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

[Disfan1968]

Getting ready to make my 60+10 fast pass reservations this Wednesday morning. Have people had difficulty getting reservations for Flights of Passage early on in their 10 day window, or has availability been good? I will be trying to schedule a fast pass for day 4 of 10 and day 8 of 10.

Thanks in advance.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So there are some banshees that are better than others? Bummer. I hate being disappointed when I don't get optimal seating. Like in Soarin' when I don't get first row, or Test Track when I get in the back row. It will be nice when imagineeers come up with a way for everyone to get the same ride experience.

I will be there solo in a few weeks. So you would suggest that I not volunteer when they ask for single riders? I'll be in the fastpass line. Do they even request single riders from that line?

the variance I'd say is much, much less than on, say, Soarin' where the bending of the scenes is very drastic when on the side but fairly minimal when in the middle

So it might not be 100% the same experience for everyone, but it is pretty darn close

 

[kmb584]

Getting ready to make my 60+10 fast pass reservations this Wednesday morning. Have people had difficulty getting reservations for Flights of Passage early on in their 10 day window, or has availability been good? I will be trying to schedule a fast pass for day 4 of 10 and day 8 of 10.

Thanks in advance?

I had no difficulty in April booking FoP for June, but it is the FP+ of the moment so I imagine that they're going faster than they did. I would start with day 8, then move to day 4, then book your remaining days.

 

[ThistleMae]

Disney builds very short rides now. Both of the Avatar rides are less than 5 minutes. For no real reason. Once the new wears off, FoP will have a shorter line, and could easily deliver for 6 minutes, while only increasing cycle time about 20%. And increasing budget almost insignificantly.

NRJ was just budget cheapness. Adding 2 more minutes would have increased budget quite a bit, but really, adding 2 more areas would make it much more rerideable.

Many people are Gaga over Journey to the Center of the Earth, very similar to NRJ, but with actual thrills A slow ride past amazing scenery, then a huge, incredible animatron. But then it is followed by thrills. It's very good. But if it had two more caverns and a secondary AA, I would consider it absolutely incredible.

Disney, especially WDW, is in "just enough" mode now. Add a cool coaster to TSL. Wait, that's too cool, this smaller version is good enough to keep people in line.

That's kind of sad...but I get the financial reasoning in a way. For me....I would rather make the most amazing, incredible rides with a modest profit, then a pretty good ride with a gigantic profit...but that's how most business operate I imagine. I have just never understood why someone can't be satisfied with "enough" over "we're making a killing". I would think being the most fabulous place on earth would justify the difference.

 

[heidica]

Getting ready to make my 60+10 fast pass reservations this Wednesday morning. Have people had difficulty getting reservations for Flights of Passage early on in their 10 day window, or has availability been good? I will be trying to schedule a fast pass for day 4 of 10 and day 8 of 10.

Thanks in advance?

I did my 60 day FP+ picks on June 9th and our AK day is August 11th. I didn't have trouble getting FP for a party of 6 but the earliest time available that day was 12:40pm. Nothing in the morning. In the end, I was happy to get any time. Yesterday, I was looking around FP and found that no FP were showing available starting August 8th and then going backwards. As many have already said, those trying to get FP at 30 days will be nearly impossible.

 

[ThistleMae]

Well, if I can't get FP's for 30 days out, I'm thinking the afternoon, when it's super hot, will be the best time to get into standby. What do u all think?

 

[Disfan1968]

deleted

 

[Disfan1968]

Well, if I can't get FP's for 30 days out, I'm thinking the afternoon, when it's super hot, will be the best time to get into standby. What do u all think?

My understanding is you would need to rope drop this to get any kind of "short" wait. Otherwise be prepared for a long 90 min+ wait.

 

[anna0513]

and even the rope drop is too late if I'm understanding it right

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Getting ready to make my 60+10 fast pass reservations this Wednesday morning. Have people had difficulty getting reservations for Flights of Passage early on in their 10 day window, or has availability been good? I will be trying to schedule a fast pass for day 4 of 10 and day 8 of 10.

Thanks in advance.

I made our FP reservations on June 8th for Aug 12-14. I had choice of ANY time for FoP at that time. I was online right at 7am.

 

[CAS239]

After my first ride, I stopped volunteering for single Rider. It guarantees you slot 16, in my opinion not the best view and does not save much time.

Not necessarily. I was brought out of line with another guy, he got seat 1 I got seat 16. But yea odds are higher to be 16

I thought the view was just as fine as a middle seat

 

[CAS239]

and even the rope drop is too late if I'm understanding it right

If you're goal is to ride one of the popular rides like FoP, River Journey, 7dmt, or Frozen..then I'd recommend being at the park entrance 45-60min prior to when you can get in (so even for EMH I'd still recommend 45-60min prior)

This will give you a big benefit of being in front of a lot of people. If you show up right at park opening, there's going to be a ton of people in front of you.

When we rope drop Epcot to do Soarin, we usually arrive at 8am for a 9am opening. We're among the front of the park and quickly walk straight to Frozen. Usually on with a 0-20 min wait. Those behind us that arrived at the gates right at 9, they could be looking at a 60 or 70 min wait already

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

Well I'm back from a fun weekend at WDW! First time at Pandora and I LOVED it!

Flights of Passage-- my friend and I had a FP and we LOVED it! The pre show was a little weird, that guy was super awkward but it didn't take away from the ride at all. I'll attach a photo of myself. I'm about a size 16/18 and had no problem at all fitting into thw restraints. Couldn't even feel the leg restraints. I have short legs so they were more against the backs of my knees and thighs. The back restraint feels tight at first, but you totally forget it once the ride starts. And it is BREATHTAKING. Everyone was oohing and aahing and it was so magical. Can't wait to ride again!

River Journey-- cute ride! About the length of FEA. We had nothing else to so, so we waited in an "85 minute" wait. It ended up being only about 40 min so we were glad!

The land itself is beautiful, day and night. Lots of shade so it wasn't scalding during mid day. We loved the gift shop! They had blue/purple and blue/black banshees up for adoption. My friend adopted one for her husband. I resisted! I'll be back in July and I plan to be splurging quite a lot. However, couldn't resist getting the AP LE magic band and the LE women's shirt. So soft! But runs super small. All in all amazing! So nice to experience such a unique land!

 

[ItsLayne]

So there are some banshees that are better than others? Bummer. I hate being disappointed when I don't get optimal seating. Like in Soarin' when I don't get first row, or Test Track when I get in the back row. It will be nice when imagineeers come up with a way for everyone to get the same ride experience.

I will be there solo in a few weeks. So you would suggest that I not volunteer when they ask for single riders? I'll be in the fastpass line. Do they even request single riders from that line?

I raised my hand three times when they asked for a party of one - two times I got seat 8, one time I got seat 16. I think it all depends on how the larger parties fall in the order.

the variance I'd say is much, much less than on, say, Soarin' where the bending of the scenes is very drastic when on the side but fairly minimal when in the middle

So it might not be 100% the same experience for everyone, but it is pretty darn close

I did definitely notice some slight distortion when in seat 16, but it wasn't as bad as Old Soarin' was. Just felt like I had to look slightly more to the left than straight ahead.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I did definitely notice some slight distortion when in seat 16, but it wasn't as bad as Old Soarin' was. Just felt like I had to look slightly more to the left than straight ahead.

I agree - one time I was in an early number seat so more off to the side and felt I did have to look "right" a little more than the second time when I was more in the middle.

Just to me it was a similar/almost equal experience while on the new Soarin' sitting towards the side nearly ruins the ride for me compared to being in the middle

 

[Capang]

My understanding is you would need to rope drop this to get any kind of "short" wait. Otherwise be prepared for a long 90 min+ wait.

Rope drop is very crowded right now. I'd go for mid afternoon.

 

[Disfan1968]

Rope drop is very crowded right now. I'd go for mid afternoon.

That's interesting feedback! Guidance that I have been looking at recently, be it Touring Plans projections, or peeking at my phone to see line times at various times throughout the day, or hearing anecdotal info from the boards and one person I know who was there last week, had been showing waits of an hour or so at rope drop and nothing less than two or so hours from that point on all day long. If these are wrong and the PP is right, I'd certainly be interested in anyone else's thoughts who might be able to corroborate that. I might rethink a few things for my upcoming trip.

 

[Cappy81]

Can anyone tell me if FOP offers Rider Swap? Also how much time to bugdet from entering FP line to end of ride. Trying to figure out something for parent 1 and toddler to do while parent 2 and older child ride FOP.

 

[PrincessV]

Can anyone tell me if FOP offers Rider Swap? Also how much time to bugdet from entering FP line to end of ride. Trying to figure out something for parent 1 and toddler to do while parent 2 and older child ride FOP.

Yes, rider swap is available at FOP. I've only FPd on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, but my first FP wait was around 15-20 minutes, the second was no wait - we walked all the way through to the first pre-show room.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

My understanding is you would need to rope drop this to get any kind of "short" wait. Otherwise be prepared for a long 90 min+ wait.

Rope drop is very crowded right now. I'd go for mid afternoon.

That's interesting feedback! Guidance that I have been looking at recently, be it Touring Plans projections, or peeking at my phone to see line times at various times throughout the day, or hearing anecdotal info from the boards and one person I know who was there last week, had been showing waits of an hour or so at rope drop and nothing less than two or so hours from that point on all day long. If these are wrong and the PP is right, I'd certainly be interested in anyone else's thoughts who might be able to corroborate that. I might rethink a few things for my upcoming trip.

My 2 cents based on my MDE wait times graphs 5/31-6/10...
https://www.disboards.com/threads/o...rmation-thread.3587311/page-355#post-57726337
https://www.disboards.com/threads/o...rmation-thread.3587311/page-355#post-57726423

• If you REALLY CAN be there AHEAD of rope drop those still will be your shortest waits of the day.
• HOWEVER, if you are there even 15-30min later, you may as well wait until 3pm or so. The waits build VERY QUICKLY in the morning.
• There is a drop-off in waits after 9/9:30 or so

All of these patterns could obviously change. That's the best I feel I have to go on for now.