Dug720
See the line where the sky meets the sea?
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2012
I took the Ultimate Night of Adventure tour on Saturday November 4, 2017. My family enjoyed the tour but this is essentially a Fast Pass trip.
The tour begins at 3:30pm and we were asked to check in at the Dinosaur courtyard between 3pm to 3:15pm. There were two tour guides (the plaids) and one coordinator at the check in table.
Most of us received stickers to wear on our shirts. A few people received lanyards. The sticker identified us to be in the tour group and had our snack table assignment (Dragon, fox, dinosaur, etc).
At check in, we were asked to pre-select our drink and dessert for the snack. Options included wine, beer, and soft drinks, Pandoran Sunrise, or Grog Ale. The dessert options are the two offered at Satu'li Canteen: chocolate cake or blueberry cream cheese mousse.
Our group had 26 people. There were two large families which is how I think our group topped over 25. We were asked to all introduce ourselves and identify our home state. Then on to the rides.
The weather was perfect so I think my experience is probably the preferred order or events:
Dinosaur
Na'vi River
Flight of passage
Snack time
Kilamanjaro Safari
Expedition Everest
River of Light
We entered through the Fast Pass line at each ride. There were people with actual Fast Passes that would sometimes end up in the middle of our group. We would all wait at the exit until the entire group was out and then would move on to the next ride. There was a guide leading the group and a guide at the rear of our group. They were like sheperds herding us through the crowded park.
There was one piece of trivia shared at Dinosaur but otherwise, this was not a "behind the scenes" sort of tour.
There were several bathroom breaks over the 4 hours. There may have actually been 4 or 5 breaks. While I don't need that many breaks, I didn't find it cumbersome to stop that many times.
After Dinosaur, the group headed to Pandora. First up, Na'vi River journey.
From Na'vi River you go directly to Flight of Passage. There was 15 minutes of gift shop time after FOP.
Leaving the gift shop, we went to Satu'li Canteen for our snack break. Our tables were assigned and at your table, your actual seat was also designated by your drink and dessert choice. It wasn't a big deal to move your seat within your own table. My child was placed between two non-related adults so i just swapped seats/drink/dessert with him.
The snack is an ample sampler tray for the 6 or 7 people at each table to share. The sampler included tofu, fish, chicken, and beef. There was also rice, cole slaw, potato hash, and two green salads. There was enough food for everyone to have a serving of everything and seconds.
After the snack, we were each given our souvenir lanyard and then headed over to Safari.
Again, we went through the Fast Pass line. Our group had our crazy, light up lanyards on in the Fast Pass line and someone in the regular line asked if we had all won a race (the Food & Wine races were that weekend). The lanyards did sort of look like race medallions. A fellow in my tour explained to the observer that were were on a "VIP tour." He explained it as a "Fast pass" to all the popular rides. The observer asked how much it cost and there was some chatter in queue about the tour.
After Safari, on to Everest.
After Everest, our tour coordinator was waiting with coolers filled with water bottles for us. The coordinator announced that this was officially the end of the tour. For those who wanted to watch River of Light, we would have a reserved area. Otherwise, time to bid adieu!
Five or six people left our group at that point; they did not want to watch River of Light. The rest of us were ushered to a reserved front row seats.
River of Light started at 7:30pm. The tour took all of 4 hours to navigate the park and do the five rides (and snack and the multiple bathroom breaks)
The tour did not exceed any expectations but certainly met every expectation we had. There wasn't much time for socializing which seemed just fine for everyone.The fellow tour members were all very nice, courteous. It was a pretty smooth ensemble of random people.
The end.
Thanks for the review! I'm still excited to do it in February!