For the last few days, the internet has been abuzz with talk about how “unaccommodating” the attractions in Pandora: The World of AVATAR are for guests in wheelchairs. Well, after doing some research during our last visit to the planet, it appears that they are just as accommodating as other rides at Walt Disney World.
After reading more than enough pieces about these issues, I decided I wanted to see what was actually going on at the attraction, rather than speculation without first-hand experience. We spoke to cast members at the attractions to get all of the following information, so it should be as accurate as possible.
The link chair vehicles for the AVATAR Flight of Passage attraction in Pandora
The AVATAR Flight of Passage ride system is unique and simply could not accommodate a wheelchair, but wheelchair guests can transfer to ride. Transferring to ride a thrill ride at Walt Disney World is far from uncommon, as less-intense thrill rides such as Soarin’, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and Test Track all require such practices. Mind you, these are not decades-old attractions, but all rides that have opened since 1999, in a more modern age where theme parks often have guests requiring accommodation in mind.
At Flight of Passage, guests in a manual wheelchair can stay in their chair until they get to the ride vehicle, as the queue and pre-show experiences are fully accessible. The wheelchair can then pull right beside the Flight of Passage “link chair” seat and transferring will require 1-2 steps.
Those who need additional assistance transferring can also make use of a special wheelchair that is available. This wheelchair has the ability to elevate the guest in the seat via manual foot pump, similar to a barber’s chair. Cast members we spoke to at the attraction said they were able to load guests from this wheelchair effectively with little problem.
Special wheelchair to aid guests in transferring onto the Flight of Passage attraction in Pandora
Special wheelchair to aid guests in transferring onto the Flight of Passage attraction in Pandora
As with other attractions, guests needing to transfer are brought in before other guests are loaded so that they can take their time and have privacy as they move from their chair into the ride vehicle.
Guests in ECVs or motorized scooters will leave their ECVs before the pre-show areas and have the option of walking the rest of the way or using a manual wheelchair (or again, the special one pictured above, if need be). The distance from the door of the first pre-show room to the ride vehicle is about 50 steps, but also requires several minutes of standing.
Meanwhile, at the Na’vi River Journey ride, while there are no “wheelchair boats” that such a device could simply roll right onto, they do have a multi-tiered set of steps that allow guests to more easily descend into the boat. The rows on the boat are quite large as well, making it easier to assist a guest who must transfer into the vehicle. It’s not perfect, but it isn’t terribly complicated either. Transferring from a wheelchair is a necessity at many slow-moving Walt Disney World attractions, including The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Spaceship Earth.
We hope this helps to clarify the process with factual information rather than vague, broad statements about the process at either attraction. As for concerns about guests with larger dimensions fitting on AVATAR Flight of Passage, we will address those in a separate story later this week.
Pandora: The World of AVATAR opens May 27th, 2017 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort.
I have anxiously awaited my chance to experience the heavily guarded secrets of the AVATAR Flight of Passage attraction in Pandora at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and during yesterday’s annual passholder previews, I did finally get to ride on a Banshee. Well, virtually at least.
I already talked at length about the queue in my initial thoughts on Pandora, but now it is time to talk about the pre-show and ride experience.
So, how is it?
Disney is still having a lot of problems with the ride, and cast members have told us that all 4 theaters have still not run simultaneously to this point. During yesterday’s preview, they were down to just one theater in fact, and luckily they did have a second come online here and there. With just about 2 weeks left to go, this is not a good sign, but hopefully they will figure it out before May 27th with a lot of long-shifts pulled by Imagineers and others involved. With a theoretical hourly capacity of 1900 guests (if all 4 theaters are functioning), there isn’t going to be much room for error in this heavily-hyped opening Summer.
The waiting area for the decontamination/matching rooms at Flight of Passage.
When these doors open, your first pre-show experience begins at Flight of Passage.
The pre-show experience is a bit odd. Once you are corralled into one of several lines, you are then sent into decontamination/matching chambers in groups of 16. In this room, a rather odd scientist takes you through the decontamination process and then finds the AVATAR that is a match for you. While the scripting and acting for this room fall pretty flat, guests will have a lot of fun with the infrared technology in use and the blasts of air and lighting effects that take place. Guests are then whisked off to the briefing room where they learn from the scientist and Dr. Ogden about their experience and boarding the simulators properly. While it is a little bland and boring, it does a great job explaining what’s going on and makes watching the AVATAR movie unnecessary to understand the attraction.
Then it is off to the ride.
The seats are unique for a Disney Parks attraction and you’re not going to find any like this at another theme park. The “link seats” require straddling since you will be riding a Banshee (eventually), and they can be a bit hard to get into for taller and larger guests. My suggestion would be to get your knees as far in as you can before sitting down. While larger guests had many issues during earlier previews, the fairly big individuals visiting with myself yesterday all made it in just fine. We ranged between 6’0″ and 6’3″ and all made it in just fine. If you have larger or longer legs, that may be an issue, but probably not until people start cresting the 6’5″ mark or over 300 pounds.
Now it’s time to ride. If I could only use one word to describe the actual attraction portion, it would be impressive. The technology behind “link chair” is impressive and there’s a lot in each ride through that has to go right for a perfect experience, and it did for both of ours yesterday.
Warning, we’re going to get into some spoilers now…
So what is the ride system? Imagine if you took the Soarin’ system and placed single-person simulator chairs on each level. Oh, and give it the largest, seamless, most vivid 3-D projection screen you’ve ever seen; then you have Flight of Passage. Oh, and throw in some cool, new 3-D shades…
The individual link chairs provide for a very personal experience, but your family and friends are never so far away that you can’t still speak to them and hear them. One nice thing about this is it will avoid awkwardness of those utilizing the single rider line for this attraction as they get to actually sit alone, a first for anyone utilizing this service. I sometimes feel awkward using single rider lines as I think you can sense that the people you are seated with are never happy that you are there. This will be a nice change of pace.
The link chairs are also insanely cool. There is a screen with a camera in front of you on each one, which provides some distraction while you wait for others to load (correctly) into their seats. It’s flashy and entertaining enough for what may be a little bit of a wait. Once the ride gets going, the motion on these is enough of a thrill for the whole family, but Expedition Everest it is not. It will likely be on the higher end of the spectrum for children, and the average adult will find it thrilling enough to be satisfied I believe. Basically, I don’t expect a lot of projectile vomiting on this ride.
The other neat part of the seats are the sound and movement effects that simulate that you are on a Banshee. You will feel the creature breathing under you and hear it from your seat. Some of these strange effects are also applied during the “linking” effect at the beginning of the ride that sends you mind into the Avatar out on Pandora.
And yes, no physical Banshee appears under you, and no, I don’t want to hear about it in the comments section of any post. Thank you in advance for understanding what a rumor is.
The ride itself is a lot of fun, with sequences that make what I thought to be a rather bland film franchise into a really exciting one. The action is non-stop, but never feels forced, flowing through the different ecosystems on the planet. The most amazing effect of the ride is the way it seamlessly blends in theater effects into the show. The mist on your face, waves crashing, and a seemingly endless array of odors are all felt (and smelled) from your seat. How they do this without the lingering odors found in Soarin’ prevailing through the rest of the ride is beyond me, but they make you feel like you are really there at all moments. All of this combined with the crisp-3D imagery makes for a fantastic ride. It is, without a doubt, the most realistic screen-based ride experience of all time.
Flight of Passage isn’t my favorite attraction I’ve ever been on, but it’s likely in the top 10 somewhere. Based on how guests respond to Soarin’ and the screen-based thrill rides at Universal Orlando, I think the general public is going to flip out for this experience, probably more than any theme park fan will. It is just a screen ride, but it is the best use of projection technology in a ride I’ve seen since Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, and it far surpasses that. The screens work here as they are not here to replace things that could be done with physical sets, but rather offer things that you just couldn’t do if this wasn’t presented on a screen.
While I often feel that Universal doesn’t care either way and just makes an attraction screen-based for budgetary reasons, Flight of Passage feels like a conscious effort to offer the best experience possible. As I felt the first time I rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, while I didn’t prefer screens, I enjoyed the way they were used in the ride (even if it is a bit nauseating). Screen-based rides aren’t the devil, and they don’t need to be outlawed, they just need to only be used when necessary. If Flight of Passage and Forbidden Journey are examples of how to best to use screens in new, cutting-edge attractions, then Escape from Gringotts and the Na’vi River Journey are good tutorials on how not to (using screens to replace things that could have been physically there).
Regardless, Flight of Passage will become the most popular attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and possibly in all of Walt Disney World come May 27th, 2017 when it officially opens. Either get a FastPass or be prepared to wait a really, really, really long time for this one folks.
Yesterday evening, we were lucky enough to gain access to a special cast member preview of Pandora: The World of AVATAR at Disney’s animal Kingdom theme park. While we are still putting together out thoughts on what we experienced, we do have three videos from the planet to share with you now…
First up, a walking tour from end to end of the outside area of Pandora:
Next, take a ride on the Navi River Journey attraction, a slow moving boat ride experience:
Lastly, see what might be the most spectacular (and longest) queue for any Disney attraction ever, the Flight of Passage:
Please note that the area will not open to guests until May 27th, 2017 and is only operating for previews exclusive to pre-registered cast members, annual passholders, and D23 members prior to that date.
On Saturday evening, I was lucky enough to be invited by a friend to a cast member preview of Pandora: The World of AVATAR at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. While not yet open to the public, there are a series of previews for certain types of guests between now and the May 27th grand opening of the land. While I have still not experienced the Flight of Passage attraction and the Satuli Canteen (which we hope to during Saturday’s annual passholder preview), I have received a lot of questions about my experience, so I wanted to share what we saw during our 2-hour preview. Here we go…
Walking Around Pandora
We have seen lot of very pretty press photos, and the jaded theme park blogger in me was skeptical if I would care about trees and rocks. Turns out that I do.
Pandora is absolutely stunning and evokes all of the feelings I had the first time I gazed upon the Cadillac Range from inside of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure. The floating mountains are amazing, especially when you stand underneath them. They are unique in that they are in the center of the land, allowing you to see them from 360 degrees as you traverse the land and the attraction queues, each angle giving you a completely different, awe-inspiring view.
Every inch is covered in detail with no space left unattended to. Alien plantlife is everywhere, water features abound, military base ruins are scattered throughout, and impressive rock work covers the landscape. Even silly things like cast member-only access passageways have speakers that play noises like water dripping in a cave, or various animal noises. I swear, if there was something un-themed or that showed signs that we were in a Disney theme park, I couldn’t find them.
A few weeks back, a source told us that there was no attraction signage for the attractions, and I was skeptical as to how this would work. This is actually true in that there are no marquees for the two rides, but the ACE company has set up what look like temporary stations to guide guests into these experiences. Queues are filled with ACE branded lighting that appears to be temporary and cast members who are trying their hardest to keep you in the story at all times.
No signs of Mickey Mouse are present on Pandora either, as it is the first themed land constructed without Hidden Mickeys. Even the FastPass+ readers have Alpha Centauri Expedition logos rather than Mickey Mouse icons.
Beyond that, we found some fun diversions, including an interactive drum circle, a large plant creature that reacted to touch, and strange alien animals who squirt water at guests. This is what theme parks are all about. I love these little things you can do between rides and eating that are unexpected, but decidedly cool and fun.
Despite not having the charm of a small town around Route 66, I found myself wanting to just stand or sit around and watch the world of Pandora unfold around me. Picturesque spots with waterfalls, raised observation areas, and secondary pathways offer plenty to explore and an atmosphere so pleasant that it’s hard not to get caught up in it. I can forsee a lot of days where I will be grabbing a drink at Pongu Pongu and just walking around the land, watching the flurry of activity from guests, cast members, and entertainers alike. Although, the pathways may not be big enough for the expected crowds, but we’ll see, I guess…
I did find some charm in the Pongu Pongu refreshment kiosk, but we’ll talk more about that later this week (and I’m going to yell about the missing hula skirt a bit).
Na’vi River Journey
Initial reactions to the Navi River Journey have been underwhelming, but I found a far more positive experience than most. This isn’t a thrill ride, in fact, it’s Animal Kingdom’s first and only family-friendly dark ride.
The queue for the Na’vi River Journey
The show sets are of the highest quality. There are many areas where the depth of the forest seems to go on forever, making you second guess just how big the scene around you really is.
The projected animals of Pandora are somewhat underwhelming, utilizing the projection technology developed for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and The Seas with Nemo and Friends over ten years ago, leading to moments where you can kind-of see through the creatures. That being said, the physical sets and some of the projection-mapping effects are second to none. I found myself arguing with my friends about the first Navi to appear in the ride and if he was a moving figure or a projection. He’s a projection, but one of the most convincing I have ever seen.
The ride isn’t flawless. It could probably use a few moving figures of larger creatures for sure, but it isn’t unenjoyable. This isn’t a showstopper and it really doesn’t need to be with the Flight of Passage next door. It serves a purpose for those who can’t ride the bigger thrill ride and adds ride capacity & variety to the park.
I like to think of but as Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Navi Shaman, and yes, that AA figure is as impressive in person as it looked on video.
We have a full walkthrough of the queue and on-ride video of the Navi River Journey to share with you as well:
Flight of Passage
Since it is currently not fully operational, very few guests at each preview event have had the chance to ride the Flight of Passage attraction, but the queue has been available for walking tours. Walking this queue, I have one thought to share: be afraid, be very afraid. The queue is long, longer than any I have ever encountered. If you thought the line for the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland seemingly went on forever, then you are going to be amazed as you weave through the 6-hours of inhabitable queue space that the Flight of Passage ride has available, if need be. Walking at a good speed through the entire queue with very little stopping took me about 10 minutes. 10 minutes to hike from the entrance to the pre-show area. That’s intense.
That being said, it might be the most well-thought out and immersive queue ever constructed for a theme park. The outside portion winds beautifully through the mountain range before taking you into the caverns where you’ll find massive cave paintings of Banshees. The queue then goes through the remnants of an RDA facility before entering the active research facility of the Pandoran Conservation Initiative.
You can walk through the entire queue in our video below:
Shopping at Windtraders
One thing Pandora is not short on is unique merchandise. I can’t express the excitement I felt to walk through an entire store that carries merchandise I have not seen anywhere else at Walt Disney World. Every inch is covered in unique offering you’ll only find here, making a shopping trip to Pandora something very special.
With how hard it is to find merchandise not shared between the Disney Parks around the world these days, a shop with items that can only be found in the land (and apparently will never be offered through the Shop Disney Parks app or DisneyStore.com) is incredibly refreshing.
You can have yourself turned into a Na’vi action figure inside the Windtraders shop
Despite my hatred of the film, I was quite enamored with a fair amount of the merchandise. I’ll honestly need an entire post just to talk bout how cool some of the items were. That being said, for every cool item, there is probably something that will never sell, but hey, that’s a much higher success rate that we expected.
There is also a face painting station called Colors of Mo’ara, if you are so inclined.
OVERALL
While I still need to ride the Flight of Passage and dine at the Satuli Canteen, it is clear that Disney and Cameron have succeeded. Disney took a movie franchise with almost no fandom and little affection from the general public and built something very special with it. In many cases, we complain that some movies don’t work well as theme park attractions because you have to try and tell the story in a very truncated format (because, let’s face it, very rarely do we get original stories based on movies rather than film retellings). In this case, we have a film with very little substance that honestly seems like it was made for an in-person experience rather than a near-3-hour film. I recall riding the Haunted Mansion or seeing the Country Bear Jamboree and thinking, “How are they going to make an entertaining movie out of this?” With AVATAR, If the theme park land had come first, I would have wondered the same thing.
Disney Imagineering has honestly made their critics of the last 6 years look pretty silly, providing an experience at a level seldom seen in many theme parks. The Harry Potter lands at Universal Orlando and Cars Land come to mind, and this project has all the feel of those. The size, the scope, the level of detail, the number of different types of offerings available to guests, they’re all there. Provided Flight of Passage delivers and Satuli Canteen is at least edible (both big “IF”s, trust me), I think this is an incredibly important addition to Disney’s Animal Kingdom that may make it the premier park at Walt Disney World (at least until 2019 and the opening of Star Wars Land). Don’t get me wrong, the Magic Kingdom is wonderful and amazing, but it lacks a large-scale experience with this level of immersion and detail, something that audiences seem to crave at this point in time.
Pandora: The World of AVATAR does more to connect audiences with this franchise than the movie’s 3-D gimmickry ever could.
Stay tuned as later this week we review the drinks and snacks of Pongu Pongu, the Banshee Rookery experience, and I talk about seven things we like and dislike (so far) about Pandora: The World of AVATAR at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
According to the official Walt Disney World website, new information in regards to the rides in Pandora: The World of AVATAR has been released.
Flight of Passage
Height Requirement: 44 inches tall
Age Interest: kids,tweens, teens, and adults
Official Description: “Get a banshee’s-eye view of the beauty and grandeur of Pandora on a rite of passage you won’t soon forget! Deep in the heart of the Valley of Mo’ara, discover Avatar Flight of Passage—an all-new expedition that lets interstellar explorers like you climb atop a mountain banshee for a breathtaking, first-person flight over the moon’s incredible landscape. Bonding with a mountain banshee is a crucial step in the life of a Na’vi hunter—and flying on the back of one of these powerful winged creatures represents an important rite of passage.Now, as a visitor to Pandora, you’ll finally have the chance to test yourself in a similar way!
FastPass+: yes
Navi River Journey
Height Requirement: none
Age Interest: everyone
Official Description: “Glide down a gentle, mysterious river and feel a sense of wonder as the full beauty of Pandora reveals itself. Located within the Valley of Mo’ara, Na’vi River Journey offers explorers an experience that has to be seen—and heard—to be believed! As your expedition begins, climb aboard a reed boat and drift downstream. After coasting through a series of caves, and passing by exotic glowing plants and amazing creatures of the rainforest, you’ll soon find yourself face-to-face with the Na’vi Shaman of Songs. The adventure comes to a conclusion as the Shaman demonstrates her deep connection to the life force of Pandora—and sends positive energy out into the forest through the power of her music!”
Thrill level: slow rides
FastPass+: yes
Valley of Mo’ara
Height Requirement: none
Age interest : anyone
Official Description: “Walk about through the Valley of Mo’ara and get ready to discover a world like no other! There’s more to Pandora than expeditions like Avatar Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey… much more! All around its enormous floating mountains, you’ll quickly uncover the valley’s one-of-a-kind dining and shopping experiences—along with sights, sounds and experiences that include: Exotic plants that come to life with beautiful bioluminescence each night, A Na’vi-built drum circle containing instruments playable by all, Na’vi totems and other cultural items found throughout the land, Brand-new Wilderness Explorers challenges and badges to collect. You may even come across tour guides from Alpha Centauri Expeditions (ACE), scientists from the Pandora Conservation Initiative (PCI), or even an eclectic expat or two!
Stay posted for any future updates on Pandora: the World of Avatar in the coming weeks as the opening date draws closer. Pandora: the World of Avatar officially opens to the public on May 27th, 2017.
