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Thread: Avatarland Canceled? [RUMOR]

  1. #1

    Avatarland Canceled? [RUMOR]

    I just saw on another Disney board a post saying that Avatarland may have been canceled already. The person is quoting someone on Twitter (MinnieMGirl) who he says knows her stuff and is reputable.

    Any thoughts on the legitimacy of this claim and/or it's implications?

    The original post is on MiceChat here.


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    Out of this world for Disney DwarfPlanet's Avatar
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    I would be curious to know the outcome. I hope it is true and hopefully JCM will do great and we can instead have a Barsoom land.

    "Although we think it's DOPEY that Pluto has been downgraded to a dwarf planet, which has made some people GRUMPY and others just SLEEPY, we are not BASHFUL in saying we would be HAPPY if Disney's Pluto would join us as an 8th dwarf. We think this is just what the DOC ordered and is nothing to SNEEZE at."

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by iceman559 View Post
    The original post is on MiceChat here.
    Thanks for the link. I haven't read the whole thread, but this caught my eye from a poster named Baloo:

    http://micechat.com/forums/walt-disn...post1056719755
    I did getto see some testing for some pretty interesting ideas that might appear at a Disneypark near you specifically WDW. WDI tested an flying contraception that had an animal skin on it. The idea would be that occasionally after sundown a huge creature would be seen flying over the sky then disappear in the distance. In other words it would be a nite time entertainment possibly for avatar land if it happens. Guests would hear the sound of a banshee coming closer then see this huge creature fly over the park. It was quite interesting tHe test I saw had the contraption testing over the Mohave desert and it was shaped to look like a huge pterodactyl
    Sounds pretty interesting to me too.

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Tink Lover View Post
    Thanks for the link. I haven't read the whole thread, but this caught my eye from a poster named Baloo:

    http://micechat.com/forums/walt-disn...post1056719755


    Sounds pretty interesting to me too.
    Well aside from the fact that he "ghetto" see them testing a "flying contraception" in the "Mohave" Desert, it could be interesting. I don't see it being reality, though. Physics and our current limits in aviation do not support it. I'm not saying he's lying, just that I don't believe it.


    I think the more interesting post is this from FigmentJedi:

    Word from WDWMagic is that the concept is being hindered by conflicts between the Imagineers and James Cameron's Ego on how it should be executed. Cameron shot down a Soarin' With Banshees concept and doesn't want as much of a screen-based experience. Plus with the sequels being delayed and the response being rather lukewarm, the concept might just shrivel up and die.

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    I really hope that this is true. I think the whole idea of the Avatar land was bad to begin with. It is not an iconic movie and interest would fade quickly. They need to keep with the animal theme.

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  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by iceman559 View Post
    I think the more interesting post is this from FigmentJedi:
    You know I saw that too, and googled "Soarin' With Banshees" and came across this:

    http://www.themeparktourist.com/news...ys-avatar-land
    Speaking to the LA Times, Cameron said of the concept: "I definitely want to do a flight attraction of some kind. Flying is a big part of the movie. One of the things people liked the most at test screenings was going up into the floating mountains in the flying sequences."

    Citing Soarin' over California at Disney California Adventure as one of his favorite theme park rides, Cameron went on to suggest that creatures from the two planned Avatar sequels could feature in such a ride: "We may have banshees, Leonopteryxes, maybe some other flying creatures that dont make their appearance until the second and third films.
    According to that, Cameron was pretty hyped about a flight attraction not very long ago. Which makes me wonder what is going on.

    Maybe Cameron did change his mind. Or maybe someone who hates the idea of Avatarland has started a rumor in an attempt to kill it. I for sure don't know one way or the other. I guess time will tell. But as Soarin' is one of my favorite rides too, I would love to see that concept replicated in a new ride in a different way. Seems like a good bet for a new E-ticket experience to me that has the potential to suck up a lot of bodies from the park.

    BTW, when I read the bit about a "dinosaur" (forgive me, I don't know the scientific names) flying over the park, I thought of Tinkerbell flying from the Matterhorn. I've always loved that bit. I think it could be cool if "an animal" flew from Mt. Everest as part of a ritual to announce that "the evening part of the program has begun" in the Animal Kingdom.

    I'll be sad if they did decide to kill the enhancements. But it's Disney's call, not mine.

  8. #7

    This is the best rumor I've heard in a long time. The whole idea of creating a theme park land entirely dedicated to Avatar was inherently stupid, and I'll be very happy to see this die on the vine. Animal Kingdom does need some help, it needs something to bring more people into the park and keep them there all day, but Avatar Land was not the right solution.


  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by IllusionOfLife View Post
    This is the best rumor I've heard in a long time. The whole idea of creating a theme park land entirely dedicated to Avatar was inherently stupid, and I'll be very happy to see this die on the vine. Animal Kingdom does need some help, it needs something to bring more people into the park and keep them there all day, but Avatar Land was not the right solution.
    Oh how I agree with you. I thought about going back and posting this on that original thread for the announcement, but I figured that'd be a bad idea :P

  10. #9

    i hope it does get canned. too much disney cannon left to tackle other ips.

     

  11. #10
    Registered User nbaum's Avatar
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    I hope this is true.

    Nichole

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    Laughingplace covered the Disney annual shareholders meeting this morning and reported that there were two Avatar-related questions to Bob Iger.

    2012 Annual Meeting: Q&A #3: Progress on Avatar project?
    Iger: Design work is just beginning. Was in a recent meeting seeing some stuff. Likely to open in 2015.


    2012 Annual Meeting: Q&A #6: Why Avatar? Is it Replacing Star Wars?
    Iger: We invested in Star Wars with new Star Tours attractions. Avatar being #1 film of all time and plans for Avatar 2 and 3, could take advantage of those characters and that world. Still investing a lot in own characters, eg: Cars Land.


    http://www.laughingplace.com/Tag-Dis...ng-2012-SN.asp


    This seems to indicate the project is going forward. On the other hand, perhaps Disney is not yet prepared to announce the cancellation of the project. Here's hoping for the latter, as I am one of those that don't agree with the concept.


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    rumors still a-flying! Latest buz is that it might be placed in or adjacent to Tomorrowland, and be in DL as well.

    Stan

  14. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by stan2u View Post
    rumors still a-flying! Latest buz is that it might be placed in or adjacent to Tomorrowland, and be in DL as well.
    I find both of these highly unlikely. Disney wants something new for Animal Kingdom, they've already sunk a bunch of money into the New Fantasyland project, they're going to want to focus on another park after that. As for Disneyland, there's no space for it, unless the ripped out Autopia, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

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    Quote Originally Posted by stan2u View Post
    rumors still a-flying! Latest buz is that it might be placed in or adjacent to Tomorrowland, and be in DL as well.
    Rumours are funny. I heard they're going to put a loop in Avatarland.
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    Self-proclaimed Diz nut TinaMouse's Avatar
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    Guess not a true rumor. See this week's update.

    Working hard for that next WDW trip!

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    Read Everything-Assume Nothing GusMan's Avatar
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    The update can be found here.
    A clip:

    During the [shareholder] meeting, Iger also indicated that the Avatar-themed land for Disney's Animal Kingdom is still moving forward. He recently sat in on a pitch meeting for various ideas on what to build, and said that nothing would be opening until the 2015 time frame.
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    To paraphrase, Avatar ain't no Harry Potter.

    The mosquito's food of choice, primitive humanoid lifeforms, have colonies all over that planet.

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  19. #18
    Self-proclaimed Diz nut TinaMouse's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GusMan View Post
    The update can be found here.
    A clip:
    Thanks, GusMan. My post was WAY too cryptic. I should have explained myself. THANK YOU!
    Working hard for that next WDW trip!

  20. #19
    Gravity release me... tappenfeat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GusMan View Post
    The update can be found here.
    A clip:
    That's the article I just read also...



    Stephanie

  21. #20

    If you read carefully though, it says he JUST sat in on a meeting to discuss what to build. So they are supposed to start construction by 2013 (according to the original information) and yet they don't even have their ideas panned out to get started with the engineering yet? Seems fishy to me. Like how they kept claiming Rocket Rods would re-open for seven months even though there was no work being done until they finally officially scrapped it. I'd be more inclined to disregard the rumor if he had said they have already started designing the rides and what not. From what Iger said, it sounds to me like the rumor is at least partially true - that James Cameron is holding up the whole process and threatening it.


  22. #21

    In addition to what iceman said (and this may just be the conspiracy theorist in me coming out) it was just a few months ago that they made "an exciting new announcement" about Avatar Land, having the CEO of the company say "oh yeah, never mind, that isn't working out" at a shareholder meeting would not have been a smart move and would have derailed the rest of the conference. As iceman said, Disney has a history of pretending everything is still going according to plan until one day they quietly erase all references to it and deny any knowledge of it ever existing. Rocket Rods, Submarine Voyage, Carousel of Progress, etc.

    I've heard a rumor on a different site that Disney is prepping a new Tomorrowland renovation simultaneously on both coasts and that the anchor attraction would be an Avatar ride. To me, this has the most credibility since Disney has long been looking into redoing Tomorrowland and having the anchor attraction be Avatar would mean they could still hold onto the license without having to go through with the original plan for a full land.


  23. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by IllusionOfLife View Post
    In addition to what iceman said (and this may just be the conspiracy theorist in me coming out) it was just a few months ago that they made "an exciting new announcement" about Avatar Land, having the CEO of the company say "oh yeah, never mind, that isn't working out" at a shareholder meeting would not have been a smart move and would have derailed the rest of the conference.
    My thoughts exactly. He didn't say there were amazing things happening, that everything's on track, that we should be excited about their ideas. Perhaps it's just that NONE of the media reports I've read have mentioned anything more than him saying "it's going, expect no earlier than 2015". Seems a little strange that he would provide such little information regarding the status if it truly was going well. Just because he says he attended a meeting to discuss it doesn't mean anything came out of it. I would love to point out that when Rocket Rods was closed in September 2000, no work was ever seen being done, people reported seeing the cars dismantled in backstage areas, and rumors were abound it was over. But Disney denied it and posted a sign saying they would return after upgrades in Spring 2001. It wasn't until April 2001 that Cynthia Harriss finally confessed and admitted that it was closed for good.

    Now, let's remember the Submarine Voyage. It closed in September 1998, promised to be reopened in 2003 with Paul Pressler saying that a new ride would be opened there in 2003. Nothing. There was supposed to be a new ride in within five years. It sat dormant for seven before they finally announced Finding Nemo in 2005. Clearly Disney has a history of misleading the public.

    And I completely agree that after the big announcement they made just a few months ago (in September - is there a theme here?), they couldn't just sit back and be like "oh yeah, it failed". It'd be an embarrassment. The only time they would announce it failed is come 2013 and no progress, or when they have something set for going elsewhere, like the Avatar-themed ride in Tomorrowland rumor.

  24. #23
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    And an Avatar "ride" in Tomorrowland is a far cry from an Avatar "land".

    Stan

  25. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by stan2u View Post
    And an Avatar "ride" in Tomorrowland is a far cry from an Avatar "land".
    Definitely. But if you believe the other rumors, it's entirely possible.

    Here they are, summarized:

    - Avatarland cancelled
    - Cameron shot down every idea the Imagineers pitched to him
    - Tomorrowland renovations being planned for both coasts
    - Avatar-themed land may be coming to Tomorrowland

    It's entirely possible that they may be coincidental, the later ones could be inspired by the earlier ones, or it's entirely possible that they are all completely true. No single one sounds inconceivable - at least to me.

    We know James Cameron is an egotistic expletive. He's proven it time and time again. His latest stunt about the Mariana Trench is just the most recent example. It wouldn't surprise me that nothing the Imagineers could come up with could "impress" him. Also, after making such a big deal about signing the licensing agreement with Cameron, Disney couldn't just not do anything with it - especially since I'm sure Cameron had some wording put in there that Disney pays regardless. Lastly, it wouldn't surprise me if they are planning renovations for Tomorrowland in each park. It's been rumored for a while - there's even a whole thread about it on Mouseplanet.

  26. #25
    Registered User Jodi's Avatar
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    I agree with those who are hoping that Avatar Land NEVER happens. Everyone in my house was VERY upset when they announced it was in the works. We are Disney fans and Avatar haters, so we didn"t want the two to mix!

    (Seriously, I left about 30 minutes into the movie. Just could not force myself to watch it. DH and the kids finished watching, but none enjoyed it)


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