Pandora - The World of Avatar operational update

May 31, 2017 in "Pandora - The World of Avatar"

Posted: Wednesday May 31, 2017 10:48am EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

Pandora - The World of Avatar is now into the first week of its official opening at Disney's Animal Kingdom, and we have a brief update on the current operational status.

Lines to enter Pandora

The long lines to enter Pandora have thankfully gone, and for the last few days there have been no waits to enter the land. The Memorial Day long weekend, combined with the new land's grand opening obviously played a large role in those early lines.

Operations still has queues setup outside of the land before the Pandora bridge, so there remains the possibility that lines may occur on particularly busy days at the park.

Pandora queues

The two main attractions continue to draw heavy crowds, with standby wait times typically being around 3 hours for Flight of Passage, and 2 hours for Na'vi River Journey.

Although Flight of Passage is equipped with a single rider line, it has not yet been put into operation.

Arriving first thing continues to be the best option for minimal wait times.

Queues are also persisting to enter the land's Windtraders merchandise store.

Although busy, the Satu'li Canteen continue is not experiencing significant wait times to enter and food service is very quick.

Guests in line for Na'vi River Journey

Early entry to Pandora

Pandora is continuing to open before the official park opening time. Hours throughout the summer are 8am to 11pm, and guests are entering Pandora between 7am and 8am on non-EMH days - although times have varied so far.

Evening closures

Evening Extra Magic Hours for Disney resort hotel guests begins each day at 11pm, and to make space for the arriving guests, rides in Pandora have been closing to standby day guests well before the 11pm park close. We have seen closures between 8pm and 9pm so far.

Pandora Evening Extra Magic Hours

Resort guests have begun queuing at Flight of Passage around 9:30pm, with entry to the ride beginning before the official 11pm start time of EMH.

It is important to note that once the capacity of the ride has been reached during EMH, no more guests are allowed into the queue, which may occur even before the 11pm EMH official start time. If you are visiting for evening EMH, arriving at 11pm will likely be to late to ride Flight of Passage.

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RiderJun 14, 2017

On Saturday they closed line for FoP 1 hour early. Not sure about River.

Jones14Jun 14, 2017

Does anyone know whether or not they're still closing the land/rides early?

Ismael FloresJun 08, 2017

I'm really hoping they expand this land in the future with another eatery and ride. It seems like they have more land on side side. It's to bad the budget for the land was already huge because I would have loved it if they had created and area where guests could walk thru a pathway and catch a couple of the actual wildlife in animatronic form. How could would it be to go face to face with a banshee or one of the four legged creatures. I'm actually surprised they couldn't have a meet and greet with one of the natives. If universal is capable of having transformer meet and greet and also a T. rex photo op Disney should be able to do the same

djkidkazJun 07, 2017

In regards to the merchandise, I think they did a great job with what they had to work with. I think the banshees will always sell well as its something a kid is going to see and want immediately. The shirts and mugs will always have their place in merchandise and will sell accordingly and I like that they have the little potted plants and such but I'll be curious to see how many non-locals want to buy that and ship it back home. As @RSoxNo1 stated, give it 6 months to a year and we'll have a much better idea on whether someone deserves a bonus or not. LOL!

LAKid53Jun 07, 2017

I've seen the movie only once, on TV, so I wasn't vested in the IP. However, the land and rides blew me away. I bought the AP t-shirt, lanyard and pin during the preview and am bummed they didn't have the AP magicband for sale then. Hopefully, they will still be available when we return in August and the banshees will be restocked because my son-in-law watched several YouTube videos and now he really wants one. Who knew those things would become the Elsa dress of Pandora! My only critique? I wish Disney would have been able to make the land bigger, but that would have meant tearing out more structures.

flyerjabJun 07, 2017

I have probably been one of the most vocal proponents on this site of this partnership with Cameron ever since it was first announced. I have praised everything from the original concept art all the way up through when the floating mountains first became visible to finally having seen it during AP and DVC previews. The one thing that I was never certain about was the merchandise side of this venture. Obviously, this is Disney, so obviously there was going to be merchandise. I never gave it much attention as I am not a huge merchandise guy beyond coffee mugs and T-shirts. I really thought that this was the one area where they would struggle. Apparently I was wrong on that account. If I were Disney, I would give whoever the individual or team was that worked on this part of the project promotions or bonuses. I cannot believe how well the merchandise part of this is doing. The fact that they were able to come up with as much as they did was impressive enough, but to actually be stocking out of merchandise items is incredible. When we went - it was 4 adults - 4 T-shirts, a necklace, a phone case and 2 pins were purchased. And this was from a group of people where only 1 of the 4 really liked the movie, one had not even seen it, and one downright did not like the movie at all. And my wife and I have 3 kids and we are returning in July so that the kids can see it now that school is out. I already know that if the banshees are back in stock we will be purchasing 1 or 2 of those, and my daughter wants the face scan Avatar figure. And this is from an IP that has one movie from 2009, that so many people would most likely agree has long since fallen out of the cultural zeitgeist (if it ever really even was in it beyond it raking in the most money ever for a single movie). Kudos to Disney on this one.

LAKid53Jun 07, 2017

Thanks @djkidkaz. I'm glad the land isn't wall to wall people anymore - those were some photos of the lines opening day! We've got a breakfast ADR at Tusker Hpuse, so we will be at the park shortly after opening. We're going to snag *fingers crossed* a fastpass for FoP and then do standby for Na'vi. Guess I should leave a couple of hours between our FP for FoP and the next one to allow a long wait in standby for Na'vi.

djkidkazJun 07, 2017

The crowds for the land are not bad. You can walk into the shop, restaurant and walk the Pandora area fine. Navi has been about an hour wait consistently every day. FoP has been all over the place. Yesterday the wait said an hour but cast were telling you as you walked up that it was 2.5 hrs. Then later it said 3 hour wait and there was no line until you got into the large bioluminescent room and it was actually a 50 minute wait. If I was you I would just expect a 3 hour wait for FoP and anything less consider a victory.

LAKid53Jun 06, 2017

So, now that the opening day mad crush is over, what are those of you who are now at WDW experiencing in terms of crowds? I was fortunate to visit during the AP/DV previews, but my daughter has convinced me to return in August since they want to go now and not wait until I'm back again in November for the W&D Half (and my son-in-law really wants a banshee - I've not told him they are currently sold out). We are going the 2nd weekend in August and I'm hoping crowds won't be too bad as most families will be heading back home for school starts. I am bummed that Disney tiered the rides in Pandora. We'll use our FP for FoP and hope that the wait time for Na'vi isn't too long. Actually, I might let THEM wait in line for Na'vi, since I rode it three times during preview. I can go watch Lion King while they stand in line for an hour or so..... ;)

RSoxNo1Jun 06, 2017

I had a Fastpass but was the only one in my group. There is no single rider option for either attraction at this time.

COProgressFanJun 06, 2017

Just trying to confirm - so is single rider open now? I'm nearing my 60 day FP booking window for a trip in August. My kids are too small for Flight of Passage. Since my understanding is that you can't choose FP for both the River journey and FoP, I was hoping to use the FP's for the river and single rider for myself for FoP. Wondering if anyone had any insight into whether single rider is open and how it seems to be working out with wait times. Edit: (Posted before I saw the other thread about this - sounds like they may not be using single rider - of course if anyone else has info feel free to pass it along).

RSoxNo1Jun 05, 2017

It's week one. It's new. I'm sure they're thrilled by the amount of merchandise they sold early on, but let's give it 6-12 months to see what is still selling and what isn't. The good thing is, it looks like they've hit on something (the banshee puppets) out of the gate, and I think many speculated they would struggle to get a signature item like that.

Kman101Jun 05, 2017

Some are going to argue it's not really popular and people buy anything. It seems some can't understand the well done land can stand on its own. I haven't seen the movie and I think the land is great.

Ismael FloresJun 05, 2017

It's amazing to keep reading that the Pandora stores are packed. For the last couple years people on forums kept saying that nobody cared or remembered Avatar and that it did not lend itself to merchandise yet the store has been selling items like crazy from miniature banshee to strap on tails