Real, Ancient, and Imagined: An Armchair Imagineered Blue-Sky Build-Out of Disney’s Animal Kingdom

PANDORA: THE VALLEY OF MO’ARA 5463B7

Background

I know there isn’t much background needed here, but let’s at least quickly summarize how we got here.

It was 2011 when Disney announced that they’d officially licensed the exclusive, global rights to build attractions based on James Cameron’s 2009 3D sci-fi epic Avatar. In just the way that a partnership with Lucasfilm had brought Star Tours and Indiana Jones Adventure to Disney Parks (despite their source films being distributed by 20th Century Fox and Paramount, respectively), Disney’s collaboration with Cameron’s Lightstorm would see the 20th Century Fox blockbuster come to life in their theme parks, beginning with the only project announced in conjunction with the larger partnership: a land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The problem, of course, is that no one seemed to want it. For one thing, Disney fans weren’t convinced that a PG-13 20th Century Fox sci-fi film set in a distant future where humans wage war on an alien moon to strip its resources fit the brief for the otherwise grounded, cultural Animal Kingdom. For another, it felt as if Disney’s licensing of Avatar had been a sort of knee-jerk reaction to license something – anything! – Potter-sized just as Universal’s Wizarding World made its splashy debut.

And even if Avatar’s record-breaking $2 billion box office gross made it look like a “Potter Swatter,” the film’s most enduring legacy seemed to be just how little its legacy endured. Countless think-pieces conducted a multi-year post-mortem on why, exactly, the highest earning film of all time seemed to leave no footprints in pop culture. No iconic moment. No Halloween costumes. No beloved quotes… Cynics frequently proved their point by requesting friends name even one character from the film. All the while, commentator’s dunked on Cameron’s almost-humorously expanding promises – of a sequel; no, three, no, five – that no one seemed to be clamoring for, all as release dates were pushed off by years.

As for the project back at Animal Kingdom, rumors swirled for years… That Cameron was hard to work with. That Disney was getting cold feet around the initiative. That maybe Avatar‘s success had been a one-off. Reportedly, representatives of J. R. R. Tolkien’s estate were brought out to tour Animal Kingdom, potentially signaling that a Lord of the Rings land might be a contender to fill the space, instead. But in 2014, the quaint-but-temporary Camp Minnie-Mickey finally closed as construction began on Pandora: The World of Avatar.

To be clear, there’s no doubt whatsoever that as soon as the land made its debut in 2017, all of us naysayers got really quiet. Under Rohde’s shepherding, Pandora did the impossible: it made Avatar make perfect sense at Animal Kingdom. The trick is obvious: for one, the land is severed completely from the film’s plot. You need not know the name of a single character, conflict, or plot point at all. Instead, the land embraces what was most enduring about the film – its floating mountains, bioluminescent flora and fauna, and the vibrant world of Pandora – and wraps them in a narrative that’s downright brilliant.

Basically, the Avatar land is set some indiscernible time after the events of the 2009 film. Sure, there’s evidence of the weaponry we saw humans use against the native Na’vi people on screen, but it’s rusted, covered in moss, and repurposed as silent memorial to our naive, anonymous ancestors – so spoiled and selfish as to want to strip this beautiful world for minerals.

Environmental storytelling suggests that when we arrive, it’s by way of Alpha Centauri Expeditions (ACE). We are eco-tourists, stepping into the protected Valley of Mo’ara – a sort of nature preserve established by the Pandora Conservation Initiative (PCI) – to explore the beauty of Pandora; to marvel at its natural wonders; to engage with the culture and cuisine of its indigenous Na’vi; and maybe just maybe to pick up on the subtle sense that we should see Earth’s wonders, wildlife, and people through the same lens.

The land’s E-Ticket star is AVATAR FLIGHT OF PASSAGE – a daring attraction that sees us queue in rising trails up through the mountains of Pandora, passing through ancient tunnels marked with paintings of the Na’vi’s relationship with the dragon-like Ikran (or “banshee”). The elaborate queue gives way to a PCI laboratory, where we learn of the Ikran’s role as a keystone species, and how its preservation and protection enriches the entire ecosystem of Pandora (something like Africa’s lion, for example. Wink wink.)

Finally, we’re invited to “be brave” as we psychically link with a Na’vi avatar in the midst of their rite of passage – soaring through the beauty and trials of Pandora on the back of an Ikran. A stunning 3D simulator, Flight of Passage is one of the most sought-after rides in all of Walt Disney World – and despite its thrill, a bit of a reflective, meditative tear-jerker!

The second attraction is NA’VI RIVER JOURNEY – a boat-based dark ride along the placid rivers of a glowing rainforest understory. A plotless attraction (and wonderfully, one where nothing “goes horribly wrong”), Na’vi River Journey instead brings accumulating sights and sounds of the jungle together until the ride’s all-too-sudden climax – an encounter with the staggering Na’vi Shaman of Songs, whose singing seems to bring the planet to life.

Pandora: The World of Avatar certainly proved itself a success, even if it seemed at times that that may be in spite of the movie Avatar and not necessarily because of it. Then again, 2022’s long-gestating sequel, The Way of Water, proved naysayers wrong by surpassing $2 billion itself (separating the two Avatars from one another in worldwide box office only by Avengers: Endgame). Naturally, that greenlit a second Pandora at Disney California Adventure and established that Avatar will be one of Disney’s anchor franchises for the foreseeable future. So back at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, what do we do?

Build-Out

The first subtle change I made was renaming this land “Pandora: The Valley of Mo’ara.” I understand that this is totally outrageous. We’re unlikely to ever see a “Living Land” whose proper name excludes the film or property it’s a part of because 1) why bury the lede for the sake of artistry? 2) contractual agreements almost certainly demand it, and 3) search engine optimization is a more powerful force in shaping our world than any of us care to admit. But in a Blue Sky sense, I like that this land’s name could balance with, say “Pandora: The Cove of Ancestors” at Disney California Adventure, or “Pandora: The Forest of Ewya” at Walt Disney Studios in Paris.

There’s nothing to change within the existing footprint of Pandora, but this is a “Blue Sky” project, so why not? First of all, I expanded Na’vi River Journey with a new, auxiliary showbuilding. This is very difficult to do, because the existing building is bordered by a water treatment plant that powers the ride to the east, and a central power plant to the south. Still, I tried to create an extension that’s “reasonable.”

To make it work, I envisioned a narrow connection to a new auxiliary showbuilding. In my mind, this new mid-ride extension would center on a new moment where guests would sail through a projection dome, giving us our first look at the planet Polyphemus overhead. Guests would gaze up at it through a network of branches housing a half-dozen nests populated by animatronic families of arboreal tetrapterons – four-winged, flamingo-like birds.

Otherwise, I have made two genuinely new additions to Pandora. The first is a flat ride. The “Living Land” model has scared Disney and Universal away from flat rides lest they “break the immersion,” and honestly, we’re all worse off for it. Parks need small, mid-capacity flat rides to add capacity, kinetic energy, and rides do to between E-Tickets. For that, I envisioned LINI IKRANAY (Na’vi for “Little Forest Banshees”).

In keeping with the spectacular style of the marquee totems for both of the land’s E-Tickets, I envisioned this being a relocation of the Triceratop Spin (the Dumbo-style spinner once found in Dinoland), reclad with woven, wicker-like banshees. This, I thought, would be an invention where young Na’vi could “practice” for their rite of passage, taking to the skies for the first time. Surrounded in the bubbling waters of a spring and occasional geysers, this ride is drawn back from the land’s core so as to maintain the mountains’ forced perspective and thus becomes a sweet, crafted little landmark of the land’s entry.

Last but not least, I’ve imagined some fairly extensive rerouting of backstage roadways to forge a little more acreage north of the land, squeezing in a second new ride. That would be MO’ARA VALLEY EXPEDITION – an adaptation of the Dynamic Attractions off-roading trackless ride system (below) rumored to bring Magic Kingdom’s upcoming Cars attraction to life. This, to me, actually felt like the right place to use that technology.

After all, supposedly one of the early conceits of Animal Kingdom was that every “land” would effectively have its own “safari” – not necessarily a literal cast-narrated ride-through in a safari truck, but rather a lengthy, adventurous attraction from which most of that land’s animals would be viewed. Only Africa ended up with that for reasons we’ll explore when we get to Asia. But here, we have an opportunity to bring it to Pandora while also reinforcing the embedded narrative of the Pandora Conservation Initiative.

Thus, we end up with an “off-roading” journey – but one where nothing goes horribly wrong at all. In my build-out of Universal Islands of Adventure, I used this same concept for a (in my opinion, much needed) family ride in Jurassic Park. A sightseeing trip with close encounters and great, signature moments, but without a rampaging predator or a high thrill level. I’d do the same here, sending these PCI research Jeeps splashing through pools of Sagitarria (the large snail-like creatures found in the land’s tide pools), darting along cliff overhangs covered by Panopyra (plant-like terrestrial jellyfish), and eventually passing through a waterfall and into a cavernous nest of stingbats.

At best, this ride might rank as a “D-Ticket” support to the E-Ticket Flight of Passage, but that’s kind of the point! Physical and packed with great vignettes and animatronics, I think this indoor / outdoor “safari” would be a really captivating mid-level thrill that would deepen our connection to the planet’s flora and fauna while also becoming a must-re-ride-at-night classic as the jungle’s bioluminescence comes to life.

With that, I’m hopeful that we’ve also rooted this version of Pandora even more in the rainforests of the Valley of Mo’ara, very clearly differentiating it from California’s version of the land and its aquatic setting. When it’s all said and done, this expanded Pandora has added two new rides that add more capacity and grow its appeal to families while also keeping that essential “timelessness” rather than being tethered to any entry in the film series.

And by the way, these are the kinds of “plusses” I think you’ll continue to see as I try to add depth and capacity to these existing lands. That’s not to say new lands aren’t on the horizon, but while we tinker with already-strong spaces, diversifying offerings and deepening existing lore will be the name of the game… So let’s move forward.

AFRICA

Background

Africa was one of the opening day “lands” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and it’s a beautiful encapsulation of what the park does so well. Sure, just every about modern zoo is split into “continents,” and even your local zoo is likely to offer a stylized “Africa” of thatch-roofed buildings dotting a midway between the lions habitat and the giraffe habitat. But as always, Animal Kingdom is “Nahtazū,” meaning that the park’s embodiment of Africa has a real cultural resonance; real craftsmanship by real African artisans; and to the point of Animal Kingdom’s entire existence, it’s about something.

Joe Rohde often mentioned that at Animal Kingdom, you aren’t in a fantasy… but you’re still inside of a story. Animal Kingdom uses the setting of Africa and its species to address a global concept: resources. There is value in ivory; rhino horn; the sport of hunting. Some towns in Africa opt to tap into that value. But in Animal Kingdom’s lovingly-crafted village of Harambe, the equation of value has one answer. Remember, part of the park’s theme is that the value of nature is intrinsic and untradeable. So here, we step into an African town that has placed its bets on nature’s side of the equation. Harambe is a town brought to life by residents who strive; who adapt.

Our visit to Harambe isn’t meant to see us don pith helmets and venture into the wilds of Africa as colonial conquerers or selfish tourists. Instead, Harambe and the land’s Kilimanjaro Safaris invites us into the Harambe Wildlife Preserve – a protected region that (we can imagine) supports the local economy with the right kind of tourism, and with people like us who have come to learn and to be changed.

Even though this is a place where people are clearly striving for more, they have chosen the elephant over the ivory; the rhino over the horn. And we – as tourists – get to step into their story and add our imaginary tourism dollars behind this place. We contribute to Harambe being a place of culture, vibrancy, joy, and the belief that nature’s value is untradeable.

In 2014, the beloved FESTIVAL OF THE LION KING live show opened in a new “Theater District” on the edge of town. (The show opened alongside the park in 1998, but its original location in Camp Minnie-Mickey was always meant to be temporary; thanks to its sleeper hit status, it was deemed worthy of relocation when Camp Minnie-Mickey closed to make way for Pandora.)

Characters work best in Animal Kingdom when they’re diegetic and acknowledged “in-universe” as the products of storytelling. In other words, I wouldn’t want a “Lion King” dark ride in Animal Kingdom’s Africa unless it, too, was highly stylized and situated within the frame story of Harambe. (That’s not impossible – there’s a very clever Shrek dark ride in Dubai that cleverly hides its budget limitations within the ruse of us abstractly riding through a puppet show retelling of the story.)

Despite being a rare character appearance in the park, Festival of the Lion King makes perfect sense in Africa given its framing device – that real artists, acrobats, and singers have come together to create a communal, musical, interactive, high-energy, and colorful celebration of the songs and characters from the film. It’s one of the few shows I personally rank as an E-Ticket.

Build-Out

I know this is a lame cop-out, but again, I’m really not going to change much about Africa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

First of all, the opening of the Theater District (2014) and the Marketplace (2015) effectively are the “build-outs” this land needed. And having received them, this land is full. There’s not really an acre to spare. Kilimanjaro Safaris alone occupies about 100 acres (a single ride that’s effectively the size of Magic Kingdom), meaning that the idea of wedging in anything – from a small spinner to a copy of the upcoming Lion King flume ride headed to France – is just sort of unnecessary. Kilimanjaro Safaris is this land’s anchor – as it should be!

Speaking of which, there’s the divisive question of what to do about KILIMANJARO SAFARIS. As you probably know, the original version of the ride featured more overt thrill elements (including a collapsing bridge effect, an adventurous race through a river, and a turbulent off-roading speed portion). That was all weaved into a recurring story thread wherein our safari was recruited to intercept a group of poachers who’d infiltrated the preserve to hunt down Harambe’s most famous resident, the elephant “Big Red.”

The so-called “dark ending” version of the ride piloted during the park’s soft openings ended with the poachers succeeding, leaving us with a glimpse of Big Red’s corpse and a mechanical figure of her newly-orphaned calf, Little Red. It was changed to a “happy ending” when the park officially opened, with a gun-wielding Cast Member acting as the “game warden” in the final scene, letting us know that the poachers had been vanquished “off-screen” and thanking us for our help as the little animatronic elephant squealed from the safety of a preserve truck.

Between 2007 and 2009, the poacher-centered narrative elements of the attraction and their associated “thrill” scenes were largely written out. Instead, only a few references to a “lost elephant” remained to make sense of the animatronic calf at the ride’s end. In 2012, the “Little Red” scene was fully decommissioned to create a new animal enclosure, officially ridding Kilimanjaro Safaris of a “plot.”

We can assume that evaluation suggested that guests found the narrative elements far less compelling than seeing the actual animals – and perhaps even that sprinkling “fake” moments throughout the ride withdrew from the “real.” Today, Kilimanjaro Safaris is a matter-of-fact and “true life” safari, with the driver’s role to discuss the animals guests are seeing instead of trying to weave in a contrived plot. So even though many of us fondly remember thinking we were actually chasing poachers, it’s fair to admit that it’s not what people wanted. For that reason, I think I’d either leave the ride as-is or maybe bring back select thrill elements like the collapsing bridge.

Speaking of evaluation, there must be a reason that, in 2016, Africa’s walkthrough animal experience changed from “Pangani Forest Exploration Trail” to “Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail.” (Personally, I woulda thought that the “Exploration Trail” part was the problem since that doesn’t exactly scream “This is where you’ll find the animals.” But I guess SEO demanded Gorilla Falls instead.) I would rename it PANGANI FOREST ANIMAL TREK, with the “Animal Trek” suffix becoming a new recurring point of continuity between the park’s multi-species walkthroughs.

Even though it’s not really part of Africa, this is probably also a good time to mention Rafiki’s Planet Watch. This unusual mix of a dated ’90s nature center, mini science museum, and petting zoo was accessible only by way of the WILDLIFE EXPRESS train – a 3 foot gauge steam train that existed solely to carry guests to and from the remote little science center. Even at its height, Planet Watch wasn’t really worth the hassle of a train ride and a hike, meaning that it’s felt perpetually endangered.

Several times, the space has closed or switched to seasonal operation. Somehow, it returns every time, and always with less than it had before. As of 2024, it has been pretty much cleared out to fill its interior with conference chairs and flatscreen TVs on rolling racks to facilitate an “Animation Experience” drawing class. Though its utility to guests is low, the area does contain animal care facilities and the domesticated hoofstock in a petting zoo, so I guess Disney has determined that since Cast Members have to be there anyway, they might as well keep it operating on a bare bones basis? The whole thing is very odd.

Some fans (not I) have said, “Hey, put a copy of Shanghai Disneyland’s Zootopia there! It’s removed from the rest of the park enough that it won’t offend purists, and it would make the land accessible only by train – just like the city in the movie!” Let’s just say that my build-out still maintains the Wildlife Express, but it’s neither Rafiki’s Planet Watch nor Zootopia at the other end. We’ll see more later on…

For now, let’s get to the place where real changes begin…!