Packing for Pandora (May 23-30th) Trip Report

[TGM]

Day 4 part 1 or Pandora Day 1​

After breakfast, we took a bus to Animal Kingdom. We started to walk towards Africa, and I started to see signs that said <--- PANDORA. Once we got to the area near Island Mercantile, there was a CM standing there.

Keep going straight for Africa, or make a right here for Pandora.

As if it were natural! Just make a right here to see a brand new land the day before it opens. No big deal.

We walked over the bridge, and started to see the Earth plants turn into Pandoran flora. Once we turned right into The Valley of Mo'ara, my jaw dropped.

When Disney says "floating mountains" they aren't kidding. There is a giant floating mountain in the sky, and it's surrounded by hundreds of Pandoran plants. There are staircases around the land that have rusted, and look like they've been there for 50 years. We wandered over to Flight of Passage, which had a 85 minute wait. Then we wandered to Na'vi River Journey. It had a 60 minute wait.

But, we had a FastPass for Flight of Passage, and nothing for Na'vi River Journey. We decided to wait for it. The queue wound around and around for about 40 minutes. Once in the ride, it reminded me of Pirates, without the pirates, the drop, and the cannons. It's a slow moving boat ride through the Pandoran jungle. The effects were incredible, and they used projectors to create insects and animals that climb across the trees. I don't know how they do it, but it looks three dimensional.

Disney is all about story. Everything has a story, everything tells a story. Disney goes through great lengths to give everything a story, even if most people don't ever follow the story (Jim Korkis, I'm looking at you).

Na'vi River Journey has no story. You are a human, and you are in a boat. You are going through the Pandoran jungle. There is also a very large Na'vi shaman that sings. There is no explanation to why.

We stopped at the bathroom. The bathroom tells a story.

Actually, I was standing outside, and a janitor walked up to me an started to tell me the story of the bathrooms.

You see, Pandora was a beautiful planet, but the RDA went there and started to mine for unobtanium. The bathroom was the decontamination facility for the RDA employees. When the PCI (Pandora Conservation Initiative) people came, they turned it into a bathroom.
After Pandora, we went to Kali River Rapids, and then to Everest.

After Everest, we went back to Pandora to check out the gift shop and Satuli'i Canteen.

Satuli'i Canteen is a lot like Panera. I got a Satuli'i Bowl (I think that's what it's called) and ordered it through the My Disney Experience app. It was VERY good. I highly recommend it.

Also, if they ask you if you want Boba Balls, say yes.

Even the Satuli'i Canteen has a story!!! It was a mess hall from the RDA!

We also went to Windtraders (the gift shop). They had some interesting things.

To be continued...

 

[chunkymonkey]

You make it sound like you strolled right into Pandora on opening day!! What time did you get there and were there any lines? I saw all the posts about the insane lines to get into Pandora not to mention the standby lines for the rides.

 

[TGM]

You make it sound like you strolled right into Pandora on opening day!! What time did you get there and were there any lines? I saw all the posts about the insane lines to get into Pandora not to mention the standby lines for the rides.

Ha ha, I didn't get to opening day yet! Day 4 was a soft opening. It was maybe 11:00 and the lines weren't awful.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Ha ha, I didn't get to opening day yet! Day 4 was a soft opening. It was maybe 11:00 and the lines weren't awful.

Ah gotcha. That's nice they had a soft opening. Was it like EMH and only for resort guests?

 

[TGM]

Ah gotcha. That's nice they had a soft opening. Was it like EMH and only for resort guests?

No, anyone could go.

 

[TGM]

Day 4 continued

We went back to the pool, and then went back to AK for our Yak and Yeti ADR. It was very good.

After that, we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris. At night.

I don't know if you've been on Kilimanjaro Safaris at night, but you aren't missing anything.

Driver: "On your left we have a...

...oh no, never mind...

Look at the lions on...

...nope, not there...

Wait! There's some...

...never mind..."

Then, we went to Dinosaur. When we saw the stand-by wait time, we were glad we had FastPasses! 70 minutes!

We walked in, and there were two other people.

I asked the CM about the 70 minute wait, and he said the sign was broken. I guess the magic doesn't work for everything.

You know, I've still never seen the big scary dinosaur. Every photo I'm in on that ride, while everyone is screaming at the dinosaur, I'm looking straight ahead. I have no idea where it is.



After that, we went back to the room.

 

[TGM]

Day 5 or Pandora Day 2​

We woke up at 6:00 and got to Animal Kingdom at 6:45.

You know, I need another vacation to recover from this vacation...

At AK, we went through bag check, scanned our bands, and stopped in the Oasis. They had thousands of people lined up to get in the park. Maybe 4 or 5 different groups of people were herded together by the CMs and we were in the last one.

At 7:00, they let in people that were staying at a Disney hotel. We DWed to Pandora, and wandered around, until our FastPass at 8:15 for Flight of Passage.

~~~~~~~~~~~FLIGHT OF PASSAGE SPOILERS WARNING~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


If you haven't been on it, Flight of Passage is impossible to describe. Imagine Soarin' and Star Tours combined, but the screen is MUCH bigger. And it's in 3D.

You get in this chair that looks like a bike, but a restraint comes up from behind. There's something between your legs that makes it feel like that banshee is breathing.

It makes Soarin' look old and sad.

Perhaps the best part is the queue. There's a room with Na'vi art painted on the rock work. There's a room with huge bioluminescent plants. There's a lab that is impeccably themed, with a Na'vi animatronic. They created fake books and put them around the lab, along with a transparent tablet that looks like it's from the future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Flight of Passage, we walked out of Pandora, and saw what the lines were like for the rides. Na'vi River Journey stretched from the entrance of the ride, to the bridge back to Animal Kingdom. 3 hour wait. Flight of Passage wrapped around the land, and had a 4 hour wait. There was also a huge line for the gift shop, which was probably 1 hour or more.

When we left the land, I saw the longest line I have ever seen in my life. It started at the bridge to Pandora, and stretched back to the Island Mercantile gift shop, back through the Oasis, and into the area where you scan your magic band.

And this is only to get in the land.

We went back to the hotel, we ate breakfast. It was only 9:00.

After breakfast, we DWed to EPCOT, and then took the monorail to MK.

I have never seen so many people in my life.

One of my friends texted me and asked what the crowd levels were like. Here's his response.

I've never seen the noodle terrace open before.

Haunted Mansion had a 75 minute wait! The drinking fountains broke down! They ran out of Mickey bars! People counterfeited tickets! It was total anarchy!

(Most of that didn't happen)

We went back to the pool for a little bit, then had dinner. (I don't remember where we ate. Maybe EPCOT? It doesn't matter)

Anyway, we went to DHS afterwards. (ooh, maybe we ate there)

I wanted to go back to Pandora at night, so around 10:30 we got on a bus for AK.



Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the new bus signs! Now, it says the name of the place it's going, and then a short message. Like ALL STAR SPORTS WELCOME SPORTS FANS or EPCOT WELCOME WORLD TRAVELERS. For Animal Kingdom, it says kaltxi, which is Pandoran (or is it Na'vi? Wait, no, that's the name of the people, right? Maybe it's Na'vian? I don't know)



We got to Animal Kingdom, and I expected the line to be shorter.

I was wrong. Very, very wrong. The line started at Pandora, and went through Africa, and ended near Kilimanjaro Safaris.

My dad looks at me, and says, "I'm not waiting in this line. Let's go back. (turns around)

Where is your mother?!"

I see a CM talking to her. She is about 30 people away from the front of the line!

She starts walking towards us, and notices a CM checking how many people are in each party. While the CM is distracted, she gets in the next line.

Here's how it works. They set it up in a series of lines, with breaks every 30 feet or so, to let people in. Each line leads to the next, and we skipped into the second line. We were in Pandora by 11:00.

Pandora at night is incredible. It is the best thing Disney has ever done. Every plant is bioluminescent, and the ground glows green.

Since we had already been there, we ran to Flight of Passage. It said 90 minute wait, but it was more like 40.

In the room where they assign you your avatar, I noticed that the movie was a little bit different from earlier. When they tried to scan us, it said, "Uh oh, something went wrong! Hold on a second!"

Then, the screen said SYSTEM 1 REBOOTING PLEASE STAND BY.

My mom was tired.

She wanted to go on the ride, and go to sleep. When the system malfunctioned, she was not happy.

She opened the door, yelled, "HELLO! IS ANYBODY THERE?

HELLOOOOOOOOOO!"

Then, she walked down the stars and looked for someone. There was a CM who told her that she would be right there to fix it.

After FOP, we went back to the room.

 

[gatrbait]

Wait there are lines to just get into Pandora at night? Do you need to take that into account when you have a FP?? Yikes!!

 

[TGM]

Wait there are lines to just get into Pandora at night? Do you need to take that into account when you have a FP?? Yikes!!

They let you in if you have a FastPass. The line has probably died down anyway. Are you heading to WDW soon?

 

[chunkymonkey]

After that, we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris. At night.

I don't know if you've been on Kilimanjaro Safaris at night, but you aren't missing anything.

Just rode it at night for the first time 2 weeks ago. Definitely nothing much to see. However we did see the lions out and about.

I asked the CM about the 70 minute wait, and he said the sign was broken. I guess the magic doesn't work for everything.

Hahaha I can't imagine this ride being so long (I detest this ride)

You know, I've still never seen the big scary dinosaur. Every photo I'm in on that ride, while everyone is screaming at the dinosaur, I'm looking straight ahead. I have no idea where it is.

It's on the top right. Wait, you're being sarcastic, right? Haha.

You know, I need another vacation to recover from this vacation...

Always feel like that's the case.

Perhaps the best part is the queue. There's a room with Na'vi art painted on the rock work. There's a room with huge bioluminescent plants. There's a lab that is impeccably themed, with a Na'vi animatronic. They created fake books and put them around the lab, along with a transparent tablet that looks like it's from the future.

I loved the queue. So many interesting things to see. What we didn't see was a bathroom. What if you were waiting on the 4 hour line and needed to use one?

One of my friends texted me and asked what the crowd levels were like. Here's his response.

I've never seen the noodle terrace open before.

Haha funny.

Since we had already been there, we ran to Flight of Passage. It said 90 minute wait, but it was more like 40.

What, 90 minutes on opening day at night? That is honestly not that bad. But I guess it is considered EMH which helps.

In the room where they assign you your avatar, I noticed that the movie was a little bit different from earlier. When they tried to scan us, it said, "Uh oh, something went wrong! Hold on a second!"

Then, the screen said SYSTEM 1 REBOOTING PLEASE STAND BY.

My mom was tired.

She wanted to go on the ride, and go to sleep. When the system malfunctioned, she was not happy.

She opened the door, yelled, "HELLO! IS ANYBODY THERE?

HELLOOOOOOOOOO!"

Then, she walked down the stars and looked for someone. There was a CM who told her that she would be right there to fix it.

When we went on FoP, 2 out of the 3 times we got decontaminated and one time we did not. The video was also very slightly different each time we rode. But yours I guess, really just malfunctioned? Funny.

 

[TGM]

It's on the top right. Wait, you're being sarcastic, right? Haha.

Nope. Just added the picture.

Haha funny

I forgot to upload the text! Here it is

 

[pucknasty]

that's awesome that you guys got in with some ease!

just booked a day with my mom in july and scored a FP. MIND. BLOWN. was not expecting to get one.

 

[TGM]

Day 6 or TGM Goes Back to Pandora
​

After a late night at Pandora, we went to DHS the next day. We went to Toy Story Midway Mania, walked through One Man's Dream and saw the Cars 3 sneak peek. The animation looks very detailed, and the movie looks better than Cars 2 (oh wait, any movie is better than Cars 2)

Then we went to Star Wars Launch Bay, where I traded with the Jawas.

I had picked up a card off the ground in EPCOT the day before, and it had information about Japan on it. I gave it to the Jawa, and he gave me a little droid head.

Then, we went back to the pool, and met our friends in EPCOT later.

But first, we stopped at Club Cool, and my mom tried Beverly.

Anyway, we wandered around EPCOT for a few hours, and then headed back to the Swan to sit by the pool.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/138654008@N03/34894659152/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4289/34894659152_ae28c38056_h.jpg" width="1600" height="1200" alt="Untitled"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
(BTW, I'm back home and can put photos in now! Even though the DIS is a resource hog...)

It was about 11:30, and we walked our friends out to the bus depot, so they could get back to their car.

I saw an Animal Kingdom bus pull up, and half jokingly said

"Mom, we should go back to Animal Kingdom!"

Mom: "You can go if your father says yes"

She never expected what would come next

"Dad, can I go to Animal Kingdom?"

"Sure"




Ok, I didn't expect it either.

I got on the bus, and headed off to Animal Kingdom.




Alone.




By my self.




Without anyone else.




I'm running out of synonyms for alone.




I DWed off the bus, through the entrance (grabbed 30 maps only available opening weekend. No, I'm not exaggerating. 30.) and to Pandora.

No lines to get in!

I took a lot of photos, since I wasn't wasting anyone else's (apparently that isn't a word. Oh well) time.

I walked through, then headed out the other entrance to the area near Festival of the Lion King.

I was the only one there.

I went to walk towards the area near Harambe Village, and a CM said

"Please don't go over there guys. Oh wait, it's just one of you.

This area is closed tonight"

I DWed over to Everest, since there wasn't much else open. It said 10 minute wait, so I went in. The line started in the first room. It wasn't a 10 minute wait.

I walked out, and DWed to Dinoland.

I saw 4 or 5 people on the way there.

I was able to walk on Primeval Whirl, and there were 2 people in front of me.

When we got off, the CM said:

"Welcome back time travelers!"

"Welcome back time traveler."

Then, I DWed over to Dinosaur, but pulled out my phone, and looked at the Pandora wait times before I went in the building.

Flight of Passage was 120 minutes.



Na'vi River Journey was 20.



And Hamilton wrote the other 51.



I ran (remember, there was no one else there to see me) to Pandora.

I went on Na'vi River Journey, and the woman in front of me filmed the whole thing.





On her iPad Pro. Yes, the 12.9 inch one. With the A9X chip.

It's big.



There's one, with a hand for scale.

Afterwards, I took some more pictures, and left at about 1:30.

 

[TGM]

REAL LIFE UPDATE 6/4/17

I am thoroughly frustrated with Flickr and Photobucket. I have my iPhone set up so that when I take a photo, it automatically (or automagically) uploads to the Flickr cloud. Now all of my WDW photos are in Flickr, and I can't get them to embed in the DIS.

I am trying to move them from Flickr to Photobucket so I can embed them in the DIS, but it's taking a really long time. Any suggestions?