everyone for the replies! I have had a good laugh at some of them. I am still unsure but I would love to see the video that introduces the characters if anyone can locate it. I will try to Google as well.
I have seen Avatar but I can't say that having seen it made me enjoy the ride anymore than someone who has not seen it. It may make a little sense in that you will be able to connect things to the movie, but it won't interfere with your enjoyment of the rides.
Thank you! I want to have a little context to the land.
No you don't have to see it to enjoy the land and rides..but seeing the movie will make the experience better imo. You'll catch details that you wouldn't if you have not seen the movie.
Thank you! Thats what DH is telling me.....though he hasn't been there yet either.
To have it make sense, yes. To enjoy the ride, no. It's freaking awesome whether you understand what's happening or not!
I am so excited to ride it!
Haven’t seen Avatar (and don’t really plan to). I enjoy the land immensely.
Cool. I hope that is my experience as well.
If he watched The Little Mermaid, would he enjoy the ride more than he does now?
I think you will enjoy Pandora and the rides but you’d have a better understanding of what you’ve seen if you watched a bit of the movie.
With 2 daughters he had no option but to watch The Little Mermaid 1000x. The Little Mermaid though is one ride, AK has a whole Avatar land.
Having caught the movie on TV one night after having ridden FoP, it does add context, but not necessary to enjoy. But very cool to see how well done it was - I can definitely appreciate the attention to detail now - really spot on!
I like context. Maybe I will try.....
I have no interest in the movie, but I love Pandora very much. It was an unexpected twist for me for sure!
Same. Exactly. I have no interest in the movie. It just looks horrible.
I would actually not watch it if I were you. The real fun of the movie is the magical world that it wraps you up in. Seeing it in a 3D movie theater allowed this to happen. I loved it when I saw it in the theater. I then bought it on Blue Ray and realized how paper thin the story is, and how everything doesn't look nearly as good on a flat screen.
FOP is in 3D, so it is much more similar to the theater experience.
The River ride is lame whether you know the story or not, so save yourself the 3 hours and skip the film.
Hmmmm.....good insights, thank you.
I didn't watch the movie before we went to Pandora but my son had seen it so sort of explained the premise while we were standing line. I have seen it since.
I am sure I will ask DH a ton of questions, which will thrill him to no end (NOT), leading me to wishing I watched the movie. LOL!
- DS saw movie, I did not.
- He said just imagine a really colorful beautiful Fern Gully.
- I was going to watch it but didn't so we could compare notes.
- Both thought the land was beautiful and see/not seeing had no impact.
- River ride made no sense to me (more like a trippy dream), and it highly disappointed him for lack of story.
- FoP made total sense to him, not much to me but I thought the queue was very cool! and loved the ride.
- I really wanted Na'vi [Avatars] in the land to see, like they were there for the ground breaking ... nope.
- DS was equally disappointed with the lack of life in the land, he was looking for more of a movie impact.
There are pros/cons to both seeing and not seeing so it really doesn't matter.
PS I have tried to watch the film since but haven't gotten far ...
I liked Fern Gully, my girls use to watch it when they were little; called it Fern Bully. So Na'vi are the creatures? Thank you for the post.
Dead on. That movie is Fern Gully and Dances with Wolves' love child, with a 3d special effects mutation.
I have always maintained that no exposure at all can still be enjoyable. I was never a movie fanatic so there are many things at both WDW and Universal that I have never seen. Examples... 20K leagues, I saw snow white when I was 4, I'm 70 now. Does anyone think I remember much of the movie? Star Wars.. only seen one movie and that was just last year. Still enjoy Star Tours and expect to enjoy STL. Never seen an Indy movie yet I loved the Indy show. In Universal I enjoyed both Jurassic Park and The Terminator along with Spiderman and Harry Potter even though I have never seen one of the mentioned movies. In HP there were a few characters that I had no idea who they were, but, it didn't stop me from enjoying the attractions. My point is that it isn't necessary to have seen any of the movies. What I have done is got to the attractions and value it based on what I am seeing. It's still a story and the story is understandable, even if you don't know the history. It might be added value to have the background, but, I never felt I had to go in with that information to enjoy it.
Thank you!!!! Great examples and this has really been the case for DH; he'd never seen Pinocchio or Snow White before dragging him on the ride at
Disneyland.
You don't need to see the movie to appreciate Pandora. In fact, I recommend avoiding the movie altogether just because (Avatar is WAAAAAY up there on my lost of most hated movies).
Done! LOL. It just looks terrible; the whole premise.
We rented the movie on DVD when it first came out. My son and I tried to watch it a number of times. He may have gotten through it once, but I just couldn’t. The story was secondary to the effects, and the movie overall didn’t hold my interest.
Both of us felt at the time that we were missing something because we didn’t see it in 3-D. IDK now if that was the problem.
If it comes on Netflix, I
might give it a go but I am not paying to see it.
Sounds like 3D was the way to see it.
Last summer I made an impromptu trip to WDW. I didn't have time to watch Avatar before I left. I still wanted to see Pandora. It was beautiful and neat, but it didn't really make sense to me.
Before our trip in October, I made it a point to watch Avatar shortly before our trip. It made a big difference in my experience, especially Navi River Journey. The first time I rode it I thought "Wow, this is pretty, I don't get it". The second time, I thought "Ohhhhhh!"
If you can find time to watch the movie, I'd do it. It's not my favorite movie, but I didn't hate it.
I have the time.....thank you. I keep going back and forth. I suppose in my vacillating I could have just watched the darn movie. LOL.
DH and I saw the movie in IMAX many years ago. He was a a big fun of the special effects and has patiently waited what seems like forever for a second installment. Would never imagine the land would open first. For me it is an enhancement of the enjoyment of the land. It can still be enjoyed if you never saw the movie but you experience will be "enhanced" if you have.
I like being enhanced.
I think it’d be worth watching. Knowing how important the riding is to them in the movie made the ride feel more special. My mom hadn’t seen it and still really enjoyed the ride but she didn’t get it like I felt I did.
I am afraid I won't get it.
Not a huge fan of the movie - it was okay. You definitely do not have to watch the movie to really enjoy Pandora. If you have time to watch before you go however, I would still suggest it. I feel like it enhances the experience a bit if you understand the general idea of Pandora from the movie.
I have time for sure. I just told DH I want to watch it and he said: you will watch it for 10 minutes and think its the dumbest movie ever.
I have seen someone post a link to a video, recommending it be shown to kids who aren't going to watch the movie but will ride the ride. Sounded like it was a short introduction to the land and characters maybe. Anyone know that link?
I would love to see that! I hope someone posts it.
If you've seen Dances With Wolves and The Smurfs then just combine them in your head and you'll see Avatar.
I have seen both. Sounds horrific.
The only hole in that argument is the TLM was a really good movie!
I'd add that I didn't care much for the Avatar at all but I've watched it several times now because it's now a big franchise for Disney and there are going to be 4 (?) more movies. Who knows, you might actually enjoy the film, a lot of people did.
I wasn’t a huge Guardians of the Galaxy fan until after I rode it at California Adventure. The ride was go great, I figured the movie(s) must be okay. Maybe I’ll watch Avatar after we visit AK. 
