Wednesday, November 23, 2016
‘Avatar’ Theme Park: Walt Disney World New Attraction
collegecandy.com: Remember the magical world of Pandora from the 2009 movie Avatar? Flexible blue people, enormous trees, floating mountains and a magical forest are some of the highlights. If you thought this place could only exist on screen or in your imagination, think again–you’ll be able to visit it next summer at Walt Disney World‘s Animal Kingdom.
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I have been following the development and creation of Pandora: World of Avatar since the very moment that it was announced. The technology that is going into the creation of this world is astonishing. It is amazing how Disney is making this so hyper realistic. In usual lands there would be signs telling you where attractions are and bathrooms and restaurants. In Pandora there are wooden and vine sculptures such as a bird that will tell you that you are on your way to the Flight of Passage attraction. There is such a complex level of immersion going into this world. You will be able to experience rides and queue lines without knowing that you’re in them! The transitions from outside in area development to inside in line are so seamless that you wont be able to tell the difference. I am so excited to see what this amazing team has been working on.
This looks really neat. I expected to read an article about a new Avatar ride that Disney was making, but I was surprised to see that they're making a whole new Avatar world. The renderings look great and I definitely get a sense of the Avatar environment that I saw in the movie. I'm interested to see how they're going to do the Na'vi. Will they have really tall actors painted blue walking around Avatar-land , or will they just be characters in the rides? I wish the article had given a few more details, like how many rides they were putting in and how large the world will be, but it's still neat to see what Disney is going for. The immersion in the Avatar world looks very interesting. I'm curious to see how Disney makes you feel like you're not in line for rides, as Zara mentioned. I've seen some pretty neat queue lines at Disney, but I would love to see a system that either completely did away with a traditional queue or hid it really well.
The concept art is beautiful but I am left wondering why they waited almost eight years to complete this exhibit. Not that I understand much of what it requires to put something like thins together, but still eight years? It was a wonderful movie with a great audience reaction but it seems like the hype would have washed away after eight years. Also the movie was a little adult for some of the other audiences which leaves me wondering if children viewing this attraction would recognize it. They would definitely enjoy it but it lacks the reliability of toy story or sleeping beauty. With Disney behind it it is definitely going to be spectacular and beautiful but I cant help but wonder how long it will hang around for.
One of my favorite things at Disney is the Honey I Shrunk The Kids area. Why? Well I can promise it is not because it is really good, because I don’t think it is, its because It’s so immersive. You actually feel like you are small (well, you would if it was good). Again, its not really a good part of the park, but I love the idea. I am hoping that this new Avatar land takes the fully immersive experience and does it really well. For me, that means no fiberglass. This world clearly doesn’t look like it has many glossy surfaces so a shiny, bold fiberglass finish probably is not the ideal design choice. I am also curious how they will do all of the floating elements. I really think there is a lot of potential here to really make a full world that can be explored. I think there was a lot in the movie that was computer generated or at least not built to have hundreds of people climb on daily, but either way, if they can make the world as close as they can to the movie that would probably make the best world.
I'm really excited to see this made into an immersive theme park. The renderings look amazing, and I'm interested to see how Disney will approach things like building floating islands and other scenery. Although, it seems like it will be difficult to make this into an immersive world, since, as Drew said, most of the movie was computer generated. Hopefully Disney can do it in a way that portrays realism, but is also interactive for audiences. Personally, I'd be disappointed if they chose to make floating islands, etc, using forms of media or projection rather than tangible material. However, I'm excited to see the ways they incorporate the Na'vi people and I wonder if they will include any of the humans we saw in the film. Will they keep actors/scenery strictly within the Na'vi world? Or will they incorporate the human/Na'vi opposition we see in the film? Either way I know Disney will do something amazing with the already incredible world the film has given them.
The renderings of the floating islands have me interested, I am curious how they are going to try to make that happen. Like a few others have said, while the world looks really awesome the timing leaves me confused. 8 years later, why bother at this point? Are people still excited about this movie? I thought Avatar was a decent movie, but lots of its hype came from the new 3D technologies that let you look into this beautiful world supposedly. The story itself was fairly cliched and had been all seen before. Still, I think the world of blue Pocahontas is quite beautiful and I am excited to see how Disney uses it's nigh infinite resources to make this awesome dream world a reality.
I think, in terms of this new development, I'm probably one of the most excited people you'll ever meet. I'm not a huge Disney fan, (in fact, I hated Disneyland) having been raised without the classic movies. That being said, I did see Avatar in theaters THREE TIMES, twice in 3D. I remember being fascinated by the lush sci-fi world of Pandora, studded with hyper-saturated colors and otherworldly vegetation, populated with gentle, graceful 10-foot-tall blue creatures. Rides and other attractions aside, I'd love to see this attraction simply to see how Disney manages to take an almost totally CGI world and transform it into something both tangible and larger-than-life. I'd also like to see, first hand, how the imagineers at Disney take the world of Pandora (which is so much more than is shown onscreen) and flush it out, so that it's more than simply a replica of what the set might have been, and more of an immersive environment. Based on the renderings alone, I'll say simply that, despite my previous experiences with Disney theme parks, I would take a gander for this particular experience.
It seems like there are several "avatar" themed events and shows being produced now. I know that Cirque has also opened a avatar show. I don't question the artistic mastery of the shows, and now park, I just have several questions about the timing of this development. Avatar came out in 2009. That was seven years ago. I was in seventh grade when this movie was in theaters. I know that there were supposed to be sequels. I realize that, in many of our memories, we still see Avatar as a triumph of technology. And the themes presented in the movie are more relevant now than they have ever been since the movie premiered. The movie has just, in my opinion, not stood up to the test of time. The once revolutionary computer graphics are now outdated. Normally this is okay. Look at the original Star wars (and the prequels - if you're willing), the special effects are all practical or very simple. But it lives on. Even before last December, Star wars was still a very popular series. Everyone could sing Darth Vader's theme. In comparison, I had forgotten avatar existed until reading this article, I cannot recall a single song from the film, and it took me five minutes to clarify which "avatar" was being referred to in this article when I tried to describe it to my mother,
I'm not gonna lie when I first read this headline I honestly thought the author meant "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and I got really excited, so that was a bit of a let down. Like Lauren said, Avatar did not withstand the test of time at all once people got over it's revolutionary graphics. If you strip this back the story is boring and really just an overblown trope-filled version of Pocahontas with blue people in it. At this point the movie has become both irrelevant and forgettable. I also didn't even know that Avatar was owned by Disney, and I feel like the parks should really be for things that people associate strongly with Disney. Why not make a world for one of the classic Pixar movies or a newer movie like Moana? I love Disney World and I'm sure they'll do a great job with this, but I'm really not excited about it at all.
I too was confused about which Avatar they were referring too. However, I am really excited about this particular "Avatar" world! The movie was so great and I was hoping to see more of them. However, I do believe and fear that because the producers waited so long to continue with post publications that the series has lost its momentum. The renderings they have included in this article are fascinating and definitely convey Pandora as I initially imagined it. The usage of color is really captivating. I hope that the release of this new theme park will spark an interest in audiences and theme park goers.
This sounds kind of obvious, but all the theme parks that I've been to whether it's universal studios or disneyland, all have a very strong "theme park" vibe to it instead of taking an immersive approach. That isn't a bad thing, because the idea that you're in a theme park itself automatically uplifts people's mood and make them excited. However, I haven't actually been at a theme park that's immersive enough for me to take my mind out of that mindset, which I imagine will be a very different experience. I still remember watching Avatar in IMAX when it first came out, the world of the film is absolutely stunning and at the time I already felt very immersed in the world of the film, so I can't really imagine being even more physically immersed in that world. As the author of the article mentioned, you don't even need to know the movie to enjoy/understand the experience, so I'm sure it will be successful.
I personally loved the avatar movie, because it was such an incredible new world, and I'm super excited to see it come to life through Disney. I think there are many things to consider with this, one being the wear and tear the park will undergo as thousands of people explore it day in and day out. Also there is a level of fantastical that is portrayed in the movie that they now have to live up to, like the inclusion of floating islands, and whether they choose to do this via projection or other 2d media is something else that changes much of the experience. I also think that they have lost a little steam since the release 8 years ago, because while I was certainly excited about it right after the movie came out, now it seems more of an afterthought to me.
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