Today's preview allowed invited local reporters access to the land's two new attractions: The Soarin'-style Flight of Passage and Disney's first all-new indoor boat ride in the U.S. in nearly three decades, the Na'vi River Journey.
Avatar. pic.twitter.com/kxPAgxrVXp
— Sandra Pedicini (@SandraPedicini) April 29, 2017
As previously reported, Flight of Passage is a motion theater ride where visitors straddle ride seats that allow them to share the experience of their "avatar" riding on the back of a flying Mountain Banshee on the world of Pandora, the setting for the 2008 blockbuster James Cameron film. The queue for the ride sets up the story and includes some magnificent decoration, including the avatar animatronic above.
On Na’vi River Journey, visitors board eight-passenger reed boats for a four and a half minute voyage through the bioluminescent forest of Pandora, culminating in an encounter with the nearly 10-foot-tall Na'vi Shaman of Songs.
From the park's press release:
Music is central in Na’vi culture. Guests observe the shaman in the midst of a musical ceremony, playing an instrument and singing. Through her music, the shaman sends positive energy into the rainforest, telling of the sacred bond with nature that Na’vi and humans share.
"Na'vi River Journey is a very sweet, lyrical adventure through a spectacular visual environment that just becomes more and more spectacular as you go on," Creative Director Joe Rohde said. "The bioluminescent activity of the plants around you unfolds in richer and richer scenes in really just a very uplifting, wonderful kind of journey."
In addition, reporters were allowed to sample some of the new Asian-fusion-inspired "other worldly" cuisine at the land's Satu’li Canteen.
Coolest looking cheesecake ever pic.twitter.com/ArgeNozTpF
— Sandra Pedicini (@SandraPedicini) April 29, 2017
Pandora - The World of Avatar opens officially on May 27. Disney will begin scheduled previews for annual passholders and Disney Vacation Club in mid-May and show off the land for a major media event on May 24. With the land now being shown to media, we need some catchy social media hashtag that fans can use to track whether the land soft-opens to the public. (Like #PotterWatch, #ChanceofReign, or #BayWatch for Universal's recent openings.) Suggestions?
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(Chuckle)
If you want to see a well done animatronic, see Kong.
And yes, UO is one BIG IP away from blowing open Orlando. : )
Down in the horizon, there's Nintendo Land, waiting to stomp on SWL and Pandora land.
Makes me chuckle at the thought of it
Robert, are you able to tour the land next month at all? Interested to read your take on it.
I respond: Um ... It's an alien. To a degree it's supposed to be creepy, right?
Again, the word the writer chose was "staggering."
There is true sense of surprise that is tied up in an admiration of the inexplicable. It’s not something that can be entirely captured in photo or video. This must be experienced in person to fully grasp the nature of what has been accomplished here."
DBCooper your talking about the growling head animatronic right? Where is its arms and body? I'm curious! In terms of animatronics, universal is no where near Disney! Good try though!
However it is visually stunning. The magnetic sand "creature" was neat. Looks to be a pretty solid land from the glimpses we have so far. Will be interesting to see this at night.
Basically this is the Star Wars land we should have received in the first place, but because of poor timing and business negotiations it happens to be themed to Avatar. I don't believe this land would have come to fruition if the Lucasfilm deal would have been finalized earlier in 2011.
What Disney does have is what appears to be a visually impressive land that will certainly increase attendance for Animal Kingdom exponentially this year. Looking at the long term, I think that DHS will have an enormous increase in attendance once Star Wars comes on line. When this happens, Animal Kingdom and Epcot will become the third and fourth choice for families deciding which park to visit due to either capacity issues at DHS or their overall plan for their vacations places them in this order. If Epcot continues to flounder without any new attractions that aren't quick fix overlays, it will find itself sitting in a very lonely fourth place. It will also be interesting to see if Avatar resonates as a viable IP that the general public is familiar with in the next ten years or if this land will find its footing based on the theme-ing and attractions with visitors thinking, "there was a film based on this land? I've never heard of it."
I Respond: So if WDW adds two brand new attractions to Epcot that are based upon popular IP -- adding further support to new attractions at DAK, DHS and the most popular park on the planet (Magic Kingdom) -- then Disney sews up a solid audience. Four theme parks with a combined annual attendance of more than 60 million guests?
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