Pandora: The World of Avatar Announcement, Construction, & Preview Discussion | Page 395 | Inside Universal Forums

Pandora: The World of Avatar Announcement, Construction, & Preview Discussion

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Were you as impressed on the second ride as you were the first?
I think so. Knew moreso what to expect so it didn't catch me totally off guard this time.

Going in the first time I had the same expectations as everyone else before previews - what appeared to be a ride system that couldn't do any drops and something akin to Soarin. So when it hit the first long drop it was a real rush. Less a rush the second time, but I moreso was able to appreciate some of the vistas and what was going on and how everything was working together.

Asked my new companions for this journey and they both definitely felt the drops, said it was a lot more thrilling and intense than Soarin and one said that while the feeling was similar to Forbidden Journey the thrill level was a little higher because it sustains those movements for longer.

As I said, I was in Theater A and it definitely did the full drops and shots up. I'd say if anything the first bit didn't feel as intense because I knew it was coming.

I was on the very end of the theater on the second floor. It's easier to see mechanical bits and other riders from that angle but you have to look, they aren't obvious.

The second preshow didn't work for some reason - not sure if it's not working or if it's being redone. Instead we heard it play through the door while waiting in the first room and then were given a ride speil live before going right to the ride.

Ambient sounds and lights and such are either on or more prominent in the queue. No score in the queues or land areas yet though.

Rode River Journey twice this time. The song gets stuck in your head. Without a wait it's plenty fine on its own. Certainly as entertaining as Living with the Land.

I felt like the land had some added plants and fake critters in trees and such. Found several more examples of plants and critters in various parts of their life cycles rather than just clones. Some are sprouting or fruiting and some are dead and some are inbetween.

The carved plastic glass with light up seed pod is available at Pongu now.

Extended queue for River Journey was built and visible. It circles a big tree planter like a maze just to the left of the entrance and then extends back along the perimeter of the main path to the land entrance.

Flight of Passage will extend into the area under the rock arch if needed. FoP's FP and Single Riders are the same queue until they get into the building. No one is thrilled about seeing how that works out.
 
Either way.... when Disney and Cameron got together, Disney had every reason to think that this land would open with a sequel or two already out. It's Cameron's fault that's not the case. Only thing Disney can do is hope people visit and meet their expectations.

I don't really see that sequels make or break an IP in the theme park game. When JP opened, at least two movies were out, maybe 3? And Marvel had a long history of its characters being used across various media (most notably TV and comics, but still highly recognizable characters). They even threw in the most beloved American children's author of all time.

And the park nearly went bankrupt.

Shrek had 3 record-breaking sequels. If UOR replaced Kid Zone with Far Far Away next year, I think you'd see a level of disbelief/ridicule equivalent to Pandora.

In contrast, Jaws had at least 3 sequels, maybe more--all were regarded as jokes if people thought of them at all. Let's be honest, Jaws = the first Spielberg movie. But it still looms large in the pop culture, and the ride worked 30 years after the movie came out. Ditto Ariel--I don't think those direct-to-video sequels made her popular, it was the original movie clicking with audiences on some primal level. If it doesn't click like that, you fail.

(And even then, in both cases the IPs were used to create a mini-land at best.)
 
Unconfirmed but a friend in industry (not one who provided my earlier info) says that Banshee delayed indefinitely. Anyone confirm?
 
Hey all! Been a while since I posted and I've been following this thread on and off! Excited to be getting down to Orlando next weekend for a couple days!

I don't know if this had been touched on already or not, but does anyone know what the deal is for soft openings? Seems like some people have visited already (obviously), but I didn't know if those were just APs or not. I was thinking of going either next Friday (5/19) or Saturday (5/20) with hopes of getting in since I won't be down again for a year or two. Feel free to DM if you have details! I don't want to congest this thread if not needed!

Much appreciated and I'm super excited to see my two favorite forums merge!
 
Hey all! Been a while since I posted and I've been following this thread on and off! Excited to be getting down to Orlando next weekend for a couple days!

I don't know if this had been touched on already or not, but does anyone know what the deal is for soft openings? Seems like some people have visited already (obviously), but I didn't know if those were just APs or not. I was thinking of going either next Friday (5/19) or Saturday (5/20) with hopes of getting in since I won't be down again for a year or two. Feel free to DM if you have details! I don't want to congest this thread if not needed!

Much appreciated and I'm super excited to see my two favorite forums merge!

Currently if you are not an AP holder on a DVC member there are no plans for guest previews. I imagine this will chance, but we have no other info at this time.
 
Currently if you are not an AP holder on a DVC member there are no plans for guest previews. I imagine this will chance, but we have no other info at this time.

I think it will have a lot to do with FOP's ability to stay up and running. The boat ride has minimal downtime, but if it goes down and has to cycle through after a reset and FOP is down it's like the world ended - and that's just cast previews.

If FOP gets up to full capacity (preshow timing has put empty cycles between groups, or only partially filled theaters - and of course of D comes online) then I think there's a good chance as no one expects AP previews to be much busier than Cast.
 
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A quick glance at Twitter suggest they're still letting preview groups in 30mins prior to block time, allowing them to line up an hour before the block itself, and giving out FP in 15-min windows including the 30min pre-window.

So that bodes well for anyone going who hopes to ride. And previews, one tweeter said, were limited to 2000 per 2 hour block.

And for anyone who wants to go but isn't in a scheduled preview - all the FP they've used since day 1 expire on May 22nd.. so i suspect after May 23rd (and not the day of the media event) there's a good chance for general previews.
 
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