Disney parks: Everything new this summer
One of the ways that Walt Disney distinguished Disneyland from the amusement parks of the day was by incorporating the storytelling techniques of film and bringing movies to life. Sure, his park had spinning rides and thrilling coasters, but it also took visitors to Peter Pan’s Neverland, through Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and aboard Dumbo’s flying elephant. As the parks have evolved, movies have continued to inspire lands and attractions, while the adventures have become ever grander.
This year, Disney is drawing on two blockbuster sci-fi films for inspiration. Guests can explore bioluminescent forests and soar on the back of a banshee at Disney World’s Pandora – The World of Avatar. Across the country at the Disneyland Resort, visitors can fall – and I mean really fall – for the Marvel gang now rocking multiplexes on Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! Both opened this past May, and both are wonderful experiences and fitting tributes to the movies that preceded them.
"You come to us for transportive experiences," says Joe Rohde, Walt Disney Imagineering's portfolio creative executive and the visionary who has been leading the charge for both Pandora and the Guardians ride. "They are experiences you can't get anywhere else."
Heed the details on Pandora
Pandora, based on James Cameron's CGI-heavy Avatar, might seem like an odd fit for Disney's Animal Kingdom, a park that celebrates real animals and the natural world. But Cameron sees it as a natural fit. "The process has been so rewarding," says Cameron, "because [Disney has] been so respectful of the ideas and the themes of the movie, the respect for indigenous culture and the rainforest and biodiversity … those themes run strongly through [Pandora] and obviously through the rest of Animal Kingdom."
It also might seem curious that Disney chose the eight-year-old movie as the source material for such an ambitious project. While the film generated enormous box office receipts, and sequels are on the way, it doesn't have the emotional resonance or the cultural cachet of, say, the Star Wars franchise (which will be enshrined as theme park lands in 2019 at both Disneyland and Disney World). But the land and its features are so compelling, they stand on their own merit.
Even if visitors come to the park without remembering much – or anything – about Avatar, Rohde says that Pandora is designed so that they would be able to access and enjoy it. The land's details, he notes, help fill in the blanks and advance the story.
"You could choose to ignore detail and just come ride two rides," says Rohde, "But you'd be wasting your time. Please! Pay attention to detail," he implores Disney World guests. The two attractions are the Na'vi River Journey, a gentle boat ride through a bioluminescent forest, and Avatar Flight of Passage, an amped-up thrill ride that sends passengers soaring and swooping over Pandoran landscapes. They are great, but visitors would be wise to heed Rohde's pleas and take in the land's lavish detail.
“The narrative here at the land is that the conflict between humans and Na’vi has ended," says Cameron. "This is a time of conservation and cultural respect that follows that, a time of peace. You’ll see destroyed, rusted out war machines lying around, the jungle reclaiming them, a sense of life returning. The Na’vi are keeping their distance and letting us have this valley, the Valley of Mo'ara, as a place for us to experience Pandora and learn something of their value system.”
As with Cars Land at Disney California Adventure and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Universal parks, Pandora is an encompassing land that focuses on a single intellectual property and immerses visitors in its mythology. Exotic vegetation and strange sounds envelop guests from the moment they walk across a bridge and enter the Valley of Mo'ara. The Imagineers have seamlessly blended real plants with ones they have conjured such as large pod-like flowers, multi-stemmed "spiny whips," and bluish "puffball" trees. Playing off of the movie's theme that all living things on the planet are connected, some of the plants are interactive and respond to human touch. The sounds of scampering animals, bird-like chatter, and odd mating calls can be heard coming from the forest that lines the paths.
As visitors wind a corner, the land's signature floating mountains are revealed. Through the use of forced perspective, they appear to be massive. Up close, guests can appreciate the mountains' intricate carvings. They are undoubtedly engineering marvels, but unlike the free-floating ones depicted in the movie, Disney's mountains have cantilevered tree roots and vines clearly anchoring them to the ground. The Imagineers have been able to accomplish some amazing things, but thus far they have not been able to defy gravity. Nonetheless, Pandora's majestic mountains will leave visitors wonderstruck.
Pandora glows at night
Pandora will equally astound guests at night when its bioluminescent plants bathe the land in an ethereal glow. If it looks striking during the day, the Valley of Mo'ara is positively otherworldly after dark. Even the paths sparkle beneath people's feet. There is an interactive drum circle that responds to guests' beats throughout the day. In the evening, illuminated plants react to the rhythms as well.
Regardless of the time of day, visitors could experience a perpetually bioluminescent forest aboard the Na'vi River Journey. During the four-minute ride, passengers can see shimmering plants, native animals such as viperwolves, and the indigenous Na'vi people, all under a canopy of darkness. The highlight of the ride is the Shaman of Songs, a 10-foot-tall animatronic character whose elegant movements are startlingly lifelike. It is a serene and delightful attraction.
Avatar Flight of Passage is an E-Ticket ride that, as in the movie, "links" humans to avatars. A next-generation flying theater attraction, it takes the hang gliding concept that the Imagineers developed for the popular Soarin' and cranks up the action to a giddy level. It simulates, quite effectively, the Na'vi rite of passage experience of riding on the back of a banshee.
Rounding out Pandora is the Satu'li Canteen, which offers dishes that reflect the nature-loving Na'vi people. There are bao buns as well as grain bowls that guests can customize with a variety of protein and sauce options. Avatar-branded wine and craft beers are also available.
Elsewhere in Disney's Animal Kingdom, there is a new nighttime show, Rivers of Light. It uses imagery projected onto water screens and other effects to showcase the park's animal and nature themes. Other recent after-dark additions include playful vignettes projected onto the iconic Tree of Life and nighttime safaris.
Another nighttime show, Happily Ever After, opened earlier this month at the Magic Kingdom. Using Cinderella's Castle as a backdrop, the chirpy presentation combines pyrotechnics, digital projection mapping, lasers, and music. One of Disney World's two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon, debuted a new family raft ride, Miss Adventure Falls. Disney Springs, the resort's shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, welcomed new restaurants The Polite Pig, which features barbecue, and Paddlefish, which specializes in seafood.
The Guardians' Awesome Mix of Thrills and Story
Like the films on which it is based, the tone at Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission BREAKOUT! is lighter than at Pandora. That's partly why Disney chose the quirky intergalactic heroes for its first major Marvel attraction in the USA. "There's something about the Guardians – an energy, irreverence, an atmosphere of fun," says Rohde. "I think [they provide] an interesting way to get in fast to something super energetic, accessible, and loveable."
Disney California Adventure repurposed the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror building and ride system for the Guardians attraction. The former Hollywood Tower Hotel is now the fortress of The Collector, a shady character who scours the universe for precious objects – some of which are living – so that he can display them to V.I.P. guests.
His latest acquisitions, the Guardians, aren't all that keen about being imprisoned. Rocket Raccoon manages to free himself and recruits the V.I.P. guests (that'd be us) to help bust his buddies out of their display cases. He uses our security clearance to help shut down the power to the fortress. That frees the rest of the Guardians, but also causes the elevator on which we are riding to go kablooey.
Guardians' multiple drops and rises, with their gut-wrenching falls and butterflies-in-your-stomach ascensions, seem more intense than the Tower of Terror. There are six different ride sequences choreographed to six different songs that might find their way onto one of Peter Quill's "awesome mix tapes." Culled from the 1960s and 1970s, the hits include the Edgar Winter Group's "Free Ride." Many park visitors would probably want to keep helping the Guardians with their prison break so they could experience the various songs, ride profiles, and hilarious scenes that randomly play during the attraction.
In addition to the new ride, Marvel superheroes such as Spider-Man, Captain America, and the monosyllabic Groot are greeting guests at Disney California Adventure. There's also a dance party hosted by the Guardians. During the park's Summer of Heroes limited-time promotion, visitors will be able to participate in an Avengers Training Initiative with Black Widow and Hawkeye. And Rohde says that more Marvel attractions are on their way to Disney California Adventure.
Guardians and Pandora may be rooted in movie superheroes and science fiction, but Rohde hopes that visitors coming to the parks this year will be convincingly transported. "I want people to feel that the experience was real," he says. "It's unbelievable, but it is, in fact, real."