Avatar Flight of Passage reviews, comments and questions

[lentesta]

Yes, but that Touring Plans data also has the Muppets American History show as a top-rated attraction, above Pirates, Mansion, Big Thunder, etc. I'm not saying it's invalid, I'm saying it's built on what score people from various age groups give an attraction, and (I think) if there isn't a large enough sample from one, it's dropped.

So if not enough senior citizens and no toddlers go on FoP, and the rest of the demographics give the attraction 5 stars, it will have a higher average score than all the demographics going on Pirates, and the toddlers giving that ride a 3 stars because it kinda scared them.

@lentesta Is this accurate? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

In any case, it seems to definitely rank whatever is new pretty highly. But there is actual value in newness.

We probably have large enough samples for every age group for a reasonable confidence level and interval. At least, you know, for a bunch of dorks talking about theme parks. The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine would probably want to see more rigor.

The overall rating is weighted by the number of votes in each age group. That's one reason why The Muppets Present ... is doing better than Haunted Mansion: Pre-schoolers rate Muppets a full point higher, the other demographics' scores are roughly similar, and there's about the same number of votes for both attractions.

Here's the breakdown of ratings by age group for Flight of Passage:

1. Pre-school: 3.5 (33 votes)
2. Grade school: 5.0 (237 votes)
3. Teens: 5.0 (233 votes)
4. Young Adults: 5.0 (152 votes)
5. Over 30: 5.0 (540 votes)
6. Seniors: 4.5 (103 votes)

The pre-school rating would hurt FoP more if more kids in that age group rode it and voted the same way.

That said, "pre-school" probably includes kids up to maybe 6 years old. It's reasonable to think that lots of parents are self-selecting very young children out of a WDW vacation, so the category is always going to be under-represented.

In any event, FoP is doing exceptionally well. Some of that is probably novelty - Na'vi River Journey and Rivers of Light have bumped up a bit with the summer crowds seeing them for the first time. But still, I think Disney has to be very happy with the buzz around FoP.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

The overall rating is weighted by the number of votes in each age group. That's one reason why The Muppets Present ... is doing better than Haunted Mansion: Pre-schoolers rate Muppets a full point higher, the other demographics' scores are roughly similar

Muppetfication as toddlerisation of the MK, @Magenta Panther .

 

[britain]

We probably have large enough samples for every age group for a reasonable confidence level and interval. At least, you know, for a bunch of dorks talking about theme parks. The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine would probably want to see more rigor.

The overall rating is weighted by the number of votes in each age group. That's one reason why The Muppets Present ... is doing better than Haunted Mansion: Pre-schoolers rate Muppets a full point higher, the other demographics' scores are roughly similar, and there's about the same number of votes for both attractions.

Here's the breakdown of ratings by age group for Flight of Passage:

1. Pre-school: 3.5 (33 votes)
2. Grade school: 5.0 (237 votes)
3. Teens: 5.0 (233 votes)
4. Young Adults: 5.0 (152 votes)
5. Over 30: 5.0 (540 votes)
6. Seniors: 4.5 (103 votes)

The pre-school rating would hurt FoP more if more kids in that age group rode it and voted the same way.

That said, "pre-school" probably includes kids up to maybe 6 years old. It's reasonable to think that lots of parents are self-selecting very young children out of a WDW vacation, so the category is always going to be under-represented.

In any event, FoP is doing exceptionally well. Some of that is probably novelty - Na'vi River Journey and Rivers of Light have bumped up a bit with the summer crowds seeing them for the first time. But still, I think Disney has to be very happy with the buzz around FoP.

Thanks for the explanation - I enjoy your Jim Hill podcast, btw!

 

[Hurricane Sandy]

I currently have 4 fastpass+ for Avatar Flight of Passage on 9/5/17 (4:10 pm - 5:10 pm). I would like to trade my 4 9/5/17 fastpass+ for 4 9/2/17 fastpass+ for Avatar Flight of Passage. I made my resort reservations well in advance and booked my fastpass+ early morning on the 60th day out; however, I have since had to shorten/move my vacation dates due to my daughter's college class schedule. I was able to re-work all of my fastpasses except Avatar Flight of Passage. I am still holding the 9/5/17 fastpass+ for Avatar Flight of Passage hoping that I can trade it or a cast member at Disney will let me switch it. I asked the cast member on the phone when I changed my resort reservations and they weren't able to help me. ;(

I would like to make this a new post/thread, but I don't know how to. First time I've ever joined a discussion board.

 

[JackCH]

I currently have 4 fastpass+ for Avatar Flight of Passage on 9/5/17 (4:10 pm - 5:10 pm). I would like to trade my 4 9/5/17 fastpass+ for 4 9/2/17 fastpass+ for Avatar Flight of Passage. I made my resort reservations well in advance and booked my fastpass+ early morning on the 60th day out; however, I have since had to shorten/move my vacation dates due to my daughter's college class schedule. I was able to re-work all of my fastpasses except Avatar Flight of Passage. I am still holding the 9/5/17 fastpass+ for Avatar Flight of Passage hoping that I can trade it or a cast member at Disney will let me switch it. I asked the cast member on the phone when I changed my resort reservations and they weren't able to help me. ;(

I would like to make this a new post/thread, but I don't know how to. First time I've ever joined a discussion board.

Unfortunately, it will be very difficult to swap your fastpasses. Your best bet is to just try to reserve new ones by checking the fastpass time every so-often. You do not need to switch them since it is on a different day, just reserve new ones. But to be honest, your chances of getting fastpasses on that date is very slim.

 

[Hurricane Sandy]

Unfortunately, it will be very difficult to swap your fastpasses. Your best bet is to just try to reserve new ones by checking the fastpass time every so-often. You do not need to switch them since it is on a different day, just reserve new ones. But to be honest, your chances of getting fastpasses on that date is very slim.

I have been checking back multiple times per day...knowing that it's not likely that a fastpass will come open, but just in case. That's why I'm looking for someone who may want to switch dates. I know it's unlikely that I will find someone, but it's possible. This could be done by inviting the person to join my my disney experience account then switching your party members on the two dates. It's hard to explain, but you can share some access to your account with "friends" by sending them a request. This is usually used when traveling in a group, etc.

 

[MiddKid]

Walked down to Beach Club driveway at 7:10am this morning. Called Minnie Van, arrived a few min later to take us to AK. Line for bus was huge.

Arrived at DAK at 7:30. Side note: my parents took a taxi from Yacht Club and easily beat us to DAK by 5 min or so. Minnie Vans need to drive the speed limit in the parking lot...let's just say taxis do not. Also his taxi was $14...$6 cheaper. I can see the value of MVs with the convenient MK drop-off...Anyway...

Officially entered the line for FoP at 7:50am. My father's taxi driver said he dropped off someone at 6:30 this AM so we were obviously an hour or so behind the super-early birds.

When we passed under the wait time sign it said 120min. Walked off the ride at 8:50. Exactly one hour in line and it moved the whole time. Saw the whole queue. One hour was totally reasonable.

Everyone loved the ride. Thumbs way up. We have FastPasses for Wednesday to give it another whirl!

 

[Pascal]

For those of you that have ridden both FP+ and standby, would you say it is worth trying to wait standby to see the queue line?

We have FP+ for our October trip already, but also plan on going to AK for EMH. Realistically, how long do you think we'd be waiting during EMH and is it worth it?

I know this is hugely subjective, but would love to hear some opinions. Thanks!

 

[Rteetz]

For those of you that have ridden both FP+ and standby, would you say it is worth trying to wait standby to see the queue line?

We have FP+ for our October trip already, but also plan on going to AK for EMH. Realistically, how long do you think we'd be waiting during EMH and is it worth it?

I know this is hugely subjective, but would love to hear some opinions. Thanks!

Yes I loved the queue. You miss pretty much everything doing FP.

 

[monykalyn]

For those of you that have ridden both FP+ and standby, would you say it is worth trying to wait standby to see the queue line?

We have FP+ for our October trip already, but also plan on going to AK for EMH. Realistically, how long do you think we'd be waiting during EMH and is it worth it?

I know this is hugely subjective, but would love to hear some opinions. Thanks!

2 weeks ago my son and I waited 90 minutes in Late EMH to see queue and our first FoP ride. The outside portion will be HOT during the day (was still bad at night-but bearable). The cave part is boring after about 5 minutes. The lab part is cool, and there's a room where other flights are tracked that are neat (and air conditioned). Later in trip we did FoP twice with FP. Queue is neat but will be bakingly hot during day and -imho- NOT worth more than 60-90 minutes wait. Rest of family never saw whole queue and they (and I) don't feel they really missed anything (you can see glimpses of lab from part of FP queue). Late EMH at least on outside portion you can see the land glowing in the dark and THAT was amazing!

 

[mbtohill]

Just back from a 10 day trip. Spent 2 full days at AK, night times there are so much fun these days....rope dropped FOP and can confirm all other reports...arrived around 7:20am on non-EMH day.....first in line at our tapstile....the mad dash to the bridge to Pandora was not too bad....one thing that I haven't seen posted here...if you're near the front, stay to the RIGHT as you approach entrance to Pandora, CM's separate you as you get into the land...if you're on the left side of the huge mass of people you will lose A LOT of ground trying to shift to the right for FOP...just a tip.....we were in the second wave on the ride.....the ride itself is AWESOME!!! Cannot describe how immersive it is....we were off the ride by 9:15.....

Wait times during the mid morning reached 4 hours!!!...dropped to just under 2 hours, but never saw less than that....

Also, saw ROL for the first time, probably the last time too....just not enough there to bring us back....very "one note" in it's presentation....just our opinion

 

[Oregonkris]

Anyone report any motion sickness yet? Comparable to HPFJ or Star Tours? Sorry... the gravitron ruined me for life. I feel sick if I just look
at spinning rides.

I'm very concerned about this issue, I haven't been on a WDW ride yet that made me sick (granted it's been 10 years since my last visit) but this one worries me. I'm also prone to migraines and 3D is a sure trigger for me. It's starting to sound like I should skip this one.

 

[Marlins1]

My daughter gets headaches pretty easily on screen based rides and this one did not bother her at all. We all loved it. It has nice pauses in the action that come right after the intense parts and I think that really helps. It is also smooth - no jerky motions. It does feel amazingly fast at times and the free fall effects are very good but IMO they do not induce motion sickness.

 

[WildRide]

I was fortunate enough to ride both avatar rides and all the Harry Potter attractions for the first time this past week. I'd rank them as follows:

Flights of Passage
Gringotts
Navi River Journey
Harry Potter
Double Potter coasters.

All good experiences. I was blown away by FoP and underwhelmed by the older Harry Potter ride (not gringotts).

The river journey really surprised me how enjoyable it was (even after spoiling everything via YouTube).

In terms of the lands themselves, Avatar blew Harry Potter world away. Immersion for me is key and some things just killed the believability of HP for me (visible show building behind the castle, the dueling coasters that stand out). I thought they really dropped the ball on key items.

Pandora food was also better in my opinion. For quick service it seemed very high quality.

 

[Pascal]

2 weeks ago my son and I waited 90 minutes in Late EMH to see queue and our first FoP ride. The outside portion will be HOT during the day (was still bad at night-but bearable). The cave part is boring after about 5 minutes. The lab part is cool, and there's a room where other flights are tracked that are neat (and air conditioned). Later in trip we did FoP twice with FP. Queue is neat but will be bakingly hot during day and -imho- NOT worth more than 60-90 minutes wait. Rest of family never saw whole queue and they (and I) don't feel they really missed anything (you can see glimpses of lab from part of FP queue). Late EMH at least on outside portion you can see the land glowing in the dark and THAT was amazing!

Thanks so much, that's really helpful!

 

[doctornick]

So, this ride does blow away every simulator ride I've ever done. It truly is an enthralling experience that very effectively convincing you that you are actually flying. There are spots (like the sudden stop before a heard of animals) that I was lost in the experience and was actually concerned about crashing because it was so realistic. The transition in the beginning was very effective. Overall, the ride is pretty much perfect at achieving its goal.

That said, I'm not sure I'd rate it as my favorite attraction. I still think Spider-Man is the best in Orlando even though I'd happily concede that it is more "fake" (i.e. the screen work is less convincing) than FoP. But the ride movement and interactions and overall story line is more engaging (to me) than FoP. I'm not sure where I'd like FoP since the novelty certainly makes it more interesting, but I think in addition to Spider-Man, I'd put ToT, Splash and probably Forbidden Journey above it. And actually I still have a soft spot for the entire experience with Everest.

We had a party of 7. 6 of us (including two children) basically loved the ride. My mom thought it was phenomenal and possibly the best ride ever. One rider (my dad) was not impressed. Thought it was fine, but not much different from Soarin' -- to be fair, he's been sour to the whole Pandora concept from the start and didn't like the movie. He also isn't a thrill ride person so the sensation of flying, while tolerable for him, wasn't something in the ride's favor. My kids both thought the ride was great, but preferred roller coasters (they got to finally ride Everest and RnR this trip and couldn't get enough of them) given the choice.

 

[BEARSHOUSE4]

We rode FOP twice yesterday. Once at rope drop, later with FP+. The preshow video was definitely different the second time. Completely eliminated the "you've all got one" part where they scan you for parasites. Made for a quicker transition into the flight room. Was this done on purpose to speed up the load? Seemed to make sense to me, saved a couple minutes at least. Also, noticed the flight video was from a different perspective and that really changed the experience. We were lower down it seemed and closer to certain effects (stampede and waterfall). Didn't realize this would be the case either.

 

[JBIRDTO]

We rode FOP twice yesterday. Once at rope drop, later with FP+. The preshow video was definitely different the second time. Completely eliminated the "you've all got one" part where they scan you for parasites. Made for a quicker transition into the flight room. Was this done on purpose to speed up the load? Seemed to make sense to me, saved a couple minutes at least. Also, noticed the flight video was from a different perspective and that really changed the experience. We were lower down it seemed and closer to certain effects (stampede and waterfall). Didn't realize this would be the case either.

How was rope drop? What was your strategy and how long did you wait? I have a fast pass for my trip in October but will hopefully do RD if it is not too bad.

 

[BEARSHOUSE4]

How was rope drop? What was your strategy and how long did you wait? I have a fast pass for my trip in October but will hopefully do RD if it is not too bad.

We took a cab to avoid any bus drama. Got to tapstiles at 8 (9am open). We moved to the holding area at Pandora bridge with about 300 people in front of us about 8:30. CMs led us to ride queue at about 8:50. Walked on FOP and were off by 9:10. Worked great!

 

[JBIRDTO]

We took a cab to avoid any bus drama. Got to tapstiles at 8 (9am open). We moved to the holding area at Pandora bridge with about 300 people in front of us about 8:30. CMs led us to ride queue at about 8:50. Walked on FOP and were off by 9:10. Worked great!

Nice job! I think I will definitely try rope drop. Cannot wait for my trip.