Had the opportunity to check out Pandora: World of Avatar yesterday and figured I'd share a quick review, some comparisons, and overall thoughts about this amazing expansion at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Gonna break the review down by category and give it 1 to 5 score with 5 being the highest. Also want to reiterate this review isn't complete and will surely evolve over time just like with any other land or ride that opens. Also trying to make sure I don't let the "newness" of it affect my review which I think many including myself have been guilty of before with new attractions. Just cause its new, doesn't mean its good. Jimmy Fallon I'm looking at you. Anyways categories, LETS GO!!
The Theming
From the moment you make your light year journey (crossing an open bridge #Lame) from Animal Kingdom to the Valley of Mo'ara you immediately realize your in a foreign environment. The alien plant life is beautiful and extremely well done. It doesn't appear like anything in Pandora is fake. The entire area looks like its been here for centuries. Its such an organic and beautiful landscape its really hard to describe how realistic and breathtaking it is. I mean they nailed it when it comes to theme authenticity and realism. Did I say how real everything looked? The water features add a great kinetic energy to the land thats also very natural and authentic to the story of Pandora. No matter where you walk in Pandora you will hard pressed to find anything that breaks the theme and story. There are no show buildings to see, no thunderous rollercoasters to ruin the ambiance, no unthemed elements that even for a split second take you out of the story they're portraying. In terms of theming its darn near flawless. Which leads me to my one gripe, the floating mountains. Listen no one was envious of WDI for having to create floating mountains but there were a few of the smaller ones that did appear forced. In all reality though you really gotta be digging to find these and I mean you can't give them crap about it, They're floating mountains lol. Overall IMO Pandora is the most authentic and natural theme park land / attraction ever created. Score 5 out of 5
The Rides
If you were to ask me about 6 months ago about the rides on Pandora I would of told you I was more excited for Na'vi River Journey than Flight of Passage without hesitation. Not knocking FOP but I at the time was expecting nothing more than Soarin over Pandora. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago and media reviews started pouring in and the Na'vi River Journey through the eyes of lens looked lazy and uninspired and quickly dropped from my list of anticipation to my list of well... I have to do it at least once. My point being walking into Pandora, the rides weren't something I was racing to experience they were just something that I was going to do while exploring the land. At the end of my journey to Pandora I realized I had made a huge error.
The Na'vi River Journey is a wonderful family friendly journey through the environment of Pandora. The entire time I was on the ride i was amazed by the amount of detail they put into it. Some of the tech they use you really have to ride it multiple times to even see it let alone actually sit back and appreciate it. For example there are multiple scenes that are layered extremely well. For example you see a scene in the foreground and it has a creature just chilling out. Then behind that there is another insect crawling around. Then beyond that its moving plant life, then beyond that animals in the trees, and then beyond that Na'vi swinging from the tree's all with seamless execution and interaction. The other thing I noticed about this ride during the 4 spins we took on it was how well Disney did with blending scenes with live sets. Also Disney has mastered projection mapping technology and how to use it within their attractions. Some of the projection mapping tech within this ride is so good I thought a few things were actually AA's crawling around. Finally the best AA I've ever seen is also on this ride and yes by now many have seen the videos of it but to see it in person is nothing short of jaw dropping. Its fluid movements are one thing but I don't think enough people are appreciating its facial expressions and ultra realism. The AA is flawless and even if they did build the ride around it, at least they built around one of the greatest theme park achievements we've ever seen.
Flight of Passage was something I wasn't sure what to expect. I mean I was expecting Soarin 2.0 so I wasn't expecting that much but at the same time I was expecting quite a bit because its the main attraction of a billion dollar land. What I ended up getting was indeed Soarin 2.0 and I couldn't be any happier about it. First off the queue was an attraction in itself that from what I'm told is capable of holding a 6 hour queue at 100% capacity. The queue starts outside giving you some of the most amazing views of Pandora you'll find before entering into the floating mountains themselves. Once inside the caves of these goliath mountains you begin your journey through former military sites, into glowing forests, through laboratories and into the linking chambers themselves. The queue is filled with amazing easter eggs, one of the most amazing AA's your ever gonna see outside of the Na'vi River Journey, and loads upon loads of heavily themed rooms that prepare you for one of the most realistic and intimate pre shows to date. The preshow does drag a bit but I could see that being addressed down the road once they resolve some of the loading issues they're having. Yes the loading process is a bit of stretch for most that lack basic intelligence. I was able to easily... VERY easily get into my chair, slide forward, and allow the back and leg restraints engage without issue. In fact everyone in our group did it easily while we waited for almost ten minutes for others to figure it out. There will be issues for some that have large dimensions but to me it seemed to be just fine. I had plenty of room and had play in the restraint and never felt squished like I do on FJ, Gringotts, and Manta. If your nervous about whether or not your gonna fit just remember to slide all the way forward and stay there until the restraints lock, you'll be fine. The ride itself features some of the greatest simulation ever done on a theme park ride. The reviews of "it really feels like your flying at points" are extremely accurate. There were numerous times where I couldn't help but say wee followed by giddy laughter. Its extremely fun and at points are a little intense which is a welcome feeling to a simulator. Couple things that really stood out to me on my lone voyage. I was sitting on the bottom left of the entire theater and never at one time did I feel like I was off in the corner. It wasn't until near the end when I looked over and noticed where i was positioned. This in itself is a huge win!! Another thing I noticed was the incredible media quality. Disney has always played second fiddle to Universals ARMY of media based attractions but FOP may have the best media quality for a media based attraction ever. The wind was an amazing feeling. The breathing of the banshee while riding is an amazing touch and finally... YES FINALLY we have a ride that actually uses water effects without getting it in my glasses or making my clothes wet while still achieving the effect. One thing that also stood out to me was the complete lack of any dialogue. Its not a bad thing at all, and it follows the story perfectly much like this entire land does.
Pandora offers two incredible attractions that are must rerides and also offer something for everyone. From the thrill seekers to one year olds Pandora delivers powerful story based rides that follow the cohesive theme spread throughout the world of Pandora. Score 5 out of 5
Part 2 Down Below
