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Plot of Disney’s Pocahontas or James Cameron’s Avatar?  Oh wait, it’s BOTH:

A man from Western society arrives in a new land after a very long journey.  This new land is very different from where they came – filled with wondrous flora and fauna, some of it very dangerous.  The Western Man, who is initially prejudiced against this new land’s native people, meets the daughter of the leader of the native people’s tribe.  She is tall and beautiful and is good with a bow and arrow.  More importantly, this Native Woman, like the rest of her tribe, has a great respect for nature, a respect she tries to impart to this new man.  Part of these teachings includes a visit to a special tree that only the Natives can communicate with.  (The Western Man will eventually call on this special tree for help and will receive it.)  Although teaching him is difficult and frustrating, sparks begin to fly between the Man and the Native Woman, even though she is set to be betrothed to a native warrior with a mohawk.  (When the Mohawk Warrior discovers this later on, he attacks the man in front of the rest of the tribe.)  The Western man tries to convince the people that sent him there that the natives are people, too, and that they shouldn’t attack them.  However, he is cast aside and ignored.  When the Western Man returns to the natives and tries to warn them, he is instead blamed and tied up and prepared for execution.  In the end, however, he is freed and able to save the Native people – those who supported them are allowed to stay, while everyone else goes back to the Western society they came from.

I’ve been waiting for someone to make an image mash-up of these two since Disney announced its acquisition of Marvel.

[Source: igeektrooper.com]

Disney just announced that it will be redoing Fantasyland (source).  The plans and concept art look AMAZING.  I’m in love with the new Beauty and the Beast restaurant - it’s just brilliant and beautiful.  Notice the Lumiere animatronic on the right?  This is clearly going to use the same technology already employed to bring Remy from Ratatouille to life at Disney’s French restaurant (check out a video of Remy in action here).  That they’ve managed to bring the most iconic part of the Beast’s castle to life gives me chills (who doesn’t remember the ballroom scene with Beauty and the Beast dancing and Mrs. Teapot singing “Tale as Old as Time”?).  Also of interest about this ballroom:

“The ballroom sequence features the first computer-generated color background to be both animated and fully dimensional,” says Jim Hillin, CGI Artistic Supervisor for Beauty and the Beast. “What this means is that the background is literally moving and the animators had to animate to it in much the same way that they worked with the live action composites in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This gives the advantage of sweeping camera moves and perspectives as well as theatrical lighting that would otherwise be impossible. It introduces live action techniques into the animated world. Here the camera plays a very important role in establishing the mood and helps us to experience what the characters themselves are feeling.” (source)

There’s also going to be a Little Mermaid dark ride, which should be great, and Dumbo’s circus area (there’s a magician in the drawing, so hopefully my magician friends in Florida nab what looks like a really fun strolling job!), which looks fantastic.

Guess I’m going to have to book a Florida leg for my next tour - between the new Fantasyland, “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at Universal, and the Holy Land Experience (yes, the Jesus theme park), there’s so much new stuff for me to do in Orlando!