AVATAR land - the specifics

[disney4life2008]

Pretty much my thoughts too. I want to be very clear before the "you're just a hater" attacks start....

The land looks amazing. Congrats to WDI. I hope at some point in the future I get a chance to sit and enjoy a cool beverage on a warm evening and take it all in.

With that said, I purposefully jumped to the merchandise and restaurants pics on twitter to see if Disney had bumped up their immersion game since Cars Land. And sadly, was heartbroken. A handful of unique merchandise surrounded by branded generic stuff I'll find at Target or any other trashy amusement park.

More importantly, another QS restaurant with that bizarre "have everyone wait at the counter" setup that I've never seen work successfully at any Disney property. This is the best Disney has to offer after 5 years? Traveling to Pandora, only to end up at a Cashier that looks directly out of my local McDonalds? I don't get it.



And I'm not saying I have any power on Twitter. I have 10 followers at best (and 7 are probably bots). But after I posted some comments about some of the generic looking merchandise, suddenly I saw no more pics of generic merchandise. Again, I have no power on twitter, but I would assume everything in #VisitPandora is being heavily monitored right now.

I suspect the menus will change in 6 months. They will have some type of chicken sandwich or burger. That current menus look tragic.

 

[Casper Gutman]

It definitely does. I feel like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was great because of that and even sort of even Frozen (though they were only the leads). SDMT may be too short but the story is there for having those characters.

Personal opinion, but I think Dwarfs feels like a connected whole (albeit one I really wish was longer) while Frozen seems like a disjointed string of fancy AAs.

 

[Bairstow]

I suspect the menus will change in 6 months. They will have some type of chicken sandwich or burger. That current menus look tragic.

That's one thing I'm interested in watching.
I wouldn't describe the menus as "tragic" but Satu'li probably represents Disney's first real foray into offering slightly more interesting fare than guests might be interested in and using the theme of the land to sell it to guests, beyond the familiar "Mexican food in Mexico" approach. It's their answer to Leaky Cauldron- a lot of kids and their parents wouldn't be interested in English pub fare on a hot Florida day except that eating the food is presented as part of the whole Harry Potter experience and thus becomes that much more appealing. Similarly, the prospect of "Tropical SPACE FOOD with fish eggs! Turquoise SPACE BEER!" becomes more interesting when it's sold to you as being part of the interesting themed land you're exploring. When in Rome...

...but maybe it won't work.
Pizzafari is just over the bridge, and from what I've seen the African-inspired food at the Harambe food market has done pretty well with guests, so I've got some hope for Satu'li.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Haven't visited this land yet, not until it open officially. But i'll provide some preliminary thoughts on the video of the River ride.

I don't think we should have to settle between having either one high quality AA (and no other AA's), or dozens of more limited motion AA's without anything really groundbreaking. I think it's perfectly reasonable based on traditional Disney standards to have at least one or two groundbreaking AAs, and a small army of somewhat less articulated ones to fill the rest of the ride out.

Many older Disney rides did this. Pirates of the Caribbean had a couple of extremely advanced (for the time) figures such as Blackbeard and the Auctioneer pirate, but it ALSO had a huge population of less impressive supplemental AAs as well. Great Movie Ride did this too, with the Wicked Witch being the first ever A100 animatronic, but the ride was still packed with TONS of supplemental AA's of lesser motion (A1 models and others). Splash Mountain also had a large population of AA's with a wide variety of motion (some quite well animated), with the hopping Brer Rabbit figure (at WDW and Tokyo anyways) being that ride's most impressive figure. It shouldn't have to be a choice. They can afford to provide a couple of advanced AAs but still have others in there that aren't as advanced. It's nice to have both.

But I will also say that besides the obvious factor of money and modern rides sadly going away from AA's, they may have had physical space limitations as well for this ride. The ride is both short, but also seems like the rooms are smaller and more cramped than I expected. They should have provided a larger show building. Compared to the likes of other boat rides like POTC and Small World for reference, which have extremely open and large scale scenes. The Na'vi are 10 feet tall, so they already need more space to begin with (the shaman AA is also sitting).

 

[Daveeeeed]

Personal opinion, but I think Dwarfs feels like a connected whole (albeit one I really wish was longer) while Frozen seems like a disjointed string of fancy AAs.

Pretty much what I was getting at. SDMT was on point for a D-ticket... it may even be the best (if not, then close) D's ever made as its story, pacing, etc. is so darn good. But the length hurts it.

 

[No Name]

Not sure if this has been mentioned or asked previously?

Do the ride vehicles/chairs in Flight of Passage actually move (in physical space) before/throughout the ride?

Or are they stationary in a fixed position with all of the 'movement' being simulated?

No. They are stationary.

Is Flight of Passage nothing more than an a sit down arcade game similar to Super Hang On but in 3D? Do these Tron-like bikes go anywhere?

Well, it isn't a game.

TT and M:S were both state-of-the-art attractions - but not really great ones.

If you are talking about the new version of TT, I agree.
If you are talking about the old version, I strongly, strongly disagree.

With that said, I purposefully jumped to the merchandise and restaurants pics on twitter to see if Disney had bumped up their immersion game since Cars Land. And sadly, was heartbroken. A handful of unique merchandise surrounded by branded generic stuff I'll find at Target or any other trashy amusement park.

I don't mean to sound like some corporate defender, as I am certainly not. But they wouldn't be putting "generic stuff" on the shelves if it didn't sell. While it may not be your taste, clearly some people buy it, or else it would be pulled and replaced by something else.

 

[Magic Feather]

No. They are stationary.

The seats are not stationary, and, in fact, have a very large RoM and some unique capabilities. This isn't tiered Philharmagic on a motorbike.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Mine Train is a pretty solid D ticket, it has elements that put it beyond most other D's. But also a lot of flaws that bring it down a notch even compared to other D's. So it balances out to a pretty nice D IMO. The mine scene would be at home in any high caliber E ticket like Splash Mountain. And the cottage scene is of course an upgraded version of the original ride's scene (with the upgrades being a simple but well done dancing Snow and Dopey figure along with a good looking Witch AA). They simply needed the 2-3 extra scenes like these (which was intended before being cut) to add some additional content and ride length.

The outside scenes however are very disappointing. Too realistic and bland, look towards Splash Mountain's exterior for a better example of an "animated" and less realistic mountain (or heck even Little Mermaid). They reduced streams passing through the ride's footprint compared to the art, including a cute scene of the dwarfs marching home atop a fallen tree (the track and a creek passing underneath).

In addition this is one of the few rides that is actually bad at night. Disney is usually fantastic at night lighting, but they dropped the ball on the exterior of 7dmt, it's barely lit in most spots. They also missed the opportunity to use extra sparkling gems around the exterior (which the art also seems to showcase). Worse still, they added photos to the ride and flash an ugly bright light in your eyes in two different places (not a quick flash either like in other rides, but a prolonged sustained blast).

 

[No Name]

The seats are not stationary, and, in fact, have a very large RoM and some unique capabilities. This isn't tiered Philharmagic on a motorbike.

Perhaps stationary was the wrong word. Of course there is lots of movement.

The poster who I replied to, if I understood correctly, was asking the basic question of whether the ride moves along a path or whether it's a simulator. And it's a simulator; the ride vehicle doesn't move along a track or path. So that's what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.

Sorry to ask, but Im really confused due to the conflicting reports. What is the range of motion of these vehicles? How much movement will be involved in this ride?

First-hand accounts describe their experience as somewhere between Soarin and Star Tours in intensity. As Magic Feather said, it has quite a wide range of movement.

 

[Thanks phoenicians]

I wasn't really expecting a super immersive QS with this land so that's not really that surprising though I actually think it looks better than I was anticipating. Overall I think it looks like Potter level immersion. For those judging the nighttime lighting saying it looks fake I'd encourage you to wait to see it in person as that kind of thing really is made to be appreciated in person. It would be like judging ROA just through a video or short clip.

 

[DisneyYorkian74]

Thank you!,

To clarify a bit of my question, is Flight of Passage similar to how Soarin' loads riders in one area, then lifts the ride vehicles during the ride for the ride experience?

The Soarin' ride vehicles still are more or less stationary, but literal physical movement of the vehicles still takes place before and after the ride (load/unload riders).

Is a similar experience had on Flight of Passage, even as perhaps a similar tiered lift experience on Soarin'?

Or are the ride vehicles fixed to the ground (when looking down while on the ride is my body still close to the ground) with no actual physical movement taking place?

 

[Jeremy P]

Is a similar experience had on Flight of Passage, even as perhaps a similar tiered lift experience on Soarin'?

Or are the ride vehicles fixed to the ground (when looking down while on the ride is my body still close to the ground) with no actual physical movement taking place?

Someone may be able to provide a better answer than me but from what I understand, the seats DO physically move but they stay in relatively the same place as where you start. In Soarin, the whole platform moves OUT into the theater and from what I've seen and read, there are no moving platforms or anything with FoP. I believe the shield in front of the vehicles drops and while the seat convincingly moves to simulate flying, you're not actually moving from your spot on the platform

 

[Bairstow]

Thank you!,

To clarify a bit of my question, is Flight of Passage similar to how Soarin' loads riders in one area, then lifts the ride vehicles during the ride for the ride experience?

The Soarin' ride vehicles still are more or less stationary, but literal physical movement of the vehicles still takes place before and after the ride (load/unload riders).

Is a similar experience had on Flight of Passage, even as perhaps a similar tiered lift experience on Soarin'?

Or are the ride vehicles fixed to the ground (when looking down while on the ride is my body still close to the ground) with no actual physical movement taking place?

What we know is that flight of passage loads guests into platforms at multiple stacked tiers. When the ride starts the screens in front of the riders will retract to reveal the main screen and the restraint "bikes" and at least the front edge of the loading platform (where your feet are resting) will begin to move. Whether or not the bikes will move slightly forward towards the screen is not known, but is likely, as this would permit them more range of movement.

 

[doctornick]

Notably lacking in these videos of nighttime pandora is barriers between the path and these plant areas.

Given the stupid's eagerness to climb onto stuff for photo taking (see nemo figures at living seas for instance), anyone else worried about people trying to get all clise and personal with these sets?

They should electrify the figures and shock guests who wander off the path in order to create a proper "experience" of being among hostile alien lifeforms that are protecting themselves.

 

[doctornick]

No one can tell you because Rohde himself is emphasizing it's not completed yet. Until it is 100% installed, we don't know what it can or can't do.

It's also possible that some things are intentionally not running (or were specifically embargoed from being photographed/videoed/talked about) in order to leave some unknown "wow" stuff for the public when it goes live.

 

[TalkingHead]

I'm not watching any of the ride/queue vids since I'll hopefully get to check it out during previews.

But it's a disappointment that the nighttime stuff isn't more groundbreaking than it is. The "reactive" bioluminescence, which sounds like it would've been a real attraction, apparently wasn't implemented; the result is the area at night is bathed in blue lights and fake light-up plants that look like props out of Universal's ET ride. Hardly groundbreaking.

That's nice, as far as it goes. But it doesn't live up to the hype that the land at night would be a "not to be missed" feature.

More than that, I'd be concerned that after the blogger/press preview, there hasn't been much talk of a "sleeper" hit in the land. We all knew the two rides were there, but I think a lot of us were hoping that the trails or the area at night (or something) would emerge as a third "attraction." At Diagon, Knockturn Alley is a kind of "sleeper." So is the money exchange. So is the ice cream shop.

For the amount of money spent on Avatar, the land feels like it's missing one or two more sleeper diversions.

 

[doctornick]

Well that's mildly pleasant surprise. I swear the closer we were getting the shorter the ride was being rumored. I admit the sub four was harder to swallow for a scenic ride.

Five minutes isn't bad. I still think they should have aimed for 7-8 minutes and had more animated figures fpr depth (based on what people are saying/I haven't watched the ride through yet), but 5 minutes at least is in the range where a ride won't intrinsically feel "too short".

 

[TalkingHead]

It's also possible that some things are intentionally not running (or were specifically embargoed from being photographed/videoed/talked about) in order to leave some unknown "wow" stuff for the public when it goes live.

Highly doubtful. You don't bring in press/bloggers, the biggest champions of the product, to withhold jaw-dropping features from them. I suspect the "wow" stuff was shown to them yesterday.

 

[Bairstow]

Highly doubtful. You don't bring in press/bloggers, the biggest champions of the product, to withhold jaw-dropping features from them. I suspect the "wow" stuff was shown to them yesterday.

...or at least what was working.

 

[TalkingHead]

Notably lacking in these videos of nighttime pandora is barriers between the path and these plant areas.

Given the stupid's eagerness to climb onto stuff for photo taking (see nemo figures at living seas for instance), anyone else worried about people trying to get all clise and personal with these sets?

It's reminiscent of the Tigger bounce-pads that were in the Pooh queue for approximately a week. I'm convinced the current designers are so far removed from the park experience that they don't account enough for upkeep and guest wear-and-tear.

 

[TalkingHead]

...or at least what was working.

And certainly if WDI believed that something important was still being tested, they would have made it known to the press that such-and-such effect would be online by opening day.