Na'vi River Journey reviews, comments and questions

[doctornick]

I don't know how I got this idea, but I thought NRJ included Shanghai pirates "front of boat is on different track than back of boat" system. As I see in these videos, it looks like traditional flume system.

There was certainly some conjecture on these boards about that possibility, I think based on how the flume looked in photos which was similar in appearance to Shanghai's flume. But, no, it's well established that this is just a regular water ride mechanics, like MK's POTC or IASW.

 

[Daveeeeed]

There was certainly some conjecture on these boards about that possibility, I think based on how the flume looked in photos which was similar in appearance to Shanghai's flume. But, no, it's well established that this is just a regular water ride mechanics, like MK's POTC or IASW.

Honestly that was one of the most disapointing parts about NA'VI River Journey for me. It could have benefited from Shanghai's tech so much, but I suppose they are waiting to use it for an E-ticket. Crossing my fingers for something unique at AK but Jungle Book based on the live action film would be nice.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Honestly that was the most disapointing part about NA'VI River Journey for me. It could have benefited from Shanghai's tech so much, but I suppose they are waiting to use it for an E-ticket. Crossing my fingers for something unique at AK but Jungle Book based on the live action film would be nice.

The shanghai pirates ride works because of the drama in the ride design itself. By no means did that have to be accomplished using the floor to ceiling screens used in shanghai. Having said that, the ride is a highly detailed ride that still falls short. It's almost as if this was the beginning of an e-ticket and they cut it and half. It's a solid C, despite e ticket details in what's there.

 

[Daveeeeed]

The shanghai pirates ride works because of the drama in the ride design itself. By no means did that have to be accomplished using the floor to ceiling screens used in shanghai. Having said that, the ride is a highly detailed ride that still falls short. It's almost as if this was the beginning of an e-ticket and they cut it and half. It's a solid C, despite e ticket details in what's there.

100% agree. It may be the best C-ticket ever made, but it is still a C-ticket.

 

[Jones14]

The shanghai pirates ride works because of the drama in the ride design itself. By no means did that have to be accomplished using the floor to ceiling screens used in shanghai. Having said that, the ride is a highly detailed ride that still falls short. It's almost as if this was the beginning of an e-ticket and they cut it and half. It's a solid C, despite e ticket details in what's there.

I don't feel it falls short. It's far and away the best of its kind in terms of C-Tickets at WDW, and I'd rather have a C-Ticket with E-Ticket details than the other way around. Now, there is something to be said about WHY they chose to build an E and a C with the money they were given, but the attraction is very well done for the smaller offering that it is.

Now, if this were the centerpiece of the expansion, we'd be having a different conversation. Looking at you, Mine Train. But for what's essentially the land's Fantasyland-style dark ride, it's pretty great. It's certainly a much better attraction than Little Mermaid, which is a minute longer with more than twice as many animatronics. Sure, it's short for a boat ride, but that's just because they've never built a C-Ticket that happens to be a boat ride (with the possible exception of Caballeros).

It fills its niche in the park, and everyone I know who has gotten to ride it has enjoyed it. It's well done for what it is.

 

[Daveeeeed]

I don't feel it falls short. It's far and away the best of its kind in terms of C-Tickets at WDW, and I'd rather have a C-Ticket with E-Ticket details than the other way around. Now, there is something to be said about WHY they chose to build an E and a C with the money they were given, but the attraction is very well done for the smaller offering that it is.

Now, if this were the centerpiece of the expansion, we'd be having a different conversation. Looking at you, Mine Train. But for what's essentially the land's Fantasyland-style dark ride, it's pretty great. It's certainly a much better attraction than Little Mermaid, which is a minute longer with more than twice as many animatronics. Sure, it's short for a boat ride, but that's just because they've never built a C-Ticket that happens to be a boat ride (with the possible exception of Caballeros).

It fills its niche in the park, and everyone I know who has gotten to ride it has enjoyed it. It's well done for what it is.

And perhaps the only reason Mexico doesn't feel as short is because it doesn't have the eye candy River Journey has.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Before Pandora opened, the word was that NRJ was only 4 minutes long. In previews, some rides were almost 6 minutes, but then regularly hit the 5 minute mark.

Maybe the ride could stand to go back to the 6 minute mark.

 

[Daveeeeed]

Before Pandora opened, the word was that NRJ was only 4 minutes long. In previews, some rides were almost 6 minutes, but then regularly hit the 5 minute mark.

Maybe the ride could stand to go back to the 6 minute mark.

I actually don't think that would help that much. Maybe if they would have made the actual ride just 20 feet longer it would have helped, but I did notice that the ride was dispatching quickly.

 

[Rteetz]

Before Pandora opened, the word was that NRJ was only 4 minutes long. In previews, some rides were almost 6 minutes, but then regularly hit the 5 minute mark.

Maybe the ride could stand to go back to the 6 minute mark.

I never saw 6 minutes but routinely saw 5.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I never saw 6 minutes but routinely saw 5.

From this post, some of the earliest preview videos had ride times of varying lengths, two were close to 6 minutes.

From the full ride videos I've seen, the times have been:

4:50
5:00
5:10
5:45
5:50

Average is 5:19

 

[RSoxNo1]

I don't feel it falls short. It's far and away the best of its kind in terms of C-Tickets at WDW, and I'd rather have a C-Ticket with E-Ticket details than the other way around. Now, there is something to be said about WHY they chose to build an E and a C with the money they were given, but the attraction is very well done for the smaller offering that it is.

Now, if this were the centerpiece of the expansion, we'd be having a different conversation. Looking at you, Mine Train. But for what's essentially the land's Fantasyland-style dark ride, it's pretty great. It's certainly a much better attraction than Little Mermaid, which is a minute longer with more than twice as many animatronics. Sure, it's short for a boat ride, but that's just because they've never built a C-Ticket that happens to be a boat ride (with the possible exception of Caballeros).

It fills its niche in the park, and everyone I know who has gotten to ride it has enjoyed it. It's well done for what it is.

You just called out the trend though. Some of these dark rides COULD have been e tickets, and they opted to step them down. Mermaid, Mine Train and Navi River Journey all fall into that category. What's there in each attraction is done very well, it's just falling a bit short for some people's tastes.

 

[Daveeeeed]

You just called out the trend though. Some of these dark rides COULD have been e tickets, and they opted to step them down. Mermaid, Mine Train and Navi River Journey all fall into that category. What's there in each attraction is done very well, it's just falling a bit short for some people's tastes.

Mine Train was a home run for a D-ticket. Excellent theming for an excellent D-ticket attraction, but it would have obviously benefited from being an E-ticket. NA'VI River Journey mostly did that for a C-ticket, but mermaid was an actual failure for a ride altogether: story and ticket level. It's only rideable as it has short waits and it being much better than Figment.

Mermaid has a terrible name: "Under The Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid," a bad story, bad pacing (awful attempt at a book-report), the queue of an E-ticket for no apparent reason, yet the ride's a C-ticket with cool technology mixed with unimpressive sets like Winnie The Pooh. Leads it to odd pacing making Pooh Snow White's Scary Adventures or The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh look superior.
Unbelievable how they were willing to spend 80+ million on it. It's decent enough especially for the usually low queue times, but it's mind blowing that it cost as much as it did for failing on so many levels. At least NA'VI River Journey is a solid C-ticket.

 

[Jones14]

You just called out the trend though. Some of these dark rides COULD have been e tickets, and they opted to step them down. Mermaid, Mine Train and Navi River Journey all fall into that category. What's there in each attraction is done very well, it's just falling a bit short for some people's tastes.

No, I def agree with that principle. I just don't think it's fair to call Na'Vi River Journey a bad attraction, because I don't think it is. The pacing, sets, effects, etc. are all top notch, and I feel it does its job effectively. You can feel the cuts/bad decisions in Mine Train, Kali, and Mermaid; I would argue that River Journey is more a Peter Pan or Pooh (WDW). They're well-done attractions, just not the heavy hitters.

 

[RSoxNo1]

No, I def agree with that principle. I just don't think it's fair to call Na'Vi River Journey a bad attraction, because I don't think it is. The pacing, sets, effects, etc. are all top notch, and I feel it does its job effectively. You can feel the cuts/bad decisions in Mine Train, Kali, and Mermaid; I would argue that River Journey is more a Peter Pan or Pooh (WDW). They're well-done attractions, just not the heavy hitters.

I enjoy the attraction, but it feels incomplete given the detail that's there.

 

[Daveeeeed]

No, I def agree with that principle. I just don't think it's fair to call Na'Vi River Journey a bad attraction, because I don't think it is. The pacing, sets, effects, etc. are all top notch, and I feel it does its job effectively. You can feel the cuts/bad decisions in Mine Train, Kali, and Mermaid; I would argue that River Journey is more a Peter Pan or Pooh (WDW). They're well-done attractions, just not the heavy hitters.

Knocks it to a tee, though you can't really tell Mine Train was cut other than it being short. You definitely can on Kali & Mermaid though.

 

[mergatroid]

Before Pandora opened, the word was that NRJ was only 4 minutes long. In previews, some rides were almost 6 minutes, but then regularly hit the 5 minute mark.

Maybe the ride could stand to go back to the 6 minute mark.

I'm pretty sure the ones nearing the 6 min mark included footage of the queue or boarding rather than just start to finish?

 

[MisterPenguin]

I'm pretty sure the ones nearing the 6 min mark included footage of the queue or boarding rather than just start to finish?

No, from cast off to hitting the skids at the end. I watched the videos and recording start and stop times and did fancy arithmetic.

 

[mergatroid]

No, from cast off to hitting the skids at the end. I watched the videos and recording start and stop times and did fancy arithmetic.

You sir are like the forum's own Stephen Hawking

 

[Dizney Crew]

Seeing how people are getting confused on the NRJ, I rode it 3 times during my preview, and the boats move extremely slow, on one of my rides i actually thought the boat was going to just stop, its that slow. This I think added to the overall time of the ride by maybe 1 min? I clocked each one of my rides 4 1/2- 5 1/2 mins. I was expecting this attraction to barely reach 4 min before riding. Only on 1 of my rides (the last) did the boats get grouped up in the last scene after the Shaman, we had about 4 boats ahead of us all grouped together, but I think this was largely due to someone who was loading was getting out of a wheelchair, so that slowed everyone else up.

Can't really comment too much on the load times as each ride we took we literally walked right on with ZERO wait, they were just sending empty boats along each time before we boarded, so the load was extremely fast.

 

[Prototype82]

All of these comments saying NRJ is a "snoozefest" and that it "falls short" are ridiculous. It does exactly what it needs to do. It's brief, calming, pretty to look at, and has some digital mapping and projection effects that are pretty darn impressive. My jaw was open during some of the effects overhead - like the Hogwarts express effects on steroids. The story is that ACE is giving us this journey and the rest unfolds. That's really all we need to know in terms of story. It's just a beautiful ride. Impressive, yet brief, happy and heartwarming. I know a couple people who hate small drops, so I'm happy they can ride this with me and experience something new.