Animal Kingdom- Avatarland Breaks Ground

Image from Disney Parks Blog

 Avatarland Breaks Ground at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

 With the official closing of Camp Minnie-Mickey attractions, Avatarland had it's first big day in the spotlight.

 On January 10th,  Disney Parks Blog posted up this image of their groundbreaking ceremony, with "Na'vi" themed shovels and some photoshop work on "Jake Sully" in his Avatar form to show a size reference. When in reality it was really Mickey Mouse who attended the groundbreaking ceremony. Disney didn't really leak much information about this new 'land' coming to the park.

Image from Orlando Sentential

The area, which is being designed by Walt Disney Imagineering in partnership with “AVATAR” creator James Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment, will be unlike anything ever experienced at a Disney park. Guests will experience the wonders of Pandora when they fly with banshees and explore a rich natural environment with mountains that float and interactive plants that glow at night.

Currently no one is sure what attractions will be added into the "Avatarland" project.  However, with adding Avatarland to Animal Kingdom Disney is hoping that the park will become a full day experience and keep guests in the park longer. No word right now if this will expand the parks operating hours but between Avatarland and this addition of a new night-time show, it's very likely the park will finally buck it's standard 6pm closing time.

Signs of AvatarLand- Festival of the Lion King has a Closing Date

Image from Disney World

 Well Folks, Like it or Not- Signs of Avatarland looks to be coming soon.

 Yesterday Disney's Animal Kingdom announced that 'Festival of the Lion King' which is currently housed in Camp Minnie-Mickey, will be closing on January 5th.  This will be a six month closure until their new theater in Africa is complete, this could also mean new changes coming to the show for the future.

 It also shows that heavy construction on Avatarland will probably begin shortly after this January 5th closure as 'Camp Minnie-Mickey' is the area of Animal Kingdom where the new land will be placed. Frankly, it' about time they get started on the heavy construction if they plan to keep their 3 year deadline to open in 2017.

 At this time it's unknown if Avatarland will open in Phases. However, it's probably safe to guess this will happen as it's pretty much a standard at the Disney World Parks at this point.