Avatar Flight of Passage reviews, comments and questions

[sedati]

I totally understand your grumbles, Disney built a billion dollar land and it shouldn't be accompanied with "Seat-size" issues

That's simple enough to say, but what are you actually proposing? Should the ride really accommodate every human size? More likely you're thinking of either yourself or someone you know, then anything beyond that is unreasonable and OK to not fit.

 

[rushtest4echo]

That's simple enough to say, but what are you actually proposing? Should the ride really accommodate every human size? More likely you're thinking of either yourself or someone you know, then anything beyond that is unreasonable and OK to not fit.

I'll start by saying that I can't stand when a one-in-a-hundred rider can't be accommodated and throws a fit. Working in the field I do, there are always issues with safely accommodating people with special needs and or bodily proportions. Some manufacturers are ridiculous with their inability to safely and comfortably accommodate riders (Intamin comes to mind obviously), but Disney's always been exceptionally accommodating to those riders. Nobody else in the industry pulls boats or vehicles to special platforms in order to keep throughput on an attraction high, with the added benefit of allowing people with special needs to board the vehicles at their own leisure. Nobody else in the industry is willing to have dark ride vehicles for wheelchairs. Disney even has them on even on Omni movers which need to be stopped to load- but they still have and use them. They have special doors built into the trains of most of their roller coasters that I have not seen around the rest of the industry either. There are countless other examples ranging from little stuff like wheelchair-accessible queues and things like the Little Nemo story on Disneyland submarines that demonstrates Disney's commitment to accommodating everybody that they possibly can. I'm impressed with Disney's commitment to those sorts of things even when they harm throughput or when they said unfair expectations for writers who visit other parks. Of course not everybody should be riding a roller coaster that goes upside down multiple times or experiencing the G forces of a centrifuge (oops Mission Space), but rarely Disney has gone out of their way with accessibility up till now.

From what I've seen at Pandora, there are many issues relating to accessibility that should have been solved before the plans were finalized. Now I'm the first person to get annoyed with Disney constantly having to put up with obese riders or elderly riders or frankly, people who are missing limbs yet expect to go on rides that have restraints that couldn't contain them. In most of those cases, those people should not be on the rides. There have been too many cases around the world where people complain to get on a ride when the restraints cannot accommodate them and those people are ejected or killed. I'm not advocating for Disney to put riders in unsafe situations and I think the industry has been damaged and ride designers have been hamstrung by America's growing waistline and the expectations that all handicapped people should be able to experience these rides. The people who go crying to the media when they don't fit on a ride that accommodates 99% of the general public is something entirely different then what we're seeing here with Pandora.

The two rides in Pandora seem to be accessible for nearly all age groups and neither of them have elements that should make them incompatible with people that have special needs. Of course the ride vehicles on flight of Passage are not able to accommodate everyone, but Disney has provided alternative types of ride vehicles in many cases on many different types of rides and it just seems like they've dropped the ball when it comes to this specific ride. There was a similar backlash when Harry Potter open at Universal because larger guests and guests with mobility issues were not able to ride, Universal has largely left these issues uncorrected although I don't see much of an option for correcting those types of issues on that specific ride. Again nothing at Pandora presents the same challenges and they should be able to accommodate nearly everybody that wants to ride, even if it means having a special platform in one of the theaters or even removing one of the platforms altogether and simply having a stationary platform for people to roll wheelchairs onto that doesn't move. This would not be a difficult thing to achieve, nor would having a platform with standard seats that still moves along with the ride film yet doesn't require you to straddle anything. Even one row with typical chairs would allow larger riders, riders with odd bodily proportions and people with mobility issues to ride, it would solve all of those problems for the most part. Just toss a row of Soarin style seats into a row or two and the problem is solved (until that specific theater goes down I guess). Capacity wouldn't even be affected if you could fill those 8 or 16 chairs with handicapped riders and/or obese riders and/or their families.

There was a magazine article I saw that pointed out how ironic it is that the main character in The Avatar film is able to interface with his Avatar despite being crippled, yet that same experience is being denied to people in real life. Ouch.

 

[OvertheHorizon]

I will plead guilty to being overweight and old. My experience during the preview ride last Monday was that the leg retraints would not lock. It is a passive restraint system that doesn't require the rider to do anything. As instructed, I sat as far forward and my size 11 shoes were as far forward as they could go - hitting the front of the vehicle seat. It was frustrating that I couldn't figure out what I needed to do in order for the retraint to "lock" in place. When I was dismissed from the ride, I was told that they had experienced issues with "us tall guys."

I think that adjustments will need to be made. Sure hope I will be able to ride in the future.

 

[matt9112]

I've heard people say you feel it in your stomach so that concerns me because that sensation is not something I enjoy which is why I avoid tower of terror or any dropshaft type attractions.

You do it's a real small drop....gringotts level feeling to me.

 

[matt9112]

Also another tidbit about the preshow is that it has a fail state, which I saw on the first ride, seems to be if there's an Estop or delay in the next room, the guy on the video comes on and says "There seems to be a problem, I'll be right back" and walks away and a Please stand by message comes up until it's cleared and the preshow continues.

Oh my god I saw this! I thought this was normal.

 

[matt9112]

Rode twice tonight. Haven't read any other reviews, so I went into this only knowing that the ride has been getting a lot of hype from some fans.

My advice is to lower your expectations. As far as E-tickets go, this one may disappoint if you’re expecting it to be one of the best rides in Orlando.

I know I was wishing for more, but it’s Soarin’ 2.0. The diehard fans may dispute that, but I guarantee that’s the way average guests will describe it: “It’s like Soarin’ with 3D.”

The queue is well done but overhyped. It’s got elements of the woodsy E.T. queue with additional black light painting. Nice atmosphere, but not much else in this part. This area is quite static; adding animatronics of some sort to the forest area would have given this section more interest.

The lab section is surprisingly compact. I really expected this to be a more sprawling area. The upper story of the room is hardly themed; this diminishes the feeling of a real work space.

The preshows are dry and already tiresome by the second ride. If Disney wants to push the envelope, figure out a way to improve on the preshows in these E-ticket attractions. The Gringott preshows are far more impressive than these.

The loading process is the most tedious I can recall. It makes Mission: Space look like an exercise in efficiency. The ride vehicles aren’t terribly comfortable while you wait for the restraints to move into place, and the glasses aren’t a snug fit making it feel like they could fly off during the ride.

The 3D is fine, but to my eyes it doesn’t look better than the 3D in Gringotts. In fact, in motion, the 3D of FoP had noticeable blur. For what it is, the 3D in Star Tours looks as good as the 3D in FoP.

The ride motion is fun, but it’s not intense. Nothing like the drops on Tower. I get why we don’t see the banshee head/neck in front during the film (it would look odd to have a row of those things side by side), but this also takes away from the experience. At least with the hang-gliding conceit, you believe that the glider is above you. It would’ve been a maintenance nightmare, but it’s really too bad they couldn’t figure out a way to add the Banshee to the ride vehicle. The row of vehicles also lack any kind of grandeur. This is just not an ideal way to start an E-ticket.

I guess I’d rate the whole experience a B, maybe lower if I had to wait more than 45 minutes. It’s certainly not worth a 2- or 3-hour wait, which it’ll probably maintain for this summer. I’m curious what average guests will think of it, because in many ways, I thought the ride itself was the most disappointing part of the entire land.

Crap review is crap.....nuff said I bash pixie dusters all the time and this ride was amazing.

 

[Scuttle]

Crap review is crap.....nuff said I bash pixie dusters all the time and this ride was amazing.

As do I and yes this ride is the real deal. The Queue is superbly done. I still have FJ just slightly ahead but I think it's solidly the second best attraction in Orlando.

 

[matt9112]

Couldn't disagree more about the "violently" part. There's a notch more motion than Soarin', but it's not anywhere near the motion of FJ, Gringotts, or even Big Thunder.

The real drop portions of the ride feel just as high as the big first drop on gringotts. FJ

As do I and yes this ride is the real deal. The Queue is superbly done. I still have FJ just slightly ahead but I think it's solidly the second best attraction in Orlando.

FJ is amazing and because source material I might edge it out and to be fair I had it as best in Orlando until now. But I do think FOP is pretty dang close. If FJ is still number one it's because source material and fandom is so much more relatable. But truly neck and neck. Granted I rode mako again today (legit walk on) and well truly a different kind of ride it has to be in my Orlando top 5.

 

[danlb_2000]

The real drip portions of the ride feel just as high as the big first drop on gringotts. FJ
.

I find the different opinions on the drops interesting. Some people said they hardly felt them, others said they felt much bigger then they really are.

 

[matt9112]

I find the different opinions on the drops interesting. Some people said they hardly felt them, others said they felt much bigger then they really are.

I know it can't possibly be dropping as high as gringotts but it felt so. I think these opinions are going to be directly tied to how well the video syncs with each guest and how much your body "buys" into it being real. For me it was really real. For others maybe not so much?

As an aside do you happen to know a hard number for system drop? How far can it even drop?

 

[danlb_2000]

I know it can't possibly be dropping as high as gringotts but it felt so. I think these opinions are going to be directly tied to how well the video syncs with each guest and how much your body "buys" into it being real. For me it was really real. For others maybe not so much?

As an aside do you happen to know a hard number for system drop? How far can it even drop?

Based on the video that shows the ride motion it looks to be around 2-3 feet. Looking at the ride system I would have to assume that all three levels move up and down as a unit since there doesn't seem to be enough room for the section to move independently.

 

[matt9112]

Based on the video that shows the ride motion it looks to be around 2-3 feet. Looking at the ride system I would have to assume that all three levels move up and down as a unit since there doesn't seem to be enough room for the section to move independently.

View attachment 206293

That's not much at all my guess would have been 10 feet. In fact I thought overall building size was to allow alot of room between floors so each can drop at the same time a good distance.

Edit for example if each car is say 3 feet apart from the top of level 1 to bottom of level 2 AND if you had excess height below 1 say Example 10 feet? You could drop 10 feet all at once and keep your 3 foot cushion in this hypothetical.

 

[Kman101]

Oh my god I saw this! I thought this was normal.

I think it's part of how it is. I saw it twice.

 

[Kman101]

I didn't even realize there are levels to the theater? The link chambers all seem to be on the same floor, so to speak? How is it designed? I never went up stairs once inside and never thought I was raised up or anything ...

 

[matt9112]

I didn't even realize there are levels to the theater? The link chambers all seem to be on the same floor, so to speak? How is it designed? I never went up stairs once inside and never thought I was raised up or anything ...

If you are selected you go upstairs (staircase)

 

[twebber55]

If you are selected you go upstairs (staircase)

yep
i went to B3 and went up stairs

 

[dreamscometrue]

The real drop portions of the ride feel just as high as the big first drop on gringotts. FJ


FJ is amazing and because source material I might edge it out and to be fair I had it as best in Orlando until now. But I do think FOP is pretty dang close. If FJ is still number one it's because source material and fandom is so much more relatable. But truly neck and neck. Granted I rode mako again today (legit walk on) and well truly a different kind of ride it has to be in my Orlando top 5.

FJ makes me sick though, so one and done for me. This, I expect to be able to ride

 

[Scuttle]

I find the different opinions on the drops interesting. Some people said they hardly felt them, others said they felt much bigger then they really are.

As do I... I didn't feel much of a drop and neither did my GF and she can't do Tower, or Splash. At no point did either of us have a feeling of free fall.

Edit. Maybe it's because we were on the bottom level?

 

[Kman101]

yep
i went to B3 and went up stairs

Oh, OK. I didn't even notice. Good to know. I remember seeing that picture and knowing there were other levels which is why I was initially worried about the height thing. Interesting.

 

[Kman101]

As do I... I didn't feel much of a drop and neither did my GF and she can't do Tower, or Splash. At no point did either of us have a feeling of free fall.

Edit. Maybe it's because we were on the bottom level?

Same. I was on the bottom level I guess and didn't even notice the actual physical drop, but I was pretty immersed in the ride itself. Very smooth and well done ride!