Does "Avatar Land" really fit in at Animal Kingdom?

After seeing this article, I think I agree. Why build a fake land in a park that is supposed to celebrate and highlight the real animal world?

Sure there are attractions about fake things there already (ie, Bugs Life), but this is an entire land, not just a simple attraction.

I’m curious how others feel. While you may be excited for the land to open and plan to see it, do you think it really belongs in AK?

While I think “Avatar Land” sounds pretty cool in and of itself, my problem with it is that (1) it doesn’t seem to fit at a Disney Park and (2) it’s from a movie that is not really relevant anymore. I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie. It was entertaining, but it isn’t one that I feel I need to re-watch over and over. I’ll still definitely check out this land, though, when I have a chance. I’m sure the Imagineers are doing some incredible things.

As to how it might relate to AK, they’re probably thinking about the message of conservation from the movie. So in that sense I suppose it fits.

With regard to ITtBaB, I actually think that - although the bugs in the attraction are fake - it fits in nicely at AK, since bugs are real. The same is true of FotLK and FNtM. They’re made-up stories about personified animals, but these animals really exist on the earth.

The main “theme” of AK is understanding ecology and man’s place in the world’s ecosystem. Avatar is about a planet - Pandora (ok, moon, for the nerds out there) with a very complex ecosystem and what happens when man invades the planet (for profit) without considering the ecological damage being done. It’s a “morality play” about our own disregard for our own ecosystems (rain forests destruction, off-shore drilling, fracking, strip mining, nuclear waste, etc.). The “land” is officially called “Pandora: The World of Avatar”. It’s about the world and the ecosystem, not about the plot of the film. In fact the land is set a decade or two after the para-military corporate men have left, and the structures that they have left behind serve as an infrastructure for “eco-tourism”.

AK was always supposed to have a “fantasy” land, originally called “The Beastly Kingdom”, with dragons, unicorns, centaurs, etc., but it was scrapped due to budget cuts (and the fact that Universal bought off half the design team to create the original Islands of Adventure), so we got Camp Minnie-Mickey instead. So now we are getting a “fantasy” land built around the mythos of Pandora vice the “classic” terrestrial mythos.

I am more excited about this than I am about TSL and SWL combined…

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Some nice points - although I’m kinda’ wishing the “The Beastly Kingdom” had happened instead. That could have been pretty cool if done right and I’d never heard that was planned, but got cut. Interesting…

Overall I think Pandora probably fits in AK as well as any other park and likely better than most although one could argue for HS I guess. I think the attractions will need to be good on their own though as the source material of Avatar will not be a draw. The plans do sound well themed and immersive though so hopefully it’s a winner…

Don’t get me started on HS. Talk about getting away from its roots!