'Avatar' Attractions Headed To Disney Parks

By Michael Lopez

What's the first thing you thought of after watching the movie Avatar? For us, it was the concept of entering the world of Pandora and living the life of the Na'vis. Well believe it or not, that may actually become a reality thanks to the folks at Walt Disney Imagineering.

It was announced this week that plans are underway to develop an Avatar-themed land at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom park. Set to begin construction in 2013, the massive project would take over five years to complete and literally recreate the entire universe you saw on the big screen.

Avatar mastermind James Cameron will be heavily involved with the attraction and seemed very excited by the concept.

"Through this incredible partnership with Disney, we'll be able to bring Pandora to life like never before," Cameron said. "With two new Avatar films currently in development, we'll have even more locations, characters and stories to explore. I'm chomping at the bit to start work with Disney's legendary Imagineers to bring our Avatar universe to life!"

The Avatar attraction was reportedly the idea of Disney Parks Chairman, Thomas Staggs. When observing the success of Disneyland's revamped Star Tours ride, he felt the strong desire to bring another piece of cinema to life. And what better franchise to tap into than Avatar? (Which grossed over $2 billion at the box office.)

Now the real question is, what can fans expect at the new "Avatar Land?" So far, gossip blogs have run wild with speculations. There have been rumors about flying animatronic dragons, interactive AMP Suits, and even the possibility of entering a Na'vi "Avatar" yourself!

The finished product will reportedly incorporate ton of technology, so you never know. Though the Disney team is keeping an extremely tight lip, Staggs did reveal some hints about what to expect when the Na'vis invade Orlando.

"One of the things that we found when we screened Avatar was that the scenes that people liked best were not the obvious things, like the big battle scenes, and that sort of thing. It was the creatures. It was learning to fly. It was being in the forest at night," he said. "So here's an opportunity to use [our] animatronic technology and possibly rolling in mixed-media, 3D projections, holography. Whatever makes sense to build, bring this world to life and actually get to wander in it and explore it, and see things you didn't see either in the first film or in the subsequent two."

Let's hope that includes an animatronic version of Zoe Saldana too! Look for the Avatar attractions to start popping up in 2018!

What movies would you to see get turned into Disney attractions? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags Avatar, Blogger: Michael Lopez, Disney, Disneyland, Hot Stuff, James Cameron, Movies & CineMás, Theme Parks, Thomas Staggs