Disney has shared a first look at its planned Avatar experience at Disneyland following its annual shareholder meeting on 3 April.
The new concept art was first unveiled during the meeting by Disney CEO Bob Iger, and later in a new blog post by Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney’s parks and experiences division.
“We are excited about the stories our guests could experience at Walt’s original theme park destination after approval of DisneylandForward – including the chance to experience all-new Avatar adventures with a visit to Pandora,” D’Amaro said.
“Avatar is the latest example of how we are looking to create new and innovative ways to bring our powerful stories to life. Over the past decade, we’ve delivered massive, immersive experiences at our destinations around the world, including new lands and attractions based on Star Wars, the Avengers, Pixar and more.”
D’Amaro continued: “And all of this is just the beginning – there are so many stories in our library yet to be explored. As we turbocharge Disney Experiences over the next 10 years, we’re investing aggressively and thoughtfully to give you more of what you love.”
As for the aforementioned annual shareholder meeting, Disney‘s shareholders voted to elect all 12 nominees recommended by the board, putting an end to the company’s proxy battle with activist investor Nelson Peltz.
“I want to thank our shareholders for their trust and confidence in our board and management. With the distracting proxy contest now behind us, we’re eager to focus 100 percent of our attention on our most important priorities: growth and value creation for our shareholders and creative excellence for our consumers,” Iger said.
During the meeting, Iger spoke about Disney’s plans to invest $60 billion in its parks and experiences over the next decade.
Disney’s investment plans
“With such a deep well of untapped IP and buildable land, there are so many experiences that have yet to be brought to our parks around the world, and we plan to turbocharge growth in this sector with a robust amount of strategic investment,” he said.
Via Deadline, Iger also discussed Universal’s upcoming Epic Universe theme park: “We’ve been aware of Universal’s plans for a new park for more than a decade. And we have a sophisticated approach to analyzing the needs of all of our businesses and strategically deploying capital,” he said.
Referring to the company’s recent additions to Walt Disney World, Iger said: “By staggering these major launches, we’ve been able to commercially and operationally optimize our new offerings over time, rather than having to do it all at once.”
Images courtesy of Disney
