Avatarland at Disney's Animal Kingdom could be something special

Here is a new video Released by Disney with John Cameron talking about what we can expect with Avatar

Below is an old article I wrote awhile back for Miceage about the possibilities that an Avatarland might have

I decided to revisit Pandora over the weekend in search of clues as to what the announced land in Animal Kingdom could consist of. What rides and or attractions could come from this visually stunning yet not totally satisfying movie? It is after all the most successful movie of all time box office wise. I thought the movie was pretty good when it came out though not outstanding since I felt it the plot wasn't that great. It was driven by the stunning nature of its visual appeal. (An 8+ out of 10). So I sat down and watched it again from the perspective of looking at what kind of attractions could come out of it.

Welcome to Pandora:
Pandora is a world filled with giant cascading waterfalls (like Naboo) and rocky mountain ranges that look like they are from the Wonders of China (as seen in the Fantasy movie Willow) and Mountains that float in the sky. I'm trying to picture this but unless they have figured out how to shrink people like in Adventures through Innerspace I kept wondering how this scale could be achieved.

The trees of Pandora make the Tree of Life in Animal kingdom look small in comparison. The world is filled with colorful creatures.There are multi-limbed Blue Lemurs.....(.I guess they could throw some paint on some lemurs and glue a few extra arms on them). The land also is filled with giant horse like Dinosaurs and things that look like Rhinos with Hammerheads. I hope the plan isn't to just switch out the Dinosaurs from Dinosaur with blue painted Pandora animatronic creatures.



They could create an indoor environment that is made to look like the lower levels of the forest all black lit with fake plants and animatronics to like the bio luminescent areas of Pandora but that just makes me think of the line and ride for ET that used to be in Universal Studios (and we don't want that).

And then there are the strange looking Na'vi (which I could really never get used to or connect with in the movie)
Are they going to have really tall people watching around for photo ops and scaring the children? Are kids going to get caught up in their tails like a bad memory from a trip to Chuck E Cheese?

Having re watched the film I'm more confused then i was when I first heard the announcement about Avatar land. I mean despite the visual wonder of the film upon a second viewing it really doesn't hold the magic or repeatability of a Star Wars movie or Harry Potter. The plot is a re thread of Pocahontas with weird Blue Aliens. How do you make a new land out of a movie where humans are the villains? Is the land just going to be a big bio luminescent dome filled with environmental messages? Are people dressed like the Na'vi going to be sitting around the telling stories about nature and the importance of protecting the earth and the need to recycle? I know that fits with the theme of Animal Kingdom but other than that it doesn't sound fun.
The plot of the movie doesn't really lend itself to an attraction. I mean the Lorax the ride doesn't sound fun.

I only thing I can think of is that they have some kind of flying lizard ride in mind for Animal Kingdom. A major element of the film is the Na'vi riding around on giant flying lizards. It is the most dramatic and thrilling portion of the movie. But how can this be achieved in a high capacity ride? A coaster would be a cheesy way to do this (too Universal for my tastes). It could be done with a kid ride....a Peter Pan type thing.....but that is too rinky dink an idea. The only thing that makes sense to me would be a Soaring type ride modified to fit the theme of course. It would allow for the visual scale of the film and be able to take you past the flying mountains and giant waterfalls and flying lizards.....and then dip you down into the lower portions of the planet to see the other creatures that live there. [B]Basically take Soaring and kick it up a notch to the next level[/B]. We shall have to wait and see....


I still would prefer someone to make Star Wars Land..

http://bradgeekness.blogspot.com/2011/05/star-wars-hotel-casino-and-theme-park_25.html