Fantasyland & Avatar "blown" / compared to WWOHP (Really)? + Star Wars Land thoughts

[dcp1234]

Have there been any rumored dates for when avatarland is supposed to open? I'm assuming it is sometime in 2016 at the very earliest knowing.

 

[Disneychick75]

Have there been any rumored dates for when avatarland is supposed to open? I'm assuming it is sometime in 2016 at the very earliest knowing.

2017
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_Land
Avatar Land is a themed area currently being constructed at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida based upon the film franchise by James Cameron. Construction began on January 10, 2014, with the land expected to open by early 2017.

 

[mirandaperez10]

Maybe I am the only one who wishes they would create more shows maybe on where it immerses you in a world through smells and sight and moving seats I want to feel like I am on an adventure!!

Faith, Trust, and..PIXIE DUST.

 

[laurapitcher]

I love the people in this forum that are being positive about Avatar land -- I hate the movie Cars but I love Cars land. I have the feeling that Avatar land will be the same way for me. Disney excels at creating immersive experiences, so it makes sense that they are going to buy the rights to things that give them the ability to create such experiences. Avatar and a future Star Wars land will give them a home run.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter might be good - but its the only bright spot at Universal Studios. The rest of the park is floundering, and poorly themed.

 

[Disneychick75]

I love the people in this forum that are being positive about Avatar land -- I hate the movie Cars but I love Cars land. I have the feeling that Avatar land will be the same way for me. Disney excels at creating immersive experiences, so it makes sense that they are going to buy the rights to things that give them the ability to create such experiences. Avatar and a future Star Wars land will give them a home run.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter might be good - but its the only bright spot at Universal Studios. The rest of the park is floundering, and poorly themed.

Disagree 100%

 

[ahoyle]

I love the people in this forum that are being positive about Avatar land -- I hate the movie Cars but I love Cars land. I have the feeling that Avatar land will be the same way for me. Disney excels at creating immersive experiences, so it makes sense that they are going to buy the rights to things that give them the ability to create such experiences. Avatar and a future Star Wars land will give them a home run.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter might be good - but its the only bright spot at Universal Studios. The rest of the park is floundering, and poorly themed.

This is a joke post right? I mean in it you are talking about avatarland and the still unannounced star wars land being a home run. You state it as a fact. Then you say HP might be good, showing you havent been there. No it is good. The concensus is it is the best.

Also, with all your trips to Universal, which parts do you find floundering and poorly themed? I'd be curious on the specifics here, rather than just the Disney is great, Universal sucks fanboy biased argument.

And btw, I go to Disney parks about 3 times a month, and havent been to US in about 2 years. So I am definitely a Disney person first. I just hate to read posts like this.

 

[JoeA]

I'm a little confused by the, "I don't like the movie Avatar so I won't like the park" talk.

I saw 1/2 of the 1st HP movie and the only part of the books I read was the front of the cover.

Should I avoid Universal? That would be a shame since I hear they did a pretty nice job and would like to see it.

I like cool things. That's how I roll.

If Disney creates a unique experience and cool rides it will be a hit and a boost to AK. If they try and put up a sign and a lame attraction with blue people and think they can rely on the draw and appeal of the movie it will be a bust.

Pretty simple IMO.

 

[chapie1968]

Have there been any rumored dates for when avatarland is supposed to open?

If you follow the pattern from the 7DMT, Avatarland should open sometime in 2025

 

[ahoyle]

I'm a little confused by the, "I don't like the movie Avatar so I won't like the park" talk.

I saw 1/2 of the 1st HP movie and the only part of the books I read was the front of the cover.

Should I avoid Universal? That would be a shame since I hear they did a pretty nice job and would like to see it.

I like cool things. That's how I roll.

If Disney creates a unique experience and cool rides it will be a hit and a boost to AK. If they try and put up a sign and a lame attraction with blue people and think they can rely on the draw and appeal of the movie it will be a bust.

Pretty simple IMO.

Completely agree with your post. People get way over concerned with the theme. A good theme adds to a ride. But its not the ride. How many people like Splash Mountain based off the cartoon?

 

[twebber55]

I'm a little confused by the, "I don't like the movie Avatar so I won't like the park" talk.

I saw 1/2 of the 1st HP movie and the only part of the books I read was the front of the cover.

Should I avoid Universal? That would be a shame since I hear they did a pretty nice job and would like to see it.

I like cool things. That's how I roll.

If Disney creates a unique experience and cool rides it will be a hit and a boost to AK. If they try and put up a sign and a lame attraction with blue people and think they can rely on the draw and appeal of the movie it will be a bust.

Pretty simple IMO.

very well said and a voice of reason
Avatar BTW 100% paid for by Disney to think other wise is somewhat incredulous
big makeover is coming to DHS a big makeover is already happening at DAK so hopefully time s are changing at WDW

 

[wallrock]

Avatar BTW 100% paid for by Disney to think other wise is somewhat incredulous

If Disney was in charge of the pocketbook then why didn't they go with some of their own property instead of Avatar? With the vast amount of material that Disney can pull from - material they have complete control over - what would have been the incentive to allow something else to come in that they have little or no control over? Unless you've got some solid information stating otherwise I'm inclined to believe that Cameron and company paid the bill.

 

[rteetz]

very well said and a voice of reason Avatar BTW 100% paid for by Disney to think other wise is somewhat incredulous big makeover is coming to DHS a big makeover is already happening at DAK so hopefully time s are changing at WDW

The way James Cameron and the team are involved in the avatar project makes me believe that Disney isn't 100% paying for everything. From everything I've heard James Cameron isn't an easy person to work with he only likes the best things possible. I can't wait to see what this expansion brings but I think there is more too it than just disney using avatar.

 

[twebber55]

If Disney was in charge of the pocketbook then why didn't they go with some of their own property instead of Avatar? With the vast amount of material that Disney can pull from - material they have complete control over - what would have been the incentive to allow something else to come in that they have little or no control over? Unless you've got some solid information stating otherwise I'm inclined to believe that Cameron and company paid the bill.

water over/under the bridge however you want to say it...they wanted to tap into a different market with the highest grossing film of all time..not like its a bad idea they ve don it before...side note im not debating this for the 82nd time

they approached Cameron remember.....not the other way around..every insider on every disney board that i read says there is no way Fox or Cameron is footing any of the bill

 

[ahoyle]

Just like Rowling didn't pay for any of HP land...but was heavily involved. Cameron is very controlling of his property, but he wouldnt allow someone else to use it without being paid and being involved. Nothing wrong with that in my mind. But yeah, no way he is footing the bill for anything there.

 

[MrsHeg]

I LOVE this!

 

[NJOGRE]

Personally, I think Star Wars has nothing on Harry Potter. If Disney doesn't hit it out of the park with the next movies they will really have nothing. Harry Potter has like 7 recent movies that were defining to a generation. Star wars has 6, the first three were awesome and defining to a generation, the next three kind of sucked and were more about CGI than anything else. The generation that star wars captivated is now in their 60s, and their kids have moved out of the house. Their kids are now having kids and those people grew up on Harry Potter killing the box office and a few crappy star wars movies here and there. Sure Star Wars will draw crowds however I really don't think that they will be able to maintain public interest for the next 20 years like Harry Potter will UNLESS the new movies are absolute classics (which I doubt they will be honestly)

I think you are a little off on the ages of people that were captivated with the first 3 Star Wars are probably in there 40s not 60s. And yes they have kids and Star Wars is still a huge part of there kids lives

 

[circus4u]

I think you are a little off on the ages of people that were captivated with the first 3 Star Wars are probably in there 40s not 60s. And yes they have kids and Star Wars is still a huge part of there kids lives

Thank you for the compliment, but I am definitely in my 60s and my kids are in their late 30s or early 40s. All of us enjoyed Star Wars as do our grandkids now.

 

[Joben]

This is a joke post right? I mean in it you are talking about avatarland and the still unannounced star wars land being a home run. You state it as a fact. Then you say HP might be good, showing you havent been there. No it is good. The concensus is it is the best.

Also, with all your trips to Universal, which parts do you find floundering and poorly themed? I'd be curious on the specifics here, rather than just the Disney is great, Universal sucks fanboy biased argument.

And btw, I go to Disney parks about 3 times a month, and havent been to US in about 2 years. So I am definitely a Disney person first. I just hate to read posts like this.

For me Universal is not as immersive as Disney. The WWoHP was impressive and immersive, but there were lines for everything: rides(very long) Food(pretty long) merchandise shops(really a line just to get into the store to buy merchandise) I know Disney gets crowded and lines can get long, but to me Universal was worse. Now I went a couple of years ago when the WWoHP had been open not that long so I'm sure things are better now, though I'm sure with the new expansion things might have picked up again.
However, for me, the major difference between the two are the people that work there. Disney has all types of people from different areas and different ages and they seem to really care that your "experience" is a magical one. I only went to universal once, so it is a small sample size, But the people I saw working there were if not teenagers, very young adults who couldn't care one bit about the people in front of them.
Case in point. I'm waiting in line for a ride, I get to a point where I have to stop before going inside to another line to wait in. 15-20 minutes go by and I'm just waiting for the employee (stereotypical apathetic teenager with an incredibly bored glazed look on his face) to tell me to advance as he did to all the people that had been before me. finally another employe walks in front of this person, sees a line of people waiting, stops and says the ride is down and they don't know how long it will take to fix. rides "breaking" for an undetermined amount of time seemed to be a common thing that day too. never once got on the Hulk.
The ride breakage wasn't that big of a deal, the crowds wasn't that big of a deal. The slack jawed apathetic idiot staring at me made me want to never go back. Will I go back...probably. But the last reason is why Disney will always outshine Universal in my book.

 

[Spacedog1975]

Theory: Cameron clearly wants Avatar to be his legacy in the same way that the Star Wars universe is for George Lucas. It is not unreasonable to think that when he's done making his 4 films that he'll want to sell the property to Disney to farm it further.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

water over/under the bridge however you want to say it...they wanted to tap into a different market with the highest grossing film of all time..not like its a bad idea they ve don it before...side note im not debating this for the 82nd time

they approached Cameron remember.....not the other way around..every insider on every disney board that i read says there is no way Fox or Cameron is footing any of the bill

I think you're kidding yourself.

The only way I buy that Disney was desperate for boy property and went to beg Cameron ended on 10/28/12 when nothing had been done at animal kingdom.

Come on, now...avatar sold a bunch of tickets...then DIED!!!

Gone, no product, no staying power.
Why on earth would a company that ONLY cares about merchandise and staying power approach Cameron with their checkbook? Why?

That doesn't make sense. Not went you bought one of the worlds biggest merchandising franchises.

They aren't interested in spending more on animal kingdom than they do... That much is clear. They built Everest, it didnt work, they didnt get a bump...and then they sat. So there's something else between the bankers here.

This is what I'm talking about....these things have to "pass the common sense test".

There is a financial arrangement here.