Which is the worst gate at Walt Disney World? Heading into 2017, most park guests would split their vote between a pair of parks. We know this by the attendance, as Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom have historically lagged far behind Magic Kingdom and Epcot. In the summer of 2017, something shook up the status quo, though. Here’s how Pandora – The World of Avatar fundamentally changed the perception of Animal Kingdom while influencing the direction of future themed lands at Disney theme parks, notably Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Call and response
Image: DisneyThe Walt Disney Company first announced their planned addition to Animal Kingdom in 2011. At the time, critics wondered why Disney would construct a new themed land based on an intellectual property (IP) that they didn’t own. Even stranger, the company selected one whose cultural impact is in question even though the movie, Avatar, is the biggest global blockbuster ever.
Disney officials dodged the issue for the most part, but everyone understood the actual rationale. A rival theme park, Universal Studios Florida, had recently become the talk of the industry thanks to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. A Universal gate, Islands of Adventure, increased in attendance from 4.6 million to 5.9 million in a calendar year. Theme park analysts attributed the entirety of that traffic to the new themed land with that particular brand of Potter magic.
To Disney officials, this news stuck in their craw. They’d had the first crack at Harry Potter but only wanted to build a single ride. The remarkable success of a different Orlando theme park with a project they’d passed on put Disney on the defensive. Most observers viewed Avatar as their (questionable) response to the situation. And those same observers almost universally expected Disney to fail.
A surprising turn of events
Image: DisneyNobody outside of Disney anticipated heavy demand for a themed land of a largely forgotten 2009 movie. Sure, Disney fans would show up because we show up for everything. The prevailing belief, however, was that Avatar wouldn’t foster extra incentive for casual theme park tourists, the ones who don’t necessarily visit Walt Disney World regularly.
Criticism grew with each passing year as Disney failed to progress on the Pandora project. Originally expected after only three or four years, it suffered several unexpected delays. By the time Disney finally confirmed a year of release, cynics wondered aloud if anyone would even remember Avatar by that point. A 2017 opening for Pandora – The World of Avatar meant almost 8 years between the film and themed land based on it. That gap would seem significant for a beloved Disney property like Monsters, Inc. or Toy Story, much less a non-Disney IP of questionable cultural impact.
A funny thing happened along the way, though. Imagineers fell in love with Pandora. They relished their encounters with the film’s writer/director/producer, James Cameron, a modern day Walt Disney. And they were invigorated by a rare opportunity to flex their creative muscle with cutting edge technology, the kind that other theme parks lack the resources to utilize.
Image: DisneyWhen Pandora finally opened on May 27, 2017, something unprecedented happened. In an age where anyone is 140 characters away from an angry screed against anything, Disney opened a new themed land to glowing reviews. The comments were as close to universal as the social media era allows. Even the most critical theme park analysts acknowledged that Pandora – The World of Avatar is a modern masterpiece. The instant that it opened, it became the most technologically advanced and immersive themed land in the world. From its architectural wonders to its stunning attractions to its otherworldly restaurant, Pandora checked all the boxes for perfection.
Audiences noticed, too. Pandora drove traffic to Animal Kingdom in a rare and profound way. Only weeks after critics loudly wondered whether it would cause even a ripple in attendance, the results spoke for themselves…loudly. Animal Kingdom’s traffic rose from 10.8 million to 12.5 million. It didn’t just leave Hollywood Studios in the dust; it also surpassed Epcot, becoming the sixth most trafficked theme park in the world.
We can quantify the popularity of Pandora – The World of Avatar by looking at the numbers. Park attendance increased by 25 percent after the themed land opened. It was undeniably a blockbuster.
Problems and solutions and more problems
Image: DisneyEven Disney executives were caught off-guard by the blockbuster success of Pandora. They knew that Avatar – Flight of Passage would drive some traffic, and they quietly demonstrated confidence in Na’Vi River Journey, also. No one expected the wait for both attractions to exceed two hours for a calendar year. In the case of Flight of Passage, a two-hour wait seemed reasonable comparatively during this timeframe. The land was that mobbed.
The explanation for the triumph of Pandora is simple. Imagineers were given free rein to design an entirely alien world, one that embodies the environmentally friendly themes of Animal Kingdom as a whole. Where critics saw flaws, cast members appreciated the similar undertones and accentuated them whenever possible. Pandora looks beautiful, albeit in that understandably alien way.
Disney went all-in on the theming, too. Even the opening day restaurant, Satu’li Canteen, maintains the concept. You’re not eating at a Disney theme park restaurant here. You’re a guest at a tourist destination where your hosts serve food in a former mess hall. Na’Vi art is everywhere here, and the food is foreign, too. Bowls and pods mimic the flavors that you know on Earth, but their structure is distinctly Pandoran.
Image: DisneyGuests loved the escapism of the themed land. It seemed like a place that Walt Disney would build if he were still alive today. And the glowing reviews drove traffic that much more, as tends to happen with social media. Everyone wanted to visit Pandora. The strange part is that the praise remained nearly universal after the park had been in operation for a while.
Through the first 18 months of the themed land’s existence, its worst major problem was a temporary ride building shutdown caused by a fire alarm issue. If not for that, Pandora would have a flawless resume to date. Therein lays the problem we’ll discuss in a moment.
Image: DisneyBefore moving on, I should mention that Disney had to react to the attendance with emergency tactics. They added a new character meeting involving a mech aka a Pandora Utility Suit. It’s an eight-minute show with a singular purpose. It sucks traffic away from the long attraction lines in the area while providing guests with something else to do in Pandora. Its very existence demonstrates just how much demand there is for the World of Avatar.
Disney even had to add a new character meeting at DinoLand U.S.A. Its entire purpose is to balance park traffic. Currently, guests spend more time in Pandora than park officials would like. Donald’s Dino-Bash popped up in 2018 as a way to persuade at least some guests to visit the least trafficked themed land in the park. It too wouldn’t exist if Pandora were only moderately successful.
The Star Wars Problem
Image: DisneyPandora – The World of Avatar is an unqualified success. It runs smoothly and drives park traffic. Disney officials have studied this situation carefully for multiple reasons. One of them is the impending arrival of Star Wars Land, the themed land that’s expected to become more popular than Pandora and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter combined.
Here’s what has Disney scared. Pandora went so smoothly that it set a new standard for new themed lands. Anything that comes next is likely to pale by comparison. How do you beat perfect, after all? The World of Avatar had a secondary, almost hidden explanation for its success.
Since everyone expected the themed land to struggle due to its (alleged) lack of widespread appeal, any success would have qualified as a pleasant surprise. When anything faces lowered expectations, it has a better chance of succeeding. Star Wars Land is precisely the opposite. Its expectations are so absurd that nothing could possibly be good enough for some diehard fans.
Image: DisneyIn a way, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge faces the same issue as Star Wars: The Last Jedi. That film came after Star Wars: The Force Awakens, an unqualified blockbuster for the ages. Movie-goers expected the same level of quality and (perhaps unfairly) judged the eighth Star Wars title harshly as a result. It has a worse Rotten Tomatoes score, a worse IMDB rating, and dramatically less box office revenue.
Fairly or not, Star Wars Land will be judged against Pandora in several ways. The technologies and theming are obvious ways. The quality of the attractions is another. Perhaps the most critical facet, however, is overall customer satisfaction, and this area is where Disney faces an almost impossible problem.
The demand for Galaxy’s Edge will be unprecedented. I’ve talked to many Disney influencers on this subject, and the prevailing belief is that it will increase traffic at Hollywood Studios by 50 percent at a minimum. Disney executives must believe this, too. They’ve built an entire themed land, Grand Avenue, as a holding area for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Image: DisneyLet’s think about that for just a moment. Grand Avenue doesn’t have a single original attraction. When you’re there, you have two choices. You can eat at BaseLine Tap House, or you can not eat at BaseLine Tap House. There’s nothing else to do unless we count the pre-existing option, Muppet Vision 3-D. I say without a hint of irony that attendance for Muppet Vision 3-D is about to spike, presuming it remains in operation. That aspect has been in question for a while.
When you’re in the holding area at Grand Avenue during those first few months of operation, all you can do is anticipate your Galaxy’s Edge experience. What happens if the said experience doesn’t live up to the hype? Or the aggravation?
Expectations for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge were already unreasonably high. The immediate and total success of Pandora: The World of Avatar has raised the stakes even more. In a way, the situation encapsulates the entire existence of The Walt Disney Company. They’re only in competition with themselves, and their perpetual ability to re-raise the bar on their own triumphs has created the loftiest expectations imaginable.
My concern is that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge might be a tipping point. A lot can go wrong. Then again, the same is true of Pandora: The World of Avatar, but nothing ever did. At this point, it’s the perfect themed land of the 21st century.
