Disneyland Proposes New Area Based on 'Avatar' Movies (sfgate.com) 67
Disneyland is a proposing part of its park be dedicated to James Cameron's Avatar, reports SFGate.
"The rendering isn't a carbon copy of the Pandora land in Disney World's Animal Kingdom; instead, it's themed more closely to the recent sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water."
The teaser was dropped as part of Wednesday's company shareholders meeting. The concept art shows a large lake in the middle of the land, surrounded by the signature floating mountains that loom over Animal Kingdom's Pandora. Boats filled with guests can be seen in the water, suggesting some sort of ride. No attractions have been announced for the land yet. Animal Kingdom has two: the spectacular flight simulator Flight of Passage and bucolic indoor boat ride Na'vi River Journey...
There's no timeline for construction to begin. Disney officials have consistently referred to it as a "potential" project, often calling it an "experience" rather than a land.
There's no timeline for construction to begin. Disney officials have consistently referred to it as a "potential" project, often calling it an "experience" rather than a land.
Pandora movies (Score:3)
Why would they focus on the second shitty movie instead of the much better first one?
Most of the second movie took place in water. Will I need a swimsuit to go on the rides? Wut?
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Why would they focus on the second shitty movie instead of the much better first one?
Most of the second movie took place in water. Will I need a swimsuit to go on the rides? Wut?
Probably not. Knowing Disney these days, they'll concentrate on weird alien cross-species tail-sex with some kind of psychedelic experience. They probably spike your kid's Pepsi with GHB, LSD, and Ketamine and charge a "resort fee" for the experience.
Re:Pandora movies (Score:5, Informative)
Spoken like someone who has never actually been to the parks.
No, what Disney will do is make you use their God-awful mobile app to book a paid reservation for a virtual queue, and then hours later, you'll get to stand in a real queue for another 15 minutes or so. Then you'll go through some pre-show experience with scenes from the movie. Next is the actual attraction, which will probably be about a minute long (but you might get to sit in the ride vehicle while it's stationary for longer than that, if the ride system is being glitchy or they're loading someone in a wheelchair). Finally, you'll exit in a gift shop.
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I used to live very close to Disneyland but that was forever ago. Haven't been back since so what you describe sounds like what hostile aliens might do to torture us if they took over the earth.
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To those who haven't been in a while, I recently watched this YouTube video and it really shows how Disney parks have changed after the pandemic. Hint: it's for the worse. It's specifically about Disney World, but I'm sure it's the same at all their parks.
Disney World Has Gotten Too Expensive https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Basically, you cannot enjoy the park without staring at a mobile phone the whole time, and they nickle-and-dime you to death on everything. Twice. Want to skip the line on a ride? Pay f
Re: Pandora movies (Score:2)
I just went, you walk around and enjoy the park, wait in line for a ride if you want. It's like literally any other popular theme park in that regard. If you want to record a TikTok that makes a theme park seem like a sucky experience you could do that anywhere, maybe you don't like theme parks, that's ok, but Disney is a good one.
Re: Pandora movies (Score:2)
Did I, personally, like the prior system where park savviness and knowledge paid off in spades? Yes. Did I feel a little guilty that many families don't have the time to figure it alol out, nor the resources to visit again whenever they feel like it if they couldn't make everything happen easily? Also yes.
The demand is there, so almost definitionally, it *doesn't* suck. Myself, I'm hesitant to criticize a company that has burnished its brand so well over the last
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The YouTube video was interesting because it's from an experienced park-goer who is offering his observations on how the park has changed. Disney has eliminated or added fees to a lot of things that used to be free as part of the experience. For example, you now have to pay $50 for a MagicBand, which used to be complimentary. That said, the increased prices are clearly not deterring people, and the parks are still packed.
Maybe you can just buy a ticket and walk around the park, but most families save up for
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To those who haven't been in a while, I recently watched this YouTube video and it really shows how Disney parks have changed after the pandemic. Hint: it's for the worse. It's specifically about Disney World, but I'm sure it's the same at all their parks.
Disney World Has Gotten Too Expensive https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Basically, you cannot enjoy the park without staring at a mobile phone the whole time, and they nickle-and-dime you to death on everything. Twice. Want to skip the line on a ride? Pay for the Genie+ addon! Oh wait, is the ride popular? Pay another fee on top of that! Want to reserve a time? The window opens at a specific time, and if you miss it, well, tough luck. It's crazy.
Disney has to make up the money they are losing on their poor movie products of late. It turns out you can't hire writers that know very little about storytelling, producers and directors that are so bad that after test screenings they have to go back and re-shoot half of it, which leads to an even worse outcome as the movie starts to look disjointed, and finally, abandoning the core fans, then demeaning them, while the new fanbase they were aiming at never materialized.
And the recent refusal to hire litt
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Yeah, not complaining, just stating it's very expensive now but people still flock to it in droves. So their strategy is working.
I'm surprised about the little people though. You'd think they would have to hire dwarfs to play dwarfs!
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Yeah, not complaining, just stating it's very expensive now but people still flock to it in droves. So their strategy is working.
I'm surprised about the little people though. You'd think they would have to hire dwarfs to play dwarfs!
That was an unfortunate situation. They are inclusive to the point where they end up refusing to hire anyone who might set people off - as if the hero's of the Snow white story can no longer be portrayed as what they were. Anyhow Peter Peter Dinklage of "Game of Thrones", "Elf" and other movies, who just happens to be a little person, took a royal shitfit when he heard about Disney doing the reboot - odd, for a fellow who is a dwarf, and appeared as a dwarf.
I think that at base, the inclusive crowd has a
Pretty sure there will be blue people. (Score:2)
Probably be an area when the guests all turn blue using that stage lighting trick. And some lame reason no one has outsized eyes or spots or satyr legs or plug-in tails.
Disclaimer: I couldn't get past the 20 minute setup in the "Way of Water" I'm sure there were some great visuals to be had in that movie, but I'll never see them. I'm actually starting to treat Avatar like The Matrix, or Highlander.
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Re: Pandora movies (Score:2)
and charge a "resort fee" for the experience.
The fuck that has to do with Disney, that's Florida's lifeblood, that's how they have no income tax, low property taxes, and a moderate income tax. Duh.
Re: Pandora movies (Score:3)
The key word is "experience", which makes this sound like that Star Wars experience where you are kept out of the main park and the area is littered with cos-playing "cast members" to make you feel like you're on degoba or some other Star Wars location. Which means it will be over-priced, under-attended, and terminated prematurely - just like the Star Wars experience.
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Why would they focus on the second shitty movie instead of the much better first one?
If they wanted to do that, they could've just made a Pocahontas land instead. It's basically the same plot.
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According to Wikipedia, DisneyWorld operates two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon (opened 1989) and Blizzard Beach (opened 1995). I guess visitors already bring swim gear.
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I guess visitors already bring swim gear.
At a water park you kind of expect you're going to be soaked for the entirety of your visit. At a theme park with some water attractions, you really have to bring a change of clothes if you're not planning on doing the water stuff last and then leaving.
Of course, I'm sure Disney makes good money selling clothes and towels to people who didn't realize that walking around the rest of the day in drenched clothing kind of sucks.
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Of course, I'm sure Disney makes good money selling clothes and towels to people who didn't realize that walking around the rest of the day in drenched clothing kind of sucks.
Most people go to Disney when it's warm/hot, such as in the summer. Even with their humidity, any wetness you may experience on a ride will dissipate in short oder. You'll be more wet from sweating than the ride.
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There are plenty of water rides at theme parks - flumes are a big one (the one where
Re: Pandora movies (Score:2)
Also according to Wikipedia, Disneyland is nowhere near Florida.
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Indeed, thanks for pointing out I misread the summary. At DisneyLand California, you get wet at the Splash Mountain (1989-2023) or Tiana's Bayou Adventure (2023-).
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Why would they focus on the second shitty movie instead of the much better first one?
Overall I agree the first movie was better, but I don't think the gap is as big as you suggest.
The first movie a very classic (and perfectly executed) adventure story.
The second movie is a lot more mature and ambitious. Almost from the start the adults spend the vast majority of the movie just trying to stay out of trouble. Jake's desire to keep his head down and protect his family isn't a pretext to launch him into action, it's his sole motivation from start to finish.
It's not as fun to watch, but I think
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Hmmmmm, ok, but isn't the point of a movie to be entertained?
What was entertaining about Pandora Meets Waterworld for you?
I remember the first one clearly. It was a mix of adventure and introduction to the native's unity life with the planet. Humans are bad. It was fun.
The second I recall this, "guy and his family go hide with water people who take in their trashy land cousins, there's a giant whale who befriends a kid, there are bad guy pirates who get blown up, the end". At no point did I care about a
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Hmmmmm, ok, but isn't the point of a movie to be entertained?
The point of a movie is to deliver you a worthwhile experience. That can take the form of a simple adventure or something more meaningful, if the experience is worthwhile then that's a success.
I remember the first one clearly. It was a mix of adventure and introduction to the native's unity life with the planet. Humans are bad. It was fun.
Agreed, there's a lot of people who complain it's Pocahontas in space, well so what if is it? It's a very well executed Pocahontas in space and that's great.
The second I recall this, "guy and his family go hide with water people who take in their trashy land cousins, there's a giant whale who befriends a kid, there are bad guy pirates who get blown up, the end". At no point did I care about any of these people or feel there was a greater issue such as the humans trying to kill the tree of life.
Ymmv.
Are you a parent? The issue was his children coming of age in a very dangerous world while he was doing everything he could to protect his family from that world.
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> Are you a parent?
Yes, but I felt no connection to a guy who drags his family into a rebellion against an invading alien race.
Just wasn't feeling it. Shrug.
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> Are you a parent?
Yes, but I felt no connection to a guy who drags his family into a rebellion against an invading alien race.
To be fair, he started a rebellion against an invading alien race, grew up and raised a family, and then did everything he could to get his family away from the rebellion.
Just wasn't feeling it. Shrug.
That's fine, I'm just saying I enjoyed it, and I do think the degree to which he simply was trying to keep his family out of trouble was a really bold film making move.
Admittedly it felt a bit slow on the first watching, but I tried rewatching when it came out on Disney+ to look at it with that different perspective and I enjoyed it a lot
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Yes he did run off with his family but then turned to fight instead of moving on again. He brought hell down on the water people who took him in. He could have moved on or never got them in trouble in the first place.
Long term, the Pandoras are fucked, btw. It's just a matter of time until the humans show up with a serious force and just genocide the all. Lacking space flight capability they have no defense against simple orbital bombardment.
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Yes he did run off with his family but then turned to fight instead of moving on again.
He turned to fight because his kids got captured.
He brought hell down on the water people who took him in. He could have moved on or never got them in trouble in the first place.
He possibly could have moved to a different community of Pandorans earlier, but constantly relocating kids sucks too. The fact the water people bore the brunt is one of the things that made it more interesting. They weren't unaffected, the space whales they bonded with were being hunted and they wanted to go on the offensive when they realized that, but the fact they harboured him and his family meant they bore a very heavy price.
Again, I think it's one of th
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I honestly don't recall the second movie at that level of detail so I will defer to you on all that.
But there are plenty of movies that don't glorify war.
Among my favorites:
Full metal jacket, apocalypse now, catch 22, Dr. Strangelove, enemy mine, gallipoli, hacksaw ridge, the mash tv show and movie, platoon, soldier (this one is arguable but I loved the movie so I'm putting it on here).
There's even a wiki list. I disagree that several of these are actually war films but most of them are legit:
https://en.wi [wikipedia.org]
Re: Pandora movies (Score:2)
Hmmmmm, ok, but isn't the point of a movie to be entertained?
Depends...
If you're a studio exec, the point is to sell tickets.
If you own a theater, it's to sell concessions to ticket buyers.
If you're an actor or off-screen support staff, the point is to get a pay check.
If you're an audience member, it's to be entertained.
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Pretty sure none of us on this thread are anything but consumers. If you're not, I have this script i've been working on....
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Why would they focus on the second shitty movie instead of the much better first one? ...
Most of the second movie took place in water.
Either way, it'll be way more kid-friendly than the adjacent Pandorum [wikipedia.org] area. :-)
Re: Pandora movies (Score:2)
Most of the second movie took place in water. Will I need a swimsuit to go on the rides? Wut?
Did you wear a swimsuit for the Little Mermaid ride bud?
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I fear I missed what was probably a great ride. I was more of a mission to mars and space mountain guy.
We'd do the pirates ride for kicks before we left, as a matter of tradition.
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Why would they focus on the second shitty movie instead of the much better first one? Most of the second movie took place in water. Will I need a swimsuit to go on the rides? Wut?
That's a feature, not a bug. Does Disneyworld have a water park? No? Presto, Avatarworld!
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Sure the NA references were extremely blunt. But I don't care about any of that so I enjoyed it for the pretty action pic it was.
Actually that was a very modern liberal white depiction of NA as this mystical in tune with nature magic people of superior morals. I know better so I find that sort of thing laughable. When the politics is that heavy handed it's easy to brush off.
Neither modern nor past NA were anything like that.
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Even the in the first movie, the Navi characters didn't wear much. Basically just a loincloth for the guys and a bikini for the women. So what are the costumed staff going to wear?
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Are we talking Disney in California or Disney in Paris? Lol
Keep the original Disney (Score:3, Interesting)
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Re: Keep the original Disney (Score:4, Informative)
Some Google searches will show that they already purchased the land, and the acreage is already assigned for expansion.
I'm going to be that guy (Score:4, Insightful)
You know the guy, who posts just to tell you they don't like something?
Avatar - very pretty 3D movie, but so boring by-the-numbers rehash-better-movies that when I tried to watch it a second time before Avatar II... I couldn't get through it. Without the novelty element to the visuals it just wasn't entertaining enough to bother.
I don't understand the level of ongoing interest that makes it a viable property.
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Avatar
Just think of the disappointment kids will feel when they discover this isn't about the people with magical abilities to bend elements. This will be almost as hilarious as when they find out that there's no Harry Potter attraction at Disney (seriously, I know someone who works for Disney and "where's the Harry Potter land?" is a very frequently asked question).
On a related note, awhile back Disney changed the sponsorship announcement at the start of Magic Kingdom's fireworks show from "Pandora" to "Pandora
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>Just think of the disappointment kids will feel when they discover this isn't about the people with magical abilities to bend elements.
It's almost a shame Disney doesn't have the rights. I think the Avatar: The Last Airbender world would make a great area in a theme park.
Katara and Toph would be a perfect Disney Princesses, and Yue too even though she didn't have a long-lasting character.
Don't act like you wouldn't buy bender costumes from the gift shops.
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Don't act like you wouldn't buy bender costumes from the gift shops.
Futurama-Land! I'm in...
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Universal used to have a Nickelodeon section at their park and I think still have some sort of license with them?
Unfortunately due to the (apparent, I have not seen either) general crappiness of the live-action adaptations it's probably not top of mind for them.
Also my pocket theory is that Disney is praying that when Miyazaki dies someone at the studio will allow them to do an entire park around Studio Ghibli, god help us all.
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The live action series is pretty good. The actors do an excellent job of embodying the anime characters, and it is mostly true to the original. I believe the creators left due to creative differences, but I haven't seen anything done badly enough to explain that.
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I don't understand the level of ongoing interest
Q. have you sought to understand? do you have conjectures? what aspects of movies do you imagine appeal to other people that don't appeal to you? You've listed five aspects that appeal to you (pretty, not-being-by-the-numbers, not-being-rehash, novelty-of-visuals, entertaining) but presumably you don't think this is an exhaustive list of aspects that might appeal to others?
It sounds from your quote "I don't understand the level of ongoing interest" that you believe there is ongoing interest (maybe you pick
Re: I'm going to be that guy (Score:1)
Your comment reads like something chunked out of a LLM.
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I don't understand the level of ongoing interest that makes it a viable property.
My perception is that it stems from our feeling of disconnection from nature. When the first movie came out there were literally some suicides from people who were depressed about our own reality in comparison to that fantasy vision where they are literally connecting to other creatures. And being that it's much easier to lose yourself in a fantasy than to improve reality since you have to fight with all the drones who fear immediately losing everything with any change of the status quo that is gradually ta
Facts (Score:2)
Disney couldn't create dogshit if they crashed a dump truck full of scrambled eggs into a kennel.
Re: Facts (Score:2)
Tell us about all your amazing creations and we can see how they stack up to Disneys stuff. Iâ(TM)m waitingâ¦
Why not just go to the original? (Score:2)
Unobtanium (Score:2)
Disney make a theme park about struggles with an evil corporation?
Say it isn't so.
Blue? (Score:2)
In other news, Disney reports that the N'avi will be presented in green or orange only as blue N'avi are overrepresented.
White saviorism (Score:2)
sigh.. when is this country going to stop masturbating to white savior stories?
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sigh.. when is this country going to stop masturbating to white savior stories?
The story is about how the invaders (us) are destroying the ecosystem of yet another planet to try to maintain the shit show on our planet, and how the protagonist has to literally become one of the oppressed in order to save them. As such it's not a very good white savior story.
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It's Dances with Wolves in space.
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How does that story end? With salvation? Nope. See: The Epilogue.
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sigh.. when is this country going to stop masturbating to white savior stories?
The first one is a bit of a white saviour story, but only because you need a protagonist the audience can easily identify with.
The antagonists are also white.
By the second movie he's been completely native for years and there's a bunch of important secondary protagonists who are completely native.
So I think the "white saviour" narrative is overblown in this case.
Why copy the same thing to every park? (Score:2)
Maybe it's me but wouldn't having some rides unique to each Disney location encourage people to go to more of them?
When they built Disney World, they didn't build a Matterhorn even though they had plenty of space to do so.
Find Something Better (Score:2)
Yeah, it looks cool, and I'm sure there's enough 3D renderings and CG assets to make an incredible amount of virtual rides. But that won't be enough to get people in the seats for more than a year, two tops.