Walt Disney World Disney's Animal Kingdom Discussion Thread

[ArgoZ]

Like Soaring on steroids! I can only imagine how fun and maybe a little "intense" this ride is. Such amazing visuals.

[OldJJman]

That looks REALLY impressive!! Thanks for the video Robb!!

[laqueefa]

Holy crap that thing really moves! Thanks for the video.

[DBJ]

Oh wow, the ride does look incredible! Love the visuals of it.

[CaptainUnknown]

HOLY FOTHERMUCKING DONKEYSH!T

*Packs Bags*

 

Now I wonder how/if this utterly bananaballs land will impact the future Avatar sequels.

[laqueefa]

^^^

James Cameron claims to already have the next 4 Avatar movie scripts finished.

[Morgan]

It'll be interesting to see how the new films influence the area, I'm sure I read or heard that the sequels will explore other areas of Pandora, with vastly different environments, underwater for example. I imagine the big patch of unused land to the south could make a nice sized expansion in future years if the new movies are a success.

[Zero One]

Post deleted. Please check your private messages.

Edited November 28, 2017 by robbalvey

[Zero One]

Flight of Passage was amazing. Lines are now huge... Even for the land itself. If you have a Fastpass you can get into Pandora without waiting.

 

[TBpony414]

Flight of Passage was amazing. Lines are now huge... Even for the land itself. If you have a Fastpass you can get into Pandora without waiting.

 

Two hours just to ENTER the land? Wowza!!!

[Zero One]

Pandora closed to all guests before 8pm so that they can clear it for EMH at 11.

[cookiex]

Flight of Passage was amazing. Lines are now huge... Even for the land itself. If you have a Fastpass you can get into Pandora without waiting.

 

Two hours just to ENTER the land? Wowza!!!

Reminds me of the massive lines just to enter the Wizarding World at IoA when that first opened.

[TheCoasterKid211]

Went to the park yesterday to check out Pandora, and I loved everything about it. I am a huge fan of Avatar, granted, but good Lord, everything about this land is perfect The scenery is beautiful, especially at night. It's all most insane to think that beforehand, this area was a run-down character meet and greet.

 

But let's get this out of the way; Flight of Passage. Two words; f**king astounding. Seriously, this is possibly the best ride in Animal Kingdom, if not all four parks. How awesome is it? Well, picture what would happen if Soarin' and Forbidden Journey at Universal had a baby, and then DisneyQuest adopted it. It sounds so wrong, but it's oh-so-right. My only real complaint is the glasses didn't fit smaller kids all that well; my seven-year old sister had a really hard time with them because they were too big. She ended up riding without them, but she loved it nonetheless. 11 out of 10

 

As for Na'vi River Journey... I mean, it exists. Yes, the Shaman animatronic is one of the best I've ever seen, but other than that, it's nothing too special. It's just eye candy. That's it. Don't get me wrong, it's enjoyable, but it needs a lot more. On the other hand, I freaking loved the little ride vehicles. They're so detailed, and even with the low capacity per boat, the line flew by. Good job Disney ops! 7 out of 10

 

All in all, Joe Rhode has done it again. The entire land is beautiful, and with the addition of the best E-ticket built in the past decade, this is definitely a huge win for Animal Kingdom. Can't wait to return!

[Nrthwnd]

What??? Nothing new for Animal Kingdom at D23???

 

I kid, I jest, it's all for the best! Robb's Recap List in the other

WDW parks' threads, looks awesome!

 

And the idea of no Big Info.Signs in these new Lands like Pandora and Star Wars

sounds like a great idea, and challenges the public to actually enjoy where they are,

instead of just "heading to the next attraction", etc.

 

[average.coaster.fan]

Went to the park yesterday to check out Pandora, and I loved everything about it. I am a huge fan of Avatar, granted, but good Lord, everything about this land is perfect The scenery is beautiful, especially at night. It's all most insane to think that beforehand, this area was a run-down character meet and greet.

 

But let's get this out of the way; Flight of Passage. Two words; f**king astounding. Seriously, this is possibly the best ride in Animal Kingdom, if not all four parks. How awesome is it? Well, picture what would happen if Soarin' and Forbidden Journey at Universal had a baby, and then DisneyQuest adopted it. It sounds so wrong, but it's oh-so-right. My only real complaint is the glasses didn't fit smaller kids all that well; my seven-year old sister had a really hard time with them because they were too big. She ended up riding without them, but she loved it nonetheless. 11 out of 10

 

As for Na'vi River Journey... I mean, it exists. Yes, the Shaman animatronic is one of the best I've ever seen, but other than that, it's nothing too special. It's just eye candy. That's it. Don't get me wrong, it's enjoyable, but it needs a lot more. On the other hand, I freaking loved the little ride vehicles. They're so detailed, and even with the low capacity per boat, the line flew by. Good job Disney ops! 7 out of 10

 

All in all, Joe Rhode has done it again. The entire land is beautiful, and with the addition of the best E-ticket built in the past decade, this is definitely a huge win for Animal Kingdom. Can't wait to return!

 

Couldn't agree more, I haven't been in such an immersive land since Tokyo DisneySea a decade ago, and that was when I was five! And Flight of Passage may very well be the best attraction i have experienced in all four WDW parks. The food is also very unique, and the staff is very friendly. Na'vi River Journey did have long lines unfortunately, as it was broken down the previous day as well as the whole morning, meaning an enormous FastPass line. Still, both attractions are welcome additions to the park!

[Bradders]

Went on the Na'vi River Journey on Wednesday to find the Shaman animatronic removed. Got a screen with him projected on instead. Shame we missed the animatronic but the digital version did blend quite nicely.

 

Both Pandora rides were amazing and I like how they thought about their audience. Never seen Avatar but picked it up easily. I love the Harry Potter franchise but massively disappointed with its themed land in Universal, with those rides it felt like they were trying to cut corners with the screens and it felt a bit cheap to me.

[SharkTums]

Went on the Na'vi River Journey on Wednesday to find the Shaman animatronic removed. Got a screen with him projected on instead. Shame we missed the animatronic but the digital version did blend quite nicely.

 

I guess we should at least be happy they can remove/work on the animatronic without taking the whole ride down!?!

[Bradders]

Went on the Na'vi River Journey on Wednesday to find the Shaman animatronic removed. Got a screen with him projected on instead. Shame we missed the animatronic but the digital version did blend quite nicely.

 

I guess we should at least be happy they can remove/work on the animatronic without taking the whole ride down!?!

 

It was shut for quite a few hours before we got on the ride, our fastpass was for around 4:20pm and was shut until after Rivers of Light had finished.

 

But I agree it's a good trick they have done, better than having a broken animatronic stood still.

[Zero One]

I stopped by Animal Kingdom today. I took a lot of animal pics which I may post later but since this is TPR I figured I'd skip right to the rollercoaster!

 

Here is Faces of Everest:

 

[Nrthwnd]

^ A wonderful ongoing groups of expressions of (mostly) joy and exhilaration!

 

Great collection of on-ride pix. Thanks for sharing all of these!

[TBpony414]

^^ Would love to see a full TR of your day! ETA that we love animals and the more pics/details the better

[Zero One]

Ask and ye shall receive. Not a trip report really... just some of the cool Disney animals out and about yesterday.

 

PS. The tiger cubs were born yesterday. No word on when they might be out in the exhibit but probably not for several more weeks. New dad tiger is the one in my shots below.

 

Siamang handing around

Toucan

Guano Joe

This little bird wouldn't follow the script. It would only sing "How much is that doggy in the window" over and over again which caused the cast members to break down on stage in laughter.

Hornbill

Harris Hawk

Hidden Mickey

Crown Crane

Bald Eagle

Macaw

WHAT IS THIS WET STUFF?!

He enjoyed swimming

Javan Green Peafowl

Taking a break from swimming

And then right back in... it was HOT yesterday. I might have risked swimming with him it was so bad.

White cheeked gibbon

African wild dogs

Elephant

Lions were out too

Young gorilla

And his Dad

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Very nice, thanks for sharing those! I love those animal shows where the animals don't go with the script. Great reminders that we're not nearly as in charge as we like to think.

[robbalvey]

So I had a pretty great Flight of Passage experience tonight with one minor complaint in operations...

 

"For Science" I got in line 3 minutes before park closing tonight and since there was no EMH (Extra Magic Hours), I wanted to see what the line would be like assuming that all FastPass+ would stop coming in at park closing, and given those two factors in theory it should move much quicker. It was sign posted at a 120 minute wait and 46 minutes later I was in the first pre-show room. Here's what I tweeted out tonight...

 

Just got in line for Flight of Passage a few minutes before park closing. Posted 120min wait. Let's see how long it really is!

 

14 minutes in and I have just entered the indoor section of the Flight of Passage queue. No more FP now so should go quicker in theory.

 

The attention to detail and theming in here is crazy! Tokyo DisneySEA level of quality!

 

Extended indoor queue area not being use on Flight or Passage at park closing tonight.

 

24 minutes waiting and we have just made it into the "RDA" area of the Flight of Passage queue.

 

31 minutes and we are in the Mountain Banshee Project area of Flight of Passage queue!

 

41 Minutes waiting and just got into the lab area of the Flight of Passage queue!

 

Wow! That last part went fast! 46 minutes and I'm in the first pre-show room!

 

Took only 46 min from entrance to pre-show on Flight of Passage tonight at park closing.

 

That's awesome!

 

The ride still blows me away. I don't even like "media-based attractions" and this ride makes me smile and giddy like a little girl every time I ride. It's just so good and all things considered I should hate the ride, but I love it!

 

But here is my minor complaint from tonight...

 

When I got to the grouping area and I told them "1 person" they put me into a different row than everyone else which was clearly the "single rider line." When I got to the front of that row the grouper putting everyone on numbers counted down everyone in the other line "number 12 - 13 - 14 - 15" then pointed at me "Single Rider.... number 16" just like they would say at any other single rider line on property.

 

I don't mind them filling the seats, and from an operational standpoint I fully support that! But I wasn't in a "single rider" line, I waited the full queue. While seat #16 is still REALLY REALLY GOOD, it is probably the worst seat on the ride. As someone who waited the full queue, I would like to have thought I'd have the same chance at getting one of those middle seats as the next person waiting in line.

 

If I'm a single rider am I always going to get put into that "single rider" line and never be able to get one of the more desirable middle seats? That's sort of a bummer. The ride during AP previews had a sign for "single riders" but by the time it opened to the public, that sign was gone:

Really my complaint is this... If you're going to fill those empty seats with a rider from a "single riders" queue, why not just open up the single riders line from the very front? It's still closed off and hasn't ever been used. But inside, they seem to most certainly be using the "single riders" line to fill those seats.

 

I don't mind if I'm in a single rider line and I'm basically a "seat filler" and I've waited a much shorter time because that's the trade-off. But I'm not sure I like that I was a seat filler after waiting alongside everyone else in line for the full queue.

 

That being said, I still waited less than half of the posted wait time and I rode one of Disney's best attractions. I honestly cannot complain that much, and if anything, maybe this is less of a "complaint" and more of an interesting "observation."

 

Thanks for reading!

Edited August 23, 2017 by robbalvey

[cfc]

Yes, I think if you waited in the whole queue, you should have the same chance as anyone else of snagging one of the better seats. Busch Gardens Williamsburg stopped using single-rider lines years ago, but they have a similar policy for single riders (they sometimes make you stand between the two loading docks until a seat is available)--but on that ride, it makes more sense.