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Disney - Animal Kingdom - Pandora

Posted on 1/4/18 at 10:01 pm
Posted by SmackDaniels
Gulf Breeze, FL
Member since Mar 2007
15134 posts
Posted on 1/4/18 at 10:01 pm
Has anyone checked this out? We are heading to Disney this weekend and I wasn't planning on spending much time in Animal Kingdom but I keep hearing advertisements about it.
This post was edited on 1/4/18 at 10:02 pm
Posted by CuseTiger
On the road
Member since Jul 2013
8200 posts
Posted on 1/4/18 at 10:10 pm to
Pick me! I just went over new years and had a wonderful time despite it being very crowded. The new pandora area is pretty cool especially at night. Ride wise there's the Navi River Journey and the Flight of Passage. I did not enjoy Navi River Journey, we used a fastpass on it so we got right on, but the wait time was 180 minutes. I wouldn't have waited more than 5 for it...

Now for the flight of passage, we got to the park around 10am Saturday and the line was halfway down the bridge from the pandora area to the lion king stage. For those of you who know where that bridge is, that meant the standby rider wait was roughly 300 minutes (5 hours). We skipped it, did our other rides, then came back at 8:15pm. The wait time said 250 minutes but we waited about 120 (2 hrs). The ride was well worth the 2 hr wait! Picture you're driving a motorcycle but really flying a dragon.

Food wise there was a restaurant right next to the flight of passage, think it was called Satu'li Canteen. They had some excellent build it yourself type meals so I had beef, rice, and a chimichurri sauce. I'd go late at night to this area, maybe after dinner and plan on waiting for the new ride if it's about 2 hours
Posted by SmackDaniels
Gulf Breeze, FL
Member since Mar 2007
15134 posts
Posted on 1/4/18 at 10:55 pm to
Is there a height requirement for those new rides?

And thanks for the feedback!
Posted by CuseTiger
On the road
Member since Jul 2013
8200 posts
Posted on 1/4/18 at 11:10 pm to
Online says 44 inches (3' 8") for flight of passage, na'vi river journey doesn't have any
Posted by longhorn22
Nicholls St. Fan
Member since Jan 2007
42291 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 8:24 am to
Cuse


We were out there too during New Years....we got to the park early and were able to do Navi River with a 10 min wait. Flight of Passage was already up to 2 hours so we bypassed that because we didn't want to start our day waiting in line....At minimum the rest of the trip it looked like Flight of passage always had at minimum a 4 hour wait...Just walking the area in Pandora was pretty awesome...I heard from someone else it was pretty cool at night time, but we didn't have a chance to stick around Animal Kingdom at night. All in all we had a great trip and Animal Kingdom was nice, especially Pandora.
Posted by SnowAubie
Member since Dec 2016
349 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 9:03 am to
Get a FP for FOP if you can. If you can’t, show up to AK 1 hour before park opening, they will let you in the park early and walk directly to Pandora and you will be held at the bridge to Pandora. They will typically open Pandora 30 mins early before anything else at AK opens and get immediately in line for FOP. Don’t worry about the length of the line as it will move due to no FP being used prior to official park open. We did this one morning back in October and were thru the line and ride experience and back out by 8:55am and able to then get in line to ride Safari immediately at Park opening with no wait.

The other ride is just a calm boat ride that is just themed for Avatar. We did it once but will never do it again.
Posted by longhorn22
Nicholls St. Fan
Member since Jan 2007
42291 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 9:18 am to
spot on...Navi River is good for the younger kids, but not worth any long waits...

All of these parks do open earlier than said...show up for the Extra Magic Hours even if you aren't staying on Disney..they will allow you in. Great time and good to get your day started bright and early. NYE day we did everything at Hollywood Studios in half a day then park hopped to Epcot for the rest of the day...Animal Kingdom as well could almost be done in half a day if done correctly...These fast passes are clutch if you get them for the correct rides and don't waste them on small rides.
Posted by Tyga Woods
South Central Jupiter Island, FL
Member since Sep 2016
30054 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 9:19 am to
My opinion only...after Epcot, Animal Kingdom is the best Park for adults. You’d be doing yourself a disservice not going.
Posted by The Spleen
Member since Dec 2010
38865 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 9:35 am to
quote:

Animal Kingdom is the best Park for adults.



It was mine and my wife's favorite park when we went a few years ago. It's such a more laid back vibe there. We loved just strolling around, drinking beer and letting the kids ride what they wanted. Our trip adviser/planner told us we only needed a 1/2 day there, but we ended up staying from open to close. Rode Expedition Everest a dozen times, at least.
Posted by longhorn22
Nicholls St. Fan
Member since Jan 2007
42291 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 9:41 am to
We had younger kids so in order our faves...

1)Magic Kingdom
2)Animal Kingdom
3)Hollywood Studios
4)Epcot

Over the holidays they had so many EXTRA things going on inside of Magic Kingdom and it just made it that much more special..also the classic part of Disney and Magic Kingdom was awesome. Animal Kingdom was great and wish we would have stayed longer there.
Posted by lionward2014
New Orleans
Member since Jul 2015
11704 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 10:46 am to
I was there (for my first time) on Dec. 23, and it was absolutely chaotic trying to get there. We lined up at the gate 45 minutes before opening with the plan to go straight to Pandora, and by time we got there the line was already 150 minutes. We looked a little later and it was over 240 minutes. I saw adults running and pushing people out of the way to get there, it was the craziest thing I have ever seen.

Tl;dr: If you want to do Pandora get a fast pass or plan to spend over 2 hours in line.
Posted by KirkLazarus
Member since Aug 2017
3574 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 11:14 am to
Went a few weeks before Christmas. Had a fast pass for Flight of Passage, was at the park 30 minutes before opening and the line was already 45 minutes long. Our party went ahead to Na'vi River Journey and walked on, decided it was interesting enough to walk back on and ride again to see if there was anything we missed (there was, so much detail and care taken) Did the rest of AK and went back to ride Flight of Passage, waited about 30 minutes with the fast pass but the other line was 180 minutes. Flight of Passage was jaw dropping, although we heard one person complain about the glasses slipping during the ride.

Overall the new Pandora area was incredible, as Disney always does, they pulled out all the stops. Can't wait for Star Wars Land to open up.
Posted by The Spleen
Member since Dec 2010
38865 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 11:20 am to
Good to hear it lives up to the hype. When we went, the hyped ride was the Toy Story one at Hollywood Studios. Regular line was 2 hours the whole day, and Fast Pass(this was before you set up FP ahead of time) were gone within an hour of the park opening, and the FP line was still almost an hour long. I thought it was one of the lamest rides in all the parks, and nowhere near as good as the Toy Story ride at MK.
Posted by Clark W Griswold
THE USA
Member since Sep 2012
10509 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 12:41 pm to
You gotta get to the park an hour before opening to avoid waiting more than an hour for Pandora. Which means you're already waiting 45-60 min by getting there early but bring breakfast and enjoy the views. Animal Kingdom is cool but can be done in half a day if you don't care about every show and you get fast passes for the morning. You won't be able to get a fast pass for Pandora. Even at 60 days they go immediately. I refuse to wait more than 30 min for any ride.
Posted by KirkLazarus
Member since Aug 2017
3574 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 12:50 pm to
I way at the ready the morning the 60 day window opened, it was the first ride I booked and it was still, take what you can get with the times left.


quote:

Good to hear it lives up to the hype. When we went, the hyped ride was the Toy Story one at Hollywood Studios. Regular line was 2 hours the whole day, and Fast Pass(this was before you set up FP ahead of time) were gone within an hour of the park opening, and the FP line was still almost an hour long. I thought it was one of the lamest rides in all the parks, and nowhere near as good as the Toy Story ride at MK.


A top three ride for me but that could be my competitive nature talking.




Not So Subtle Brag: Had a reservation at Victoria & Albert while there, as much as I love a few places in New York, it was easily the best meal I've ever had.
Posted by Clark W Griswold
THE USA
Member since Sep 2012
10509 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 1:57 pm to
What did you do with your kids?
Posted by KirkLazarus
Member since Aug 2017
3574 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 3:13 pm to
No kids, yet.
Posted by BigB0882
Baton Rouge
Member since Nov 2014
5308 posts
Posted on 1/5/18 at 3:16 pm to
I was there on Christmas Day. Pandora is simply amazing and is the best at night. However, you really need to do Flight of Passage and since you are doing this and didn't have plans to hit up AK I am assuming you don't have a fastpass for it. Most of the raves come from that attraction which is an experience you really can't put into words. I would still go in to see Pandora at night, even if you can't do Flight of Passage. The line without a fastpass will be 3 hours or longer. AK has some really good food if you like to try things besides burgers and mickey pretzels.
Posted by SmackDaniels
Gulf Breeze, FL
Member since Mar 2007
15134 posts
Posted on 1/7/18 at 9:10 pm to
Thanks for everyone's feedback.

My wife worked the marathon yesterday at Epcot. So we were just there this weekend. Drove in Friday night. Drove back today. (We live in Gulf Breeze, FL btw...)

We bought Park Hopper tickets and we hit all 4 parks. It was fun but not doing that again. This was an anomaly anyway, doubt we will ever be in town again just the weekend anyway.

So I was reading about everyone's advice about going at night and I was thinking damn, I'm not going to be there for the night.
However, the magic hours were for AK yesterday so we showed up at 6:25 am and like some of you said they let us in like 6:30 am. And it was a mad rush for Pandora. It was still really dark out and so my son and I got some of the effects of what it's like at night in there.
We were in line for F.O.P. at 6:50 am. We waited for about 10 mins and got in. It was awesome.

My son (he's 9) said thanks for taking me to this because he wanted to go straight to Mt Everest. I told him well I found this out from Tigerdroppings.
Posted by CuseTiger
On the road
Member since Jul 2013
8200 posts
Posted on 1/7/18 at 9:48 pm to
quote:

However, the magic hours were for AK yesterday so we showed up at 6:25 am and like some of you said they let us in like 6:30 am

glad you had an enjoyable day, but no way would I ever try and hit all 4 parks on the same day. I was beat from my 10am-10pm day at AK and that didn't include 3 park transfers by bus or monorail
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