In Disney World, Animal Kingdom has a new land called Pandora, which is based on the movie "Avatar." I went to Animal Kingdom over the summer, and here is a review of what I thought of Pandora.
First, I thought that Pandora was visually beautiful. Disney is always meticulous with details and it was truly amazing to see the movie come to life. Disney never fails to make the magic of movies materialize in its parks. Here are a few pictures of the highlights of Pandora.
Pandora gives Animal Kingdom more options to expand on rides that would be more appealing to adults. Since "Avatar" was rated PG-13, it only makes sense that the rides correspond with the maturity of the movie. This was something I found wonderful since many rides and attractions in Animal Kingdom are geared towards younger audiences. In addition, Animal Kingdom has the most acreage of all other Disney World parks, so there is plenty of room to expand in the park. In both of these aspects, Pandora is the perfect addition to Animal Kingdom!
The downside to Pandora was that it was extremely crowded. Avatar Flight of Passage, one of the two "Avatar" rides, had an enormous line. The line can hold up to six hours worth of people. When I was there in August, the wait for the ride was consistently five hours throughout the day. The other ride in Pandora was called Na'vi River Journey. For this ride, my family and I had a Fastpass; although, in general, there was a shorter line for this ride. All day, the line consistently took two hours. The ride was aesthetically beautiful; however, I wouldn't have waited in line for it for two hours. Perhaps people who were bigger fans of the movie would wait, but I personally would not.
Since the lines were long in Pandora, this limited the wait times for other rides in Animal Kingdom. My family and I got on Expedition Everest four times in a row! This is very rare because Everest usually has the longest line in the park.
After going to Pandora, I would have to say that it was not my favorite thing in Disney World. Although Disney World is the master of architecture and design, the crowds took away from the beauty of Pandora. Here is my dad's review of Pandora: "So what I got from Avatar was that you're in a future world where you go in this coffin and go to sleep and when you wake up you're blue and you have a tail."
The timing of Disney opening up Pandora corresponds with the upcoming "Avatar" sequels. There will be four sequels in the upcoming years. The journey in Pandora continues December 18, 2020, December 17, 2021, December 20, 2024, and December 19, 2025.
