Pandora: World of Avatar General Discussion

[Mad Dog]

It also has long lines due to low capacity and the impact of FP+. I think that it also benefits from the a) Nothing else new in the park and b) Hype train because, as a ride, it is nothing special.

It has long lines for the reasons I stated and because capacity isn’t the best. It’s also new and most people don’t know what they’re waiting for.

And if it was in a Universal park as the same ride that it is in DAK (same capacity), it likely would still have long lines bc it’s a family accessible ride that has low capacity. Most of the year it’s around 60-75 minutes. It would be lower at Universal, but that’s bc both of their parks have more rides and attractions.

I don't disagree with the lack of capacity and fastpass affecting the lines. I agree wholeheartedly. But let me add, I believe that if this ride was located in the Magic Kingdom which has many many rides, as a new 'DISNEY' attraction it would still attract long lines, such as is the Disney fan mentality for just about anything that is 'new' Disney. Heck, put Fast & Furious in AK, slap a 'Disney' name on it, and I bet it gets long lines .....not sure NRJ would do well at Universal though. Even Cat In the Hat, one of the few dark rides in either Universal park, is usually a walk on except for busy holiday seasons. And it's probably a tad better than NRJ. So so rides don't do well at Universal. Not a lot of kool aid there, just a bit.

 

[devinp267]

Disney should really invest in the customer experience. Be a bit smarter with theming and more generous with the ride.
I often have the feeling Disney is building rides for social media instead of an amazing ride/vacation experience.

I have to agree with this. I just feel like somehow someway, some things in GE are going to feel cheesy and thrown together, that was their attitude it seemed with pandora. I hope for the best and i am just speaking on the past.

Edit: Its like they try to completely make an ip their own without sticking to most of what people recognize from films books etc. Like disneying things up if you will.

 

[UNIrd]

Eh. I have the feeling it's no coincidence that Disney is not building new attractions with any decent capacity to continue to push guests to stay on-site and take advantage of being able to get a FP earlier.

They're up to 1 per park now:
MK - Snow White Mine Train
Epcot - Frozen Ever After
DHS - Slinky Dog Dash
DAK - Flight of Passage

 

[rhino4evr]

the waits for Slinky Dog and Frozen aren't as bad as I was expecting to be honest.

 

[tielo]

Eh. I have the feeling it's no coincidence that Disney is not building new attractions with any decent capacity to continue to push guests to stay on-site and take advantage of being able to get a FP earlier.

They're up to 1 per park now:
MK - Snow White Mine Train
Epcot - Frozen Ever After
DHS - Slinky Dog Dash
DAK - Flight of Passage

Don't forget about their magical money making scam of early hour and after hour hard ticket events.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Eh. I have the feeling it's no coincidence that Disney is not building new attractions with any decent capacity to continue to push guests to stay on-site and take advantage of being able to get a FP earlier.

They're up to 1 per park now:
MK - Snow White Mine Train
Epcot - Frozen Ever After
DHS - Slinky Dog Dash
DAK - Flight of Passage

I mean SDMT is middling, Frozen is a retrofit if a ride that can barely hit 800, Slinky is ok, and FoP (when al working) is fine. Nothing is PotC level but nothing will be that ever again.

the waits for Slinky Dog and Frozen aren't as bad as I was expecting to be honest.

Disney’s also seeing lower attendance overall and the interest in Frozen has died down.

 

[SkiBum]

I mean SDMT is middling, Frozen is a retrofit if a ride that can barely hit 800, Slinky is ok, and FoP (when al working) is fine. Nothing is PotC level but nothing will be that ever again.



Disney’s also seeing lower attendance overall and the interest in Frozen has died down.

Completely agree. Frozen was a bad idea. The original ride system could never handle anything close to Frozen's popularity and, if any IP deserved its own major ride, Frozen fit that bill. A great dark ride at either DHS or MK (fit was better at MK but DHS could use it more) with capacity approaching PoTC would have been the best. SDMT capacity is lacking but also is a scaled back version of what should have been a great family coaster. Take out FP+ (which I don't like) and let the ride times be the ride times. People will wait an hour for a great ride and not complain. Especially if the line is moving.

For us, Pandora never hit the mark. The "floating" mountains were neat but that was about it. NRJ is a waste with poor capacity, which is a double whammy. FoP apparently runs at 50% capacity and thus is also a monumental waste. For the money that was supposedly spent, they could have reduced the immersive theme and built 5 or six really good rides. However, that is just an ol' Bum's opinion. Maybe I needed to snort some Pixie Dust this morning.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Had Cameron not delayed the films, we would be getting ready to watch Avatar 3, with Avatar 2 already out. Disney, at the time they announced the partnership, believed that the films will be available once the land is open. Avatar could have been a lot more relevant today.

 

[rhino4evr]

You know it had been a while, but I actually met someone who was a "huge" Avatar fan the other day, and was "super hyped" about the upcoming sequels. I should have called National Geographic, as it was a very rare sighting.

 

[belloq87]

Had Cameron not delayed the films, we would be getting ready to watch Avatar 3, with Avatar 2 already out. Disney, at the time they announced the partnership, believed that the films will be available once the land is open. Avatar could have been a lot more relevant today.

This is an excellent point. We often hear about how AVATAR is like a dead franchise, and how Disney was incredibly stupid to bank on it being a draw, but people seem to forget that when the deal was announced, the movie (the biggest of all time, unadjusted, at that point) had been released less than 2 years earlier AND the sequels were supposed to be in theaters by the time the land opened.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

This is an excellent point. We often hear about how AVATAR is like a dead franchise, and how Disney was incredibly stupid to bank on it being a draw, but people seem to forget that when the deal was announced, the movie (the biggest of all time, unadjusted, at that point) had been released less than 2 years earlier AND the sequels were supposed to be in theaters by the time the land opened.

I’m working on a review of Pandora (will publish after my second visit) and I’m going to touch on this a little bit.

 

[Coasted]

Eh I have the feeling it's no coincidence that Disney is not building new attractions with any decent capacity to continue to push guests to stay on-site and take advantage of being able to get a FP earlier.

They're up to 1 per park now:
MK - Snow White Mine Train
Epcot - Frozen Ever After
DHS - Slinky Dog Dash
DAK - Flight of Passage

Slinky has an unfortunate name on the app
“Slinky Dog Dash - Now Open!”
Oops actually it’s currently temporarily closed;

 

[Alicia]

You know it had been a while, but I actually met someone who was a "huge" Avatar fan the other day, and was "super hyped" about the upcoming sequels. I should have called National Geographic, as it was a very rare sighting.

:::Raises hand:::

I cannot wait until the sequels.

I enjoy the hell out of every movie he makes, (even if they’re about imaginary blue people). And I’m sure it’ll be a good time.

 

[SkiBum]

:::Raises hand:::

I cannot wait until the sequels.

I enjoy the hell out of every movie he makes, (even if they’re about imaginary blue people). And I’m sure it’ll be a good time.

I wasn't a huge fan of the actor playing Jake but did enjoy the movie. The destruction of Hometree is such a visually depressing and angering scene that you find yourself just waiting with bated breath for the soldiers and their leader (the excellent Stephen Lang) to get what is due them. With that said, I didn't feel like the land at Animal Kingdom put me into the movie. Again, that is probably just me. I felt much more immersed into Hogwarts and Diagon Alley before even riding the rides. Kong sucks you right in and so does Spiderman and Jurassic Park. They are just excellent rides with great build-up. PoTC sucks you in via the queue and so does Haunted Mansion. I can't exactly describe the difference between those that succeeded and those that didn't.

 

[belloq87]

I enjoy the hell out of every movie he makes

Every movie...?

 

[Alicia]

Every movie...?

Yes.

 

[Mad Dog]

I wasn't a huge fan of the actor playing Jake but did enjoy the movie. The destruction of Hometree is such a visually depressing and angering scene that you find yourself just waiting with bated breath for the soldiers and their leader (the excellent Stephen Lang) to get what is due them. With that said, I didn't feel like the land at Animal Kingdom put me into the movie. Again, that is probably just me. I felt much more immersed into Hogwarts and Diagon Alley before even riding the rides. Kong sucks you right in and so does Spiderman and Jurassic Park. They are just excellent rides with great build-up. PoTC sucks you in via the queue and so does Haunted Mansion. I can't exactly describe the difference between those that succeeded and those that didn't.

Yes, I'd agree with that. The land is beautiful, but with not much to do besides the rides, it lacks the immersion that Hogsmeade & Diagon has. I actually think that Africa, & possibly Asia, in AK are more immersive, and better lands overall. I loved FOP though....I'm guessing that interest in this part of the AK park, except for FOP which should maintain interest, will drop significantly after the newness wears off.

 

[SkiBum]

Yes, I'd agree with that. The land is beautiful, but with not much to do besides the rides, it lacks the immersion that Hogsmeade & Diagon has. I actually think that Africa, & possibly Asia, in AK are more immersive, and better lands overall. I loved FOP though....I'm guessing that interest in this part of the AK park, except for FOP which should maintain interest, will drop significantly after the newness wears off.

My guess is that SWL will bring the drop-off. The only reason that the NRJ stays packed will be due to lack of other things to ride and marketing. If I were going to set up my three FP+ for AK for a fairly busy day, I'd do FoP, Dinosaur, and either Safari or Expedition Everest. I would stand-by anything else I wanted and skip NRJ if the line was excessive (i.e. over 30 minutes). We waited just over an hour this last time since we hadn't been on it before. Now, I wouldn't feel motivated to wait nearly that long. I would like to go when FoP doesn't have a three hour wait and then go through the full queue.

 

[rhino4evr]

The queue for flight of passage is pretty damn epic. I’m not sure how you could say it doesn’t “suck you in” but PotC does.

 

[SkiBum]

The queue for flight of passage is pretty damn epic. I’m not sure how you could say it doesn’t “suck you in” but PotC does.

My apologies. That was my fault for not explaining something from a review I did almost a month ago. We did the FP+ on FoP since we could get them (pure luck) and the stand-by was literally three hours long. The FP queue was nothing, although that fit the military base theme. As I mentioned, I do want to do the FoP stand-by queue as it looks impressive. My larger point was directed more at the land itself. It didn't really pull me into the world of Avatar. Maybe it's because Avatar is another planet where as PoTC is set on Earth, just a different time. Although, if I understand the point of PoTC, you start out in the present and then go back in time to when pirates were sacking the town. Even the two HP lands are set on Earth and thus not such a huge stretch to be "there". I honestly think that SWL may achieve the immersiveness that can be expected, along with having two awesome rides.