Annual Pass Previews of Pandora - The World of Avatar beginning May 13

[brb1006]

Jut got home from my Pandora Preview a few minutes ago. WOW!!! That layers upon layers of detail just cannot be described.

I have no idea if this will hold out for others but on the 6-8P preview this afternoon, they started scanning credentials (bands or cards) a couple minutes after 5PM. Right after they scanned our credentials a CM came by with a stack of paper FP's with 15 minute windows for FoP. Due to problems continuing with FoP right now they did not give out enough FP's for everyone to get one. Some further back in the line got a voucher for a free drink at Satuli as consolation. So if this model plays out going forward you'll want to be there 90-120 minutes before your scheduled preview window to be toward the front of the line. I'm sure as FoP gets more reliable that will change but this is what we experienced earlier today. There will be a pretty epic line just waiting to get into the land.

You do not need any paper or emails or anything else. As long as you can see the Rivers FP in your MDE, all you need is your MB or card which they'll scan with the hand-held scanner and you're good to go.

They let us stay in the land until a little after 8:30P when they began a very aggressive sweep to run everyone off. That meant we had 3 full hours in the land when it was all said and done. Despite the darkening skies they did not turn on any bioluminescence or lighting on the floating mountains. Some of what's on the paths was visible as the lights that drive those came on for basic safe walking. We were told that the full lighting package will not be turned on until the media preview and the official opening on the 27th and then it will be on for everyone going forward.

Then again Rhose did mention that the bioluminescence at night aren't finished yet. So I'm thinking we might get a better view of the land at night for the media event.

 

[twebber55]

Jut got home from my Pandora Preview a few minutes ago. WOW!!! That layers upon layers of detail just cannot be described.

I have no idea if this will hold out for others but on the 6-8P preview this afternoon, they started scanning credentials (bands or cards) a couple minutes after 5PM. Right after they scanned our credentials a CM came by with a stack of paper FP's with 15 minute windows for FoP. Due to problems continuing with FoP right now they did not give out enough FP's for everyone to get one. Some further back in the line got a voucher for a free drink at Satuli as consolation. So if this model plays out going forward you'll want to be there 90-120 minutes before your scheduled preview window to be toward the front of the line. I'm sure as FoP gets more reliable that will change but this is what we experienced earlier today. There will be a pretty epic line just waiting to get into the land.

You do not need any paper or emails or anything else. As long as you can see the Rivers FP in your MDE, all you need is your MB or card which they'll scan with the hand-held scanner and you're good to go.

They let us stay in the land until a little after 8:30P when they began a very aggressive sweep to run everyone off. That meant we had 3 full hours in the land when it was all said and done. Despite the darkening skies they did not turn on any bioluminescence or lighting on the floating mountains. Some of what's on the paths was visible as the lights that drive those came on for basic safe walking. We were told that the full lighting package will not be turned on until the media preview and the official opening on the 27th and then it will be on for everyone going forward.

word for word i agree
land is incredible i know this is somewhat cliche but pics do it no justice
FOP is the best ride on property
my wife is very ho hum about rides and theme parks in general but she could not stop talking about how great FOP was
also ate at Satuli and my family of picky eaters loved it
all in all we got a hit on or hands

 

[donsullivan]

word for word i agree
land is incredible i know this is somewhat cliche but pics do it no justice
FOP is the best ride on property
my wife is very ho hum about rides and theme parks in general but she could not stop talking about how great FOP was
also ate at Satuli and my family of picky eaters loved it
all in all we got a hit on or hands

We ate at Satuli as well and every single person in the group was very happy with their food. I got one of the bowls where you pick 3 ingredients and really enjoyed it. I'll definitely be back there again for a meal. It was nice to have that hybrid model where you order like counter service but when you get it, it's in actual dishware and plates and you get actual metal utensils vs plastic. It was a nice change and the food was very, very good.

 

[twebber55]

We ate at Satuli as well and every single person in the group was very happy with their food. I got one of the bowls where you pick 3 ingredients and really enjoyed it. I'll definitely be back there again for a meal. It was nice to have that hybrid model where you order like counter service but when you get it, it's in actual dishware and plates and you get actual metal utensils vs plastic. It was a nice change and the food was very, very good.

yep and the CM didnt even let me throw my stuff away she said leave it we ll get it.....the pods looked gross to me the first time i saw them but they were awesome, my wife even loved them

we waited until 830-840 ish to see if any bio luminescent stuff would come on bit it didnt

one other note that i thought was funny, they had a queue for the banshee toy section, this is going to be very popular

 

[Scuttle]

So far

Staggs 1 - Disney - 0

 

[yipikyer]

For those you spent time in Pandora, can you give me your 5 best tips on visiting the land. thanks

 

[Jones14]

For those you spent time in Pandora, can you give me your 5 best tips on visiting the land. thanks

1) Flight of Passage is going to have a killer line, but the line is worth it for at least the first time you ride. River Journey is a series of (nice looking) switchbacks. You miss everything with fastpass on the former, nothing with the latter.
2) Ride River Journey first if you can. It's a nice appetizer to Flight of Passage. Remember that it is not the main event.
3) EAT AT SATULI. Some of the best quick service in the parks for a moderately reasonable ($15 for a full meal including a drink) price.
4) Talk to the cast members. They have a LOT of knowledge directly related to the areas they're zoned in.
5) Plan on riding Flight of Passage twice. Block four hours out of your day, or plan to come to AK twice. You will regret it if you don't.

 

[Jones14]

Disney just emailed a survey to me about Pandora. I'll let you know if there's anything of note in it.

 

[matt9112]

I've been hearing nothing but praise for Flight of Passage. Sounds like they knocked it out of the park with this one.

The range of motion is amazing. My only concern is that people whine and maybe it gets toned down like dinosaur was....lets hope not. The sensation of flying was so real. I mean they even made you feel like you went upside down once or twice I believe. The drops oh my real drops on a simulator? That's nice. The drops would be comparable to gringotts first drop IMHO.

Edit: ride length was also really REALLY on point. Unlike soaring or the RJ where you feel like it's over too quick FOP really was timed brilliantly. When it's over you are content as well as amazed. Worth the two hour wait we ended up with...thus when it goes public it's worth every minute of waiting.

Edit: the scents and vibrations and "breathing" really make the entire ride spectacular.

 

[Kman101]

The range of motion is amazing. My only concern is that people whine and maybe it gets toned down like dinosaur was....lets hope not. The sensation of flying was so real. I mean they even made you feel like you went upside down once or twice I believe. The drops oh my real drops on a simulator? That's nice. The drops would be comparable to gringotts first drop IMHO.

Sounds incredible. I'm a little nervous because of my heights issue but I can handle most things. I survived Forbidden Journey and Gringotts. I can do Soarin'. I guess we'll see. No way I'm passing it up.

 

[matt9112]

Sounds incredible. I'm a little nervous because of my heights issue but I can handle most things. I survived Forbidden Journey and Gringotts. I can do Soarin'. I guess we'll see. No way I'm passing it up.

Well if your issue with heights is because of drop sensations you will be fine HOWEVER deff more intense than gringotts. Obviously MUCH more intense than soaring. Granted because your feet don't hang that might help you out. However if your height issue is from perceived height than you will have to just take a risk because you do feel like your really high at points....and really low at others.

 

[Kman101]

Well if your issue with heights is because of drop sensations you will be fine HOWEVER deff more intense than gringotts. Obviously MUCH more intense than soaring. Granted because your feet don't hang that might help you out. However if your height issue is from perceived height than you will have to just take a risk because you do feel like your really high at points....and really low at others.

Ok. Thank you. I think I'll be fine. Just making myself a bit nervous I guess LOL.

 

[CTXRover]

Pandora is incredible. As stated by others, FOP is amazing and will no doubt be a headliner for the park and resort imo.

Word of caution for those going to the 6 to 8pm previews. We lined up around 445pm. A cast member urged people to not stand in line and to come back at 6pm. He stated everyone registered would get a return time for FOP, that the return windows would not be handed out in chronologic order and nobody would be allowed in before 6pm. He statedt
there was no reason to stand inline as it provides no advantage.

All of the above information was WRONG (probably not intentionally) The group was allowed in the land at 5:20pm. Our FP return window for FOP was 530 to 545pm (so they always intended to let people in before the 6pm time). We waited an hour total for FOP due to technical difficulties earlier in the day. The people in line before us were from the earlier preview time and some said they were in line for over 2 hours total.

Another guest behind us waiting for a photopass picture said they came at 6pm as instructed and were told that no more return times for FOP would be handed out given the backlog from the ride being down. In other words, there were people in the 6 to 8pm group who were NOT given times to ride FOP.

I would recommend arriving at least 1 hour prior to your 2 hour window and DO NOT leave even if told otherwise.

 

[donsullivan]

Pandora is incredible. As stated by others, FOP is amazing and will no doubt be a headliner for the park and resort imo.

Word of caution for those going to the 6 to 8pm previews. We lined up around 445pm. A cast member urged people to not stand in line and to come back at 6pm. He said everyone registered would get a return time for FOP and nobody would be allowed in before 6pm.

All of the above was WRONG. The group was allowed in the land at 5:20pm. Our FP return window for FOP was 530 to 545pm (so they always intended to let people in before the 6pm time). We waited an hour total for FOP due to technical difficulties earlier in the day. The people in line before us were from the earlier preview time and some said they were in line for over 2 hours total.

We overheard another guest say they came at 6pm as instructed and were told that no more return times for FOP would be handed out given the backlog from the ride being down.

I would recommend arriving at least 1 hour prior to your 2 hour window and DO NOT leave even if told otherwise.

Exactly my experience at the same time. One member of our group hates to wait in lines so he showed up just before 6PM. He did not get an FP and was unable to ride FoP during his visit. At least in these early days, get there 90-120 minutes before your scheduled window and ignore any instructions given by CM's to the contrary.

 

[matt9112]

Exactly my experience at the same time. One member of our group hates to wait in lines so he showed up just before 6PM. He did not get an FP and was unable to ride FoP during his visit. At least in these early days, get there 90-120 minutes before your scheduled window and ignore any instructions given by CM's to the contrary.

I was 30 minutes early and had no issues. Everyone should be prepared to wait a ling time for FOP due to technical issues. I agree go early as possible.

 

[Stephen novak]

Pandora is incredible. As stated by others, FOP is amazing and will no doubt be a headliner for the park and resort imo.

Word of caution for those going to the 6 to 8pm previews. We lined up around 445pm. A cast member urged people to not stand in line and to come back at 6pm. He stated everyone registered would get a return time for FOP, that the return windows would not be handed out in chronologic order and nobody would be allowed in before 6pm. He statedt
there was no reason to stand inline as it provides no advantage.

All of the above information was WRONG (probably not intentionally) The group was allowed in the land at 5:20pm. Our FP return window for FOP was 530 to 545pm (so they always intended to let people in before the 6pm time). We waited an hour total for FOP due to technical difficulties earlier in the day. The people in line before us were from the earlier preview time and some said they were in line for over 2 hours total.

Another guest behind us waiting for a photopass picture said they came at 6pm as instructed and were told that no more return times for FOP would be handed out given the backlog from the ride being down. In other words, there were people in the 6 to 8pm group who were NOT given times to ride FOP.

I would recommend arriving at least 1 hour prior to your 2 hour window and DO NOT leave even if told otherwise.

Had the same experience for the 3 to 5 time. Lucky we didn't leave the "line" at 2 bcause they opened about 10 min later and we did get our Fop paper fast pass. Amazing experience

 

[Kman101]

Pandora is incredible. As stated by others, FOP is amazing and will no doubt be a headliner for the park and resort imo.

Word of caution for those going to the 6 to 8pm previews. We lined up around 445pm. A cast member urged people to not stand in line and to come back at 6pm. He stated everyone registered would get a return time for FOP, that the return windows would not be handed out in chronologic order and nobody would be allowed in before 6pm. He statedt
there was no reason to stand inline as it provides no advantage.

All of the above information was WRONG (probably not intentionally) The group was allowed in the land at 5:20pm. Our FP return window for FOP was 530 to 545pm (so they always intended to let people in before the 6pm time). We waited an hour total for FOP due to technical difficulties earlier in the day. The people in line before us were from the earlier preview time and some said they were in line for over 2 hours total.

Another guest behind us waiting for a photopass picture said they came at 6pm as instructed and were told that no more return times for FOP would be handed out given the backlog from the ride being down. In other words, there were people in the 6 to 8pm group who were NOT given times to ride FOP.

I would recommend arriving at least 1 hour prior to your 2 hour window and DO NOT leave even if told otherwise.

Very very helpful. Thank you for the report back!

 

[katelee07]

Long time lurker here but thought I'd go ahead and give my experience with this today, just in case it helps anyone else. I had a 12pm-2pm slot. I lined up right around 10:40; the line was starting to wrap around Island Mercantile. Right at 11am they let us in. As we walked up, we were handed a paper FP for Flight of Passage. I had a 11:15-11:30 time slot. I took a few pictures as I walked in (and marveled at everything because MAN is it incredible!), but I walked right up to the FP line exactly at 11:15.

I made it completely through the full preshow when we were stopped. Cast members stated that they were taking it down in between rides to keep everything running smoothly and to make sure that you were "properly connecting" with your Avatar. We were stuck in that chamber for about 10 minutes before being shuffled back out in the grouping area. It took maybe another 10 minutes before we were put in a different chamber and had to do the preshow all over again. Everyone in my group was pretty entertained by this.

The ride is absolutely incredible! It's like Soarin' on steroids. I'm fairly certain I had my mouth open in awe for about 3/4 of the ride.

Definitely eat at Satu'li Canteen! I greatly enjoyed the meal I had there.

I don't believe everyone in the 12-2 slot ended up with a FP for FoP. They were just about out of the paper FP's when I made it up there. I say you most certainly need to be in line a good 90 minutes before your actual time slot, if not more, especially during this first week. As I stated, they let us in exactly at 11, so we actually had 3 hours to explore. It worked out well as I ended up spending a little over an hour waiting to ride FoP, which was more than worth it!

 

[tecowdw]

Long time lurker here but thought I'd go ahead and give my experience with this today, just in case it helps anyone else. I had a 12pm-2pm slot. I lined up right around 10:40; the line was starting to wrap around Island Mercantile. Right at 11am they let us in. As we walked up, we were handed a paper FP for Flight of Passage. I had a 11:15-11:30 time slot. I took a few pictures as I walked in (and marveled at everything because MAN is it incredible!), but I walked right up to the FP line exactly at 11:15.

I made it completely through the full preshow when we were stopped. Cast members stated that they were taking it down in between rides to keep everything running smoothly and to make sure that you were "properly connecting" with your Avatar. We were stuck in that chamber for about 10 minutes before being shuffled back out in the grouping area. It took maybe another 10 minutes before we were put in a different chamber and had to do the preshow all over again. Everyone in my group was pretty entertained by this.

The ride is absolutely incredible! It's like Soarin' on steroids. I'm fairly certain I had my mouth open in awe for about 3/4 of the ride.

Definitely eat at Satu'li Canteen! I greatly enjoyed the meal I had there.

I don't believe everyone in the 12-2 slot ended up with a FP for FoP. They were just about out of the paper FP's when I made it up there. I say you most certainly need to be in line a good 90 minutes before your actual time slot, if not more, especially during this first week. As I stated, they let us in exactly at 11, so we actually had 3 hours to explore. It worked out well as I ended up spending a little over an hour waiting to ride FoP, which was more than worth it!

My preview is 6-8 next Sunday. I have Tiffin's dinner at 5pm with out of town family. With a lining up 90 minutes ahead of preview time standard, it's going to be a bust for me (as far as getting FOP FP+ ticket). I guess I'll scarf down Tiffins as fast as possible and just see what happens trying to get into the preview at 6pm - or later if Tiffins service is slow.

I probably should have went with one of the DVC previews.

Oh - the life dilemmas!

 

[RustySpork]

It's a small pandora after all, it's a small pandora after all, it's a small small pandora!

Flight of Passage was 10/10 though.

Also, there were a lot of screens.