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

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You guys like FOP..?
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.
 
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.
 
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.

Thanks for the quick responses guys! :) Holding out hope something changes in the coming days
 
I just can't imagine this being better than tower of terror. I would be happy that this ride is good enough to make up for the river journey though.
 
Riding it was like how it felt riding Back to the Future for the first time. The technology blows your mind even though intellectually you know how it all works.

It's so well done it honestly makes Soarin look like garbage. The warping of the Eiffel Tower in Soarin Around the World, seeing the other riders (feet in your face,) and the screen edges aren't issues here. It's a new era of more immersive simulator experiences now.

Plus, there's A LOT going on in the FoP movie. Like far too much to process the first time. It's incredibly packed with action, animals, elements, characters, and locations (especially considering it doesn't even have a plot.)

I'm glad it'll have a single rider line so I might be able to get on every time I visit without waiting (too) long.
 
I think it's safe to say that my expectations for this land and in particular FOP are increasing with every review that comes out, really looking forward to seeing it for myself in September. Hopefully this really kicks off the war between Disney and Universal cos at the end of the day we will all be the real winners.
 
Can someone who has been on FOP please describe in a bit more detail how the 'transition' to being in your Avatar takes place? I believe I'm correct in saying that the wall in front of you moves up and the seat you're on then moves forward, but do they 'dazzle' you with smoke/flashing lights or something else to hide this?
 
Can someone who has been on FOP please describe in a bit more detail how the 'transition' to being in your Avatar takes place? I believe I'm correct in saying that the wall in front of you moves up and the seat you're on then moves forward, but do they 'dazzle' you with smoke/flashing lights or something else to hide this?

Strobes and the screen in the seat is distracting you. You don't really go forward, the wall in front is curved a bit to allow the seats to jut off the edge of the platform a little. The whole room may move an inch or two forward to separate from load but the seats themselves don't slide into the screen. The screen is already on and wraps full around the seating areas. It is showing an intensely 3D scene of floating lights that goes into the "warp" or hyperspace effect and you pop into the world.
 
Strobes and the screen in the seat is distracting you. You don't really go forward, the wall in front is curved a bit to allow the seats to jut off the edge of the platform a little. The whole room may move an inch or two forward to separate from load but the seats themselves don't slide into the screen. The screen is already on and wraps full around the seating areas. It is showing an intensely 3D scene of floating lights that goes into the "warp" or hyperspace effect and you pop into the world.
Brilliant, thanks for this! :)
 
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