***Official*** Pandora: The World of Avatar Information Thread

[Tia1977]

We're just back, and Pandora was everything I hoped it'd be (and so much more). Admittedly I'm biased due to AK being my favorite park. Until now, my favorite sections have been Asia and Africa. Pandora is simply breathtaking, during the day and at night. People are right, pictures just don't do it justice. I spent forever just meandering around taking in the beautiful scenery. The area feels very natural to AK (to me). It felt as though being introduced to real natural I've never experienced before.

We didn't do the river ride due to changing park days around last minute (another party of 3 must've been happy to snag the FP's we gave up lol). We did do FOP our second AK day and wow...just wow! When it was over, we just sat there for a couple of seconds in happy shell shock. We were seriously tempted to ride it a second time SB (and we never ride anything with a longer wait than 20 mins lol). I have a tidbit that really helped me enjoy it to the max. Not sure if it's been mentioned before bc I stopped keeping up with the thread when we were down there...

I have a small face and immediately found that I needed to hold on to my glasses. It was a blessing bc it then prompted me to cover both sides of my face with my hands like blinders. Without any peripheral view of the other riders, I was 100% immersed and felt like I was on a solo flight

 

[fattymatty]

Has anyone had FP for 11-12 or 12-1 for FOP? If so what have the wait time been on the FP lines. Does Disney show anywhere what the FP wait time currently are

 

[mirak]

First time to AK. I was impressed by Pandora. Very beautiful at night. It really needs a third feature ride, though. The river journey was beautiful, and the line moved fast, but it isn't worth waiting longer than 30 minutes. Also, the cue is very bare bones.

Stood in line 2 hours for Flight of Passage, starting at 11:30 at night during EMH! I was more impressed by the amazing level of detail in the cue than the ride itself. So many amazing, tiny, believable details (and so much time in line to appreciate them). The ride itself was visually beautiful, but motion sims just aren't as fun for me as real movement. 3D was pretty clear, but the video seemed a bit too bright and washed out (maybe necessary for the 3D). The whole "green" narrative was a bit over the top, in my opinion. If this is anything close to the plot of the new movies, well... I guess I'm not surprised they are being reworked. I'm glad I did it, but I wouldn't do it again without a fastpass or less than 30 minute wait.

Also whole lotta pukin going on. Someone puked in our theater just ahead of us, so we had to be relocated to another theater and repeat the rather dopey pre-movie. Almost stepped in more puke in the exit line. That's what motion sims do. I got a little queasy myself.

Finally, there were a LOT of really young kids in that line with me tonight - well past midnight. Many were clearly exhausted. Poor judgment on the parents' part.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Has anyone had FP for 11-12 or 12-1 for FOP? If so what have the wait time been on the FP lines. Does Disney show anywhere what the FP wait time currently are

Disney does not post what the FP wait times are. You can always ask a CM when you get to the line though.

I have had a FP from 2-3 p.m, and I waited 5 minutes before heading into the first staging room. FP is really quick. I recommend going in the stand-by line at least once though, since that line is one of the best lines I have seen Disney do. The FP line pretty much passes all of it.

 

[BigredNole]

I have been reading posts from people that state AK is opening much earlier (letting guests in but Lands not open) much earlier than the normal 15-20 minutes. I read a post from someone that they got to AK at 7:15AM with park opening at 8AM. The people were already going in and there was a massive backup into Pandora already.

Is that really the case? If so, I need to adjust my arrival times for AK. We just won't eat breakfast in our room. We will eat it at the Pandora lines.

 

[AngiTN]

I have been reading posts from people that state AK is opening much earlier (letting guests in but Lands not open) much earlier than the normal 15-20 minutes. I read a post from someone that they got to AK at 7:15AM with park opening at 8AM. The people were already going in and there was a massive backup into Pandora already.

Is that really the case? If so, I need to adjust my arrival times for AK. We just won't eat breakfast in our room. We will eat it at the Pandora lines.

Yep, this is the norm for now. No idea how long this will continue. I would expect it to go on through the 4th, along with the rest of their expanded hours. Maybe even longer.

 

[ThistleMae]

Rope drop is very crowded right now. I'd go for mid afternoon.

Yes, thank you. Some folks still say rope drop is the way to go, but I'm reading more and more people say otherwise. My cousins, who I'm going with, will not get up early enough to rope drop, so still hoping for FP+ and if not, we shall just wait and see. We are hopping, and we can check the MDE app for wait times. If we buy express transportation, we could hop over to AK rather quickly if the wait times go down. This is the best plan I have.

 

[Disfan1968]

Let's say you have a fast pass for FOP and don't need to ride it at rope drop. Is the River Journey a mad scramble at rope drop, or is that a pretty reasonable goal? I have two young kids and Grand parents along with me this August so I just can't "dash" over like most other people. We are going to arrive around 7:30 at the park for a 8:00 am extra magic hour on the 14th. I am thinking we head for River journey and then wander up to Safari and Everest and Kali River after that? This sound feasible?

 

[ThistleMae]

Would sure depend on what else you plan to do in the park, that's for sure. Our last trip was Pandora centered, we didn't care if we didn't get in much of anything else outside of it. That won't always be the case. I'd almost consider a Pandora day, where you aren't concerned about spending extra time there. And a different day where you do the rest of AK. Or a half day. Ease up on the stress of how long things take and gives you all the time you want to explore.

This is a great attitude...I'm going to borrow it...LOL! We will end up at AK probably 3/4 days of the 5 days we have this trip. I don't like the heat and I'm planning on taking my time...it's all a great big adventure and one I don't want to stress over it (although I probably will have some if I don't get a FP). After all, I'm on vacation!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Yes, thank you. Some folks still say rope drop is the way to go, but I'm reading more and more people say otherwise. My cousins, who I'm going with, will not get up early enough to rope drop, so still hoping for FP+ and if not, we shall just wait and see. We are hopping, and we can check the MDE app for wait times. If we buy express transportation, we could hop over to AK rather quickly if the wait times go down. This is the best plan I have.

We shall see how it develops, but it really seems that if you can get there 1hr before opening then you can be at the front of rope drop and have a short wait ... but after that the wait time spikes at opening/early morning and your best bet is mid-to-late afternoon (then it goes back up a bit when evening hours/bioluminesence first starts, then goes down again towards end of night/EMH)

 

[ThistleMae]

My booking window opened this morning for 60 days. AK is our 2nd day of a 3 day trip. The earliest FOP FP I was able to get was 4:50pm. All day, I kept trying to modify time to try to pick up something earlier and by 7pm, it said there are no more fastpasses available. I think you will definitely have afternoon/evening choices on both days and possibly some morning choices, at least on day 8. Definitely be ready right at 7am and try to book day 8 first.

It's my understanding that if you are staying offsite, you can only book one FP each day, at your 30 day, is this correct?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Let's say you have a fast pass for FOP and don't need to ride it at rope drop. Is the River Journey a mad scramble at rope drop, or is that a pretty reasonable goal? I have two young kids and Grand parents along with me this August so I just can't "dash" over like most other people. We are going to arrive around 7:30 at the park for a 8:00 am extra magic hour on the 14th. I am thinking we head for River journey and then wander up to Safari and Everest and Kali River after that? This sound feasible?

It certainly isn't as crazy as for FoP but there are still people heading there and the line will spike shortly after opening.

Will have to see how things develop so not sure exactly how things will be in August. I think your plan should be fine (you might have a little bit of a line, but not too crazy). They have been opening the park early/getting people through the tapstyles and stuff so if that continues you might want to shoot for more like 7:15, but either way I think you should be ok

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It's my understanding that if you are staying offsite, you can only book one FP each day, at your 30 day, is this correct?

yes, that is correct. Same as with ADRs (though they are at 180 days)

 

[ThistleMae]

I had no problems with my ADR's, didn't even book at 180 days out. But....when any of my FP's are available, you know what happens to reservations....change, change, change. So, we will have choices to make. I will def. change any reservation for FOP...but anything else, I may not. Just so excited to be going! I'm working on my shoe choices now. Cool, comfortable and water proof. I have foot issues, so it's not that simple, otherwise I'd wear my crocs. Decisions, decisions! I wish I could visit Disney twice a year...come on megabucks! Love to read all these posts. It keeps my excitement going. Thank you.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I had no problems with my ADR's, didn't even book at 180 days out. But....when any of my FP's are available, you know what happens to reservations....change, change, change. So, we will have choices to make. I will def. change any reservation for FOP...but anything else, I may not. Just so excited to be going! I'm working on my shoe choices now. Cool, comfortable and water proof. I have foot issues, so it's not that simple, otherwise I'd wear my crocs. Decisions, decisions! I wish I could visit Disney twice a year...come on megabucks! Love to read all these posts. It keeps my excitement going. Thank you.

Obviously getting off topic - but I (at everyone in my family at this point) always just wear Keens in the parks. They give me more support than other sandals, but are waterproof, etc.

 

[ThistleMae]

Obviously getting off topic - but I (at everyone in my family at this point) always just wear Keens in the parks. They give me more support than other sandals, but are waterproof, etc.

Ah yes, the go to Keen's. I have a pair that I've glued back together three times because I love them so much! Unfortunately, with my Achilles tendon issue, the back bothers my foot...ugh! But thanks for jumping in with the help.

 

[Cappy81]

Can anyone tell me if FOP offers Rider Swap? Also how much time to bugdet from entering FP line to end of ride. Trying to figure out something for parent 1 and toddler to do while parent 2 and older child ride FOP.

Yes, rider swap is available at FOP. I've only FPd on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, but my first FP wait was around 15-20 minutes, the second was no wait - we walked all the way through to the first pre-show room.

Thanks for the reply! Can anyone tell me how long the actual attraction takes?

 

[PrincessV]

Thanks for the reply! Can anyone tell me how long the actual attraction takes?

Including both pre-show rooms, I'd guess 15 minutes or less. The ride itself is maybe 3-4.

 

[DaniMoon]

My experience - possibly to help others plan - Monday 6/5 and Saturday 6/10

Rode FoP twice - once with a 9:30 pm fp+ on Monday night, once standby on EMH morning, Saturday.

First - FoP has become a favorite!! I do not do Star Tours, the thought of Tea Cups makes me woozy, I don't do well in Imax movies - I ride Soarin' without a problem, I can ride all of the coasters - none bother me, including Everest. One of my daughters is very prone to car sickness. My husband, older daughter, and I all had no issues with the ride. My younger daughter was a little bit queasy after. (She had just started an antibiotic that had to be taken with food, so it might have been a contributing factor). We all rode it a second time later in the week - she loved it, no problems. Both daughters agreed that they did not lean as far forward for the closing of the mechanism the 2nd time they rode, and it was more comfortable. The film in the France pavilion made 3 of us more queasy on Friday, than FoP did.

Na'vi - we rode it once standby on EMH morning (6/10) - and we all agreed, we released the fastpass we had scheduled for it late at night, it wasn't worth doing again.

Monday night fastpass for FoP - wait was around 10 minutes, there were 4 chairs out in our room alone.

Saturday morning EMH ...
We drove to the park, got there around 6:30, parking was easy and close, got on the back of the line at 6:35 - there were 2 lines, one on the right side and one on the left - we obviously chose the left (both were about same length) since that's Pandora's side. At that point we were a few people from being even with the ticket windows.
They made the welcome announcement and started letting people tap in around 6:40 (why do I have such bad karma and get the line where everyone's bands spin blue??? Hint - move to the middle lines when they open the tap stiles, if we had stayed on the original left side lines it would have taken us much longer to get through.
We were held at the 'turn' by the bridge for about 5 minutes. Ropes were dropped at around 6:45. Somewhat controlled walk into Pandora - so, I think we probably started walking the queue around 6:50. When we were approaching FoP posted wait was 5 minutes, as we started the winding through the outside queue wait jumped to 30 minutes. The walk through the queue at a fast pace is more dizzying than the ride!!! Look down if you're prone to motion sickness. By the time you got to the CMs assigning rooms it was immediate loading - they were actually waiting for people to fill rooms. We did not see a film in the first room as in the previous ride - we were in there for maybe 30 seconds before moving to the 2nd room.
All of the seats were in working order this ride. The 2 people sitting next to me had to do a little bit of adjusting to get the green light to come up when their seat 'closed' - they were not big people, just sitting incorrectly. I think they really should change that pre-film to show your feet in a 'tippy-toe' position instead of flat on the floor - it seems to put you in a better position.
We were off the ride at 7:15 am. When we got off, the posted wait time was 70 minutes and jumped up to over 100 in the next 10 minutes.
We walked on Navi with a posted 5 minute wait, walked right on a boat - again with the dizzying queue.

We all agreed that while it is beautiful at night it is very, very hard to see in Pandora at night.
The walk through the back way past the Lion King is empty and much more enjoyable than the crowded walk through the front entrance.

Everyone really enjoyed the food at Satu'li.

Banshees were sold out on Monday. There were a couple of colors available first thing Saturday morning. Saw lots of people walking around with them on Saturday - particularly blue ones. So, I'm guessing it's just luck if they are available for sale on the day you are there.

Also, Pandora has made the rest of AK empty - almost deserted on EMH mornings. Everything was 5 minute waits or less. After Pandora we were on Safari at 7:30 - no wait, Everest 3 times in a row with absolutely no waits, Dinosaur - no wait - cars were going out with 3 people in them in some cases, Primeval Whirl. We would have been ready to leave AK at 9:00 am if it had not been for a Tusker House ADR. It would have been a great time to walk some of the trails, but it was the last full day of our vacation and we were all over the walking thing!! I wish Disney would consider adding an earlier showing of Lion King.

THANK YOU for this review. We are heading to WDW next week. I have a FP for FOP on Tuesday and plan to rope drop EMH on Saturday. Your review has helped solidify our plans. Need to be out of AK by 11:30 am on Saturday and was beginning to think we wouldn't get a lot accomplished, but after seeing your post I think we will be able to get even more than I was hoping. Hardest thing will be getting us all to the bus stop around 6 a.m.

 

[ucfknight]

It's my understanding that if you are staying offsite, you can only book one FP each day, at your 30 day, is this correct?

Well, you can book 3 FP each day at the 30 day mark. But only 1 of the 3 can be for one of the Pandora rides.