Avatar Land (Disney's Animal Kingdom)
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Cameron praised Disney's design for the new land, mentioning real floating mountains and two state-of-the-art rides, though he wouldn't say what those rides would be.

"But from what I've seen so far, it will be amazing," Cameron said. "I will be sad it's in Florida, because I won't be able to go a lot to it."

Disney said the land will have a flying simulator ride that lets guests "soar into the sky riding a Banshee."

Source:
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/on-the-town/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2014/4/20/james_cameron_avatar.html

“To me, Avatar's not coming here. Pandora is coming here," John Landau says. "We’re going to give people an opportunity to go to Pandora. That’s what we found when people came out of the movie. ... They wanted to go back to Pandora."

Landau and Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde both mention the cooperative nature of the work between Disney and the movie makers.

“I do believe it’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Rohde says.

He sounds ready to show off solid progress.

“I like to build things. It’s all fine to talk … we’re going to do this, we’re going to do that. Blue sky, and pictures and meetings. I want to build stuff. That is what I’m here to do: Build things.”

The "Avatar" themed land is scheduled to open in 2017. There are signs -- construction walls, closure of Camp Minnie-Mickey and the impending relocation of "Festival of the Lion King" -- around the theme park.

“From here on out, which is an incredible slog, we are doing it," Rohde say. "We are going to make this happen. Which is very exciting, really intimidating, but really technically mindboggingly hard to do, but very exciting because we’re going to do it now."

Link here (includes video):
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/blogs/theme-park-rangers/os-disney-animal-kingdom-avatar-rohde-20140130,0,5384798.post

Groundbreaking time!!

No fresh details were released in conjunction with the ceremony. Pandora, as park officials call the "Avatar" land, will be unlike anything at any other Disney park and it will allow guests to "fly with banshees," they say.

The project, based on the film by director James Cameron, was announced in 2011 and is expected to open around 2017.

Sources:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/the-daily-disney/os-disney-avatar-groundbreaking-20140110,0,7668933.story
http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disney-avatarland-groundbreaking-68390/

I can't wait! I love Avatar at Disney Animal Kingdom!

Last Updated: Sunday, January 05, 2014
Sunday is the last day to visit Camp Minnie-Mickey at Disney's Animal Kingdom and see the Festival of the Lion King.

The area closes at the end of business today, and Festival of the Lion King will go on hiatus until a new theater in the Africa section of the park is ready later this year.

The move fuels speculation that Disney will build the new Avatar Land at the Camp Minnie-Mickey site, but Disney will not confirm that.

Source:
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/on-the-town/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2014/1/5/festival_of_the_lion.html

Disney doesn’t seem to be worried, planning to open the first phase of Pandora in 2017, and “based on the designs we’ve seen, we believe that phase will include the “Soarin’”-style 3D movie attraction,” writes Theme Park Insider.

Source:
http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/avatar-2-may-struggle-to-be-cutting-edge-as-disney-unveils-concept-art-for-world-of-pandora-58251/

Most exciting is the announcement that two new rides will anchor this land while providing some new attractions that are much needed at Animal Kingdom.

The first ride will be a family orientated dark boat ride that will travel through the illuminated forests of Pandora. It is unclear if the entire dark ride will be indoors or if there will be outdoor sections as well.

The second ride will feature technology first used on Disney's Soarin' ride. Although using the same general technology of Soarin', the ride is expected to be energetic and exciting. The ride will most likely be centered around a guest flying on the back of a Ikran or Mountain Banshee (huge birds). Because of this, the long benches utilized in Soarin' are also not expected to be used.

Source:
http://www.coaster-net.com/news/2258-avatar-expansion-at-animal-kingdom-to-include-two-new-rides/

Why so long to Construction of Avatar I thought be finished 2016 or 2017 please tell me so I won't get confused!

Source:
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/10/first-look-avatar-to-come-to-life-at-disneys-animal-kingdom/

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/10/first-look-avatar-to-come-to-life-at-disneys-animal-kingdom/
people we have concept art