How Disney’s immersive plans could translate from Pandora to Star Wars land
Walt Disney World Resort has offered many sneak peeks and hints about Pandora: The World of Avatar, opening May 27 at Animal Kingdom park. Based on James Cameron‘s 2009 sci-fi film, the attraction will break new ground in the kind of immersive experiences that guests will come to expect from The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) and also may provide a glimpse of what’s to come at another major attraction headed to Orlando.
According to renderings, video teasers and an awesome press packet previously reported by Orlando Business Journal, Disney’s Pandora will feature all manner of flora and fauna from the film that inspired it. Pandora’s alien race known as Na’vi also will be a central part of the attraction. A few quick translations of the Na’vi language were included in the press kit, but to enhance the guest experience, a Na’vi Translator will be available for purchase inside the attraction. The Disney Parks Blog posted a preview of the retail item with the following explanation:
“The Na’vi have no written language, so the translator will be a helpful tool for any human visiting Pandora. Guests using the translator can learn how to pronounce 90 Na’vi words using interchangeable translation cards.”
The use of a human-to-alien translator may not be a necessary means of communication inside the park, but making the Na’vi language part of the park experience is yet another way of blurring the line between fantasy and reality. And that is also something Disney Co. Chairman Bob Iger has promised of the upcoming Star Wars expansion at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, opening in 2019.
When Iger announced the Star Wars land project during the D23 Expo in Anaheim, Calif., in 2015, detailed renderings displayed a unique landscape that included accurate likenesses of starships and characters from the Star Wars films. Iger went on to explain that nothing found in the attraction would be out of character or stray from Star Wars mythology. Incorporating the alien languages used in the films – if that’s part of the plan – would go a long way toward keeping the park’s inhabitants in character and giving guests the most believable experience possible.
And speaking as a Star Wars fan who knows many other Star Wars fans, a translator that would allow communication with any Star Wars species would only increase the awesomeness.
To date, there are eight films, two TV series and many books that are canon to Star Wars mythology, and the list will grow in December with the release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Last Jedi. Faithfully representing the characters is a vital investment that would pay enormous dividends in fan attendance and return business that would boost Orlando’s $60 billion tourism industry. And that’s a language no one can afford to ignore.