Rumor: Disney Possibly Re-Thinking Avatar for AK

[doconeill]

I think Avatarland may have been a huge knee-jerk reaction, trying to fix a number of problems:

1) Harry Potter proved to be huge, and it affected them more than they realize. I know in our case, it's drawn us to Universal once so far and will again on the next trip. And Universal is already planning on expanding.

2) Animal Kingdom still fails to draw in the guests. It has far more capacity than it takes in. Having recently rewatched the old Travel Channel specials, where Disney was trying to differentiate it from a typical zoo, never seemed to work well. Adding in Expedition Everest still hasn't drawn more to the park. They need more, and they are trying to figure out how to do it.

So they tried to combine two things - a major expansion and a property that was seen to have a huge draw. Unfortunately, that was based on the profits of a single movie, that won't see sequels for 3-5 years, and no other significant media on the horizon. They tried to link in the ecological lessons of the movie to the park, but the link is tenuous, and it's probably better situated at DHS, which is another park in need of an expansion. but I'd much rather see an expansion of Star Wars there, with a proven draw, than Avatar, which is still truly a question mark.

I'd be much more interested in an expansion of AK with what they do with it, not who's name is on it.

 

[RalphyBoy]

My 13 year old daughter tells me that "The Hunger Games" will be bigger than the Harry Potter franchise. Maybe Disney could buy the rights and have a land where guests fight to the death over churros and turkey legs.

 

[tink576]

My 13 year old daughter tells me that "The Hunger Games" will be bigger than the Harry Potter franchise. Maybe Disney could buy the rights and have a land where guests fight to the death over churros and turkey legs.

lol

Hunger Games is going to be huge...to bad that it is the complete opposite of the happiest place on earth

 

[CJsMommy]

While I loved the Avator movie and would enjoy seeing something done with it, I just never saw the connection with Animal Kingdom. To me it would be better played out at Hollywood Studios. JMO

 

[BDL]

If they are going to go through with the Avataar idea, they should do as PP said. Stick it in MGM. If you want to expand AK, either add Australia or (and I know Orlando is land locked) build a Disney Seas like they have in Tokyo.

 

[Swissdog2010]

Maybe they could take some of that half a billion and reopen the Adventurer's club, it would probably be a bigger draw.

 

[doconeill]

I think if they wanted to expand AK and not get in to all the hassles of adding more live animals, and they've got that kind of money to spend, bring back Beastly Kingdomme.

Maybe they could take some of that half a billion and reopen the Adventurer's club, it would probably be a bigger draw.

Ooh...you just gave me an idea...bring it back at AK as part of Beastly Kingdomme! Imagine Otis T. Wren always claiming that he got a picture of a dragon, but then it ate his camera...or Samantha Sterling tamed a unicorn (not nobody would believe her ). Combine the rumors of Night Kingdom as a separate ticket with Beastly Kingdomme and AC...

Now I'm just mashing old rumors together

 

[WaltD4Me]

I think if they wanted to expand AK and not get in to all the hassles of adding more live animals, and they've got that kind of money to spend, bring back Beastly Kingdomme.



Ooh...you just gave me an idea...bring it back at AK as part of Beastly Kingdomme! Imagine Otis T. Wren always claiming that he got a picture of a dragon, but then it ate his camera...or Samantha Sterling tamed a unicorn (not nobody would believe her ). Combine the rumors of Night Kingdom as a separate ticket with Beastly Kingdomme and AC...
Now I'm just mashing old rumors together

Oooooooooooo, yes, please! That would be really, really awesome!

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Maybe they could take some of that half a billion and reopen the Adventurer's club, it would probably be a bigger draw.

I think if they wanted to expand AK and not get in to all the hassles of adding more live animals, and they've got that kind of money to spend, bring back Beastly Kingdomme.



Ooh...you just gave me an idea...bring it back at AK as part of Beastly Kingdomme! Imagine Otis T. Wren always claiming that he got a picture of a dragon, but then it ate his camera...or Samantha Sterling tamed a unicorn (not nobody would believe her ). Combine the rumors of Night Kingdom as a separate ticket with Beastly Kingdomme and AC...

Now I'm just mashing old rumors together

 

[sayhello]

My 13 year old daughter tells me that "The Hunger Games" will be bigger than the Harry Potter franchise. Maybe Disney could buy the rights and have a land where guests fight to the death over churros and turkey legs.

While the Hunger Games is really great, and potentially spectacular, it will never beat the Harry Potter Franchise. It's just not as multi-generational as Harry Potter (People grew up with Harry Potter. They did not grow up with the Hunger Games. (All 3 books came out over a 2-year period). I'm really looking forward to the Hunger Games, but I totally don't see it as bigger than Harry Potter.

Maybe they could take some of that half a billion and reopen the Adventurer's club, it would probably be a bigger draw.

Sure, that would be why they closed it. Because it had such a huge potential to draw in customers.

Sayhello

 

[TigerTown]

I wouldn't be disappointed at all if this rumor were true. It's always been a head scratcher to me.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

My 13 year old daughter tells me that "The Hunger Games" will be bigger than the Harry Potter franchise. Maybe Disney could buy the rights and have a land where guests fight to the death over churros and turkey legs.

People said the same thing about Twilight too.

 

[WaltD4Me]

What I want to know is who figured out they had the theme park equivalent of Ishtar on their hands? I would like to send them flowers.

Wonder who broke it to Tom Skaggs and Bob Iger? I'm thinkin' Joe Rhode was the bubble burster.

 

[doconeill]

What I want to know is who figured out they had the theme park equivalent of Ishtar on their hands? I would like to send them flowers.

Wonder who broke it to Tom Skaggs and Bob Iger? I'm thinkin' Joe Rhode was the bubble burster.

With the wonderful marketing job they did for John Carter [of Mars], I don't think anyone in Disney management wants to hear the word "Ishtar" at all right now...

 

[loveysbydesign]

new article about it
http://www.disneygossip.com/2012/03/wither-avatarland.html

 

[jcb]

Jay Rasulo, at the annual meeting, just said design work on Avatarland is progressing but that it in all likelihood, will not open until 2015. Iger: We thought Avatar (#1 movie of all time) was similar to Star Wars and Indiana Jones in terms of leveraging it into new entertainment. Avatar is a uniquie proposition and Disney is excited about it.

 

[ADP]

Jay Rasulo, at the annual meeting, just said design work on Avatarland is progressing but that it in all likelihood, will not open until 2015. Iger: We thought Avatar (#1 movie of all time) was similar to Star Wars and Indiana Jones in terms of leveraging it into new entertainment. Avatar is a uniquie proposition and Disney is excited about it.

Sounds like it's moving forward. I think 2015 was the original completion timeline when the first announced the project last year. Not sure about Iger's comments comparing Avatar to Star Wars and Indiana Jones. SW and Indiana Jones had sequal movies and trilogies. At this time Avatar is only 1 movie and it's hard for people to relate to the characters and story with only 1 movie. Let's hope the next 2 movies better define the stories and characters so "Avatar Land" is more successful.

 

[kaligal]

Not a fan of Avatar. They should stick Jungle Book in Camp Minnie Mickey.

Totally missed Flamingo Crossing, but it sounds cool. Love Flamingos.

 

[BrizMarc]

I honestly hope the dont go ahead with it. It was a terrible idea from the start. Disney need to focus on their own ideas. Not those from other movie companys