Disney World in Orlando spans about 25,000 acres of land, only about half of which has been developed. Disneyland Resort in California, where the new “Avatar” experience will be located, only sits on 160 acres. That means finding new space to accommodate whatever this attraction, land, or experience ends up being is incredibly difficult. Pandora — The World of “Avatar” in Animal Kingdom itself takes up 12 acres, so the chances of them cloning that land in California are slim.
If they want to find space for “Avatar” where they don’t have to close down and remake something already in the parks, I imagine the best place for it would be in the proposed DisneylandForward expansion that the company announced a couple of years ago that really hasn’t progressed since. This would involve developing new park space on the other side of a street that would require park goers to cross some kind of bridge to enter. In terms of theming, I find this to be the best solution. Nothing at Disneyland or California Adventure remotely resembles “Avatar,” and finding some kind of aesthetic transition between the two would be incredibly difficult, especially in Disneyland proper. Having it being completely isolated on the other side of a street would be the theme park equivalent of going to an alien planet.
Of course, we have no idea whether this Disneyland Forward initiative will even amount to anything and whether or not this land is on the table. More than likely, “Avatar” will be replacing something already at the park, most of which is sacrosanct for park fans. If that’s the case, there’s not a lot of options as to where it makes sense.