Joe Rohde: Why 'Avatar' fits in Disney's Animal Kingdom

Walt Disney World's most ambitious themed land to date opens this spring, with the debut of Pandora - The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom on May 27. To promote the new land, creative director Joe Rohde is talking about the inspiration for putting this franchise in Animal Kingdom, and why the marriage of the highest-grossing film of all time with Disney's most "non-fiction" theme park makes sense.

In the two-and-a-half-minute video, Rohde talks about the mission of Disney's Animal Kingdom, for which he was one of Disney's creative leaders back when the company was developing the park in the 1990s.

"If you think about the intrinsic value of nature, transformation through adventure, and personal call to action — these are the value of Animal Kingdom," Rohde said. "But if you say them again, those are the themes of the film Avatar. So Avatar and Animal Kingdom will nest into each other very, very neatly."

In addition to creating an immersive practical environment for the moon of Pandora, which was depicted through digital animation in James Cameron's 2009 film, Avatar, the new land will offer two attractions for visitors: Flight of Passage, a Soarin'-style flying theater attraction where visitors will fly on mountain banshees, and Na'vi River Journey, an indoor boat ride through a bioluminescent forest, complete with a Na'vi animatronic.

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