عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Disney Unveils 'Avatar' 'Indiana Jones,' 'Encanto' and 'Monsters, Inc' Attractions

FILE PHOTO: Beauty and the Beast Castle, in a new area set to open to public on September 28, is seen during a press preview at Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, east of Tokyo, Japan, September 25, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Beauty and the Beast Castle, in a new area set to open to public on September 28, is seen during a press preview at Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, east of Tokyo, Japan, September 25, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
TT
TT

Disney Unveils 'Avatar' 'Indiana Jones,' 'Encanto' and 'Monsters, Inc' Attractions

FILE PHOTO: Beauty and the Beast Castle, in a new area set to open to public on September 28, is seen during a press preview at Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, east of Tokyo, Japan, September 25, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Beauty and the Beast Castle, in a new area set to open to public on September 28, is seen during a press preview at Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, east of Tokyo, Japan, September 25, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

Walt Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro laid out an ambitious growth plan for the company’s theme parks on Saturday at the D23 fan convention, announcing plans for four new cruise ships and details about six new themed lands.

Forthcoming plans include a new Disney villains land at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, a doubling of the size of the Avengers Campus at the Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California, and details about its partnership with Fortnite creator Epic Games.

“This, for us, is an unprecedented era of growth,” Reuters quoted D'Amaro as saying.

The two new attractions at its Marvel-themed Avengers Campus at California Adventure will be Avengers: Infinity Defense and the Stark Flight Lab, the company said.

California Adventure will also add a new 'Avatar' experience at the California Adventure, based on the second film in the science fiction franchise, “Avatar: The Way of Water", it said.

To commemorate the 70th anniversary next year of the Disneyland park in Anaheim, a show based on the life of Walt Disney featuring an audio-animatronic figure of the company's founder will be opened.

Disney also unveiled two attractions for the new Tropical Americas expansion coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida. One follows Indiana Jones on an exploration of a Mayan temple. Another is inspired by the Disney animated film “Encanto” and follows the character Antonio on the day he received his magical gift. Tropical Americas is set to open in 2027.
Actor Billy Crystal took the stage to announce an area at Disney's Hollywood Studios dedicated to the Pixar film, “Monsters, Inc”. The area, known as a land in Disney theme park parlance, will feature a suspended roller coaster designed to simulate zooming through the door vault at the Laugh Factory, just like characters Mike and Sulley in the film.
Pixar’s “Cars” film franchise also comes to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, in a re-imagined area of Frontierland, with two new attractions planned. One will take guests on an off-road thrill ride into the wilderness beyond the film’s fictional Radiator Springs setting. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year.
The fan favorite announcement, based on the audience reaction, was D'Amaro's statement Disney will create a new area devoted to Disney's villains at the Magic Kingdom, with two attractions, dining and shopping.
These announcements reveal how the company will begin $60 billion in capital investments, nearly doubling spending over the next decade to improve attractions at its 12 parks and increase cruise line capacity.
"Everything that we’re going to share with you tonight is in active development," D'Amaro said. "This means that plans are drawn. This means that dirt is moving. I just want to be clear with all the fans out there. This isn’t blue sky."
CRUISE FLEET EXPANDS
Disney also said it will add four cruise ships to its growing fleet, capitalizing on an industry that has been enjoying a rebound from the global shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company currently has five cruise ships in operation, and previously announced four others, including one Tokyo-based vessel and another that will set sail from Singapore in 2025. These new vessels will start operating between 2027 and 2031.
D’Amaro was joined onstage by the company’s creative leads to discuss Disney’s collaboration with video-game maker Epic Games. The company invested $1.5 billion in Epic earlier this year, giving Disney an equity stake in the creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine.
Disney announced new characters and stories are coming to the online game, including Disney villains as well as characters from the Pixar superhero film, “The Incredibles,” and the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian” about a lone bounty hunter from the Star Wars universe.
Disney's parks have become a reliable profit engine, helping cushion the impact of declines in traditional television and losses in its video streaming business, which last quarter turned a profit.
The experiences unit, which includes parks, cruise ships and consumer products, contributed 60% of the company's operating profit in the most recent quarter - up from 30% just a decade ago.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Cleaning up the Seine: The Olympics Boosts a Parisian Dream, but It’s Still Far from Fully Achieved

People swim in the Seine river after Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river, Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris, France. (AP)
People swim in the Seine river after Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river, Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris, France. (AP)
TT
TT

Cleaning up the Seine: The Olympics Boosts a Parisian Dream, but It’s Still Far from Fully Achieved

People swim in the Seine river after Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river, Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris, France. (AP)
People swim in the Seine river after Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river, Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Paris, France. (AP)

The Seine River has been one of the stars of the Olympics — whether as the scene of the ambitious opening ceremony or as the Games’ choice for the triathlon and marathon swimming competitions.

The challenges to featuring the famed Paris waterway so prominently were considerable. The work that went into tackling one of the largest — concerns about its water quality — could be the Games’ biggest legacy for the river snaking through the French capital and arguably for Paris itself.

Authorities vow that their 1.4 billion-euro ($1.5 billion) cleanup efforts will allow a river that was so polluted Parisians were banned from taking a dip in it for a century to finally open up as a summertime swim spot. They also hope a cleaner river revitalizes the overall environment. Some experts are skeptical, however, and the Olympics have shown there still remain some hurdles ahead.

Results of daily testing during the Games showed the Seine’s water was not always in line with acceptable guidelines for illness-causing bacteria such as E. coli. That canceled several test swims and postponed the men’s individual triathlon by a day. Better results later allowed Olympic events to take place.

French President Emmanuel Macron claimed victory following the Olympic triathlon tests, calling it “a fabulous legacy for the Paris region’s residents who will be able to swim in and for biodiversity.”

Bathing spots for all

For many Parisians, swimming in the Seine has been nothing but a dream.

In the 1970s, only three to four fish species were living in the Paris section of the river, with waters deeply polluted from industrial activity. Now, around 35 fish species may need to get used to sharing the Seine.

A swimming test open to the public has been scheduled for mid-September ahead of a city promise that anyone can take a dip starting next summer.

Paris officials have identified three potential bathing spots, one close to Notre Dame Cathedral, another near the Eiffel Tower and a third in eastern Paris.

It is dependent on water quality results falling in line with European rules.

In a warming world, the river could help people stay cool during increasingly frequent heat waves. However, rain storms can wash runoff and wastewater — and, therefore, bacteria — into the river, and climate change is making weather more extreme.

Since 2017, Parisians have been swimming during the summer in the Canal de l’Ourcq, in a northern part of the capital. By contrast with the Seine, water in the Canal de l’Ourcq has been consistently found to be of good quality over the past few years, according to analyses reviewed by the Regional Health Authority.

A challenging cleanup

To get the Seine to a swimmable state, authorities opened new disinfection units and created a huge storage basin meant to prevent as much bacteria-laden wastewater as possible from spilling directly into the Seine when it rains.

Officials also have targeted houseboats that used to empty their sewage directly into the Seine, requiring them to hook up to municipal sewer systems or lose their berth.

Recent efforts are heading in the right direction, yet they’re still insufficient to guarantee clean waters, said Michel Riottot, a health and environment expert at the France Nature Environnement group.

That’s because when sewage networks become saturated with rainwater — especially during storms — they still discharge surplus into the Seine, he said. Plus, when there is rain upstream in a region known for its grain farming, pesticides accumulate into waterways flowing into the Seine, Riottot added.

Some 23,000 homes upstream of Paris also are emptying their sewage into the rainwater system that flows directly into the river, Riottot said.

For the Olympics, only two indicators were being analyzed for Seine water quality: the fecal bacteria E. coli and enterococci.

“If you can find them at a higher level than legal thresholds, it means there are lots of other things that can sometimes be more dangerous than these two” in the water, Riottot said, such as COVID-19, hepatitis A and chemical pollution.

Ready to dive in

Still, the idea of swimming in the Paris landmark is irresistible to many.

An experienced open water swimmer, Sina Witte got enthusiastic when she and other members of her Parisian swim club were offered the chance to take a dip alongside Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo just before the Olympics.

“I really enjoyed it,” she said this week, spending about 45 minutes swimming down and up the river. She did not get sick afterward.

“I’m not racking my head too much about it — as soon as we can swim around, I’m going, it makes me happy,” Witte said.

She participated in a triathlon competition in the river in 2009, 2010 and 2011 — exceptions to the general ban on swimming there since 1923.

In 2010, participants received a warning that the river didn’t comply with water quality requirements. The E. coli levels were 2.5 times higher than required, according to a photo of the document seen by AP.

Witte remembered that thousands of people took part.

Olympics’ environmental efforts

Paris City Hall promised that “the whole ecosystem will benefit from this cleanup project.”

François Houix, Olympics project manager at the Voies Navigables de France, the body in charge of managing the country’s inland waterways network, said the Olympics helped broader efforts to improve how rivers and streams work.

A floating barrier set up upstream of the Olympic swimming site catches both green and plastic waste and other polluting items in the Seine, he said. The system will be extended after the Games.

State-sponsored benefits also urge boat companies to be greener, including a bonus when boat operators switch to electric engines. There will be about 40 electric boats operating in Paris by the end of the year, up from only one in 2018, Houix said.

The Games also prompted a 15-million-euro investment to reopen a branch of the Seine to boats in the disadvantaged northern suburbs of Paris. That’s because a main stream along the Olympic Village was closed for weeks for security reasons.

Local officials say that when boat traffic stops on weekends or later in the day during the summer, it will allow swimming, rowing and stand-up paddleboarding either on that reopened branch or on the main stream, Houix said.