are real and warranted though. Disney is going to be fighting an uphill battle in China introducing millions to a premium theme park experience with characters they don't know. Also it may take a couple years to a decade to start making money. You've got to realize me and @lockedoutlogic aren't saying it's going to bomb. There's a middle ground. We're saying wait and see. We're also saying there's real risk, and that it's silly to completely ignore it.

If you want my opinion, I think it's going to be a pretty big success. I think all sorts of people are going to love what they find there. I also think it will have an awesome effect on DAK.

With that said, I think the IP stinks...

Corrected

 

[skier_pete]

The popularity of Avatar isn't extremely relevant to Iger's strategy. He wants people going to Disney Parks, thinking about Disney Brands, and buying Disney merchandise.

Avatar falls down on the job in two of those criteria.

I think the reason Iger was acceptant of it was that they were looking for something to work in to AK, and that Pandora fit the theme. IN addition, it was very popular internationally and they are still hoping to clone the lands. This may not happen now until the success of the sequels/AK land is shown.

 

[DDLand]

I think the reason Iger was acceptant of it was that they were looking for something to work in to AK, and that Pandora fit the theme. IN addition, it was very popular internationally and they are still hoping to clone the lands. This may not happen now until the success of the sequels/AK land is shown.

I think there's a lot of truth in this. We also have to remember the time period when this all started getting worked on. HP was just getting off the ground, and Disney probably got nervous. DAK had been a problem for a while, and it was begging for fix. Kill two birds with one stone. With all that Marvel IP locked out (of course they'd never build anything like that in DAK) Disney took Avatar in the hope they could combat HP like that. Also with that foreign appeal they could even get Oriental Land to cover half the design costs.

An HP killer, and DAK fixer all half off? They went with that.

Then Cameron was himself, Oriental Land got ticked, HP didn't end up making much of a difference to Disney after all, and Disney got access to Star Wars and Frozen.

Killed the urgency a little bit...

 

[clsteve]

After looking at that teaser video, one thing's for sure - just like we'd talked about before. This is all about the nighttime. Taking DAK from it's 2 hours before dark "unofficial" close when everybody heads somewhere else and instead, keeping guests there or making them head over there for the new night show, plus all of those new glowing plants will help alleviate some of that MK Wishes pressure that can almost be scary sometimes.

And, DAK should be a beautiful Park at night. Good lighting, in all of that foliage can be spectacular. BG Williamsburg is that way at night.

But, the rest of the Park needs some beefing up, capacity-wise and nighttime entertainment-wise. Can't have everybody crammed in Avatar because that's the best place to be at night. MK is great that way at night. So is EPCOT. EPCOt doesn't have the ride capacity of MK to swallow up a lot of guests in the evenings. But its layout, with that huge expanse around the lagoon, all the countries facing it, nothing major in the way obscuring site lines makes up for that, a bit for Illuminations.

Maybe it will be fine. I know they've cleared additional space and widened walkways. But evening guest flow is going to be interesting.

And, am I the only one curious what they're going to serve in a restaurant themed to a Planet that's toxic to humans....?

Maybe the leftover lobster from Narcoossees....??

 

[Lee Matthews]

I wonder if at the time of announcing Avatarland how far along they were with buying Lucasfilm because they could of easily stuck more Star Wars inplace other than Hollywood Studios. Like an Endor or Kysskkkkk land with Wookies and Ewoks

 

[twebber55]

I'd disagree. That's a whopper right there. Before seeing results, before discussing with partners, before seeing how the perpetually delayed movies do, and before Star Wars was bought you think they're just going to build it?

Hold your horses, several hundred million is a bold prediction.

Now as for Carsland parity, maybe. I'm not so sure though. Remember Carsland is what turned DCA into one of the largest theme parks in the world by attendance. Actually a better comparison to CL would be Everest. That's what put DAK on the map just like RSRs.

Avatar is all about maximizing existing infrastructure, and getting guests to stay full days. You're probably not going to see the 60%+ attendance growth like Cars Land. Impossible really. Will it be a great addition? It's looking like it.

Though that IP still stinks.



Wait a second @twebber55. You took my quote completely out of context.



I think my quote speaks for itself.

You're right about opinions.

Yeah, that is a bold prediction. When did I say that? Calm down, and read what all of us with concerns are saying. I understand not wanting to think projects are automatically DOA. I'm one of the people around who thinks Shanghai is going to work. Sometimes you do have to realize concerns are real and warranted though. Disney is going to be fighting an uphill battle in China introducing millions to a premium theme park experience with characters they don't know. Also it may take a couple years to a decade to start making money. You've got to realize me and @lockedoutlogic aren't saying it's going to bomb. There's a middle ground. We're saying wait and see. We're also saying there's real risk, and that it's silly to completely ignore it.

If you want my opinion, I think it's going to be a pretty big success. I think all sorts of people are going to love what they find there. I also think it will have an awesome effect on DAK.

With that said, I think the IP stinks...

and just like its been said many times over IP doesn't make or break a ride or themed land
and cars land most certainly didn't have a 60% growth, try 15% tops
which is about what I expect from the DAK expansion
all guesses, good discussion though....thanks