The newest addition to Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is not just a new attraction, but rather an entire new land as part of a massive expansion project that had been in the works for several years.  It is open now and here are 7 Reasons Why you MUST visit Pandora - The World of Avatar:

1. Pandora is home to the Best Attraction/Ride at Disney World

Disney World's new best attraction is called Avatar Flight of Passage and it has soared to the top of the Disney Must Do List.  This incredibly well-themed attraction takes you into the world of the Na'vi, links you with an Avatar, and allows you to ride on the back of a Banshee for an experience you will not soon forget.

This is the FastPass that you definitely want to get as Stand-By Line waits are consistently in the 2-3 hour range.

2. The theming is amazing (and very photogenic)!

The Valley of Mo'ara, as it is known, takes immersive theming to a new level for Disney World thanks to Joe Rohde and his team of talented Imagineers.  From floating mountains to flowers, plants, and animals this land is nothing like anything you have seen before.  Through the winding paths you will discover numerous opportunities to explore the scenic wonders and capture incredible photographs.

With scenery like this it is not difficult to imagine that you truly have transported yourself to Pandora!

3. The most awesome audio animatronic figure ever created lives here!

Within the Na'vi River Journey you will have the opportunity to discover a breakthrough in audio animatronic technology.  The Na'vi Shaman moves and sings in a manner that will have you memorized.  This is a long way from the original Tiki birds!

4.  There are some really cool drinks here

At the Pongu Pongu Outpost you will find some cool looking drinks to explore.  Whether you try the non-alcoholic Night Blossom that mixes limeade with apple and desert pear topped with passion fruit boba balls or the more potent Mo'ara Frozen Margarita with Sauza Commemorativo Anejo Tequilla with strawberry and blood orange flavor topped with strawberry boba balls, you will discover an exotic drink that tastes as good as it looks.

For fun you can also try the Hawkes' Grog Ale that is green in color and not just for St. Patrick's Day.

5. The food at Satu'li Canteen is really good.

For a totally different theme park dining experience you can try the food at the Satu'li Canteen.  Featured menu items include a "build your own bowl" concept where you pick your choice of Protein (Slow roasted grilled beef, wood-grilled chicken breast, sustainable fish fillet, or chili-spiced crispy fried tofu), Choose your Base (Quinoa & Vegetable Salad, Mixed whole grains & rice, Red & Sweet Potato Hash, or Romaine & Kale Salad), Finally you choose your sauce to complete the bowl (Charred Onion Chimichurri, black bean vinaigrette, or creamy herb dressing).

6. The place looks totally different at night and becomes even more awesome.

At night the Valley of Mo'ara comes alive and appears (and sounds) differently than the day time.  It makes a great reason to come back to enjoy the different look and feel of the land.  Also great Photopass opportunities to capture memories of your family in Pandora.

7.  Cool gift shop with Banshees!

The special banshee souvenir was the talk of the Disney fans as soon as this land opened. They sold out instantly every time they were restocked.

Although they are a little easier to obtain if you visit now, they are still really cool and definitely worth checking out.  You will also find a lot of other amazing items unique to Pandora at the Windtraders shop.

Pandora - The World of Avatar is set to open this Summer at Disney's Animal Kingdom, but here are some images just captured to show the progress of construction.  The above picture shows a construction wall at the entrance to the new Pandora - The World of Avatar section of Disney's Animal Kingdom and a glimpse of the impressive floating mountains that were made famous in the movie.

Disney World guests are getting ready to step into what promises to be an immersive environment that will transport them into the world that James Cameron created with the help of both James Cameron and his team combined with the talents of Joe Rohde and the Disney Imagineers.

 

There are two highly touted attraction that will become must do's for guests:

• The family friendly Na’vi River Journey will send guests down a sacred river hidden within a bioluminescent rainforest. Their journey will end in an unforgettable encounter with a Na’vi Shaman, a figure who has a deep connection to the life force of Pandora. 
• The Avatar Flight of Passage excursion will offer the jaw-dropping experience of riding on a Banshee over the world of Pandora.

Shown above are different angles of the construction of the giant show building and the floating mountains of Pandora.  These can be seen by Animal Kingdom visitors, but you cannot get any closer to them at this point in time.

Excitement builds to see if the amazing Joe Rohde who led the original design team for the Animal Kingdom theme park again succeed with his skill at creating detail and story filled attractions and spaces that transport guests into the heart of the stories.

Things will be changing dramatically at Disney's Animal Kingdom starting on April 22nd (aka Earth Day 2016!)  The Disney World theme park that has typically closed as the sun went down will now provide a compelling reason to stay well into the evening hours!

Rivers Of Light

The first, immediately noticeable change will come in the form of the first night time show in the park's 18 year history.  The new 'Rivers Of Light' show will now become the signature end of the day event at Disney's Animal Kingdom set to rival the Magic Kingdom's Wishes, Epcot's Illuminations, and Disney's Hollywood Studios' Fantasmic!



For those of you that have visited recently, you have probably seen the construction that has been taking place surrounding the water that is located on the Asia & Dinoland side of the park.  Unlike Epcot's Illuminations that only provide standing locations around the water, this show will have a large number of seats built into the waterfront for prime viewing of the Rivers Of Light.

Light, Water, Fire, & Animal Spirits!

Disney Imagineers have created a night time setting that is set to transform the entire theme park into a totally different experience from the day.  It will all start at the iconic Tree Of Life and manifest itself throughout the park, drawing guests to the Rivers Of Light performance that will take place on the water and into the sky.



Joe Rohde narrates the short video explaining the emotions and sense of family that this new show will evoke.

More Attractions To Come!

This is just the beginning for Disney's Animal Kingdom in terms of nighttime offerings.  Along with the new signature end of night show will be a new evening version of the Kilimanjaro Safaris and ultimately the addition of Pandora - World of Avatar  which will bring even more options and attractions into the evening hours.

We are excited about these changes to the best themed Walt Disney World Resort park.  There will now be several reasons to stay all day and into the night to explore all that Animal Kingdom has to offer!

Construction has been underway, but few details have emerged regarding the massive project that will bring Pandora and the world of AVATAR to Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park.  Recently Disney shared some of the details around this much talked about, and sometimes polarizing project.

AVATAR Brings New Technology and Amazing Visuals To Disney World

The incorporation of James Cameron's vision of Pandora with the detail oriented design team at Disney led by Joe Rohde, is bringing something never before seen at any Disney Theme Park.

Here are some of the comments posted by Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering shared on the Disney Parks Blog:

Since we first broke ground last year at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, we’ve been looking forward to welcoming guests into Pandora, the mythical land based on the blockbuster film AVATAR. We’re having a lot of fun dreaming up ways to bring to life the land’s iconic elements from the magnificent floating mountains to the interactive bioluminescent forest, and even to the soaring banshees. 

This creative process has been one of the most dynamic and collaborative ones we’ve ever undertaken. It began when our then-Chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts proposed to James Cameron that together we might recreate the world of Pandora at Disney. Since that time, our creative development team, led by Joe Rohde, has been working hand-in-hand with Jim, Jon Landau and their team of artists and designers at Lightstorm on every aspect of this project—from overall design to the smallest—yet crucially important—details. And along each step of this process, Tom, as well as Disney CEO Bob Iger have been actively involved in helping guide the creative vision that is shaping the extraordinary world we’re building.  

We all recently got together at our offices in Glendale, California and walked through the fantastic progress on the whole land—including the awesome experience of seeing Pandora while riding on a banshee.

When he was with us, Jim said, “I think one of the things that people loved about the movie is that they felt as if they had visited Pandora… now, thanks to Disney’s amazing Imagineers, people are going to truly experience Pandora firsthand. From the details in the plants to the production and design, extraordinary thought and care has gone into this entire world. The teams have really created something special, and it’s not going to be like anything else.” 

This project is really pushing the boundaries of what is possible. But one of the things that makes Disney Parks so special is that it takes all of our Cast—across the segment—to really bring these experiences to life. We were glad to be able to share our work with the creative teams and thought you might want to see it, too. Here’s a sneak peek of what we showed them: 

One of the best shows in all of Disney World has been closed recently due to the construction in Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park.  As construction has begun for the new AVATAR themed land, the Festival of Lion show had stopped since it's theater was going to be destroyed.

New Harambe Theater (picture from the Disney Parks Blog)

Fortunately a new theater has been built in Harambe, the African village in Animal Kingdom.  This is probably a better fit for the show anyway then the previous location in Camp Minnie Mickey.

Harambe Theater Construction

Recently the Harambe Theater looked like the picture above as construction continued.  The new theater is located behind the Tusker House Restaurant..  If you are traveling from Discovery Island into Africa and Harambe it will be on your left as soon as you cross the bridge.

Festival Of The Lion King Show at Disney's Animal Kingdom

The Festival Of The Lion King Show has been a Must Do attraction since Disney's Animal Kingdom opened on April 22, 1998.  This 30 minute live performance features singers, dancers, acrobats, aerial performers, audio animatronic characters and much more.  It has been a fan favorite and fortunately will continue in it's new home.

Welcome To Harambe!

We welcome the Festival Of The Lion King to its new home the Harambe Theater!  We are looking forward to the show restarting in June 2014 and continuing on for many years to come, as it delights new and returning Disney World guests to this spectacular show!

Whether you love the idea or hate it, expansion at Disney's Animal Kingdom is certainly news.

Construction has officially gotten underway for the building of the new AVATAR inspired land in the area that once housed Camp Minnie Mickey.  This James Cameron joint venture with Disney Imagineers will attempt to add a portion of Disney's Animal Kingdom that had been on the drawing board since the park's inception.


The "Beastly Kingdom" section that was envisioned to contain mythical creatures in some form or fashion is finally being built.  You can still to this day see evidence of that in the Disney's Animal Kingdom sign that greets you upon entrance to the park.  Look at the creatures that are part of the sign (click on picture to enlarge if needed) and you will notice some mythical creatures.

 It is doubtful that anyone would have expected that when it was finally built it would be transporting Disney Guests to another planet.

Here is the video from the Disney Parks Blog that shows some of what is planned.



Tell us what you think of the AVATAR inspired land coming to be part of the Walt Disney World Resort!

Recently, at the D23 Expo in Japan, Disney had James Cameron and Joe Rohde announce some of the upcoming visions for the new Avatar based attractions that will be added to Disney's Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

The video clip below shows both James Cameron, the writer and director known for such great films as: Titanic, The Abyss, The Terminator, Aliens, and Avatar, as well as, Joe Rohde, the Senior Vice President of Creative at Disney Imagineering and one of the lead designers of Disney's Animal Kingdom, talking about combining the world of Avatar, known as Pandora, and bringing it to Disney's Animal Kingdom as a transformational, immersive experience for guests.


Construction has begun to make the necessary space within what is currently known as Camp Minnie Mickey to prepare the space where the Avatar based version of Pandora will exist.

Here are more pictures of the current sketches of what may be coming:






The last picture shows James Cameron and Joe Rohde looking at early models.

This will be a major expansion to Disney's Animal Kingdom and give it a version of the original land of Mythical Creatures that it was originally designed to contain.

Disney's Animal Kingdom is already the most well themed of all of the Disney World Theme Parks, mostly in part to the hard work and relentless vision of Joe Rohde and it will be exciting to see what he can come up with to bring James Cameron's fantasy world of Avatar and Pandora to life.