My review of the Na'vi River Journey ride

[WondersOfLife]

People going into full detail on this ride... I'll keep it short.

I'd rather ride Living with the Land and 3 Caballeros in comparison than wait more than 20 minutes for this ride.

 

[ELG13]

We were underwhelmed by it. A little more excitement would have been nice. Maybe a small drop like pirates has? It just felt very, plain. I mean it's pretty but I couldn't tell you one main point about it other than it's pretty. My mom was so excited to see it since she's a big avatar fan and was pretty disappointed when we got off. I used our FP for it bc we couldnt do FoP.

 

[danyoung56]

At the risk of being called a Disney apologist, I really enjoyed the River Journey. I was expecting it to be a bit short, but it was actually longer than I thought it would be. I rode twice - once right at opening and once with a 20 minute queue. Now, if I'd waited 3 hours, I'd probably be a little cranky about it.

 

[Andrew M]

Not sure if it was just when we went (judging from the other reviews it wasn't), but we were really disappointed in the ride. We went about 100' in, then all the boats stopped and got backed up as they waited about 15 minutes for someone to load. There were definitely some cool effects, but they get old fast when you're not moving. Then once we got moving again the ride only lasted about 3 more minutes. I can't imagine waiting on a 90+ minute line for that, glad we just walked on with a FP. I guess if you were into the movie you could take more out of it, but I just didn't see the appeal.

As a dad with 3 kids under 5, I'll definitely take Frozen any day over this. They were way more excited to sing and see Olaf and Sven than a boat ride through a glorified glow in the dark mini golf course.

 

[KaliSplash]

Having never seen the movie, perhaps I missed something. But it was a nice experience. Again, very un-Disney like, there was no story, unless havin not seen the movie caused me not to recognize the story. Walked on first thing the first time. Rode it again and they nailed the 45-minute wait on the nail later in the day. Probably will use the same approach for future visits, FP FOP, walk on first thing in morning while the crowd head to FOP

 

[Gone Mad]

I wasn't overwhelmed or underwhelmed by Na'vi River Journey. I certainly didn't go into the ride ready to experience a thrill ride or even a ride with a Maelstrom over the falls drop. I did enjoy the detail and the beauty of it all though. Is it something I would have wanted to wait for 3 hours for? No, but a 20 minute wait was well worth the wait.

 

[networkpro]

Its more like ET from UNI in a boat.

 

[JosieBee]

I only went on it once and found it to be beautiful and relaxing, and would have liked it to be longer. I had a fastpass for it so did not have to wait in line and though I enjoy the ride, I wouldn't want to wait very long for it. I love the music and song they sing as you come around the corner into the area of the shaman. I agree that some animatronics would enhance it like maybe the 6 legged horses grazing or those big rhino looking things from the movie looking up at you as you go by.

 

[Stitch826]

To me, Disney missed a huge opportunity with "Na'vi River Journey". The majority of riders (as evidenced throughout this thread) are unfamiliar with the "Avatar" movie. "Flight of Passage" overcame this by having extensive theming throughout its queue and through its two pre-ride interactive videos. While NRJ is quite beautiful and peaceful, it is not one I would ride again unless the line was under fifteen minutes. I personally would have liked to have seen the NRJ ride be created to be more like "Splash Mountain". It still could have been the peaceful boat ride, with a couple small drops here and there before the large final one.

In my opinion (and perhaps I should start another thread about this) Disney has way too many rides already like NRJ. What I mean is C-ticket level rides the whole family will enjoy, but that don't warrant a second trip back unless you have small children. FOP and Expedition Everest are rides that bring people to Animal Kingdom. NRJ will not.

 

[Fox&Hound]

I wonder if this ride suffers from the fact that there are only two rides in the land. Imagine if there was another ride- something like a spinner or a family-friendly train ride. Something to help take the pressure off of the boat ride...

 

[TrojanUSC]

I wonder if this ride suffers from the fact that there are only two rides in the land. Imagine if there was another ride- something like a spinner or a family-friendly train ride. Something to help take the pressure off of the boat ride...

The ride suffers because it's Pirate of the Caribbean without the pirates, save for one at the very end.

 

[tomast]

If you say it sucks, that's one thing...but to say Frozen and Gran Fiesta are better? Kind of makes you lose credibility.

Frozen is way better and Pirates is the second best boat ride.
Something like this

1- Splash Mountain
2-Pirates
3- FeA
4-Empty
5-Empty
6-Living With the Land
7-Na'vi River Journey
8-Its a Small World
9-Jungle Cruise
10-Gran Fiesta
11-Nothing
12-Nothing
13-Kali River Rapids

 

[FettFan]

You have to look at where and when the story takes place. In NRJ, we're not avatars like during FoP, so many of the animals might be hiding from us. Furthermore, it takes place at night. Also, it's worth mentioning again that it's a c ticket and devoted its budget to one good AA compared to many ok ones.

Those are terrible excuses for a lackluster attraction.

- Most of the animals on Pandora have some form of bioluminescence, so night time is not a problem for them.

- the ride takes place generations after the movie, in which humans are now welcome to explore the planet....if all the animals are living in harmony with the Navi, that would naturally extend to the humans by this point as well.

- El Rio Del Tiempo was also not a C-ticket, but they were able to mix things up a bit with actual props and animatronics in addition to the screens.

It seems like Disney made a mistake and overextended themselves with the Shaman figure, then had to scale back everything else to make ends meet.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Those are terrible excuses for a lackluster attraction.

- Most of the animals on Pandora have some form of bioluminescence, so night time is not a problem for them.

- the ride takes place generations after the movie, in which humans are now welcome to explore the planet....if all the animals are living in harmony with the Navi, that would naturally extend to the humans by this point as well.

- El Rio Del Tiempo was also not a C-ticket, but they were able to mix things up a bit with actual props and animatronics in addition to the screens.

It seems like Disney made a mistake and overextended themselves with the Shaman figure, then had to scale back everything else to make ends meet.

Well, your whole argument hinges upon thinking it's a lackluster attraction. Moreover, NRJ does have many props and other animated details you might not have noticed. We can agree to disagree. It just makes the line shorter for me lol

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Frozen is way better and Pirates is the second best boat ride.
Something like this

1- Splash Mountain
2-Pirates
3- FeA
4-Empty
5-Empty
6-Living With the Land
7-Na'vi River Journey
8-Its a Small World
9-Jungle Cruise
10-Gran Fiesta
11-Nothing
12-Nothing
13-Kali River Rapids

Pretty close! Just swap an Empty with it's a small world and NRJ with Jungle Cruise and this list would mirror my own! Poor poor Kali. Such a sorry little rapids ride.

IMO, NRJ needs a minimum of these two things to make it a more worthwhile attraction. 1) A plot. 2) length/duration. Not sure how either of those could be integrated but NRJ could certainly use them. As for what would make this more thrilling with nominal effort: Dynamic scene changes (orange hues maybe lava flow? to break up the bluish monotony) rain effects, mist waterfall(with a banshee head?) a limited motion AA creature, interactive Woodsprites. (projection tech? similar to Peter Pan queue) And possibly to add a bit more oomph; the addition of a whirlpool or turntable effect to slowly rotate the boats at a key scene. A nice addition though admittedly probably a bit too costly and tricky to integrate with such little pay off. NRJ doesn't need much but it does need something to make it a more worthwhile "experience".

 

[NomeKing88]

*Pirates is exponentially better at Disneyland. I’ve never accepted the truncated whatever we have at WDW. Like Disney Studios’ Fantasmic, it’s practically a La Quinta.

It makes me so sad how most people don't realize how truncated and outdated WDW's offerings are compared to DL. That park is 16 years older and yet their rides look brand new! And their shows and so far above WDW's in quality and production value it's not even funny .

 

[dieboy]

Most rides at Disney, I don't need to see the movie to get the feel of the story told thru the ride.
So what I garnered from this ride. Is the people of pandora, like bio luminescence.. Allot.
That is where my experience ended. We rode on a boat, looked at pretty colors, and then well .. done. I took nothing away at all. Will not be riding again.

 

[CinematicFusion]

Frozen is way better and Pirates is the second best boat ride.
Something like this

1- Splash Mountain
2-Pirates
3- FeA
4-Empty
5-Empty
6-Living With the Land
7-Na'vi River Journey
8-Its a Small World
9-Jungle Cruise
10-Gran Fiesta
11-Nothing
12-Nothing
13-Kali River Rapids

What makes Kali River Rapids ride bad is it's short, depressing and you might get beyond soaked.
Why did they make the highlight a depressing deforesting by us evil humans. I'm sure some people love it but man what a mistake.

It's empty, bare, the scene is boring, doesn't feel complete. If you take the audience to Hell... you also need to show Heaven or the rebirth of the forest. A lot like the Fantasia 2000 "The Firebird" short.

With Kali River Rapids, you leave feeling lifeless and underwhelmed.
With a short ride, the highlight should have been a beautiful tranquil rain-forest scene. A place you have always dreamed of being at..... and then you fall down the waterfall like you've been kicked out of the gates of Heaven.