Review: Pandora, The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom, May 2017

If I had to wait longer than 30 minutes for the boat ride, I'd be pissed. Pirates is definitely a better ride.

I look forward to doing Flight of Passage again some day. That was pretty cool. I was just excited that my kid would do it. It seems like they're overthinking the grouping of people for the ride, and you'd think the pre-show stuff would mitigate any delays, but I'm not sure it is.

Love the haterade in this review...

https://filmschoolrejects.com/amusement-park-progress/

That article made me think.

If something with no attachment to most people like Avatar still somehow manages to disappoint, then what's the deal with Star Wars going to be?

Will it be a case of such love for the IP that literal crap in a bucket with a logo would make people happy or are there such high expectations that nothing will be good enough?

Because if it falls to the latter, that could get real interesting, real quick.

What happens if the reaction to Star Wars is as overwhelmingly "meh" as I've seen the reaction to Avatar end up...or worse?

I haven't paid much attention to it other than looking at the plans for the "land" but if they plan on just reskinning existing rides I think there will be some disappointment... but Star Wars...

I can't speak to Disney, but my 12 year old son told us he was bored with Universal when we were there last summer. He said he wanted to go on real rides like they have at Cedar Point and not simulators like Universal has. I thought that was an interesting comment. It looks like he is not alone in his opinion given the authors perspective.

I would guess that if an attraction is relying on its IP to overcome a boring experience that IP better be very relevant and very immersive. If it is "meh" like some folks think Avatar is then the ride better be really good. If both the ride and the IP are "meh" I think it is trouble.

Star Wars will get the kind of reception that Harry Potter had, if not more intense. The signature rides over there are cool, but it's stepping into that familiar universe that makes people gush about it.

Star Wars has been a cultural force (see what I did there?) for decades. Avatar has not. I get excited about the little light and fireworks show they're doing at DHS right now, just because it's Star Wars. Put me in a fully realized land and I'm sure I'll cry.

I'm not even overly *into* Star Wars, and when I hear the music starting for the march, I ran to the street every time.

In my experience, 12 y.o. is just about the time when immersive themes aren't "cool" and bigger, taller, and faster becomes the metric. That lasts about until real life sets in again around the time of kids (and disposable income).

I fail to relate. I have kids, and as a direct correlation, no longer have disposable income.

Maybe it's not true on an individual basis, but I bet per caps are much higher for families with kids.

I'm sure they are.

"I'm hungry.."

"Ok, I'll buy you this sandwich you will wind up throwing away 1/2 of"

"I'm thirsty"

"Finish your drink you have there"

"It's warm and tastes gross"..... "I'm realllllly thirsty"

"I'm hungry again" .... "ew, this sandwich has a tiny piece of onion on it, I don't want it anymore, it tastes gross"

At least, that's my experience with how a 10-12 year old operates :)

Hell, that's how I operate.

ApolloAndy said:

In my experience, 12 y.o. is just about the time when immersive themes aren't "cool" and bigger, taller, and faster becomes the metric. That lasts about until real life sets in again around the time of kids (and disposable income).

I must still be a 12 yo at heart. The simulators are pretty cool the first couple of times that I ride them but on the 3rd time my brain figures it out that I am not really flying or falling a hundred feet. At that point the ride loses its appeal to me. I guess my son is a chip off the old block - I still prefer a roller coaster to a simulator.

I think I'll write a whole TR about AK at night, but I'll add now that Pandora at night does not change my overall impression. In fact, I know I'll take crap for this, but all of the black lights make me think of a super fancy Disaster Transport. The "floating" rock formation is actually hard to see at all.