D23 EXPO promises a preview of the AVATAR project coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

Jul 24, 2015 in "Pandora - The World of Avatar"

Posted: Friday July 24, 2015 3:10pm EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

D23, the official Walt Disney Company fan organization, today released information about its '60 Years of Innovation' exhibit at this year's D23 EXPO.

Guests will get an in-depth look at Pandora when they explore what’s to come for the AVATAR project, with models, images, and exhibits on display.


Here is the full release from D23.

The Walt Disney Parks and Resorts show floor pavilion will give D23 EXPO 2015 guests a look into the much-anticipated Shanghai Disney Resort, as well as a preview of the Avatar project coming to Walt Disney World Resort’s Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Plus, in addition to the previously announced Hall D23 presentation on Saturday, August 15, guests will have the opportunity to hear from executives, Imagineers, designers, Disney Legends and others directly involved with various projects for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in five engaging panels.

On The Show Floor

Located in Hall C, the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Pavilion is a 12,500-square-foot exhibit that gives guests a glimpse of the creative process in designing and building Shanghai Disney Resort, along with a preview of the Avatar project coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

In a celebratory exhibit on Shanghai Disney Resort, maquettes, artist illustrations, and media clips capture the designers’ journey as the resort comes to life. Guests can learn about the show design process and discover the tradition and innovation infused into the resort.

Guests will also get an in-depth look at Pandora when they explore what’s to come for the AVATAR project, with models, images, and exhibits on display.

Additionally, Mickey’s of Glendale, the Imagineering-exclusive merchandise store, will open an outpost at the Pavilion where guests will have the opportunity to purchase merchandise specially designed for D23 EXPO 2015.

Presentations and Panels

Friday, August 14

1:30–2:30 p.m. 60 Years of Disney Parks Merchandise (Stage 28)

Join our talented Disney Design Group artists, merchandisers, and special guests as they take you from concept to reality with behind-the-scenes storytelling about classic Disney souvenirs and how they have become tangible lasting memories. Guests will get a first look at some of the exciting new merchandise coming to Disney parks.

3:15–4:15 p.m. Safari So Good—60 Years of the World Famous Jungle Cruise (Stage 23)

Skippers from throughout the years reflect on their experiences at the Jungle Cruise, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary as one of Disneyland’s opening-day attractions. They will also discuss changes to the attraction over the years including recent holiday overlays and other additions.

5–7 p.m. Imagineering 60 Years of Disneyland (Stage 23)

In a two-part panel discussion about Disneyland with Disney Legends and current Imagineers, panelists will discuss how it all began, what it took to carry on Walt Disney’s legacy, and how Imagineers are continuing to deliver magic well into the future. The panel is moderated by Academy Award®- and Emmy®-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks, who will present a new trailer from her forthcoming documentary about Walt Disney Imagineering.

Sunday, August 16

10–11 a.m. Disney Kingdoms (Stage 28)

Guests will learn about Disney Kingdoms, a joint collaboration between Marvel Comics and Walt Disney Imagineering. Guests will hear how these popular comic book series got started and discover the creators and theme park inspirations behind these popular titles, including Seekers of the Weird, Figment, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

3–4 p.m. Experience the World with Disney: Adventures by Disney, Aulani, Disney Cruise Line, and Disney Vacation Club (Stage 28)

This panel will provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how Disney is creating new vacation experiences for families all around the world. The first 400 guests in attendance will get a D23 EXPO-exclusive pin set.

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TheDisneyParksfanC8Mar 30, 2024

Maybe even Paris as well per Iger's recent words.

TheCoasterNerdMar 18, 2024

Dear God how long ago this was posted - back when I was a simple lurker. But yeahhh its still the most popular land in the park, and so popular its being replicated (or not, or it is, or it isn't, who knows) at DLR. 10 years later. Sorry!

DisneyDrewMay 15, 2017

WDWtravelerMay 04, 2017

Photo update as of Thursday, May 4. The construction wall/barricade has been removed from the new bus transportation shelter. You will note there are only two bus stops (see the upright poles where the bus stops). One bus stop will be sheltered, and one will be in the open. These two bus stops are specifically designed for the double-length buses. The queue fences have been installed, but yet to be painted brown. The new pavement that connects the Animal Kingdom entrance walkway to the new bus transportation shelters. Work crews were busy installing the railings along the walkway. Bales of pine needles in the background for landscaping. 202992

wdisney9000May 04, 2017

Watever helps you sleep at night, bruh......

MisterPenguinMay 04, 2017

lrn2math There is no conflict between what I said and what jgg said.

wdisney9000May 04, 2017

Haha,.....MisterPenguin got schooled.

matt9112May 03, 2017

with no drop and a newer set up i dont think this will have potc issues...with no drop no issue.

Brian SwanMay 03, 2017

I like this guy (or gal)!

MisterPenguinMay 03, 2017

I have a feeling that we'll soon be talking about Schrödinger's family...

jggMay 03, 2017

No misunderstanding here. First of all, you yourself start by deriving the dispatch interval (I bolded it) - which is exactly what @gorillaball said was the one number you need. Since that's the value you need, why not just measure that directly rather than trying to guess at the total # of boats? Second, you've ignored load time and resource contention/starvation. Your hypothetical 5 minute ride will have a different throughput if the load time is 10 seconds vs. 100 seconds - a difference which is already accounted for in the dispatch interval. You can say that your 5 minutes includes load/unload time, but that's not really the common usage of 'ride time' and it's that kind of ambiguous language that leads to people talking past each other. Yeah, if you have the right data you can derive the same result the way you described - these are pretty simple mathematical relationships after all - but it's a really roundabout way of of doing it and requires data that's less easily obtained than just counting off seconds between dispatches. The proper way to model this is as a wave function where each peak represents a ride vehicle. Thus, the period of the wave is the time between dispatches and the inverse of the period (frequency) is the dispatch interval; frequency * capacity = throughput. Modelling this way has a couple of advantages: First, it's fully specified and easily measured. Second, we have lots of well-understood mathematical tools for manipulating, composing, and decomposing waves, which is useful for modelling the system as part of a larger whole.

KrzyKttyMay 03, 2017

I could probably fit my family of 4 in the one row easily, but my husband and I are smallish people with two small kids.

gorillaballMay 03, 2017

The way you explain it there isn't false, you are just going about it a different way (a harder way in my opinion) to get to the same result. For one you are dividing the number of boats (unknown and usually not easy to find) by the ride time (also somewhat unknown, 4-5 minutes). When all someone needs to do is time the average dispatch and you have the answer. So - we aren't totally saying different things. I'm just saying on any new ride the number of vehicles isn't a needed requirement and is usually much harder to find then setting a stop watch and watching dispatch, something that can be done in one viewing of a few minutes. Then if those boats that are dispatched go for 3 minutes or 30 minutes using 3 boats or 300 boats - all information that's not needed because I just viewed boats of X people dispatching every X seconds.

raymusiccityMay 02, 2017

There might be some minor issues with weight distribution! :)