Avatar experience planned for theme park

An “Avatar” theme park experience heading to the Disneyland resort will expand upon the cinematic universe created by filmmaker James Cameron in a series of blockbuster films.

Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that an “exciting ‘Avatar’ experience” will be coming to the Disneyland resort following the success of “Avatar: The Way of Water” in theaters and the Pandora: World of Avatar themed land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida.

Iger announced the new “Avatar” experience during Disney’s quarterly earnings call Wednesday. “We’re going to bring a version of ‘Avatar’ to Disneyland,” Iger said on the call.

The Pandora: World of Avatar themed land increased capacity at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and helped grow Disney’s theme park business, Iger said on the call.

“In fact, if you look at the results when we put Pandora into Animal Kingdom from year to year they were stunning in terms of how many more people visited Animal Kingdom.”

The Pandora: World of Avatar themed land that opened in 2017 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom recreates the floating Hallelujah Mountains from the blockbuster film and takes visitors on a ride on a dragonlike mountain banshee.

The 12-acre “Avatar”themed land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom features Pandora’s floating mountains, bioluminescent plants and two major attractions — the Avatar Flight of Passage 3D flight simulator and the Na’vi River Journey water ride. The land also includes the Satu’li Canteen quick service restaurant and Windtraders gift shop.

The 2022 film “Avatar: The Way of Water” became the fourth-highest-grossing film of all-time with $2.2 billion at the global box office. The original 2009 “Avatar” remains atop the alltime box-office list with a $2.9 billion lifetime gross, according to Box Office Mojo. Cameron has announced three more films will be made in the Avatar series.

No opening date or location was announced for the new “Avatar” experience that Iger said Disney would be sharing more details about “very soon.”