I overheard..

gldc · January 18, 2012, 09:58:24 PM

I'm not usually one to start rumours BUT...

Bit of background first: I went to work at DLP this chritmas and some people including one of my friends got invited to a dinner with Daniel Delcourt who is the hotels and business solutions vice president. Now take what he said with a pinch of salt as I'm not sure how involved he is in these decisions but he said that one of the plans on the drawing board which was being considered was that there would be a third park dedicated to Avatar.

Now, this is what my friend told me...so it could have been misheard and maybe there's only an Avatar LAND coming to a park - Studios I guess would fit better.

There is more but she said she's going to have to ask the other people who were there as she wasnt listening 100% - ill get back to you when i find out.

I hope this doesn't happen at all. Not AVATAR. BUt Disney did say in Florida that the land there would be the first of many. OH BOY...

Thoughts?

P.S. Delcourt was previously head of entertainment so maybe he had more knowledge than I first thought.

JelleP · January 18, 2012, 10:40:29 PM

I'm not gonna judge just because of the fact that it's Avatar.
The movie wasn't that good (in terms of story), but the enviroment it brought with it was amazing!
I mean: walking around at Pandora: who wouldn't want to do that?
I'm sure it will give DLP some great publicity if they do this right...

But since it's just a rumour...
Don't get to excited yet ;-)

gldc · January 18, 2012, 10:52:42 PM

I've always wanted an epcot-style park though which would fit in perfectly in europe, sort of like europa park. Would take that over avatar any day.

Josh · January 19, 2012, 12:37:26 AM

That's not good. But I don't think they'd go any further than a land dedicated to it. Then again, I've heard executives saying that they're considering a Marvel park as well, so...

Scissorsboi · January 19, 2012, 01:48:03 PM

I'd much prefer a Marvel park over an Avatar one, Marvel has franchises within the general franchise to build on. Avatar has two environments and very limited characters you could use outside of a dark ride. Plus, while it was a big movie with 2 more on the way, I don't think Avatar has the sticking power that Marvel has, people can associate with superheroes - they'll visit for their favourite one - but aside from the 'it's a new park' novelty, personally I wouldn't visit something Avatar themed.

Also, if it is such a massive project then they're likely to end up drawing guests away from DLP and WDS and having a very busy Avatar Park. Similar to the effect Wizarding World of Harry Potter had to Islands of Adventure, that area is jam packed and Forbidden Journey (rightly so!) has a 3 hour queue, where Spiderman/Hulk/Jurassic Park struggle to get 20 minutes! It's a dangerous game to play when you have a brand as big as this!

ed-uk · January 19, 2012, 02:01:06 PM

I don't think Disney would build a whole theme park around Avatar, a land within a theme park like DAC, yes. But who would lend DLP the money for it? And a Marvel Park doesn't appeal to me either.

Pizzaplanet · January 19, 2012, 02:21:39 PM

Quote from: "ed-uk"I don't think Disney would build a whole theme park around Avatar, a land within a theme park like DAC, yes. But who would lend DLP the money for it? And a Marvel Park doesn't appeal to me either.

I agree with you. I'm pretty sure Disney will not build a whole park around Avatar, which is a pretty bad movie in my opinion. The effects were great, but the story was stupid and none of the characters is likable. I still don't get why Disney is using that franchise.

Can we please stop talking about a third park. It's not going to happen in the next years. Disney needed the approval from 65 bank to build Ratatouille. The company is still over 2 billion Euros in debt. Which bank would lend Disney the money for such a park. TWDC will also not invest that heavily, since they are working on SHDL and on expansions in Anaheim, Florida and Hong Kong. TWDC has never spent so much money on the Parks & Resort division than in recent years. That's not going to happen again. The next thing is, that ED SCA is not owned by TWDC, they are just a stakeholder and so I think besides credit lines, there will be no direct investments. The only possibility is to add Marvel or Avatar inspired rides to the existing parks.

Vegitabeta · January 20, 2012, 02:27:14 PM

I'm still getting my head around the fact that there will be an Avatar Land in Animal Kingdom.

ed-uk · January 20, 2012, 03:09:15 PM

I've never seen Avatar but James Cameron is well known for being a perfectionist, so Avatarland could be really good with some great themeing and rides, I don't think he will settle for anything less. The film was a huge success if that's anything to go by and two sequels are being made. In a few years time we'll know but this could turn out to be serious competition for Harry Potter at Universal.