AVATAR coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

In a completely out of left field announcement this afternoon, Bob Iger, Tom Staggs, and film director James Cameron announced a most unique partnership and expansion. Over the next 5 years, Cameron will partner with Disney Imagineers (led by the brightest and best of them all, Joe Rohde) to design and build an Avatar themed land at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Ground is expected to be broken by early 2013, with an opening date set for 2017/2018.

This seems more thrown together then our blog logo.

This is exciting news, and is most welcome for Disney's Animal Kingdom, which for years has suffered from the stigma if being referred to as a half day park (because of the relatively few actual attractions the park has, compared to the other 3 theme parks in WDW). It also presents Disney the opportunity to do what it does best: innovate. While I had mixed opinions about Avatar as a film, there is no doubt that the world of Pandora will provide a beautiful landscape and backdrop for a highly immersive environment. Plus, James Cameron working alongside Imagineers (again, particularly, Joe Rohde) is about as exciting a pairing as you can get. Not since the Imagineers partnered up with Stephen Spielberg have I been so excited. And the result of that last pairing? Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye (annoyingly still only at Disneyland), which is by far the best theme park ride in any Disney park at the moment, in my opinion anyway.

Staggs, Cameron, Iger, other people.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this announcement is how out of left field it came. There was zero, absolutely zero, internet chatter about an Avatar land. It's kind of amazing that in this age, when the plans for the Fantasyland expansion were leaked 3 months before they were officially announced, that Disney kept the lid on this announcement. There was plenty of speculation about a big project coming, including what we reported here- Bob Iger, Tom Staggs, and Joe Rohde spending a large amount of time touring Animal Kingdom together. We also reported on the appearance of a new Imagineering trailer, generally used for large construction project, outside of the Magic Kingdom (adjacent to the Fantasyland Expansion office). So, there were hints, just nothing concrete like there usually is.

It also seems to have been thrown together very quickly, given that the announcement was nothing more than an introductory press conference with a graphic interspersing the Avatar logo with Disney's. No concept art. It makes you wonder if this is all a part of Tom Staggs' damage control after the disaster that was this year's D23. Perhaps this project was further in the pipeline, but Staggs, desperate to regain credibility, fastracked it?

There will also be tons of people claiming this is Disney's "Potter Swatter," i.e., their answer to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, down the road at Islands of Adventure. While that may play a part, by the time Avatar Land opens (or whatever it will be called), Wizarding World will be nearly a decade old. Given that long time line, it certainly doesn't seem like Disney consciously trying to outduel Universal. Also, by the time Avatar Land opens, Universal's second phase of the Wizarding World will have been open almost 3 years.

Disney has admitted this project is nothing more than Blue Sky at this point, but that it will contain several attractions, a restaurant, and unique merchandise opportunities (i.e. gift shops). I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to share some of our ideas for this area here. Perhaps Mike will post some general thoughts next, and then maybe we'll start imagining some more specific attractions.