Slightly disappointed in flight of passage

[danielocha30]

I just lean over the edge of the boat and scream "I'm the King of A Small Wooooorrrllld...after all.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I feel the same about Pandora, yes it is impressive and well done, but is not for me, I watched the movie and never thought it will get their own land, I rather see Disney build another land with more potential, and from their many successful movies, yes the movie make millions but also did the titanic and no land was build for it

I'm guessing you've never been to Branson where you see this beauty:

 

[bryanb]

I like the Flight of Passage a lot, and it's okay if anyone else didn't. I am impressed by the work the Imagineers did on Pandora. This is despite my utter dislike for the movie, Avatar. I can't even go into all the reasons why I think it's awful. And yes, I know that it's some people's favorite movie of all time and they find it moving and thrilling that they can actually visit Pandora now and experience the message of the movie in a whole new way.

Personally, I think that licensing Avatar was a hasty reaction to Universal's success on Harry Potter. It's like Disney woke up and realized that someone else was snapping up valuable intellectual property, and they say "oh shoot, we better pick up other popular IP before someone else does." And this is where competition is good: it's the consumer who wins in the end, because with that realization, Disney went on to grab Lucasfilms and Star Wars the following year. (Which is also why, to those wondering, Star Wars didn't get built first. Avatar was the hasty desperate move, Star Wars was the followup.)

Back to FoP, I don't think there is another simulator attraction with the technology that was put into this ride. I appreciated it even more when I looked around during my second ride and realized that the ride mechanism is so different than Soarin'. I think it's well worth giving another chance on your next visit to WDW, even if you didn't like it the first time. After all the hype has calmed a bit.

 

[bryanb]

I don't know if Titanic would've been a good fit for Disney Parks. It's a real life story of thousands of people who died in one of the most horrific tragedies of civil maritime history. Yes, it made for a money-making love story filled with special effects. But they'd have to ignore part of the story where thousands of people who were trapped, while others suffered for hours until their lungs filled with icy cold salt water. It doesn't seem like a great theme park attraction. But who knows, maybe I'm just putting the wrong spin on it.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Does anyone else wish Disney picked up Harry Potter but then what park would it be in

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I'm more surprised Disney spent all that money on Pandora instead of focusing on Star Wars since the new batch of movies that have come out and still slated for release.

Well, if you are wondering why Disney might have been focusing on Avatar, the announcement of Avatar: The World of Avatar was made in 2011. Disney hadn't bought Lucasfilm until 2012. Disney began construction on Pandora in early 2014. Disney didn't even announce Star Wars Land until the 2015 D23 Expo, and did not break ground until April 2016. So, Disney was well ahead on their plans for Pandora probably before Star Wars Land was thought of. They couldn't necessarily do anything for Star Wars Land until Disney acquired it from LucasFilm or if they partnered with George Lucas in a way. There were probably tentative plans, but to start, Disney needed to get Pandora open since it took them quite a while to open from the original announcement.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Does anyone else wish Disney picked up Harry Potter but then what park would it be in

Personally, I don't. However, I haven't read any of the books or seen any of the movies. If it was to be in any of the Disney parks, I would guess DHS.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't know if Titanic would've been a good fit for Disney Parks. It's a real life story of thousands of people who died in one of the most horrific tragedies of civil maritime history. Yes, it made for a money-making love story filled with special effects. But they'd have to ignore part of the story where thousands of people who were trapped, while others suffered for hours until their lungs filled with icy cold salt water. It doesn't seem like a great theme park attraction. But who knows, maybe I'm just putting the wrong spin on it.

No I feel the same way. Museums (which is what the Branson one is) and memorials is much more appropriate IMO. For heaven's sake people died. Doesn't matter the $$ the film itself made.

China, however, is building a full-sized replica ship in a theme park. Appearantly there has been renewed interest in Titanic (the film morese than the event) in Asia....but you better believe that many don't believe it is appropriate to have a replica ship......in a theme park (called Romandisea)....and there is huge concern about whether or not it will be dealt with in a sensitivity.

From one of the articles: "A section of the attraction will also use special effects to simulate the chaos of the ship’s interior as it appeared on the fateful night of its April 14, 1912 sinking. “We will let people experience water coming in using sound and light effects, and LED light effects. They will think: ‘The water will drown me. I must escape for my life,’”

*Totally get that this is off topic just found it interesting that indeed someone, albeit China, is building something in a theme park.*

 

[Davey Jones II]

Star Wars Land was delayed because Iger wanted it to be strongly related to the new SW movies, more than the originals.

But back to FOP. If you go in with sky high expectations (no pun intended) it's hard for any ride to live up to that. Whenever I experience a new ride or land, I go in with one thought in mind: I hope I'll like it. That's it, that's all. It doesn't have to be the greatest thing ever. I never respond very much to hype. I hope it'll be good, and I hope I'll like it. Try it with an open mind; you won't often be disappointed.

 

[OB1]

Well, ain't a ride on property that suits everyone. This one isn't for you. Don't ride again. Problem solved, no?
We'll take all your rides, no problem. We think it's the best ride I've ever done, any theme park in the country.
But, by no means does that mean everyone has to like it.
You don't "get it'. There are other rides I don't get, and others do. Beauty of Disney, there are lots of choices

So true. We were blown away by this ride, and the entire area. Potter has a leg up since we know the Potter world and there are 7 books/8 movies to support it. Too bad the 2nd movie was not released this summer.

We were not blown away by Rivers of Lights, Country Bears, Frozen Ever After, or Illuminations. Some of these are favorites, but not ours. I'm sure we won't all agree on the best & worst places to eat either - even though very few people like the Beverly drink!!

 

[AngiTN]

Does anyone else wish Disney picked up Harry Potter but then what park would it be in

No, Universal did great with HP. Disney wouldn't have done better. Disney has plenty of materials to work with, they didn't need HP too.

 

[DisBuckMan]

But back to FOP. If you go in with sky high expectations (no pun intended) it's hard for any ride to live up to that. Whenever I experience a new ride or land, I go in with one thought in mind: I hope I'll like it. That's it, that's all. It doesn't have to be the greatest thing ever. I never respond very much to hype. I hope it'll be good, and I hope I'll like it. Try it with an open mind; you won't often be disappointed.

Agree completely. I did not care for the movie Avatar at all, but I have the ability to separate my feelings and entered the World of Pandora with a completely open mind...and was not disappointed in the least. It's truly amazing what Disney has done with the theming of Pandora. Universal really raised the bar with the HP worlds, and it seems Disney has responded by upping their game with Pandora, and I would imagine that Star Wars at HS will be equally incredible. The sky is the limit for what the Star Wars franchise can offer as far as theming and ride possibilities.

I really enjoyed the FOP ride, but as I've said in another thread regarding the subject...I really hope it doesn't start Disney down the path of reliance on simulators and screens rather than true dark rides with real theming and animatronics. Other than the HP worlds and Jurassic Park area, Universal/IoA are very dull parks as far as theming goes. Oddly, I think IoA had a huge swing and a miss with the Lost Continent area of that park...the theming is actually really good, but there's no attraction there worth visiting for. Poseidon's Fury is an absolute snooze-fest. I get why they make you stand up during the whole thing.

I enjoy going to Universal, and I get that part of their problem is space-related...but I just hate their over-reliance (my opinion) on simulators and screens. I'm surprised they don't sell personalized 3d glasses in the gift shops there.

 

[DOOM1001]

Does anyone else wish Disney picked up Harry Potter but then what park would it be in

No I don't,they would have screwed it up.At that point in time Disney had no real competition and they wouldn't have invested as much as Universal into the project,it would have been a ride with maybe a mini land.There's talk that there was some sort of agreement between Disney and Rowling but at some point Rowling realized Disney wanted too much control and wouldn't have put enough money into the project.Universal has two lands in two theme parks with a Hogwarts express train connecting the two,Potter is where it's supposed to be.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My only issue was how big the dang 3d glasses were. I had to hold them on my face. After the ride my son asked why I held the glasses on.

I told him it was because I didn't have his big head and they kept slipping down. He's 21 and laughed at that answer. I wish they had smaller 3d glasses.

 

[DisBuckMan]

No I don't,they would have screwed it up.At that point in time Disney had no real competition and they wouldn't have invested as much as Universal into the project,it would have been a ride with maybe a mini land.There's talk that there was some sort of agreement between Disney and Rowling but at some point Rowling realized Disney wanted too much control and wouldn't have put enough money into the project.Universal has two lands in two theme parks with a Hogwarts express train connecting the two,Potter is where it's supposed to be.

Agree 100%. Disney wouldn't have done it justice. On the other hand, developing the HP lands woke both Universal, and hopefully Disney (if Pandora is any indication), up to taking things to the next level. We, the customer, are the winners.

 

[Davey Jones II]

What I read was that Rowling wanted a Potter land, and Disney wanted to build just a ride. And negotiations were going too slowly, so she just decided to go to Universal. She walked out with a deal the very same day. Maybe Disney has too much bureaucracy and red tape.

 

[Bullseye]

Rode FOP twice in early June, feel it is easily the best ride in WDW.

 

[ucfknight]

Oddly, I think IoA had a huge swing and a miss with the Lost Continent area of that park...the theming is actually really good, but there's no attraction there worth visiting for.

That's because the current Lost Continent is only a small portion of what that land was when the park opened. What is now the Wizarding World of Harry Potter used to be part of the Lost Continent. When they got the Harry Potter IP they took most of the existing attractions and buildings from the Lost Continent and rethemed them to Potter. The "Dragon's Challenge" coaster used to be Dueling Dragons when it was part of Lost Continent. The Flight of the Hippogrif used to be the Flying Unicorn. Many of the shops and pubs in Hogsmeade are just rethemed buildings that used to be medieval themed when they were in the Lost Continent. I'm not sure why they didn't just take over the last bit of Lost Continent and make the remaining couple of attractions Potter themed as well. Hogwart's Castle itself was all new, but most of the rest used to be part of Lost Continent.

 

[bryanb]

No I don't,they would have screwed it up.At that point in time Disney had no real competition and they wouldn't have invested as much as Universal into the project,it would have been a ride with maybe a mini land.There's talk that there was some sort of agreement between Disney and Rowling but at some point Rowling realized Disney wanted too much control and wouldn't have put enough money into the project.Universal has two lands in two theme parks with a Hogwarts express train connecting the two,Potter is where it's supposed to be.

Yeah, and if Disney had won the rights to build Harry Potter IP, I don't think a spark would've been lit under Disney. It's not because Disney is lazy, but comfort breeds complacency. As you become dominant in an industry, you start to spend all your energy milking your cash cows and protecting your monopoly, instead of innovating. Universal is good for Disney, and Disney is good for Universal.

 

[AngiTN]

. Universal is good for Disney, and Disney is good for Universal.

this can't be said strongly enough

Universal was week before Disney started to really get strong with 4 parks. Universal went after Potter and then started to grab some of Disney's share of the market. It woke Disney up. They most definitely need each other and more importantly we the consumer need them to need each other to make each other stay on their game