A huge announcement came out of Walt Disney Imagineering today. James Cameron’s world of Avatar will be coming to life at the the Disney Parks. It will all begin with a themed area built at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Bob Iger and Tom Staggs today unveild a long term partnership with Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment and Fox Filmed Entertainment. This could mean a varity of Avatar themed attractions and products across all Disney Parks and Resorts. Construction of the first Avatar themed land at Animal Kingdom is expect to begin by 2013. The article said Walt Disney Imagineers will “dream up experiences that will take our guests deep into worlds of AVATAR like never before.” Cameron has two more Avatar movies in the works, so Disney is grabbing this franchise early on in it’s life span and the available characters and worlds available will only grow with time.

I guess this is Disney’s big answer to Harry Potter? I’m not into the Avatar world as much as I am Harry Potter. This announcement does not excite me as there are other things I think Disney could devote their time to. I will say, since it is happening, fitting this land into the Animal Kingdom does make the most sense. I just don’t think Avatar fits into pop culture like the other franchises Disney reached outside it’s own studios to incorporate… such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones. All this comes from someone who doesn’t like the movie however, so those of you who enjoyed Avatar, may have a different take. But when I hear of a new themed land or new attraction to the WDW resort, I want to be excited and this doesn’t do it for me. How about you?
Updated Photos and Quotes:
James Cameron and Bob Iger
“James Cameron is a groundbreaking filmmaker and gifted storyteller who shares our passion for creativity, technological innovation and delivering the best experience possible,” Bob Iger said. “With this agreement, we have the extraordinary opportunity to combine James’ talent and vision with the imagination and expertise of Disney.”
James Cameron
“AVATAR created a world which audiences can discover again and again and now, through this incredible partnership with Disney, we’ll be able to bring Pandora to life like never before. With two new AVATAR films currently in development, we’ll have even more locations, characters and stories to explore,” Cameron said. “I’m chomping at the bit to start work with Disney’s legendary Imagineers to bring our AVATAR universe to life. Our goal is to go beyond current boundaries of technical innovation and experiential storytelling, and give parkgoers the chance to see, hear and touch the world of AVATAR with an unprecedented sense of reality.”
From left: Tom Staggs, Chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts; James Cameron, award-winning director of AVATAR; Bob Iger, CEO, The Walt Disney Company; Jon Landau, producer of AVATAR; and Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, Fox Filmed Entertainment chairmen
“AVATAR is a uniquely powerful franchise that has global appeal with audiences of all ages. Its spectacular settings, intriguing characters, imaginative creatures and strong themes of family and loyalty make it a perfect fit for Disney,” Tom Staggs said. “We can’t wait to give our Guests the ability to journey to Pandora and explore the incredible immersive world of AVATAR in person.”
Future locations for additional AVATAR-themed lands will be determined with our international theme park partners at a later date.

By Adam

Adam has been a fan of Disney since he was small. He runs the Disneybrit Podcast. He is also the author of several Disney books.

5 thoughts on “Avatar Themed Land Coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom”
  1. I think AK needs all the help it can get and an Avatar themed area is just the ticket. Hopefully Imagineers will come up with some thrill rides for the area.

  2. To be honest I felt Avatar was super boring and a rip-off of quite a few already created films… for me it was a waste of 3 hours and I could’ve found something way better to do.

    Hopefully they won’t be doing too much related to Avatar… if they wanted to go with a story of “learning the way natives live” they should’ve just stuck with Pocahontas, much better story IMO.

  3. My first thought was “huh?”. Granted I’ve never seen the film but this just seems to not fit somehow, and especially not at AK

  4. They should make this all inside like the stuff in the Mexican pavilion. It should have a perpetual twilight and glow in the dark like it does in the movie

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