As you know, Pandora: The World Of Avatar is expected to have it's grand opening on May 27th. However, we have seen it's soft opening now and people are posting it all over the internet. At first glance, the park looks fantastic with floating(ish) mountains, interactive plants and overall attention to amazing detail. However, let's get to the rides.
Na'vi River Journey has been uploaded to YouTube by several people and as much as it is a good-looking ride... it's not that impressive. The animatronic characters are jaw-dropping, but here's the thing: only two! I know these new ones were probably hard to program, but remember: in the 1960s Disney made Pirates Of The Caribbean with dozens of animatronics that are still impressive to this day! I don't mind if some Na'vi were using that old technology, they'd still look great. The rest are just either screens or, in the rare case, a bug prop that just hangs off a string. Pandora has a wide animal kingdom (no pun intended), why not add some more Na'vi? Those tiger things you see on the screen, they would've been cool animatronics. Or how about an AA Banshee because spoiler alert, there's none in Flight Of Passage. Also, there's not even a small drop. Don't get me wrong, the biolumenescent flora and fauna of the ride is beautiful, but Disney uses it all the time in other rides, what makes it stand out in this ride?
Then there's Flight Of Passage. Now even though there is no full POV on YouTube, this ride does look really fun. People are praising it as the best simulator attraction ever, and kudos for that. The ride system looks interesting, but I'll talk about that soon. First off, the queue looks great, as you travel through a Pandora cave before entering an ACE laboratory with lots of eye-catching visuals and a lifelike Avatar animatronic in water that looks tremendous. However, once the pre-shows come in, the ride drops a huge bomb on you. Remember how Disney advertised that you would ride on a Banshee in this ride? Well, you kind of don't. Yup. Instead, you get on this weird bike-bench thing with seats similar to the seats on TRON: LightCycle Power Run, sit in a room, and the wall opens up in front of you revealing the screen. Why? Because instead, you're "linked" to an Avatar and simply "feel like" your on a Banshee. There's some movement and I think it can slightly drop, but the vehicles don't even leave the loading area.
In a way, it's simultaneously better and worse than Soarin'. For starters, the ride sounds much more thrilling than Soarin' and has a bigger screen, but at the same time I feel it might be odd with a loading area sitting behind you, creating an uncanny void of iPhones and Diet Coke bottles sitting in bins. Also, what was it again... Oh yeah, the whole Banshee thing was a mere half-truth to build hype.
So overall, I think Pandora: The World Of Avatar looks neat, but at the same time a bit disappointing. The attractions are a lot smaller than they built them up to be and there are not enough surprises to excite me. I'd be happy to discuss the expansion with people who have been and even if you haven't, it would still be cool to know what you think of it. Also remember that I won't be going until December, so this isn't a final opinion; this is based on what I've seen so far. Maybe it'll end up being my highlight of the trip, who knows.
Na'vi River Journey has been uploaded to YouTube by several people and as much as it is a good-looking ride... it's not that impressive. The animatronic characters are jaw-dropping, but here's the thing: only two! I know these new ones were probably hard to program, but remember: in the 1960s Disney made Pirates Of The Caribbean with dozens of animatronics that are still impressive to this day! I don't mind if some Na'vi were using that old technology, they'd still look great. The rest are just either screens or, in the rare case, a bug prop that just hangs off a string. Pandora has a wide animal kingdom (no pun intended), why not add some more Na'vi? Those tiger things you see on the screen, they would've been cool animatronics. Or how about an AA Banshee because spoiler alert, there's none in Flight Of Passage. Also, there's not even a small drop. Don't get me wrong, the biolumenescent flora and fauna of the ride is beautiful, but Disney uses it all the time in other rides, what makes it stand out in this ride?
Then there's Flight Of Passage. Now even though there is no full POV on YouTube, this ride does look really fun. People are praising it as the best simulator attraction ever, and kudos for that. The ride system looks interesting, but I'll talk about that soon. First off, the queue looks great, as you travel through a Pandora cave before entering an ACE laboratory with lots of eye-catching visuals and a lifelike Avatar animatronic in water that looks tremendous. However, once the pre-shows come in, the ride drops a huge bomb on you. Remember how Disney advertised that you would ride on a Banshee in this ride? Well, you kind of don't. Yup. Instead, you get on this weird bike-bench thing with seats similar to the seats on TRON: LightCycle Power Run, sit in a room, and the wall opens up in front of you revealing the screen. Why? Because instead, you're "linked" to an Avatar and simply "feel like" your on a Banshee. There's some movement and I think it can slightly drop, but the vehicles don't even leave the loading area.
In a way, it's simultaneously better and worse than Soarin'. For starters, the ride sounds much more thrilling than Soarin' and has a bigger screen, but at the same time I feel it might be odd with a loading area sitting behind you, creating an uncanny void of iPhones and Diet Coke bottles sitting in bins. Also, what was it again... Oh yeah, the whole Banshee thing was a mere half-truth to build hype.
So overall, I think Pandora: The World Of Avatar looks neat, but at the same time a bit disappointing. The attractions are a lot smaller than they built them up to be and there are not enough surprises to excite me. I'd be happy to discuss the expansion with people who have been and even if you haven't, it would still be cool to know what you think of it. Also remember that I won't be going until December, so this isn't a final opinion; this is based on what I've seen so far. Maybe it'll end up being my highlight of the trip, who knows.
That's what I meant.
