Yes! Much less intense than you were making it sound. The up/down motion is certainly a welcome addition the screen-based simulator world and adds another dimension of realism. I found it to be a relaxing journey around Pandora. And the imagery was incredible. A lot more water stuff than I was expecting, but that was a nice surprise.
Damn good ride. Incredible queue. Although FastPass misses all of it. And I didn't realize there was bioluminescence stuff in the queue! Also a nice surprise.
Great ride. But both rides suffer from a lack of story. At least FoP has somewhat of a conflict in it a couple times.
Oh, and that first preshow with the guy is just awful. The group next to me was making fun of him like MST3K the whole time. He's so awkward and boring in that video. Scientist lady in 2nd preshow is great though. That 2nd one is really all you need.
I was actually very happy with the story in Flight. With such a complicated setup (DNA matching, link-chairs, etc), it was nice to have a flying experience that didn't have a crazy amount of theme park shenanigans going on.
Totally agreed on the first preshow guy. I know on film that less is more, but still...
I also agree on River Journey, but I want to wait to pass judgement on the story until I ride it a few more times. I think a more thorough explanation of who the Shaman of Songs is and why music connects them to Eywa in the queue or even the park map would help make things a bit clearer.
Overall, though, I loved Flight and enjoyed River for what it was designed to be. I felt that I laid a lot of criticism on Fallon for not being the E Ticket that I wanted, and I hesitate to do the same to River Journey.
I think one of the best things is that everything feels like it was done in support of the experience. One of my issues with Everest, Kong, and Gringotts is that they occasionally feel like tech showcases more than experiences due to how they rely on their bells and whistles. On rides like Spidey and Flight, it never feels like, "Hey! Look at this cool tech!" It's always in support of the narrative experience. I REALLY appreciated that, and I think that's a big factor in how much I enjoy a ride.