DAK Pandora... my experience and thoughts.

[cjkeating]

I agree with “take the win.” If after we ride that first time, we don’t love it, we can always make last minute adjustments to our FPs. My only concern at this point is, I have an ADR for BOG at MK for 1:20. With FOP window opening at I believe 11:35. Is that nuts or can we easily make our BOG lunch? I am unused to park hopping since FP+ & even less used to hopping from AK to MK. We are Disney bus riders. Hoping we can just use buses to hop as I am unfamiliar with Uber.

If you go into FOP five minutes early as FP+ allows you'll be out by 1200 and shouldn't have a problem getting to MK for 1320.

 

[I am Timmy]

I agree with “take the win.” If after we ride that first time, we don’t love it, we can always make last minute adjustments to our FPs. My only concern at this point is, I have an ADR for BOG at MK for 1:20. With FOP window opening at I believe 11:35. Is that nuts or can we easily make our BOG lunch? I am unused to park hopping since FP+ & even less used to hopping from AK to MK. We are Disney bus riders. Hoping we can just use buses to hop as I am unfamiliar with Uber.

You should be good. However, it's very easy to take Uber, and if you're running short on time, totally worth it. BOG and FOP are premium reservations, it would be a shame to miss either one. I am tech challenged for sure, but it's so easy to download the Uber app, and I believe the first ride is still free. Plus, you know exactly how much the ride will be before the driver ever shows! If you have any questions about it, plenty of us have used it in Orlando and loved it. You can even set it up before you go and know exactly what will take place in case you end up needing it. So great in a pinch, and affordable.

 

[clarabellej]

If you go into FOP five minutes early as FP+ allows you'll be out by 1200 and shouldn't have a problem getting to MK for 1320.

Good tip Thanks! As long as I know we are heading over to MK

You should be good. However, it's very easy to take Uber, and if you're running short on time, totally worth it. BOG and FOP are premium reservations, it would be a shame to miss either one. I am tech challenged for sure, but it's so easy to download the Uber app, and I believe the first ride is still free. Plus, you know exactly how much the ride will be before the driver ever shows! If you have any questions about it, plenty of us have used it in Orlando and loved it. You can even set it up before you go and know exactly what will take place in case you end up needing it. So great in a pinch, and affordable.

Thanks. Will speak to one of my daughters and have her explain it all to me .

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

My FOPs FP happen to be 3 mornings in a row Days 4 5 & 6.

I chose multiples since they were available and also out of fear we would be so thrilled with the ride and then not have any chance of riding again due to long lines.

So the question is: should I keep all 3 FPs or as someone suggested on another forum, drop one and change that day for another park?

FOP is a great ride, and it's worth riding more than once, but I wouldn't burn three (or even two) FPs on it. That's just my opinion, but there ya have it. The only exception to this is if you happen to be a big Animal Kingdom fan. On a normal 6-7 day trip, my crowd goes to the MK three times, Epcot twice, HS once or twice (we have some big R&RC & TT fans) and only goes to AK once. Animal Kingdom is improved with the addition of Pandora, but still there's not much to do there, especially since the River Journey isn't worth waiting for. On that one, I suppose you have to wait to see it once, but I doubt you'll want to wait to do it again.

 

[clarabellej]

FOP is a great ride, and it's worth riding more than once, but I wouldn't burn three (or even two) FPs on it. That's just my opinion, but there ya have it. The only exception to this is if you happen to be a big Animal Kingdom fan. On a normal 6-7 day trip, my crowd goes to the MK three times, Epcot twice, HS once or twice (we have some big R&RC & TT fans) and only goes to AK once. Animal Kingdom is improved with the addition of Pandora, but still there's not much to do there, especially since the River Journey isn't worth waiting for. On that one, I suppose you have to wait to see it once, but I doubt you'll want to wait to do it again.

Good to know. Yes, AK was always our half day park before they extended the hours. We will be skipping the “big” rides: Everest, Safari, Dinosaur. I have back issues. Nothing major, just don’t need roughness. So that has limited our FP selection. Never fear though. Will spend full day at MK & a few half days. Last afternoon/evening in MK for sure. Love Epcot! Really is our 2nd favorite after MK. One long day there, EMH till 11pm. Not sure if we will make HS this trip. Again bc of the back issues. I think Toy Story Mania May be down by the time we go in March. They have already closed Track 3 in preparation for Toy Story Land connection. We will only have an issue if we don’t care for FOP. Then I will have to do a major last minute change. Hoping that will not be the case. We will hop most days fr AK by no later than 2pm. Excited to have something entirely new! And we haven’t seen HEA yet either.

 

[sedati]

River Journey isn't worth waiting for. On that one, I suppose you have to wait to see it once, but I doubt you'll want to wait to do it again.

Here's the thing with that ride- at the end of your trip you may exclaim, "that was too short," and it's a justified statement. But if you ride only once, then you are pretty much guaranteed to have missed quite a lot in that "short," "one-and-done" ride.

 

[clarabellej]

We have Na’vi on our first day. Glad we got the FP. I did not want to do the long wait for this.

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

Here's the thing with that ride- at the end of your trip you may exclaim, "that was too short," and it's a justified statement. But if you ride only once, then you are pretty much guaranteed to have missed quite a lot in that "short," "one-and-done" ride.

It's not the length of the ride I have a problem with - it's the lack of story. I got off that one saying, "Huh?"

 

[BraveGirl]

It's not the length of the ride I have a problem with - it's the lack of story. I got off that one saying, "Huh?"

Yep. Same reaction from my whole party this weekend. We all kept waiting for it to "start" and then it was over. We literally all turned to each other at the same time and said "that was it?!" It's just some pretty scenery. I heard someone before i rode saying "it's one step below It's a small world and Pirates". I agree.

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

Yep. Same reaction from my whole party this weekend. We all kept waiting for it to "start" and then it was over. We literally all turned to each other at the same time and said "that was it?!" It's just some pretty scenery. I heard someone before i rode saying "it's one step below It's a small world and Pirates". I agree.

Yes - but I love Pirates. I think NRJ is instantly one of the worst rides in Orlando. I do think that it can be saved though. Just inject some sort of a story along with the cool AA at the end, and it'll be more worth the wait.

 

[clarabellej]

Yes - but I love Pirates. I think NRJ is instantly one of the worst rides in Orlando. I do think that it can be saved though. Just inject some sort of a story along with the cool AA at the end, and it'll be more worth the wait.

Is it possible they will add on to the whole land?

 

[Imagineer Finlay]

I personally love Pandora. Its and amazing addition to Animal Kingdom. The scenery is phenomenal and FoP is stunning. As for NRJ, if you ride with low expectations, it will seem alot better.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

I personally love Pandora. Its and amazing addition to Animal Kingdom. The scenery is phenomenal and FoP is stunning. As for NRJ, if you ride with low expectations, it will seem alot better.

Pretty much this, exactly. It's an amazing, immersive land unlike anything else before it (and makes me positively drool at what SW will bring to HS). Disney clearly learned a lot with NFL and took it even farther.

I literally said "wow" out loud after my first FoP ride and repeated that at least once more after. It's that cool. NRJ... Well, not so much. It's nice for younger family members (unlike FoP) but it's a "one and done" affair.

 

[I am Timmy]

Pretty much this, exactly. It's an amazing, immersive land unlike anything else before it (and makes me positively drool at what SW will bring to HS). Disney clearly learned a lot with NFL and took it even farther.

I literally said "wow" out loud after my first FoP ride and repeated that at least once more after. It's that cool. NRJ... Well, not so much. It's nice for younger family members (unlike FoP) but it's a "one and done" affair.

I wholeheartedly agree. This land blew our minds - really had no idea we would enjoy it as much as we did. We were happy just wandering around taking it all in. And a completely different experience at night. My family and I saw the movie when it first came out, we were like, "well, that was alright" then never mentioned it again. Upon hearing a land was going to be built based on the movie, we thought, " ok, odd choice, but we'll see where this goes". Honestly, one does not have to even see the movie to enjoy Pandora. My kids (ds 26, ds23) absolutely loved it - we must've eaten at Satu'li Canteen 6 or 7 times to try everything. The first thing ds23 said after his first time on FoP was, "I want to live there!". We all do.

 

[clarabellej]

I have such a hard time figuring out where to post a reply on here, but wanted to post a followup. AL having some delayed typing issues

I personally love Pandora. Its and amazing addition to Animal Kingdom. The scenery is phenomenal and FoP is stunning. As for NRJ, if you ride with low expectations, it will seem alot better.

We had a fantastic time visiting Pandora for the first time during our Spring Break visit. I had secured FPs for FOP for myself and my daughter for 3 consecutive days. Our first day in the parks we had Na’vi River FP. Pandora was awesome! We didn’t ride FOP till day 4. Our whole trip really revolved around /or should I say “was riding on” FOP. We’d purchased hopper tickets for this reason. I really wanted to like FOP. I don’t consider myself to be someone who has issues with motion sickness. Sadly, although I was impressed with FOP and appreciate all of its virtual perfection, I found it to be a very unpleasant experience . I never got full on sick, but it had me pretty discombobulated. I had to sit and have a night blossom drink to regain my bearings. So, we had two more days with FOP FPs to deal with. My initial thought was, there is no way I am riding again! Then, the next day dawned and thankfully I had not changed our FOP FPs. My daughter did want to ride again and did not want to go alone. So I decided I would ride again with my eyes closed, lol . As an extra precaution, I actually didn’t even put my goggles on. Another thing I did that was really stupid; I let go of the handlebars & took photos of my daughter with my cell. I do not recommend this. You should stay facing forward and holding on. That banshee is rough! We switched out our third FOP FP for PP. We ended up doing MK. We hopped all over the place on this trip! We rode Na’vi again one evening when the line was almost non existent. I highly recommend this strategy for those who don’t want to do rope drop. We actually began to appreciate and enjoy Na’vi each time we rode. Definitely do not stand in a long standby line for it though. Agree with Satu’li being fantastic. We ate there twice in one day. Once using the great mobile order option. Almost did not need mobile order though as this place is very efficient with getting their orders out. My daughter and I shared a chicken bowl with hash base. Very tasty. We also shared an order of cheeseburger pods. Great fresh food at a reasonable price. My big takeaway from Pandora is that everyone should visit the land both day and night. There is a lot of iridescence going on in the evening. Really awesome. Also the floating mountains become even more extraordinary as it gets dark and the lines are blurred. We loved it and I am so glad that I gave FOP my best shot! So just a reminder for anyone trying to get the elusive FPs for FOP. If staying on site and multiple days; go to your last day first when your FP window opens and work backwards. You can obtain multiple FOP FPs this way!!!