My review of the Na'vi River Journey ride

[gwklam]

Oel ngati kameie.

Photo taken January 15th, 2018 (MLK day).

I did the Na'vi River Journey twice during EMH within 25 minutes before the wait time turned into 85 minutes (My fastpass was used for Flight of Passage of course).

List reasons you like and not like about this ride and what would you do to improve it?

I like the overall feel of the ride, to feel like one of the Na'vi just rowing a boat streaming down the river in the land of Pandora, but I would have appreciated some form of story (maybe a retelling of the history of the Na'vi people just up until before the humans arrived?) with a couple more animatronics.

Other than a better and louder undisturbed audio music track and more 'bioluminescence', the experience between this ride and outside in terms of wow factor is almost similar that doesn't merit waiting more than an hour for this ride.

 

[Ismael Flores]

They really should have made it a bit longer and had one large room somewhere in the middle of the ride that had plenty of 3 dimensional props and a few more animal animatronics. The walls behind the sceneries covered with large projections to make it feel like the environment seem larger than it was. Almost seems like they could have used the idea of the Shanghai pirates ride here but with the Pandora theme

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I'm going to get to experience that tomorrow but having seen videos of it already all I could say is that it's living with the land Pandora Edition.

 

[gwklam]

Seems like Disney made the attraction so that anyone that can't stand or ride Flight of Passage for some reason, can redeem themselves with at least a boat ride. Could have done a lot more with this. This Pandora land is suppose to give some hints about the future 4 Avatar movies coming out too....

 

[TheDuke]

Seems like Disney made the attraction so that anyone that can't stand or ride Flight of Passage for some reason, can redeem themselves with at least a boat ride. Could have done a lot more with this. This Pandora land is suppose to give some hints about the future 4 Avatar movies coming out too....

Agree, I think it was just a "safe" ride that wouldn't alienate anyone who had motion sickness issues or for some reason found FoP too intense (although it's a fairly low intensity thrill ride). A story here would have made all the difference, which would have made it a pretty decent ride and required low imagineering effort.

 

[Jeff456]

I still enjoyed it some of the effects are impressive sadly its just not long enough. Last August I never queued more than 20 minutes for it and like you've said an hour would probably be my limit. I'd only wait that long for a first ride of a trip not a re-ride.

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

I'll say it, it sucks.
It really pales in comparison to FoP and is such a let down.

As a boat ride frozen, pirates and Marlstorm, the land, gran fiesta are much better.

Yup. ..and yes it's a nice, safe ride for "anyone," but it's also boring with no attempt at storytelling. The effects are nice, beautiful even, but why not try to tell me a little something? The good news is that this problem can be repaired. They need to add more animatronics telling the rider what the heck is going on; what to look for, etc.

Oh, and the queue is awfully boring. They might could do there storytelling there, but they need to do something to liven the whole thing up somehow.

 

[Bender123]

Its a gorgeous ride that is incredible and then it just ends...

Ive said it in other threads, but here goes. The effects and ride make a huge environment seem intimate, the effects are brilliant, the Shaman is amazing and the ride is a relaxing trip into a fully realized world. As for the bad...Its very short and has a story that leads you to thinking there will be an epic musical gathering at the end of your journey, but it just sorta ends. It feels like the story had another scene to it, but they just put a room full of glowing rocks together and called it a day. If that room had all the Navi you see gathered in a celebration (maybe mixed AA and screens) it would have added so much.

As it stands, I liken it to a song that just ends on a non tonic note...It feels like its unfinished and wrong.

Overall, I like the ride, but it is missing something.

 

[danyoung56]

They really should have made it a bit longer and had one large room somewhere in the ride that had planets of props a few animal animorto ice...

Probably one of the strangest auto corrects - right?

 

[Texas84]

I love it. It's just too short.

 

[networkpro]

4.5 minutes in the 60's Black light jungle with only one giant blue space hippy.

 

[Ismael Flores]

Probably one of the strangest auto corrects - right?

i really should pay attention to auto correct.i have gotten in trouble before with words that it adds.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I'll say it, it sucks.
It really pales in comparison to FoP and is such a let down.

As a boat ride frozen, pirates and Marlstorm, the land, gran fiesta are much better.

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

 

[POLY LOVER]

The ride is way to short and it could use some kind of drop to add a little thrill to it. I like the ride but way to short to wait hour + for.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Waited two hours, then got on a boat. It was dark except for the weird looking ravers and their pets. Then the lights came on. The end.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

It can be tweaked. I just have to wonder if Disney will. Surely guest feedback is rating this low.

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

It's a walk-on, never waiting for it ride. Got stuck waiting in July for a lot longer then was posted and was very disappointed with the ride.

 

[mf1972]

it’s an ok ride. no comparison to FOP. i did like the AA at the end. very impressive. i could skip it on my next trip.

 

[Diablo]

Like apparently most of you, I wish it were longer. If they're looking to set an atmosphere, it works very well. But for me, I need more than a few minutes to really feel something like that. Especially after a potentially 2 hour wait. Personally, I'd wait 15-30 minutes every time I visit with no hesitation at all.
My complaint came from a small detail. As I passed the Shaman, I wanted to watch her as long as I could. I thought she was incredible. But as you get almost behind her, but still very much "on stage", you can see the metal armature at her elbows and arms. I hope this isn't ruining it for anyone. It may be something as simple as someone needing to come by and pull fabric down.. But it was a little strange.

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

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 a bit of a stinker, but it and Gran Fiesta are both better than RoP. There are stories being told in those two rides at least - and I've always loved the Three Caballeros.