Seen at D23 Expo 2015: Pandora: The World of Avatar
We finally have a better idea of what Animal Kingdom’s Avatar land will look like, thanks to the Avatar section of the Walt Disney Parks and Resort booth at D23 Expo 2015. A name was even officially announced: “Pandora: The World of Avatar.”
There only one thing Disney theme park nerds like more than riding new multi-million dollar attractions, and that one thing is looking at insanely detailed models of them. The model on display inside the Avatar booth was massive, at least 6 feet wide and looked extremely impressive.
As you can see from the model, Pandora will be a visually stunning land with a ton of details to find and soak in. I think this was the best way to go for a theme park attraction based on a property like Avatar. It may not be everyone’s favorite movie, or even fondly remembered, but the land will stand out on its own and impress people for years to come, despite what anyone thinks of the films.
Besides the model of Pandora, props were on display that will be seen in the land. The ACE logo behind the props is from the fictional travel company that brings visitors to Pandora. Imagineers in the Avatar booth were dressed in ACE jumpsuits and were in character when chatting with guests.
Sculptures of some of the beasts seen in the World of Avatar.
A sculpture of one of the Na’vi. Na’vi animatronic characters are expected to appear inside the the land’s attractions.
Here you can see some concept art of what you’ll see inside Pandora.
I saw Imagineer Joe Rohde roaming around the booth and got a picture with him with the Na’vi bust.
What are your opinions about Pandora: The World of Avatar? Does it change the way you feel about Disney’s Animal Kingdom? Let me know in the comments below.
Nope, still not excited. Still hate the idea of Avatarland (yep, will keep using this). Hopefully the actual avatar parts are fairly muted and this can stand alone as its own thing.
That ACE thing is rather odd. Was that just for the Expo? Can we expect a type of “hodwarts express” to travel to Pandora from AK?
Let’s hope this will finally put to rest the silly use of “Avatarland”. (Probably not, but at least now there’s a correction to offer.)