Archive for Pandora – The World of Avatar

TIME Magazine Recognizes Pandora – The World of Avatar as Best of the Best

If you or you have journeyed to Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park, then you probably know how unique and awesome it is. Where else can you soar on the back of a banshee, sail through a bioluminescent rainforest or walk under mystical floating mountains? It’s no wonder Pandora instantly became a must-do experience when it opened at Walt Disney World Resort last year.

Among the countless people who’ve been wowed by Pandora are editors at TIME magazine. They’ve named Pandora to their first list of the World’s Greatest Places. According to TIME, the list of 100 destinations from around the world “recognizes newsworthy, groundbreaking and innovative travel destinations, experiences and companies that stand out in the travel space, influencing both leisure and business travel globally.”

The list truly captures the best of the best from among more than 1,200 editor and expert nominations from around the world. If you or you haven’t been to Pandora yet, now’s the time. It’s officially one of the world’s greatest places, even if it’s 4.4 light years away!

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Pandora Utility Suit Will “AMP” Up the Excitement at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

A 4.2-ton, towering mechanical suit is sure to stop guests in their tracks when it debuts at Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom on April 22. The new Pandora Utility Suit is inspired by the iconic Amplified Mobility Platform (AMP) suits of power armor from the epic film AVATAR.

Perched ten feet high, a human pilot straps into the cockpit of this exo-carrier and controls its powerful, yet agile movements. The giant walking suit was designed with articulated hands and a shoulder span of more than five feet. It also bears claw marks and battle scars from a Thanator – an alpha predator on Pandora.

But the Pandora Utility Suit was actually designed for restoration, while the film’s AMP suits were created for infantry missions of destruction. Its streamlined structure and technical upgrades make it the perfect tool to collect plant samples, study flora and survive Pandora’s wild terrain.

Like all the lands at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Pandora is rooted in nature. The Pandora Utility Suit showcases that in dramatic fashion. As the suit traverses the land daily, its pilot will interact with guests, share details about the land’s otherworldly landscape, and highlight the importance of preserving nature.

The Pandora Utility Suit continues the collaboration between Disney and Lightstorm Entertainment that first brought Pandora – The World of Avatar to life nearly a year ago. The suit will debut April 22 as part of the 20th anniversary celebration of Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort.

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Young Stars of the Avatar Sequels Get Inspiration During Visit to Pandora – The World of Avatar

The next generation cast of the upcoming Avatar sequels was immersed into the breathtaking world of Pandora during a recent visit to Walt Disney World Resort.

The visit was organized by AVATAR filmmaker James Cameron and film producer Jon Landau to acquaint the seven young actors with the world their film characters will inhabit and to inspire their performances. The visit did all that and more, with the actors coming away awestruck by the mystical world of massive floating mountains, bioluminescent rainforests and breakthrough experiences. Pandora – The World of Avatar opened in May to rave reviews as the newest land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

“It was important to bring the newest members of the cast to Pandora to help them prepare for their roles in the film,” said Landau. “Typically, actors are introduced to a film through digital imagery and virtual sets. Our walk-through delivered on-the-ground sights, sounds and experiences that brought to life for the cast this wondrous world.”

Chosen from around the globe, the young cast is the cornerstone of upcoming sequels to be released by Twentieth Century Fox. The visit Pandora – The World of Avatar exceeded their wildest dreams.

The seven newcomers range in age from 7 to 17 years old and include: Britain Dalton (Lo’ak of the Sully Family), Filip Geljo (Aonung of the Metkayina Clan), Jamie Flatters (Neteyam of the Sully Family), Bailey Bass (Tsireya of the Metkayina Clan), Trinity Bliss (Tuktirey of the Sully Family), Jack Champion (Javier “Spider” Socorro), and Duane Evans Jr (Rotxo of the Metkayina Clan).

Bass, who will play Tsireya, the young Neytiri of the ocean, reflected on the visit to Pandora.

“I am touching everything because I need to remember how it feels on my hands, how everything smells, how everything looks,” she said. “I took a bunch of photos just so I can look back and see what I went through. I am going to bring that back so I can portray my character and understand how she witnesses her world.”

Throughout the two-day visit, the cast was transported to a majestic and alien world. They sailed through a bioluminescent rainforest on Na’vi River Journey, where they were awed by the Na’vi Shaman of Songs. The cast also flew on the back of banshees in the Avatar Flight of Passage attraction that took them over the stunning world of Pandora.

Cameron’s original AVATAR film was a blockbuster hit that left millions of moviegoers longing to visit the Pandora he created digitally for the big screen. That’s now possible at Pandora – The World of Avatar. And although the physical world of Pandora at Disney’s Animal Kingdom doesn’t recreate specific scenes from the film (it’s set a generation after the events of the films) it represents the film’s core messages of exploration, preservation, and conservation.

Pandora – The World of Avatar is a unique partnership between Walt Disney Imagineering, James Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment that brings to life the extremely vivid, authentic experience of an alien world.

“This is really the collaboration of two master storytellers, Disney and LEI,” Landau said. “Story is at the heart of Pandora the land and Pandora from the movie franchise.”

The four AVATAR sequels will be filmed concurrently. Twentieth Century Fox will release the first sequel in theaters nationwide on Dec. 18, 2020.

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First Fall for Pandora – The World of Avatar

The exotic new land of Pandora – the World of Avatar is a don’t-miss adventure this fall.  It’s where you can soar on a banshee, sail down a sacred river and discover a mystical world of glowing rainforests and floating mountains. Inspired by the epic film AVATAR from director James Cameron, the wondrous new land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is big fun for guests of all ages.

Exotic eats are on the menu at Satu’li Canteen including healthful create-your-own bowls and bao bun pods stuffed with meat or spicy vegetables. Out-of-this world beverages and refreshing treats await at the Pongu Pongu specialty-drink location.

The day isn’t complete without a stop in Windtraders. This fun and immersive retail location offers more than 200 unique merchandise items, so guests can take a little piece of Pandora back home with them. There’s a banshee rookery where you can select your very own banshee. With a digital scan of your face, ACE Avatar Maker lets you create a personalized Avatar action figure. There’s even a handy translator unit that will help you learn how to speak Na’vi. At the shop’s bead bar, you can craft Na’vi-inspired necklaces using feathers and beads, 

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Inside Pandora – The World of Avatar How Walt Disney Imagineering Brought Pandora to Life

A WORLD APART: When Disney’s Animal Kingdom guests journey to the far-away world of Pandora as probable eco-tourists, they encounter floating mountains, a glowing, bioluminescent rainforest and other wonders of an alien world. The Valley of Mo’ara on Pandora is undergoing a rebirth long after a destructive mining operation known as the Resources Development Administration (RDA) ceased operation.  Eco-tourists, for the first time, can travel to this exoplanet located in the Alpha Centauri star system 4.4 light years from Earth.

Where Mountains Float . . .

  • The iconic floating mountains in the Valley of Mo’ara – there are 22 – peak at about 130 feet above the valley floor. .
  • Sharp-eyed adventurers will see Pandoran Stingbats nesting in the mountains. Despite their lethal tail spines, these animals can be summoned by the Na’vi with clicking sounds made between the tongue and teeth.
  • A team of more than 60 artisans from the U.S., Peru, France, Portugal, Japan and Ireland contributed to creating the art-scape of the floating mountains.

And the Landscape Glows and Hums…

  • It wouldn’t be an alien planet without bizarre plant life.  On Pandora, a diverse ecosystem is rebalancing as a variety of colorful plant life flourishes.
  • Plants have names like Puffball Tree, Dapophet, Vein Pod, Scorpion Thistle, Episoth and Flaska Reclinata.
  • Humans rapping on the Flaska Reclinata cause this large alien plant to pollinate by releasing spores within the environment. With its wide base tapering to a narrow top, the Flaska Reclinata is found just past the old RDA bridge.
  • Many plants are bioluminescent, with internal lighting or material that makes them glow.  Plants are interactive. Guests can see and sense the energy of the plants that moves in waves.
  • Pandora plays to a surreal soundtrack. Said Matt Beiler, WDI producer: “For the land to feel like a real jungle from another planet, we don’t have traditional background music in Pandora – we have a soundscape designed to make it feel as though it is an alien jungle. We hear vocalization patterns like mating calls and hunting moments, and this makes it feel real.  When those moments happen, the lighting ties into that with waves of energy.  It gives us a connectedness to nature.” 

Where Water Flows . . .

  • At the center of Pandora is a riparian area, where waterfalls cascade from the mountaintops into gentle pools and streams.
  • One stream follows a peaceful path along the entry to Pandora. The other flows into the Na’vi River Journey, where guests board reed boats for an excursion to see the revered Shaman of Songs.
  • The looming mountains are arid, and guests will hear different animal vocalizations from those areas.

And Earth Elements Integrate

  • The Walt Disney Imagineering landscape architecture team worked side by side with the land’s design and engineering teams to ensure that thousands of Pandoran plants, including epiphytes and barnacles, fit into the overall landscape plan.
  • For example, the Dapophet plant features a sort of starburst bloom that resembles the live agave planted next to it.  The Puffball Tree looks like the family of plants we know as cycads with its fern-like, palm-like characteristics.
  • More than 250 varieties of live trees, shrubs and epiphytes mingle with the Pandoran The Disney horticulture team planted more than 500 trees and nearly 10,000 shrubs across the Pandoran landscape.

Where Even the Walkways Glow…

  • Many of the walkways and paths, like the alien plant life that surrounds them, are also bioluminescent.  A treatment added to some of the Pandoran walkways gives them that glowing quality.  Charged by sunlight and reinforced by black light, the glowing pathways come to life.

And Creature Life Surrounds You

  • No matter where guests go in Pandora, they will feel the presence of many animal species. Pandora teems with them.
  • The pack hunter, the Viperwolf (with six legs and opposable thumbs) communicates with unusual coyote-like yelps. The Direhorse (a six-legged domesticated riding animal) exhibits a gentle demeanor.
  • Mountain Banshees, with wingspans averaging approximately 45 feet, inhabit the mountainous regions of Pandora.  The most fearsome land predator is the omnivorous, powerful Thanator.  And the Great Leonopteryx, larger and more solitary than the Mountain Banshee, is the most formidable winged creature.

Where You Can Fly on a Banshee . . .

  • At Avatar Flight of Passage, 48 guests at a time can enter a state-of-the-art theater and board mountain banshees as avatars for the ride of their lives across Pandora.
  • Immersion in the world of Pandora is complete thanks to a projection screen 69 feet wide and more than 97 feet high.
  • Flight time during the six-minute experience is about four minutes.

And Meet a Na’vi Shaman

  • During the 4½-minute Na’vi River Journey, guests will meet an Audio-Animatronics Na’vi Shaman of Songs. At nearly 10 feet tall, the shaman is typical height for a Na’vi.
  • New technology programs fluid energy into her every movement and gesture.

 

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VISITING PANDORA: A PHOTO TOUR OF DISNEY’S NEW AVATAR LAND

The Verge’s own Bryan Bishop and James Bareham take you on a guided photo tour of what it’s like to spend a day (and night) in Pandora.

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THINGS TO EXPERIENCE IN PANDORA – THE WORLD OF AVATAR AT

Pandora – The World of Avatar is now open to Guests at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park.

The land itself serves as an amazing attraction for guests to explore and interact with, and the area’s two experiences – the thrilling Avatar Flight of Passage and the family friendly Na’vi River Journey – are already wowing Guests. But did you know there are actually many other ways guests can have fun throughout Pandora – The World of Avatar?

Here are seven must-do suggestions on how guests can have the most immersive experience possible during their next expedition to Pandora – The World of Avatar.

1. Match With A Banshee – Already a Guest-favorite experience, the land’s Windtraders Merchandise shop is home to the Rookery, a nook where banshees reside, waiting to be “matched” with Guests.

2. Visit at Swotu Wayä (“Sacred Place of Song”) – Located in the heart of Mo’ara Valley, guests can interact with a collection of instruments fashioned by the Na’vi. They are connected into the moon’s root system and as Guests play the instruments, the area just may respond with music and light.

3. Test Out A Na’vi Translator – Also found in Windtraders, this fun device helps guests learn Na’vi words.

4. Dine at Satu’li Canteen – Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Satu’li Canteen offers one of the most interesting menus at the Walt Disney World® Resort. Featuring international-inspired cuisine, vegetarian options and specialty libations, it’s the ideal place to refuel on an expedition through the Valley of Mo’ara.

5. Help Regrow the Flaska Reclinata – One of the largest and most fascinating plants on Pandora, guests can help this rare plant “re-seed” itself on Pandora simply through touch.

6. Channel Your Inner Na’vi – Windtraders offers a selection of Na’vi inspired merchandise. Here, guests can buy their own set of Na’vi ears or a Na’vi tail. They can also get a Na’vi inspired look over at Colors of Mo’ara.

7. Get Camera Ready – Pandora – The World of Avatar is chock-full of unbelievable photo opportunities – from towering floating mountains, to surprising water falls and much more. And if guests want professional pics, Disney PhotoPass guides are on-hand at multiple locations throughout the land.

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Walt Disney Parks and Resorts to Give up to $1 Million to Protect and Restore Wildlife Habitats

To celebrate the grand opening of Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and the Disney Conservation Fund today announced Connect to Protect, a commitment of up to $1 million to help protect and restore habitats critical to 10 at-risk animals. The contribution will be unlocked by guests who participate in conservation ‘missions’ while exploring the immersive land of Pandora and for the first time ever, guests will get to choose which animal that donation will support.

“Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is thrilled to open Pandora – the World of Avatar, and to celebrate this milestone, we’re asking our Guests to help us protect the environment,” said Bob Chapek, Chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.  “Their participation will unlock up to $1 million in contributions to protect and restore the habitats of 10 at-risk animals.” 

Walt Disney World Resort President George A. Kalogridis made the announcement Thursday morning during a press event to officially launch Pandora and preview other offerings throughout the Resort.

“Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Pandora – the World of Avatar both demonstrate that every animal, endangered or otherwise, requires a healthy habitat to thrive,” said Kalogridis. “Through Connect to Protect, our guests will join us in helping protect the habitats critical to 10 animals here on Earth and share in our commitment to nature.”

Visitors to Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Pandora will be invited to take part in numerous conservation-themed ‘missions’ via Facebook Messenger, facilitated by one of the moon’s digital ecological specialists, Fitsimti “Fits” Buckley.

By completing one or more missions, each guest will unlock a $10 contribution to be made through the Disney Conservation Fund, or a $5 contribution just for discussing conservation with Fitsimti. Those guests will then get to choose how the contribution (of up to $100,000 per animal) will help protect or restore habitats important to one of 10 threatened categories of animals: apes, elephants, butterflies, coral reefs, cranes, monkeys, rhinos, sea turtles, sharks/rays, and tigers.

Guests will also be able to learn more about each animal the Disney Conservation Fund supports, the habitat conservation programs the contributions will support, and the nonprofit organizations they are working with to reverse the decline of the 10 animals.

In 2016, the Disney Conservation Fund announced a new initiative called “Reverse the Decline, Increase the Time,” aimed at reversing the decline of at-risk wildlife through scientific research, community collaboration, and increasing the time kids spend in nature to inspire them to care for the planet.  The Fund is supporting leading nonprofit organizations that are working to protect threatened wildlife and inspire a lifelong love for nature in young people. In addition to funding, the initiative is also providing opportunities for Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment team to apply the expertise and talents of its cast members and employees to help threatened animals.

The Reverse the Decline organizations supported by the Disney Conservation Fund that will receive the contributions from the Connect to Protect program are:

  • International Crane Foundation (Cranes)
  • International Rhino Foundation (Rhinos)
  • Save the Golden Lion Tamarin and Wildlife Conservation Network/Proyecto Tití (Monkeys)
  • Perry Institute for Marine Science (Coral Reefs)
  • The Jane Goodall Institute (Apes)
  • University of Florida Foundation (Sea Turtles and Butterflies)
  • Wildlife Conservation Society (Elephants, Sharks/Rays, and Tigers)

“The Disney Conservation Fund has been core to the history and values of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and we are excited to continue to engage our guests in our shared commitment to wildlife, people and the planet with Connect to Protect,” said Kevin Callahan, vice president, Corporate Citizenship, The Walt Disney Company. “The experiences our guests will have in Pandora, will not only continue to inspire families to connect with nature, but also give all those who visit the opportunity to protect some special habitats and species here on Earth.”

Pandora – The World of Avatar opens this week at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort. Based on Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron’s record-breaking box-office hit, AVATAR, the new land immerses guests in a mystical world of massive floating mountains, bioluminescent rainforests and breathtaking new experiences. The largest addition in the history of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Pandora carries on the park’s tradition of celebrating the intrinsic value of nature, transformation through adventure and a personal call to action.

 

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Disney World’s New Pandora Park Has All the Booze and It Is Out of This World

Party on Pandora!

This week Walt Disney World opened its new theme park expansion, Pandora – The World of Avatar, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. And among the eye-popping surprises and gravity-defying floating mountains is a truly unexpected treat: custom beer, wine and cocktail creations for adult visitors seeking an interstellar kick. (Parents of the universe, take note.)

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Disney’s World of Avatar: What It’s Like to Spend a Day on Pandora

f you’ve passed through the gates of Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Park, you’re familiar with the signposts pointing toward exotic locales like Africa and Asia. Enter the Florida park now, though, and you’ll notice those signs have added a new directional arrow, one leading to the fictional land of Pandora.

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