Sneak Peak at Disney "Avatar Land"
 

Found this link to a brief article about the upcoming Disney D23 Expo this month (I think it's from Aug 9 - 11) where people in attendance will get to see a "sneak peek" of what they're planning for the Avatar attractions at Disney's Animal Kingdom:

D23 Expo to offer first tease of new Star Wars, Avatar attractions for Disney Parks, plus Captain America, virtual rides | Inside the Magic

Wish I could be at the D23 Expo to see this! :)

We've got have a meetup there at some point. :war:

Considering that the Avatar Land at Disney likely won't be finished until somewhere between 2016 and 2018, it won't be any time soon. :(

Lurking around Disney forums on occasion, I've seen some rumors about this.

1. That they're going to have something similar to Soarin', except the seats will move. And at least one point sort of go into a dive.

2. That they've developed something to simulate the bioluminescence-to-the-touch plants of Pandora.

3. That I can count the number of die hard Disney fans that are actually looking forward to this on one hand. They apparently really really wanted the movie to go to a Cars attraction :(

An on on rails (No personal control) Ikran flight ride is what I suspect , I would much rather see some advanced technoligy Ikran flight sim where the rider had direct control.
its allready posable to do Brain Machine interface control , where the rider could control simply by thinking bank right, climb , Dive, roll etc . simply search Emotiv headset
for examples , An motion base Ikran flight sim with Bmi control and eye tracker 3D
would be an amasing experence for the rider.
An example in use of this technoligy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_pAc0ttR0U
How it can be used in game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbCtu_yt4kk

An Ikran ride might be OK, but it'd have to be a good one, with good scale and trees, etc.

That article didn't really say much, but I'm still very much in two minds about this - it could be done very well or terribly.

Here's a link to another article on the D23 "Avatar Land" preview, this one with photos and video (you can click on each photo for enlargements):

Avatar Land details teased at 2013 D23 Expo as Imagineers “visit” Pandora to prepare Walt Disney World attractions | Inside the Magic

Awesome stuff!!! Can't wait for this!!! :love:

Look pretty neat so far.

A ride verses a motion base simulater , I rember disney did a magic carpet
simulator for Aladdin called "Aladdins Adventure" this allowed mutiple players each with a motion base "Carpet" and 3D VR headset with Head tracking
to work as a team flying there own paths through city of Agrabah in an a attempt solve a quest of some sort the players had to work together
each rider had control of there flight path and each player had there role
to play in helping the others with modern hardware this experence could
easly be an imersive trip into Avatars world and be quite an expernce for the rider far better then an on rails experence like disneys "soaring"
like you said I have to wonder just how deeply disney will touch on
the core roots of the film , or will it be a "plastic" topical experence.

An ikran version of that sounds fun :) - especially if they add wind/water effects and proper motion simulation.

I hope it ends up being made well, if so definitely a place I would like to get to go someday. Only time will tell.

Here's a few artworks and a video with JC himself at the beginning of the clip actually on the motion capture set of Avatar 2-3-4 (Yay!) explaining the park.

A little later in the vid, a Disney guy explains more. Some cool infos and sneak peeks.

Here's the link:

Get ready to journey to Pandora! First look at Disney's Avatar theme park - Movie News | JoBlo.com

Tidbit: the earrings on the Disney guy is kinda... unique :)

Cheers!

...I want it now. This concept... if we met up there, we would probably end up being forced out of the attraction at closing. xD

Looks like some good ****

This is the Internet, you can swear.

Anyway, this looks great

Wou!

HA! (specifically directed at everyone who thought Avatar at Disney World was a crap idea)

LOL, iron jones is the last person you need to tell that to.

Most forum software comes with the option for admins to make it so that swearing is automatically censored, and I'm pretty sure most swear/curse words are censored here.

As for the topic at hand, I'm not terribly excited for this attraction.

The message behind Avatar, in a nutshell, is to be considerate about how your lifestyle(s) and actions impact non-human lifeforms. An important part of this is not "over-consuming", which is something that many people in modern countries/societies (especially "Americans") are quite guilty of doing.

Over-consuming is when a culture becomes obsessed with things like shopping, eating and drinking from potentially artificial, processed sources (i.e. getting coffee from Starbucks every day or eating frequently at restaurants instead of eating at home) that damage the environment, and doing all of the above as cheaply as possible.

A large mass-market theme/amusement park is the very embodiment of all those things. For that reason, I am not excited that an attraction like this ended up at Disney world, and I feel kind of like James Cameron/Lightstorm chose this location because of the sheer utility (which would be hard to find elsewhere), but Disney wants it there just because it will turn a big profit for them.

Finally, this is a theme park catering mostly **to children**. If I'm going to be walking around in a recreation of a chunk of Pandoran jungle, I don't want be stepping in sticky soft drink spills and stale popcorn while avoiding someone else's poorly-behaved brood of vermin as they run around screaming. Also, this isn't going to include anything new or revolutionary. It's probably going to have some really nice scaled models of Na'vi and Pandoran plants and animals, and some interactive stuff, but it probably won't be as nice as the Seattle exhibit, even if it is on a larger scale.

There will probably be some really amazing opportunities for cosplay, and I'm interested in seeing models of the different kinds of plants and animals, but otherwise, I'm more excited that it is in Florida, and since we'll have a meetup there that means we get to go see Florida, which is a glorious gem of biodiversity (in the places that haven't been converted into retirement homes, anyway).

I have to admit these are some of my thoughts and worries too.

Irayo, Jachyra, for posting this news!
WOW! I'm blown away! It all looks SO amazing, beautiful, EPIC! :shock: :D
Cannot wait for this! What an awesome location for future AvatarMeet(s)! ;)
I can't help feeling like a giddy kid now...this combines 2 of my faves -- Disney & Avatar -- in one place. Yay! :)

Although, to be fair, I do understand your POV and concerns, Raiden. Do hope you'll be able to find *some* enjoyment in "Avatar Land" though.

It has very little do with my enjoyment.

It actually has to do with the erosion of our values as a community.

We're not like the Star Wars community, or the Lord of the Rings community; those people belong to groups founded because similar people liked movies that took them away from reality and deposited them in far-away places.

Avatar does that too, but it comes with something that Star Wars and Lord of the Rings do not come with. An important real-world message about preserving the wonders of Earth for generations to come, and that anybody can make a difference for that cause; it doesn't take a famous celebrity or celebrated academic to plant some native plant species, repair damaged habitat in a city park, or pick up garbage on the beach.

If we're just a bunch of nerdy blue sci-fi fans who go out like a swarm of locusts and consume merchandise related to our favorite movie, we've lost something important, and become "part of the problem".

Quite frankly, it would make me question ever coming here.

Kaltxi for sharing this. I was just sick to hear Avatar II may not come out until 2016. Movies make the release dates and not visa versa. Still it felt like someone just punched me in the Solarplexes.
I needed this for a pick me up. Thanks again!!

MOMS

Eywa bless you for sharing this with us Cyan Rachel. ;*

Hmm, well, I do see your point, Raiden. It's very true, what you're saying. So I guess, in my own case, I'm of two minds on the topic of Disney's "Avatar Land"...I now find myself a bit more divided as I consider your words. Definitely something to ponder. I feel a bit more conflicted, as I do honestly share many of your sentiments...but that Disney fan inside of me wants to totally immerse myself in what Lightstorm and the Disney Imagineers will create for us Avatar fans at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I'll have to give this all some more thought, and make sure I'm that much more mindful of the POV you've presented here. I truly don't want to be one of those people in the "swarm" that just consumes merchandise for my greedy self and becomes "part of the problem". :embarrassed:

Irayo for this insight, tsmukan.

This seems like it will be petty epic!
I have a feeling this will make me move to Florida,
To go too Pandora every day :
)

The thought of applying for a job has crossed my mind. Unfortunately I likely would not be able to afford the move and..... well I don't think Disney pays well enough to cover food, shelter and medical insurance.

And the construction of the Avatar Land has begun!

There is a short video included with the article.

Bonus points for the huge blue shovels :)

Cheers!

201(?) meetup location, perhaps? :)

2017 is when they expect to complete it. I vote yes!