Life on another planet - Pandora: The World of Avatar

If you've ever seen the movie Avatar (directed by James Cameron) and you were mildly interested in the plot - but absolutely fascinated by the environment, then you need to see Pandora: The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Quick Background:

Pandora: The World of Avatar first opened in Disney's Animal Kingdom in May 2017. It was the newest land to grace the theme park since, well, Asia (1999). Pandora sits in the area that could have been Beastly Kingdom (a failed expansion of the park due to budget constraints). The land is themed to the record breaking box office hit Avatar directed by James Cameron. Legendary imagineer, and Mr. Animal Kingdom himself, Joe Rhode tackled bringing a bioluminescent landscape to life, including the remarkable "floating mountains."

The Aesthetic

Hats off to Joe Rhode here! The landscape of Pandora is incredible. This is truly one of the few expansions that park goers can say "but wait until you see it at night!" Most lands around Disney are wonderfully themed, and no detail is left unchecked - but you see what you want to see within the day, and very few lands are praised for their ability to be enjoyed from park open to park close. During the day the miraculous "floating mountains" will surprise you. Seeing pictures of them do not do them justice. Imagineers worked so hard to build something solid, yet realistic so that you truly feel you have landed on another planet. In the queue line for one of the two attractions in the land, Flight of Passage, you actually climb into the mountains which is all part of the intricate immersion this land is able to provide. At night the land transforms into a bioluminescent forest with bright colors and some gorgeous up-lighting on those mountains! From queue lines, to the "space plants" (which yes, are sometimes interactive) you really feel dropped into this new world and are challenged to appreciate the culture of the Na'vi.

The Attractions

There are only two attractions on Pandora. Avatar Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey.

Lets start with the boat! Na'vi River Journey is a slow moving boat ride through the bioluminescent (bet you thought I was done with that word) forest. There is no height requirement on this, so it is fun for the whole family. This ride is like if Kilamanjaro Safaris was on a boat, under a blacklight, but no real Pandoran animals (sorry). The ride is very relaxing taking you on a tour of the forest and introducing you to wildlife on the planet. This ride also houses one of the coolest Audio Animatronics™ of all time, the Shaman of Songs. If you are looking for a thrill, this isn't it - but if you are a huge Disney nerd and want to see cutting edge animatronic technology, this IS it!

Avatar Flight of Passage...what can I say about you that doesn't spoil the experience you provide. Remember that queue I mentioned earlier? This is it! You walk right up into the floating mountains, and up, and up some more. This is a deceptively long queue, and it needs to be considering how long lines for this ride can get! On a typical day at DAK, you can expect this ride's wait time to hover on average around 100 minutes. Without spoiling anything I will tell you that this is not your typical attraction, it is screen based (think Soarin') but you sit on what is best described as a motorcycle-style contraption that straps you in from your back, not your lap. If you are a fellow motion sick friend, like me, I will not tell you it won't make you sick. I will tell you though that you won't get as sick as say....Mission Space or Star Tours. The ride mechanism and the immersion within the ride do a good job to minimize the amount of nausea.

The burning question is: is this ride worth waiting 100+ minutes. It depends! If you only have one day at DAK, you are not using Genie+ and you have done everything else you wanted to do - then go for it. Specifically, go for it right before the park closes! If you get in line before the park closes (no matter how long that line is) you will be allowed on the ride (excluding any kind of technical difficulties that are beyond Disney's control). One word of caution, or real-talk, this ride seldom goes completely down due to error, but it can potentially lower its capacity which will cause hiccups in the line (stay tuned for a post all about ride hiccups and what it does to queue lines - coming soon!)

Space Snacks!

We cannot ignore probably one of the most delicious parts of Pandora - THE FOOD! We sampled most of the food on our last trip and let's just say we were back for seconds later that night. We're going to start with my favorite: Pongu Pongu! Here are some of the snacks offered and my thoughts;

• Night Blossom - Non alcoholic Specialty Beverage this instagram-worthy little slushy is exactly what the Pandoran doctor ordered on an alien planet housed within the hottest park in Walt Disney World. This is a layered slush of apple and desert pear limeade and it is topped with passion fruit boba. 10/10 - we came back for a second one at the end of the night (and yes there is the option to add alcohol for an upcharge).

• Pongu Lumpia - This....exists. I kid - this is probably one of the most controversial snacks if you check sites like disneyfoodblog.com and allears.net there is no clear winner.

If there is a controversial snack, I'm on it and with the least pickiest eater I know - my husband. Here's the rundown on this snack: it is a sugar dusted spring roll stuffed with pineapple cream cheese. I did not love this, at all. I am not a fan of cream cheese, but I love pineapple. My husband LOVED it, he likes cream cheese, but doesn't really care for pineapple.

• Na'vi Sized Pretzel with beer cheese. This pretzel is as big as your FACE and comes with a generous cup of beer cheese. That's it, that's the post. I don't have a picture for you this time because well it was gone within minutes of ordering it was that good. You can't go wrong with pretzels and cheese.

Let's move on to the quick service location: Satu'li Canteen. Here you can mobile order some more unique and healthier options than you can in other areas of the park. They specialize

in make your own bowls, but we're here for one thing: Cheeseburger Pods! If you haven't heard of cheeseburger pods, I'm so sorry your friends are so boring - so let me be your exciting friend that tells you to fast walk (no running in Disney people, c'mon) to get yourself an order of these little guys. Take a McDonald's Big Mac and shove it into a bao bun. So simple but delicious and throws a few surprises in there you wouldn't expect. Definitely worth the stop 9/10. (Ask for some herb dressing to dip those cuties into - you won't be disappointed).

Overall - Pandora is a welcome presence to Animal Kingdom, I will admit I didn't feel that way at first (I honestly hadn't even seen the movie until last year) so I was skeptical about it but I was blown away upon seeing it in person. The rides are good and make use of cutting edge technology and I am hopeful that with a sequel to the movie planned and technology only getting better we have the opportunity to get more interaction out of this land which would be fantastic!