Disney's Animal Kingdom Pandora Na'vi River Journey Never-Seen-Before Concept-Arts

You've seen recently some great artworks that Stephan Martiniere did for Shanghaî Disneyland Treasure Cove and Adventure Isle, and today here is some fantastic never-seen-before artworks that Stephan did for Disney's Animal Kingdom Pandora Na'vi River Journey attraction! It's amazing how the colors and lighting of Stephan paintings have been wonderfully reproduced in Pandora boat ride. Make sure to click on each to see them in big size!

Stephan Martiniere did plenty of others artworks in tribute to Disney animated films that you can see on Stephan website HERE.

Pictures: copyright Stephan Martiniere - Disney

WDW Animal Kingdom Avatar Land Pandora "Travel" Posters

As you know we love attractions posters here at D&M and some great Pandora "travel" posters were displayed in the Avatar Land area inside the Parks and Resorts pavilion at D23 Expo. As usual, Andy Castro, D&M photographer for the event, did his best to have good shots of the five different posters that i'm sure you will like a lot.

On Disney and more i've covered essentially the D23 Expo announcements about Parks or Imagineering but there was more so make sure to follow Andy Castro others updates on D23 Expo either on his Dateline Disneyland page HERE or on Mice Age HERE.

Pictures: copyright Andy Castro

Artwork: copyright Disney

Gift of the Day : Avatar Land Boat Ride Night Scene

The gift of the day is the beautiful Avatar Land boat ride night scene artwork, in large size and high-def 300 dpi. As usual, click on the picture to get it in big size!

Picture: copyright Disney

Fantastic WDI Video Shows James Cameron, Joe Rhode and WDI Imagineers working on Avatar Land, New Concept-arts, and more !

Wow-ow, Disney Parks has released for D23 Japan a fantastic video showing James Cameron and WDI Imagineers working on Avatar Land! This is the very first insight that you will have in the hyper-secret design of the "World of Pandora" that Imagineers will recreate at Animal Kingdom. And there is even some new artworks shown inside the video!

So, it's time to have a closer look at what this great video is showing us thanks to enhanced screen captures that i did for you. Definitely click on each image to see them in big size!

The video starts with James Cameron talking from the performance capture stage where he actually shoot scenes for one of the THREE upcoming Avatar sequels - if you have a closer look you'll even be able to see one of the scenes of the new movie! Cameron say how delighted he is to work with WDI Imagineers and, wishing the best to guests of D23 Expo Japan, he add that Lightstorm and WDI share a same deep commitment to create an unparalleled immersive environment for the Avatar land.

Then, Imagineer Joe Rhode  appear - picture on top - and describes more precisely what guests will experience at Animal Kingdom Avatar Land and how the land will "come to life" when you'll interact with it and will seems to be a living creature itself. Joe Rhode also say how the project will be filled with new technology, new style, new materials, and is a tremendous tour de force to achieve what they thought was impossible, a recreation of the world of Pandora. The video last 3.35 minutes and during this time here are the great shots that you can see in the video that you will find of course at the end of this article.

First, there is shots of a meeting at WDI with James Cameron, Bob Iger, Tom Staggs, Joe Rhode and others WDI Imagineers in a room with a model of Avatar land...

You've note the two Navi's statue in the background, i suppose. Here is a closer shot of the same meeting.

Always during the same meeting there is another interesting shot with Joe Rhode talking to James Cameron in a room where are displayed on the walls unseen Avatar land renderings!!

Talking about renderings the video shows two new artworks starting by this first impressive one below showing a daylight view of the land on a new angle.

Now you remember this other beautiful artwork unveiled last Saturday, always showing the land by daylight...

Well, thanks to the video you can discover how will look exactly the same scene at night!

And as we talk of night scenes the video also do an interesting zoom on the boat ride artwork that you saw Saturday, proving that there will be six guests by boat in case you didn't noticed it yet.

Where things become extremely interesting is when the video shows James Cameron, Joe Rhode and others looking at a test of what seems to be the movie for the flight simulator ride, not the final version of the movie, of course.

When you look at the video it seems that the platform from which they look at the movie is moving but in fact it's not, it's the movie itself which gives this feeling.

Others greats shot also show James Cameron testing the creation of WDI Imagineers to reproduce the bioluminescent vegetation of Pandora.

And another sequence shows Cameron with Joe Rhode looking at a movie which also seems to be related to Pandora's vegetation.

The icing on the top of the cake comes with this incredible shot showing the whole team of WDI  Imagineers working on the Avatar land, the most secret team of all WDI! 

And now, as i know you're dying to watch the video here it is, of course watch it in full screen mode!

Pictures and video: copyright Disney

Avatar Land Artwork Revealed ! Plus: Nighttime Entertainment Coming at Disney's Animal Kingdom !

Oh-ho, there is some biiiig news for this Saturday morning as Disney released the renderings of the upcoming and awaited Avatar land!!!

It seems that WDI has decided to play a max the Avatar "vegetation" card - extraterrestrial vegetation in this case - and considering that we are at Animal Kingdom it's probably the best to do indeed. Not a lot of details on the rides but as rumored there is a boat ride which should be particularly magical at night and a "flying" ride  where guests will "fly" with the Banshees!

Below, Tom Staggs announcement and after each rendering, in ital, my own feeling about them. Also, click on each artwork to see them in high-res!

"From the moment AVATAR was released, people were captivated by the mythical world of Pandora. When we announced that we’d be working with James Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment to bring this world to life in our parks, we felt certain that this partnership and combination of talent and imagination would produce an experience unlike any other ever created.

Our combined team has taken huge steps forward in “imagineering” Pandora as a real place for our guests to see, hear and touch. At the first-ever D23 Expo in Japan, we shared an early glimpse of the plans for AVATAR at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park and I wanted to share some of these breathtaking images and a short preview of what’s to come with all of you."

As i said above WDI is playing the extraterrestrial vegetation "card" and it will be interesting to see how they will do to create vegetation from another planet, it might be less simple than you can think. You'll note that the spectacular "floating mountains" will also be there, of course here probably not totally "floating" for gravity reasons, except if they do some go them like themed balloons.

"As these concept renderings show in epic scale, in the world of AVATAR guests will encounter awe-inspiring floating mountains and wander through a nighttime jungle of bioluminescent plants that are alive with light and sound. Guests will also discover what it feels like to soar into the sky riding a Banshee".

Above is the expected boat ride which should be particularly spectacular indeed at night with all the bioluminescent plants. Considering that Animal Kingdom is the most "contemplative" of all DIsney Parks - almost as much a "vegetation kingdom" than an "animal" one - i think it's pretty smart from WDI Imagineers to play this vegetation card. Chances are that there will be some thrill moments during the ride, not revealed yet. Also, you'll notice that there is no rooftop on the boat which may look surprising as it is raining quite often in Florida. No rooftop could mean that the ride might be stopped when it will rain. Of course there might be one at the end, but not shown here on the artwork for artistic reasons. 

And here is the expected flying simulator ride. Most probably a "Soarin' " kind of ride but all the question is to know how will look the simulator itself. Sure, they can do easily one which will look like the one of Soarin' - and it'll be probably the best for ride capacity - but i have the feeling that James Cameron would prefer a more designed one. Of course the best would be if guests would be seating upon recreated Banshees which could even have some Audio-Animatronics parts for the neck, head and wings, but considering their size it might be difficult  to put enough guests on them to have an adequate attraction capacity. 

Above, James Cameron with Tom Staggs and WDI Imagineer Joe Rhode in front of an Avatar model.

And there is a "one more thing" as Tom Staggs also announced new nighttime entertainment for Animal Kingdom! :

"And the new AVATAR-inspired land won’t be the only change coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As part of the largest expansion in the history of the park, we’ll be adding all-new entertainment experiences, including a new nighttime spectacular where live music, floating lanterns, water screens and swirling animal imagery all combine to bring a show to Discovery River that will delight our guests and truly cap off their day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The park will introduce more nighttime entertainment as well, including live performers on Discovery Island (pictured above) and a new nighttime version of the Kilimanjaro Safaris".

You'll note on the above rendering the glowing effect on the  Tree of Life which might be a way to introduce the Avatar bioluminescent vegetation effects which for sure will amaze AK guests when the Avatar land will finally open in 2017.

Artworks and picture: copyright Disney