Avatar Flight of Passage reviews, comments and questions

Clyde Birdbrain

Clyde Birdbrain

Unknown Member
We went to the passholder preview last night and were able to do FoP twice. The first time the posted wait time was 60 minutes, but it ended up being about 20 minutes. And that was mostly people holding up the line to look around as the queue is so incredibly detailed. When we finally sat down in our ride vehicle a CM came into our 'room' and pressed a button that brought up the back and leg restraints. After this there was some delay and we were in this position for about 10 minutes, although it felt a lot longer. This was quite uncomfortable. I have never been claustrophobic, but I was feeling it here and was starting to panic a little. The problem is that you are completely stuck and cannot move. Your stomach is pressed against the front and the thing is pressing against your back. I had an itch on my leg that I could not reach and we had no idea what was going on as the CM left after locking us in. You're looking at a little screen that shows your face and the face of the avatar and a progress bar. The bar was stuck at 65% for a very long time.

When the ride finally started I looked around and understood why you have to be stuck. The whole room you're in detaches and moves around violently, so they really don't want you to get out of your seat. I do feel that a CM should stay in the room until the ride starts. It was just weird that we were stuck in those chairs without knowing what was going on.
 
180º

180º

Well-Known Member
Clyde Birdbrain said:
We went to the passholder preview last night and were able to do FoP twice. The first time the posted wait time was 60 minutes, but it ended up being about 20 minutes. And that was mostly people holding up the line to look around as the queue is so incredibly detailed. When we finally sat down in our ride vehicle a CM came into our 'room' and pressed a button that brought up the back and leg restraints. After this there was some delay and we were in this position for about 10 minutes, although it felt a lot longer. This was quite uncomfortable. I have never been claustrophobic, but I was feeling it here and was starting to panic a little. The problem is that you are completely stuck and cannot move. Your stomach is pressed against the front and the thing is pressing against your back. I had an itch on my leg that I could not reach and we had no idea what was going on as the CM left after locking us in. You're looking at a little screen that shows your face and the face of the avatar and a progress bar. The bar was stuck at 65% for a very long time.

When the ride finally started I looked around and understood why you have to be stuck. The whole room you're in detaches and moves around violently, so they really don't want you to get out of your seat. I do feel that a CM should stay in the room until the ride starts. It was just weird that we were stuck in those chairs without knowing what was going on.
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I've been waiting for a report like this. I wonder if another level in your theater was having issues with loading. The ride can't start until all levels are locked in.
 
flyerjab

flyerjab

Well-Known Member
Something interesting happened this morning on FoP. I think they are trying different options in the pre-ride rooms. We did not undergo the decontamination procedure. That takes more minutes off if the load time. Also, when we were being lead into the link chair room the group that just rode was getting off, similar to the Soarin load/unload. They are clearly working on variables to test increasing load times.

Also, we have now ridden on all 3 levels and the views on the ride experience are slightly different.

And I can assure you that this is in NO WAY like Soarin'. It is on a completely different level. Everyone was yelling and screaming on each ride. There was a little kid next to us yelling "this is incredible!" He and his dad then proceeded to purchase banshees. He was on cloud nine.
 
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tribbleorlfl

tribbleorlfl

Well-Known Member
lentesta said:
That's going to be the big question. I'm pretty sure that "around 8" is their target number. They didn't get anywhere close to that during the time I was there. I know of at least 3 significant breakdowns during Saturday's previews, and I heard of more on Sunday.

More than one person I spoke to called the whole ride system "over-engineered."
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That much is clear from the restraints, anyways.
 
Scuttle

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
flyerjab said:
The part I loved was the chair vibrates as you get closer to starting the simulator. Then these bright lights flash in your face. When you look up you suddenly realize that the wall in front of you is gone. The same flashes of light appear in front of you. This effect is so well done it is freaky how you transition from looking at the screen on your link chair to the big screen in front of you.
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So damn well done. That was my favorite part as well.
 
tribbleorlfl

tribbleorlfl

Well-Known Member
Clyde Birdbrain said:
We went to the passholder preview last night and were able to do FoP twice. The first time the posted wait time was 60 minutes, but it ended up being about 20 minutes. And that was mostly people holding up the line to look around as the queue is so incredibly detailed. When we finally sat down in our ride vehicle a CM came into our 'room' and pressed a button that brought up the back and leg restraints. After this there was some delay and we were in this position for about 10 minutes, although it felt a lot longer. This was quite uncomfortable. I have never been claustrophobic, but I was feeling it here and was starting to panic a little. The problem is that you are completely stuck and cannot move. Your stomach is pressed against the front and the thing is pressing against your back. I had an itch on my leg that I could not reach and we had no idea what was going on as the CM left after locking us in. You're looking at a little screen that shows your face and the face of the avatar and a progress bar. The bar was stuck at 65% for a very long time.

When the ride finally started I looked around and understood why you have to be stuck. The whole room you're in detaches and moves around violently, so they really don't want you to get out of your seat. I do feel that a CM should stay in the room until the ride starts. It was just weird that we were stuck in those chairs without knowing what was going on.
Click to expand...
Same thing happened to me on Sunday, it's likely because someone was having trouble with the seat and restraints. There was a woman in the other room on our level and an older gentleman two seats down from me who ultimately couldn't ride, though they tried multiple times to get the restraints to engage.
 
flyerjab

flyerjab

Well-Known Member
Scuttle said:
So damn well done. That was my favorite part as well.
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Agreed. And it is a subtle effect but it works seemlessly and perfectly. The flashes made momentarily grab your attention and of course are bright so it obscures your vision a bit. You look up next and there are white flashes in front of you with a depth of field. Suddenly the link connection begins and the next thing you know you are perched on a banshee high up in the floating mountains.

This has so much re-ridability. I went on it 3 times in 24 hours and could have easily turned around and did it again. The 3D is fantastic and there is no blurring effect due to the high frame rate. And the dives are exhilarating. I turned around on the last time on the ride to see how far it drops. The first big dive had to be 8 feet. No motion sickness for me though. It is smooth and an absolutely beautiful ride. You can hear people all over the park talking about how incredible this ride is.

This is now at the top of my list of rides. It is an absolute thrill. And the queue beats out any queue in Orlando. I know some think extensive queues are a waste, but I love them! This ride is a homerun by all accounts.
 
Castle Cake Apologist

Castle Cake Apologist

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
Why is this a mystery to you Disney is CHEAP when it comes to the parks, Disney regards the parks as a mall where the attractions serve as 'bait' to get people spending in the shops and restaurants. So attraction spending is minimized to the extent possible.

From the GUEST point of view the attractions are primary and shopping and dining are ancillary functions.

This disconnect exists because senior management neither understands nor visits the parks on a regular basis and for sure never wears fur or dishes up QS as MDE did.
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I wondered how long it would take you to show up.

Like, do you have any concept of how much this attraction cost? Or even what it consists of? Not to mention the insane level of care, thought, and detail that went into its creation? Of course you don't. Not that it would matter to you, you've probably already decided in your head that this queue and attraction consist of riders walking through an empty warehouse until they get to a hobby horse that they straddle while a Cast Member shakes it around and blows and spits on them to simulate wind and waves while literal clips from the film Avatar play on a 12" tube TV in front of them. Or you just think Pandora doesn't actually exist and people are just photoshopping photos to look like they went to it.

Honestly, I will have been active here sixteen years this June and have never used the ignore function. I think that's about to change. I really can't handle any more of your constant ranting and rambling on about the various delusional conspiracies you've come up with.

twebber55 said:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
reminder this is the guy who said Pandora would never be built
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He also insists that Star Wars isn't being built at DHS either, despite construction being well under way.
 
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mergatroid

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
Why is this a mystery to you Disney is CHEAP when it comes to the parks, Disney regards the parks as a mall where the attractions serve as 'bait' to get people spending in the shops and restaurants. So attraction spending is minimized to the extent possible.

From the GUEST point of view the attractions are primary and shopping and dining are ancillary functions.

This disconnect exists because senior management neither understands nor visits the parks on a regular basis and for sure never wears fur or dishes up QS as MDE did.
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Weren't some people on here complaining when they found out just how much Pandora cost to build? I really don't think this has been done cheaply. Looking at the queues I'd imagine a huge amount of money was thrown at that alone, the theming is incredible. Maybe that's why the boat ride itself is a bit shorter than some would like? However it's a catch 22, if the queue wasn't so great people would say they'd done the queue area cheaply?
 
tissandtully

tissandtully

Well-Known Member
SPOILER INCOMING (sorry, don't know how to do the mask thing): Can we take a minute to appreciate the literal moment of reflection on this ride? There's a break in the action where you just sit and watch these plants come to life and glow and you feel the 'banshee' breathing beneath you. It's truly surprising this was allowed and I'm glad it was.
 
tissandtully

tissandtully

Well-Known Member
mergatroid said:
Weren't some people on here complaining when they found out just how much Pandora cost to build? I really don't think this has been done cheaply. Looking at the queues I'd imagine a huge amount of money was thrown at that alone, the theming is incredible. Maybe that's why the boat ride itself is a bit shorter than some would like? However it's a catch 22, if the queue wasn't so great people would say they'd done the queue area cheaply?
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Just looking at the complexity of the RVs on FoP, it's obviously a very expensive attraction.
 
Scuttle

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
tissandtully said:
SPOILER INCOMING (sorry, don't know how to do the mask thing): Can we take a minute to appreciate the literal moment of reflection on this ride? There's a break in the action where you just sit and watch these plants come to life and glow and you feel the 'banshee' breathing beneath you. It's truly surprising this was allowed and I'm glad it was.
Click to expand...
Second favorite part of the ride behind the initial transition to link.
 
No Name

No Name

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
Why is this a mystery to you Disney is CHEAP when it comes to the parks, Disney regards the parks as a mall where the attractions serve as 'bait' to get people spending in the shops and restaurants. So attraction spending is minimized to the extent possible.

From the GUEST point of view the attractions are primary and shopping and dining are ancillary functions.

This disconnect exists because senior management neither understands nor visits the parks on a regular basis and for sure never wears fur or dishes up QS as MDE did.
Click to expand...

I agree that Disney wants people to do a lot of shopping, which is exactly why they SHOULDN'T want low-capacity headliner attractions. That results in people spending more time in line. And more time in line is less time they could be shopping (at least, according to Disney's thinking).

And often times, higher capacity ride systems don't come at a higher price. I hesitate to call it "cheap" when they spent quite a fortune on the expansion. I just think they either needed to have room in the budget for more theaters, or they needed to go with a different ride system. To build a headliner with capacity under 1,500 an hour... I call that poor decision-making.

It'll look good to the media though, and to the general public. Most people think wait time directly equates to demand/popularity.
 

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