More Details Shared Concerning Avatar Land...

If for some reason you haven't been online this weekend, you've missed some pretty incredible and in my opinion very intriguing news! Updates for the much debated upcoming Avatar Land at Animal Kingdom have been few and far between since its September 2011 Announcement, but now that's no longer the case. At midnight on Friday evening, at the same time as an official announcement at the D23 Expo in Japan, Tom Staggs published this exciting article on the Disney Parks Blog, exhibiting some breathtaking concept art, as well as some details on the experiences this new land will offer.

Mr Staggs describes such wonders as 'awe- inspiring floating mountains' and 'a nighttime jungle of bioluminescent plants', whilst also teasing information about an attraction themed to flying with a Banshee, just like in the movie.

This could well be the long rumoured Soarin'-esque attraction which many have considered a certainty for Avatar Land for a while now. This would be a great idea in my opinion, especially if they could take the natural next step in how immersive that attraction concept is and make it a 360 degree screen. Soarin' at Epcot has proved to be consistently popular ever since it opened, despite technical issues, and I think that Disney will recognise how good this original attraction concept is and will want to explore its potential to an even further extent.

That said however, the concept art seems to suggest something a bit different. It shows a series of Banshees with a single person aboard each of them, making me think that this attraction could be more akin to a dark ride, or even a rollercoaster. Some kind of simulator also springs to mind, which I actually feel might prove to be more likely due to the sheer scale of Pandora- the alien world on which Avatar is set- as a setting. Having a screen allows so much more potential for the development of that.

The other attraction hinted at in the article is some kind of boat ride, which the concept art shows as being set in the aforementioned nighttime jungle. This is almost certainly a dark ride, and I truly hope that it'll be one which they really let the Imagineers make awesome. Not that I can think of any times where this hasn't been the case, it's just I would love to see the potential of the environments from the film used to the greatest extent possible. It will be interesting to see what kind of storyline this attraction follows, whether it'll exclusively be about a 'tour' of the jungle, or if there'll be an element of adventure and some thrill ride features too.

As with the rest of my fellow Disney Fans, I have a great deal of opinions on what it's fair to say is proving to be one of the most divisive additions in the history of Disney Parks. Construction has barely even begun on this new land, and its opening is at least 3 years away, but Avatar has already become the subject of much discussion in all corners of the Disney Community. Tomorrow I'll be presenting that very opinion of mine in an entirely new post, such is the length of my ramblings! Then check back on Tuesday for my opinions on the other announcements shared by Disney about what will be the biggest expansion in Animal Kingdom's 15 year history! That will be followed by the normal Photo of the Week on Wednesday and Attraction Review on Friday. Last week's Attraction Review has been pushed back to then to accommodate this post.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a magical day!