3. Jurassic World: Trainer Program

Universal's other intergenerational IP just begging for more presence in the parks is, of course, the combined Jurassic franchise. When Universal's Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, an immersive Jurassic Park was envisioned as the park's centerpiece – the iconic Discovery Center was even positioned as the "weenie" across the lagoon from Port of Entry! With the River Adventure, Discovery Center, Triceratops Trail, Camp Jurassic, and convincingly "in-universe" restaurants, retail, and games, you really could consider Jurassic Park a proto-"Living Land."

Now, the franchise (and that area of the park) have been reborn thanks to the newer, trendier Jurassic World films. Jurassic World essentially imagines what would happen if the boutique park for one-percenters seen in the '90s films were instead rebooted as a Disney World of mass consumption; a park  accessed not by helicopter, but by ferries and monorails. Jurassic World is defined by gargantuan scale (treating a Mosasaurus like Shamu, with thousands of guests in a stadium watching it it), almost-absurd ideas (a roller coaster through a raptor paddock), and marketing campaigns far afield of John Hammond's imagined nature preserve (like the mutated Indominus rex).

So just as Universal's original Jurassic Park land masterfully envisioned elements not shown on screen, but believably part of the park, it doesn't take much imagination to believe that Jurassic World would probably have an on-site hotel with views into a raptor paddock. And of course, we're not just tallking about a place to stay, but a "Trainer-in-Training" program that could fill a multi-day, multi-night experience! There's something sensational about the idea of a Jurassic experience where you could work alongside Jurassic Park scientists to hatch an egg; to care for a Triceratops in a veterinary hut; to swim in a lagoon with a family of Hadrosaurs... and of course, if "something went terribly wrong" and velociraptors overran the facility one evening, who could complain?

4. AVATAR: Pandora Conservation Initiative Residency

When Disney announced in 2011 that it had acquired the global exclusive rights to build theme park attractions based on 20th Century Fox's AVATAR, the world let out a collective "Huh?" Despite having broken global box office records as the highest-grossing film of all time after its 2009 release (a title it retains to this day), the simple fact was that the James Cameron film left practically no footprint in pop culture; "the most popular movie that no one remembers"!

Disney fans weren't exactly thrilled about the action-packed war epic set on an alien planet earning a permanent, full land at Disney's Animal Kingdom, but as tends to be the case, Imagineers proved us all wrong. Pandora: The World of Avatar smartly severs itself from the film entirely (meaning you don't need to know any characters, plots, or quotes) and instead leaps forward to an undetermined time in the future, long after humans have ended their assault on Pandora. When we step into the Valley of Mo'ara, it's as eco-tourists called to gaze in awe at its flora and fauna, share in the culture and culinary arts of its native Na'vi people, and laugh at some anonymous ancestors of ours who foolishly tried to strip the planet's minerals for profit.

In fact, the land is littered with the remains of humanity's military assault, now either overgrown with bioluminscent plant life, or repurposed by the Pandora Conservation Initiative (PCI) as labs to study and improve Pandora's ecosystem. So imagine if – among those facilities – was an old military base complete with housing, now modernized as a PCI Residency Program. 

During a multi-day stay at the base, guests might be able to explore laboratories overgrown with Pandoran plant life and now preserved as a glowing botanical gardens, take cooking classes using the bounty of Mo'ara, meet and interact with Na'vi emissaries, raise and care for young Ikran, learn and practice the Na'vi language, and – on the final night of their stay – sleep in luxury yurts beneath the floating mountains, with after-dark hikes through the valley, encounters with wildlife, and exclusive access to Na'vi River Journey and Flight of Passage.

The PCI Residency might not have the high-stakes of the Starcruiser with villains and laser swords, but it would surely be an incredible addition to Animal Kingdom's spirit of learning, discovery, culture, and adventure.

What do you think? Would you like to spend multiple days immersed in any of these "worlds"? Which do you think deserve the "cruise" treatment post-Starcruiser? And what other universes would you like to see given the same treatment? Let us know in the comments below or when you share this story on social media!