Living With the Land vs Na'vi River Journey

[UNCgolf]

The issue I have with the people who "support" NRJ is that it always comes with large caveats. I do not ever hear or see anyone that says I love everything about it. Its usually along the lines of "yeah the story is non existent and its too short but the visuals are great!" or "yeah the queue is terrible and its mostly screens but there is that one amazing animatronic!"

My problem with this is that why are we making excuses or accepting mediocrity ... of course we really don't have a choice, but do we? The fans outcry changed the plans for New Fantasyland after it was initially announced. The Stitch show in Tomorrowland was cancelled after like a month because fans didn't support it. So we have power but not when people are willing to accept mediocrity or whatever Disney does as amazing. You may not think its the worst attraction ever but I don't think anyone can argue that its anything more than mediocre.

All of this is true. It is absolutely a mediocre attraction by classic Disney standards.

But Disney doesn't really adhere to those classic standards anymore. I'm only talking about NRJ's quality in comparison to what Disney has built in the last couple of decades, and NRJ is one of the better things they've built in that time period.

It's not remotely comparable to classic attractions like Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Horizons, World of Motion, Spaceship Earth, and so on -- which is why I voted for Living with the Land here, not NRJ -- but it's better than Little Mermaid, Frozen Ever After, all three rides in Toy Story Land, Smuggler's Run, and others.

I feel like people think I'm arguing that NRJ is some kind of masterpiece, and I'm not saying anything close to that. I'm just saying that you can see at least see how it could have been a great ride with additional length and some alterations because the place-setting/attention to detail is all there. There are a lot of other recent Disney rides where it's hard to imagine how it could have ever been anything more than mediocre.

 

[Robbydj13]

Nobody said it was a great ride. It's still better overall than almost everything else Disney has built in the past 20 years in relative terms. It's a decent C-ticket, which is better than building bad C, D, and E tickets. It's 100x better than similar attractions they've built like Little Mermaid and Frozen Ever After, which are embarrassing by Disney standards.

Basically, if they wanted to spend the money (and they don't/won't) NRJ would be easier to "fix" than other rides because it already has a strong base. All the detail work is there if they just added a few more AAs etc. (although they couldn't make it longer, which is unfortunate). A ride like the Little Mermaid would have to be completely gutted to be fixed, and although the AAs in FEA are great, they'd all have to be moved around to be able to turn that ride into anything decent. Adding actual scenes/detail work around the FEA AAs could be done which would improve it, but that wouldn't be enough to make it good.

It’s a trash ride overall. Just accept it. The masses have spoken.

 

[FettFan]

Navi River Journey is a waste of time and effort. It's easily the second-worst boat ride at Walt Disney World.


The worst boat ride at Disney is of course, riding the ferry back to the TTC and parking lot on the last day of your vacation.

 

[FettFan]

I agree that NRJ doesn't have a real clear story attached to it, and that might be a deterrent for some folks as well. It's a ride that some people get off and go "well what was the point of that?"

We've used FP for it (mostly because our kiddo wasn't big enough for FOP), and I'd say it'd be much higher rated if they could consistently get the wait down to a more reasonable time.

Also if they would add more animatronic creatures. The Avatar movie had all sorts of creative things like the six legged horses or the hammerhead rhinoceros.

And yet all we get in NRJ is....one singing shaman, a handful of spinny dubstep-lizards, and projections of alien weasels.
I don't expect a monster crocodile to pop out and try to eat us (because Shanghai has dibs on all the really neat stuff), but at least give us SOMETHING.

 

[Sue_Vongello]

All of this is true. It is absolutely a mediocre attraction by classic Disney standards.

But Disney doesn't really adhere to those classic standards anymore. I'm only talking about NRJ's quality in comparison to what Disney has built in the last couple of decades, and NRJ is one of the better things they've built in that time period.

It's not remotely comparable to classic attractions like Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Horizons, World of Motion, Spaceship Earth, and so on -- which is why I voted for Living with the Land here, not NRJ -- but it's better than Little Mermaid, Frozen Ever After, all three rides in Toy Story Land, Smuggler's Run, and others.

I feel like people think I'm arguing that NRJ is some kind of masterpiece, and I'm not saying anything close to that. I'm just saying that you can see at least see how it could have been a great ride with additional length and some alterations because the place-setting/attention to detail is all there. There are a lot of other recent Disney rides where it's hard to imagine how it could have ever been anything more than mediocre.

I apologize ... I wasn’t trying to single you out in any way ... just wanted to make the point that if we as a whole (and I’m guilty too) stop accepting the mediocrity or changes no one asked for then maybe we’ll get back to things we want/like ... maybe ... of course it could just all be a dream.

I’m crazy because I keep hoping that the Splash redo will be quietly cancelled, Mr Toad will come back to WDW, Mizner’s and Grand Society Orchestra will come back to Grand Flo, Star Wars land was built around a planet any of us care about, the Poly wasn’t turning into a Moana hotel, and Epcot will go back to being an edutainment park instead of an IP dumping ground. But none of those things will happen sadly and I’ll forever be a dreamer.

Anyway, back on topic ... NRJ sucks, right?

 

[Robbydj13]

Anyway, back on topic ... NRJ sucks, right?

Yes

 

[FettFan]

Mr Toad will come back to WDW

I had a perfect solution if they were to finally build Toontown at DHS.

An original ride based on J. Thaddeus Toad becoming Toontown's Fire Chief.

Inspired of course by his blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Added bonus: Bottom right corner showing Snow White... helping the Witch cross the street.

 

[aliceismad]

Also if they would add more animatronic creatures. The Avatar movie had all sorts of creative things like the six legged horses or the hammerhead rhinoceros.

And yet all we get in NRJ is....one singing shaman, a handful of spinny dubstep-lizards, and projections of alien weasels.
I don't expect a monster crocodile to pop out and try to eat us (because Shanghai has dibs on all the really neat stuff), but at least give us SOMETHING.

Yeah. I would prefer more animatronics to the screens/projections technology. Also some of the jungle could have more movement or dynamic elements. Feels like they rested a bit on "cool-looking plants in blacklight."

Buuuuut my kid loves that ride. She said it felt like "real exploring." It's also quite relaxing, especially in the heat.

 

[LittleMerman]

I love both but I voted Na'vi. It's beautiful and the music is so great. Land is really, really fun and unique - very long and more on the educational side which is cool but it's not as "exciting."

 

[Fox&Hound]

Living with the Land for the win! Such a great little ride =)

But I def think Navi suffers from being one of two rides in Avatar land and the only one without a height limitation. The ride has no story but is visually entertaining. I think if it was the third or fourth ride in the land a lot would be forgiven but it cannot support the weight it is being asked to hold.