Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 9 May 2017
A look at Disney World’s new Pandora-World of Avatar land

MIKE SCHNEIDER Flight of Passage, where a
Associated Press 3-D simulator plunges rid-
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) ers into a cinematic world.
— It’s not a movie set, but You feel like you’re riding
visitors to Disney World’s on the back of a banshee,
new Pandora-World of Av- a bluish, gigantic, winged
atar land are in for a cin- predator that resembles
ematic experience. something out of the Juras-
The 12-acre land, inspired sic era. Wearing 3-D glass-
by the “Avatar” movie, es and straddling what
opens in Florida in late May resembles a stationary mo-
at Walt Disney World’s Ani- torcycle, you’re strapped
mal Kingdom. It cost a half- in, then the lights go out,
billion dollars to build. a screen in front lights up
The marquee attraction is and you’re swooped into

In this Saturday, April 29, 2017 photo, landscaping consisting of real Earth plant species mixed
with sculpted Pandora flora surrounds a pond at the Pandora-World of Avatar land attraction in
Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Associated Press

a world of blue, gigantic color with glowing lights on Pandora, the attractions
aliens called Na’vi, with artificial plants and even in open years after the mov-
moon-filled skies, plunging the pavement. ies debut.
waterfalls, jumping ma- The enormous blue Na’vi “Avatar” came out in
rine animals and towering aliens from the “Avatar” 2009. Director James Cam-
ocean waves. movie appear sparingly, eron’s sequel isn’t due out
The ride provides an en- really just on Flight of Pas- until 2020. Lands based on
chanting and intoxicating sage and a second at- “Star Wars” are scheduled
five minutes that touches traction called Na’vi River to open in Disney parks in
all the senses. Blasts of air Journey. Before going on California and Florida in
and spritzes of mist hit your Flight of Passage, visitors 2019.
face, and as you fly through walk through a tunnel in Pandora-World of Avatar
a lush forest, a woodsy aro- a faux mountain until they isn’t tied to a narrative from
ma wafts through your nos- stumble upon a laboratory the film but rather tells a
trils. A visitor could go on that includes a Na’vi float- story set in the future, after
the ride 20 times and not ing in a tank. humans degraded the jun-
catch half the visual de- “It’s not as simple as a guy gle through industrial folly
tails. in a costume painted blue and a resurgence of nature
Disney designers are quick walking around out here,” overtakes the human-built
to say the new land is the Rohde said of the aliens. environment. That theme
star of the action, not the “We know they are cultur- is a recurring architectural
backdrop. “The charac- ally present around us but motif, for example with a
ter is being portrayed and we will meet them when beverage stand and can-
played by the place itself we go on an excursion.” tina made to look like they
and that’s different than a The other main attraction, were built for industry by
set,” said Joe Rohde, the Na’vi River Journey, is an humans but then overrun
design and production indoor river ride in the dark, by plant life.
leader of Pandora -World lit up by glowing creatures Throughout Pandora, real
of Avatar. and plants. plants intermingle with ar-
Other aspects of Pandora The ride culminates with a tificial plants that resemble
can’t quite compete with Na’vi animatronic wom- alien pods or Dale Chihuly
the excitement and immer- an beating on drums as a glass sculptures. It’s difficult
sion of Flight of Passage. chorus of voices reaches a to distinguish what is real.
Much of Pandora, at least crescendo. Images of the “We were trying to get as
during the daytime, is hard Na’vi riding horse-like crea- close as possible to fool the
to distinguish from the rest tures appear behind lush eye,” said Zsolt Hormay, a
of Animal Kingdom, Dis- foliage, glimpsed in the dis- Disney creative executive.
ney’s almost 20-year-old tance from the river. At the entrance, visitors
zoological-themed park Disney has been build- hear a cacophony of bird
with lush landscaping, an ing attractions themed on chirps and animal cries. A
emphasis on conservation movies since Disneyland circle of drums connected
and a Noah’s ark range of opened in 1955 with rides to faux tree roots allows visi-
animals. inspired by Snow White, Pe- tors to drum and then get
At night, though, Pandora ter Pan and Alice in Won- a response of drumming or
transforms into a sea of derland. Often, as with pulsing lights.q