In ironic fashion, Disney might’ve just leaked plans for the long-rumored Pandora – World of Avatar in concept art the new Adventure Bay lagoon infrastructure coming to the second gate at Disneyland Paris. This post shares the latest, plus our thoughts on this potential expansion to Disney Adventure World.
This possible leak comes via the media blitz for the relaunch of the second gate at Disneyland Paris, which we’ve already covered in Big Reveal: Disney Adventure World Park, Frozen Land & New Drone Show Opening Dates & Details! There was a lot of ground to cover, and we mostly did it in consolidated fashion.
Disneyland Paris released more details, including for Adventure Bay, the beating heart of the park’s expansion. This central lake will offer breathtaking vistas, and its shores, extending from Adventure Way, will come alive with unforgettable character experiences during the day. As night descends, the lake comes alive with reflections of light and color, inviting visitors to linger along its tranquil shores before it transforms into a dazzling open-air stage for a new nighttime spectacular. Here’s what Disney announced about this…
At nightfall, barges will quietly glide into position on Adventure Bay, setting the stage for a brand new, never-before-seen nighttime spectacular: Disney Cascade of Lights.
The nighttime spectacular will deliver an unforgettable experience for guests of all ages. Designed in a 360° configuration, with tiered viewing areas, Disney Cascade of Lights allows visitors to enjoy exceptional views from around the bay. The production will feature the world’s first integration of a revolutionary aquatic drone system along with next-generation aerial drones, creating breathtaking choreographies that unfold simultaneously across the sky and the water.
Disney Cascade of Lights will combine immersive staging with cutting-edge effects to create an experience unique to Disneyland Paris. Guests will enjoy unprecedented proximity to a wide range of elements, including water screens, choreographed fountains, large-scale projections, dynamic lighting, special effects, and pyrotechnics.
At its centerpiece, a world-exclusive ballet of 379 drones, developed in collaboration with official technology provider Dronisos, will illuminate the sky and water with intricate formations and dazzling choreography. New aquatic drone technology has been created exclusively for the new show, in keeping with the resort’s continued focus on innovation in entertainment.
There were more details about Disney Cascade of Lights shared, but the pertinent ones are about the underlying technology of which Disney is apparently quite proud. So much so that they shared a rare 3D rendering of the Disney Cascade of Lights infrastructure that’ll be pieced together by 5 electric tug boats each evening:
This is cool in and of itself, but it’s the labels on the rendering that are catching the attention of Disneyland Paris fans:
- LOKI RACER NE 1
- LOKI LION SE 3
- LOKI FROZEN SW 2
- LOKI NAVI NW 4
For those unfamiliar with the Disney Adventure World layout, three of those four names and directions correspond with existing or confirmed additions: Cars Road Trip, Lion King Pride Lands, and World of Frozen.
The final one is Navi, which could correspond with a few things. Maybe Disney has quietly stolen the Nintendo theme park rights from Universal for the European region, and Disney Adventure World is getting a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time themed-land. Maybe it’s going to be home to a Michael Jackson impersonator, Honda motorcycle, or other navigational resource. All possibilities yielded by a quick Google search.
Of course, the most likely possibility is that this is teasing Pandora – World of Avatar for Disney Adventure World, and the Navi in question is the Na’vi, the blue people from the films and lands.
Pandora – World of Avatar has been rumored for the second gate for a while. We’ve mentioned previously that the original Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge plans were shelved pre-COVID due to the mixed reception of the lands at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
Well, Pandora had no such issue with a mixed reception. As part of the recent earnings call, Disney shared a slideshow indicating that Pandora – World of Avatar is the #1 ranked land at Walt Disney World in terms of guest satisfaction. We’ve previously been told that Avatar Flight of Passage is the highest-rated attraction.
From that perspective alone, it makes sense that Disney would want to build another version of Pandora in Paris. It also explains the otherwise improbable announcement of an Avatar area coming to Disney California Adventure. Like Frozen, Avatar is one of Disney’s tentpole franchises, and the existing Pandora at Animal Kingdom is a smash success with guests.
There’s also the fact that Disney has told us more versions of Avatar land are coming since the very beginning. In the initial announcement for Pandora at Walt Disney World, the company revealed that it had “entered into a long-term creative partnership with James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment and Fox Filmed Entertainment to bring the fantasy world of AVATAR to life at Disney Parks. And it’ll all begin at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort…Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort is planned as the site of the first AVATAR-themed land with construction expected to begin by 2013.” (Emphasis added.)
In official press releases and communications, Disney eventually backed away from teasing future Avatar lands. It was never really clear why, especially given the immediate and unequivocal success of Pandora. But one person who never shied away from sharing his enthusiasm about all things Avatar was Disney CEO Bob Iger. You might recall that, when it came to the Avatar “announcement” for Disneyland, it was at first an enthusiastic, off-the-cuff comment from the (at the time) newly-returned CEO during an event.
In any case, there are a few possibilities at play when it comes to a potential Pandora – World of Avatar at Disney Adventure World. The first is the most straightforward–that this is an accidental leak of an upcoming announcement planned for the 2026 D23 Expo.
The second is that this is a purposeful leak, meant to float the idea of gauging the Disneyland Paris fan response to an Avatar area without committing Disney. The company has been doing more and more of this lately, and this avenue is certainly a lot less controversial than doing another blue sky session on stage at D23. It gives them plausible deniability in the event that nothing is announced, whereas that doesn’t exist if Josh D’Amaro goes out and publicly asks fans whether they want Pandora in Paris.
The third is that there’s internal debate about Pandora and a competing concept, and one of the Imagineers or someone else snuck this in there to give their personal project a bit of a “boost.”
Finally, there’s the possibility that this means nothing at all. That “NAVI” is some back of house infrastructure or completely unrelated to Avatar. That this is all a coincidence. In which case, it would be quite the coincidence given that all of the other labels correspond with existing or upcoming areas of Disney Adventure World.
Personally, I’m inclined to lean towards option two. Disney has become more deliberate with “Easter Eggs” like this, and the reference to Pandora is too obvious to get out the door unknowingly given the number of eyeballs likely reviewing this. But on the other hand, it’s not like the Disney Adventure World campaign involved a single piece of concept art. There would’ve been a lot to review. Mistakes can happen.
I’m nevertheless still inclined to side with that possibility because I have a hard time believing that Disney’s Board of Directors will greenlight anything else for Disney Adventure World until actually stepping foot in the reimagined second park and seeing guest response (via financials) to the relaunch.
While I absolutely believe that Imagineering has one or more shovel-ready concepts for Disney Adventure World’s remaining expansion pads, I have a difficult time believing any of them have been approved–or will be approved before next summer. That’s still enough time for Pandora to be greenlit ahead of the 2026 D23 Expo, but just barely.
As for what Parisian Pandora could be, my guess is Avatar Flight of Passage. I don’t think it would be a brand-new attraction for Disney Adventure World, even though Disney has been trending in that direction lately.
Cloning what’s being developed for Disney California Adventure would make sense in theory, but the only problem is that the innovative attraction there is rumored to use the same ride system as Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure is an excellent attraction, arguably top 10 in the entire world, and a big part of that is its innovative ride system. From a technological perspective, I can’t think of many attractions that approach Shanghai Pirates–probably Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, but I’m not sure what else.
It’s actually a shame that it’s taken so long for another attraction to use this ride system, because it’s that good. It deserves to be utilized all over the world. The only problem here is that Disney Adventure World already has two new boat rides, and a third might be a bit much–even if they are all very different in style and substance. That’s really my only basis for suggesting Avatar Flight of Passage as opposed to a DCA clone.
As for where it could go, there are still multiple expansion pads around Adventure Bay. The directions on the barges suggest Pandora would be located in the plot in the foreground of the model above. I doubt you really care which of these expansion pads it uses–the point is that Disney redesigned the second gate with future build-out in mind.
Adding more ‘support’ to this leak/rumor, it’s also worth pointing out that Bruce Vaughn has returned to head Imagineering since Bob Iger started talking up Avatar as one of Disney’s most important franchises. Vaughn was the co-head of Imagineering during development of the original Pandora – World of Avatar, so he has project management expertise on that and established relationships with James Cameron and his team.
Speaking of which, there’s also the simple reality that you never bet against James Cameron. Avatar: Fire and Ash comes out in less than a month, and if it’s even half as successful as the first two films, it’ll further cement Avatar as a marquee franchise ‘deserving’ of more in the parks. Everyone’s always saying that Avatar is a “forgettable” franchise, and yet, everyone also goes to see the movies and the rides have long lines, so it kinda seems like it’s also popular.
Ultimately, it’ll be interesting to see how the potential Parisian Pandora plays out (say that five times fast). Even prior to this leak making the rounds, we suggested in our commentary that Disney Adventure World being a huge hit with guests right out of the gate could guarantee the company immediately greenlighting and expediting further expansion–possibly in time for a 2026 D23 Expo announcement.
This leak doesn’t really change that for me. It’s still my strong belief that the necessary prerequisite is the second gate being a smash success, driving key metrics like occupancy, visit duration, per capita spending, and guest satisfaction. Pandora is not getting built if Disney Adventure World somehow flops.
Disney won’t throw good money after bad chasing success in France; they’ve already made and learned from that mistake. But I also don’t think Disney Adventure World is going to flop. I expect success; the question is whether it’s of a sufficient degree and with such immediacy that more is greenlit ASAP.
The only thing this leak really changes is that it puts Pandora – World of Avatar back in the spotlight as another land that’s (again) on the table for the second gate at Disneyland Paris. That makes sense and isn’t exactly surprising, especially while Bob Iger is still CEO. Part of me does wonder to see whether they’ll wait to see how successful the Mandalorian movie is, because it’s also not too late for a reworked version of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in a different expansion pad. Or maybe the previously-rumored Discoveryland expansion?
For the basics of planning a visit to Disneyland Paris, check out our Disneyland Paris Trip Planning Guide. Find the best place to stay in Disneyland Paris Hotel Reviews. Check out 101 Disneyland Paris Tips for some (101, to be exact) of our best random tips for doing DLP like a pro. See Disney Park Tickets Tips & Tricks for ways to save on tickets. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. Finally, for advice beyond Disney, check out our Ultimate Travel Guide to Paris, France.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of a potential Parisian Pandora at Disney Adventure World? Think this is a legit leak of something that’ll actually come to fruition, or that it won’t come to anything? If Pandora does come to Disneyland Paris, which attraction(s) do you think will it’ll feature? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
