Just Back 9/1 - 9/6 With Pandora Rope Drop

[JDOrlando]

Just got back from a short trip and wanted to share a few things, especially about the Pandora rides.

Hotel - Stayed at Kidani Village Savannah View. We found everything about the resort, staff, food, etc. to be exceptional.

Cast Members - With the exception of 1, all of the cast members we interacted with were excellent.

Pandora - We attempted a EMH rope drop and arrived about 45 minutes prior to the 8:00 opening. We were let in the gates at about 7:30 and were held at the bridge to discovery island. At about 7:50 a cast member came out and explained that both Pandora rides were down and encouraged people to head towards other rides. Some people were extremely upset and even rude to the cast members delivering the message.

Pandora #2 - Non EMH day rope drop and got there about an hour early. We were let to the gates at around 8:25, let into discovery island at 8:35, and stopped at the bridge to Pandora until right at 9:00. At that point we were funneled towards Africa and formed a line for FoP. We were in the gift shop after the attraction at 9:45. We fast passed river journey later that day. I was not overly impressed with Pandora. I found the river journey to be a bit boring and short, next time we probably want bother riding it. I did enjoy the FoP ride system and effects, but I did not feel like it gained anything by being themed to Avatar. I felt like the ride would have been just as good or better themed to something else. I saw the movie but was never a big Avatar fan. We have someone with us who has a fear of heights (can't even stand on ladders), and he did not have a problem with FoP.

 

[sharonabe]

Pandora #2 - Non EMH day rope drop and got there about an hour early. We were let to the gates at around 8:25, let into discovery island at 8:35, and stopped at the bridge to Pandora until right at 9:00. At that point we were funneled towards Africa and formed a line for FoP. We were in the gift shop after the attraction at 9:45.

Can you estimate where you were in the line? Just from the 45 minutes it took, I'm assuming you were not near the front, but you did get there an hour before opening, so maybe you were.

 

[JDOrlando]

Can you estimate where you were in the line? Just from the 45 minutes it took, I'm assuming you were not near the front, but you did get there an hour before opening, so maybe you were.

I felt like we were close to the front. At the bridge entering Pandora we were maybe only 20 ft from the cast members holding the crowds back. The issue is that the huge crowd then had to funnel into a single file que. Most of our wait was in the extended que across from the actual attraction que and in the attraction que before the bridge where people stop to take pictures. After the bridge we walked (without stopping) all the way to where you are sorted into groups and go either up or down a ramp. I assumed most of our "wait" was waiting for the people in front of us to take pictures since it was essentially a walk on after the picture points. We also lined up at the leftmost turnstile before opening and moved into the dining reservation line when it opened, I think that helped.

 

[DisneyFive]

Good report. Thank you.

Dan