[11][12][13] Walt Disney Imagineering began development on Pandora – The World of Avatar in 2011,[11][12] jointly with Cameron and his production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, with the intention of transforming Animal Kingdom into a full-day operation, complete with added attraction capacity and nighttime experiences.

[18] Staggs suggested incorporating the film into a newly designed "land" at Disney's Animal Kingdom to improve the park's attraction roster.

[27][28] Pandora – The World of Avatar is designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and Lightstorm Entertainment with Cameron and Landau acting as creative consultants.

The area was constructed in the former location of Camp Minnie-Mickey, which was originally earmarked for the Beastly Kingdom, a never-built themed land which would have been based around mythological creatures.

[30] Instead of including characters or basing the land on existing plotlines from the films, the Disney and Lightstorm team emphasized issues such as conservation and environmental stewardship.

[31][14] Project manager Tim Warzecha described the land as a standalone experience from the films, focusing on "all about the people, the environment, the culture, the animals and the beauty of the world.

"Disney and Lightstorm decided to set the land's timeline generations after the warring conflict between the indigenous Na'vi and the Resources Development Administration (RDA) that sought to exploit Pandora for its unobtanium in the first film.

[37] In September 2011, Cameron confirmed that a flying attraction featuring "3-D projections and creature designs that were cut from the original film" was a concept on the drawing board for the area.

[29] Rohde initially admitted difficulty in adapting the locations depicted in Avatar to the physical realm, as Pandora is portrayed in the films solely through computer-generated imagery.

[19] Therefore, Imagineering adapted the concept art and digital designs from the films and expanded upon it, with Rohde explaining that "there was not enough detail in those images for an actual place that you're really going to build.

[31] The rides Avatar Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey are advertised only by stylized depictions of an ikran and the Shaman of Songs woven out of reeds.