Disney’s Pandora brings fantasy to life
Newest attraction is the physical realization of world James Cameron imagined
ORLANDO, FLA.—“Trust your guide and be brave . . . rise to the challenge.”
Brave? That makes me feel anything but as part of pre-boarding instructions for a theme park ride.
But courage is rewarded on Flight of Passage, the thrilling keystone experience of Walt Disney World’s newest “land,” Pandora: The World of Avatar.
It is intense and multi-sensory, a 4D screen-based “flight” on the back of a fierce dragon-like mountain banshee.
Even the ride’s lineup trek is entertaining, crucial since park-goers will likely spend hours in it.
Part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the recently opened five-hectare “walk-through attraction” was inspired by Canadian James Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster, Avatar.
“At Disney, we have a ‘How did they do that?’ standard,” Disney chairperson and CEO Bob Iger said at a dedication prior to Pandora’s May 27 opening.
Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment paired with Disney’s Imagineering to design the Valley of Mo’ara on Pandora.
Dominated by spectacular floating mountains, the land took six years to complete at a rumoured cost of $500 million. It’s the physical realization of a world Cameron dreamed about as a teenager.
You don’t need to have seen Avatar (or plan to see the four sequels, already in production, that start Dec. 18, 2020, and continue until 2025) to enjoy a visit. For the movie’s fans, this Pandora is set a generation after human miners invaded the moon onscreen, making enemies of the nature-loving, blueskinned Na’vi inhabitants.
Don’t go looking for the three-metre-tall beings at Pandora; we’re told they prefer to keep to themselves.
Visitors enter by walking across a bridge, leaving Earth behind to travel light years to Pandora. There are bird calls, strange animal sounds and drumming from an area where guests are also welcome to make their own music.
The spectacular floating mountains provide a stop-and-stare moment.
Waterfalls, bridges, pathways, streams and plants: both colourful (and we’re told in some cases, hungry) fantasy flora and real greenery fill the space.
You’re greeted in the Na’vi language by cast members (what Disney calls park staff ) in roles of Alpha Centauri Expeditions field guides and the hippie-dippy colonists who have moved to Pandora.
Unlike other park cast members, none wear name tags. Why the Animal Kingdom location? Tim Warzecha, Disney senior project manager, says Pandora’s messages of conservation and respect for the fictional Na’vi dovetails with Animal Kingdom’s environment-stewardship themes.
At night, Pandora becomes a gorgeously glowing bioluminescent landscape.
Visitors who don’t stick around for the after-dark switch can see it in the Na’vi River Journey, a typical Disney “dark” boat ride, elevated by excellent animated fantasy creatures that seem to react with visitors and the showpiece Na’vi Shaman of Songs, whose haunting vocals and animatronic realism are the best part of the gentle, musical journey.
Avatar filmmakers and stars, including Cameron, Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana, were at the Pandora VIP preview.
I waited in line at Flight of Passage with Weaver but didn’t see her after the ride to judge her reaction.
But others could barely contain themselves.
Many said they’d cried with emotion during the experience and all said it felt like they were actually flying. A woman near me on one ride (I went six times over two days; it’s addictive) screamed: “I want to go again!” midway through.
“It was amazing. I really liked the barrel roll,” said 13-year-old Quentin Gaudio, whose father Jason Gaudio was an editor on Avatar. “It wasn’t scary. It was exhilarating.”
Riders don 3D glasses and are snugly held in place on a motorcycle-like device for the 41⁄ 2- minute experience, swooping and diving around Pandora’s floating mountains.
You smell the mossy green scent of a forest and feel wind and ocean spray on your face, as well as the panting beast breathing beneath you.
Tim Warzecha, senior project manager for Pandora, describes Flight of Passage as “joyful . . . something people have never experienced before.”
What else is there to do on Pandora?
The Satu’li Canteen serves Na’vi cuisine that’s surprisingly tasty and relatively healthy; grain-veggie-protein bowls with sauces and steamed buns (think Tibetan tingmos) stuffed with mild vegetable curry or burger-and-fixings. Wash it down with a glass of Banshee Wines California Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. And for dessert, blue cheesecake.
Drink stand Pongu Pongu (Na’vi for “party-party”) serves green beer and a furiously sweet multicoloured Night Blossom slush drinks.
At the Windtraders store, have an Avatar action figure customized with your features for $75 or “adopt” a colourful banshee toy for $49.95. The critter perches on your shoulder while a hand controller can be used to flap its wings or tilt his head.
Elfin Na’vi ears ($24.99) are sure to be this summer’s Mickey Mouse replacement. Linda Barnard was hosted by Walt Disney World and Air Canada Vacations, which did not review or approve this story.