***Official*** Pandora: The World of Avatar Information Thread

[CAS239]

i get his point but i do wonder about the lasting power of the Pandora land beyond the FOP attraction. especially if the subsequent movies aren't successful.

I think it'll remain popular and continue to last. I also think the following sequels will do extremely well. I think the land does a good job because you don't have to like or even have seen Avatar to enjoy Pandora.

And it's been mentioned that they have room to expand onto Pandora. So we might see another ride or maybe more

 

[TheMaxRebo]

MANY thanks for all of the opening day observations yesterday!! I feel as prepared as I can be to face Pandora today. Our original plan was to use our FOP FP at 7:30pm, then do other AK stuff and go back to Pandora for EMH, but based on last night's reports, I think we'd do better to stay in Pandora after FOP until we've had enough and use EMH for other AK rides, or just call it a night.

I think today looks to be very busy again so I would do the other AK stuff first and then use your FP+ to skip the line and get into Pandora and just stay there for the rest of the night

 

[CAS239]

Park opened at 8am (no morning EMH). Currently at 9am

River Journey at 3 hour wait. Flight of Passage at 4 hour 15 min wait

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

How do you think FoP will be for younger children (8-10 range)? Too intense?

I haven't ridden yet, but I'd imagine it's like any ride, where knowing your kids is key, and experiences will be pretty varied. My DD rode ToT when she was 7 or 8 and LOVED it!! Her big bad older brother is 12 now and doesn't want to touch it with a 10ft pole! That said, from the descriptions of FoP, both of my kids would have been fine with it at 8.

I have said this before and I'll say it again. Mobile Ordering is the best!!
I used it 3 times yesterday. First I used it around 8:30 am for breakfast. The ordering line was about 10 minutes. I sat down and ordered my food through the app, paid and said "I'm here" in 2 minutes got the notiffication that it was ready and proceed to the Mobile pick up window. It took less than a minute
For lunch the regular wait was about 15 minutes at 3pm, they notified me my food was ready in about 5 minutes.
In the evening I wanted to try the Mo'ara beer and Pongu Pongu line was about 20 minutes long, I remembered seeing this beer in the Satu'li menu, ordered it, had it in my hand within 5 minutes
Obviously wait times will get longer as people learn about this but still no need to wait in line anymore, you could wait sitting at your table

Hmmm.... it works for DRINKS ONLY you say.....

 

[rteetz]

just saw Alex from WDW tweet out that single rider is open this morning and currently 0 minute wait

1. Alex‏ @WDWalex 58m58 minutes ago
   For all those wondering, single rider for Flight of Passage is OPEN and there is currently a 0 minute wait #visitpandora
   
   
   
   
   0 replies0 retweets1 like
   

That's good as it wasn't open yesterday.

 

[IrishNYC]

yes, like I said from the 10 only one didn't fit.
If I'm able to I'll go Monday and have my daughter record me testing it. Like I said before I'm 5'2" and about 190lbs. so def. short and fluffy
I will also take a lot of detailed pictures of the seat, especially where your legs go

Thank you so much for putting yourself out there for us fluffies!

Nor do we. But when you have one with ASD and one with SPD you also have to be realistic about their coping abilities, and the possibility of them coming off in a screaming, crying meltdown which ultinately will affect the rest of the trip.

Well, that's a different question than what you asked originally.

 

[TXMemaw]

We got in the SB line for NRJ right at 8:00 when it was showing a 60 minute wait. It took us 50 minutes to get on the ride. It is a short ride but really pretty. The SB line is up to 180 minutes now. Having breakfast at the Satu'li Canteen before using our 9:45 FO for FOP. We have beenreally impressed so far. Probably not going to the store as that line is LONG already.

 

[sjs314]

So I just got home, I ended up closing the place down.... I'm going back tomorrow night, AK was completely empty.. There was a family that got on EE at 11:30, and didn't get off of it until 12:30.. 15 rides, never got out of the seat. It was MK after hours dead, except for pandora where everyone was hiding...

I had an amazing day.. I planned getting in perfect with my normal lets walk around for an hour and then had a great meal at tifffins at 3. tiffins was half empty and the rol package guests were coming in as I was leaving. I walked out to the line being let in and no line for a couple hours.. Pandora got really packed but no wait.. I even ran for a smoke break and back and had to walk the line but they never stopped it from going in. Hung out with a lot of vloggers, didn't see anyone from dis there but it was packed so it was easy to miss people.

After I left which was right about 11pm when I noticed the last set of fastpass riders were let in just before emh started after the line had been closed for a couple hours. pandora was really nice for a couple hours, the ride lines disappeared into the queue, you had nobody to bump into you similar to preview for pandora at night.

Disney handled this amazing. Shade, water along the line to get in.. Mobile ordering is amazing, even with long lines for food you could order in the app and get your food in 5 minutes. Fastpass got a shorter line but it was far, they checked and you couldn't go in until it was your fastpass time. Lines were longer than spring but shorter than summer so pandora was a good distraction for those that did AK in it's entirety today.. The land was designed with paths to form longer lines.. so what looked like a lot of senseless walkways, really gave a spot for a line to be put up so even though 90% of pandora was a line for something, there was nobody really in the way to just walk around and explore... The uniformed security/police being all along the lines with cm kept everyone at bay. It seemed like everyone came expecting to be in long lines all day and even with it almost hitting 100F, everyone was in amazing spirits, that is until it got close to dark when many started to show up to see it at night and the rudeness appeared and strong words almost ending in fights but the security force was right there to calm it down with a quick "are you really sure you want to go to jail and get banned from disney right now".

Oh they even added a third ROL at 11:45, including fastpasses. I decided to check it out, fastpass was packed, standby was about 40% full. I got a great front row, nobody around me 360 of it. The show is much better when your closer to it but I also knew the show so it wasn't confusing. I wasn't near the middle but had a great night. I'm heading back and going to rent an ecv to just roll around the place with the 360 camera.. Of course in remembrance to Bob, seems like a fitting week to do that and a perfect time with no crowd while everyone is hiding in pandora..

Oh they added projectors being the tree so the tree of life animations that happen randomly can be seen from behind as well.. I noticed the projectors but never around at night to see it happen.

Loved going the first day.. as long as you go in ready to wait and what the heat is going to be like, it's a fun time.

Does ROL have designated spots for people in ECV or do you park and sit in regular seating? TIA

 

[dina444444]

Just got on the tram in the parking lot, currently a minimum of 30 minute wait to get into the land.

 

[cigar95]

And it's been mentioned that they have room to expand onto Pandora. So we might see another ride or maybe more

Oh yes, Walter. Nothing has been greenlighted, not is there a time line, but the plans kicking around Imagineering include a "super-headliner" attraction and a combined table/counter-service restaurant. With all the other development going on, and only so many people who work on these sorts of things, I have to think they are several years off. Hopefully not a decade.

 

[HydroGuy]

Definitely FoP - that seems to be the big ride and no matter how good the queue is, a multi hour line is still a multi hour line

I know the river ride had long lines today (well, yesterday at this point) but based on feedback and not everyone thinking it was worth the wait I don't expect that to retain long lines like FoP will

All I hear/read is people doing FoP multiple times if they can vs River Ride being more of a "one and done" even for people that liked it

My thoughts exactly after my visit yesterday.

 

[loutoo]

If theoretical hourly ride capacities are accurate for FoP and NRJ, then yesterday's numbers are staggering. FoP has a theoretical operating capacity of just over 1200 per hour, NRJ is around 2700. Yesterday Pandora was open for more than 16.5 hours. That means about 20,000 travelers experienced FoP yesterday and nearly 45,000 rode NRJ. For a little perspective 20,000 is approximately the population of my home town, or, to put it another way, 20,000 is also the average capacity of an NBA arena.

65,000 total rides with little or no reports of down time or operational issues for an opening of this scale is amazing. Well done Disney! They finished the work ahead of schedule, ran strong testing through previews, identified and corrected issues throughout the previews, and opened with two attractions ready to roll full force.

That is a tribute to the amazing cast members from the Rhode and his imagineering team all the way down to front line ride operators. When you compare this to the reports which came out of Universal's Volcano Bay Opening this weekend you can see how amazing this accomplishment truly is.

 

[HydroGuy]

I don't think they are opening up cancelled FP+ in Pandora. Yesterday, @yulilin3 tried to coordinate it. I had a FP for ds and I. He wasn't up to tyre crowds. Cancelled each one individually, and neither showed up for her to snag.

Yesterday just after we left Pandora we were in line for FOTLK around 1:30PM. We were talking to a young couple from Texas. They were staying offsite and had no Pandora FPs and were asking us about our Pandora experience. She asked me for tips on how to keep the MDE FP selections refreshed. A couple minutes later an NRJ FP opened and she got it. They hightailed it out of the FOTLK line to Pandora.

I checked for NRJ or especially FOP FPs all afternoon and never saw anything open for 2 people. But from what I experienced in the FOTLK line, I concluded Disney is releasing cancelled NRJ/FOP FPs the same as for any other ride. The challenge is of course that folks are holding tight onto those FPs.

 

[rteetz]

For the taller people I saw a report of a slim guy who was 6'10" say he was able to get on FoP.

 

[Momtomouselover]

I think today looks to be very busy again so I would do the other AK stuff first and then use your FP+ to skip the line and get into Pandora and just stay there for the rest of the night

This is what we did last night. We had a Fp for the 7:30-8:30 time frame. We went to Pandora at about 8. We rode the River Journey shortly after and then explored Pandora for a bit and took pictures. We then got a drink and went over to the FoP line shortly after 9. The line was closed for standby guests in preparation for EMH but they scanned our bands to make sure we were resort guests and let us go sit in line. We sat and chatted, read and enjoyed our drinks for about an 1 hr 20 and then right at 10:30 they opened the FoP que and we all poured in. We were part of the first group getting on for EMH. After that we exited Pandora at 11 ish as the other EMH guests were coming in and the line to get in extended past Lion King and through that que and down the bridge (we had shopped at Windtraders earlier and rode both rides during EMH in the morning and then rode rides in the rest of AKL, ate lunch, explored a bit and rested at hotel from 3-7:30, so we were so done and tired!). We were very happy we stayed.

ETA: Our evening FP for River Journey we picked up during our late lunch at Tiffins. We started the day without any Pandora FPs and were lucky to find these for two. It really saved us a ton of time.

 

[Spridell]

For the taller people I saw a report of a slim guy who was 6'10" say he was able to get on FoP.

However, I have also seen a couple of "too tall to ride" on twitter yesterday.

So it is a crapshoot

 

[AngiTN]

65,000 total rides with little or no reports of down time or operational issues for an opening of this scale is amazing. Well done Disney! They finished the work ahead of schedule, ran strong testing through previews, identified and corrected issues throughout the previews, and opened with two attractions ready to roll full force.

That is a tribute to the amazing cast members from the Rhode and his imagineering team all the way down to front line ride operators. When you compare this to the reports which came out of Universal's Volcano Bay Opening this weekend you can see how amazing this accomplishment truly is.

I had the same thought about the numbers and how they handled the day yesterday. Yes it was crowded. But how were they supposed to handle that? They built a product, people came to see it. Only so many can fit in there at once. You sure don't want them to let in everyone at once. Then you couldn't move in the land. Letting in just enough to let you have room to stop, look and listen was great. And they did. Yes that meant lines to get in. I don't know what else they could have done.

And the rides both ran without down time, or without any major down time. I thought that was amazing. Well done

 

[wareagle57]

We got in the SB line for NRJ right at 8:00 when it was showing a 60 minute wait. It took us 50 minutes to get on the ride. It is a short ride but really pretty. The SB line is up to 180 minutes now. Having breakfast at the Satu'li Canteen before using our 9:45 FO for FOP. We have beenreally impressed so far. Probably not going to the store as that line is LONG already.

How far back were you in the RD crowd? That's just staggering. I mean SOMEONE has to get to wait for zero minutes, right?

 

[disney1474]

i get his point but i do wonder about the lasting power of the Pandora land beyond the FOP attraction. especially if the subsequent movies aren't successful.

It's been said many times already. The movies will not play a part in this land being successful or not. I'm sure of all the people that were in Pandora yesterday, there were many that haven't seen the movie. The land is beautiful during the day and beyond beautiful at night. Disney just took the idea of Pandora, the land, not the movie and made it a real world you can enjoy!

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

It's been said many times already. The movies will not play a part in this land being successful or not.

A matter of opinion, but as I've said before, I do think the IP factors into HOW SUCCESSFUL / POPULAR something is. And I think @dbavis has a legitimate point. The success or lack thereof of future movies would logically impact HOW popular this land is. Not whether it will get ANY traffic as time goes on, but how much. Think Harry Potter or Star Wars... I think IP pretty clearly matters.