Advertisement
We've been able to visit Pandora several times over the past few weeks. First we were fortunate enough to attend a press event a few days before opening, and then we were given a sneak peak as annual pass holders, where we obtained most of our images for this Photo Tour. After Pandora's official opening, things have been a little harder. This land has been so exceptionally popular that it's been very difficult to get good pictures. Make no mistake about it, it's still fun to go, but it's been just a little crowded for good quality images.
That brings us to another slightly off topic subject about Pandora. If you're a Disney Cast member reading this, and if you've been involved in the first few days of its opening, we would like to extend a big thank you. The crush of people trying to get a glimpse of this new land has been huge. If you're one of the cast members, your patience has certainly been tested, and from what we've seen, you've done an outstanding job. Everyone we've been in contact with at Disney has gone above and beyond to make this opening a giant success. You all deserve to be recognized.
Now, on to Pandora. This land is only twelve acres, but it has more packed into it than you'll see in one visit. It's been built on the back-story that was Avatar, but Disney has expanded the story quite a bit too. You may remember that in the movie Avatar, the moon of Pandora is the fifth moon (there are thirteen total) of the gas giant Polyphemus, a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A. Polyphemus, by the way, looks similar to Jupiter, except the color is a little different. You can see this on the Flight of Passage ride. When you ride the Banshee through the Pandoran forest, remember to look up when you fly into a clearing and you'll easily see the planet above you.
In the original story, the private company, Resources Development Administration (RDA), is on Pandora to mine a rare element called Unobtanium. It's a room temperature superconductor used in the construction of levitation trains on Earth. The story goes the way these things usually go, with honest intentions at first, a love interest, betrayal, and finally a big ol' war at the end.
Disney sets the story after all that ruckus with Pandora several years later. Some tell us that it's actually several decades later. A new organization called Alpha Centauri Expeditions (ACE) has been established on Pandora to work with the Na'vi in rebuilding the damage caused by the RDA and promote conservation and preservation of resources in general. Disney has put a lot of effort into the message of environmental conservation all throughout Animal Kingdom, and they've carried it into Pandora very successfully. We hear the message loud and clear, and Disney makes it easy to bring that message back to Earth when you leave.
As you enter Pandora from Discovery Island, one of the first things you'll encounter is the giant plant, Flaska Reclinata. It lets you know instantly that you're not on Earth anymore. From there, the story just keeps building with more plants that have adapted and evolved in Pandora's thicker atmosphere and lighter gravity. The atmosphere, by the way, consists of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, xenon, methane, and hydrogen sulfide. It's the unusually large amount of carbon dioxide and the presence of hydrogen sulfide that causes humans trouble on the moon, and the whole reason that avatars were needed. On Pandora at Animal Kingdom, apparently the atmosphere in the Valley of Mo'ara has been modified so humans can actually walk around outside without breathing assistance.
The image above required a neutral density filter and a tripod. As Don was standing there setting up for the shot, a family walked up and asked if they "Could get a picture." Since he was a few minutes away from being ready for his shot, Don said, "Sure," thinking they would get their picture and be on their way. The family walked over and stood in the frame. After a period of time, Don looked up and realized the family was still there, staring at him and smiling. Not one of them had a camera in their hands. He was apparently doing a great imitation of a PhotoPass Photographer, standing there with his Nikon camera on a tripod, wearing a green shirt, green Tilly hat, and tan cargo shorts. After noticing the family just looking at him, he finally realized they expected him to do something, like take their picture. He walked over and explained that we was not a PhotoPass Photographer, and not affiliated with Disney. It turns out they had a camera, so he took theirs and captured a vacation photo of a lifetime for them. They were happy, and Don got his shot too.
The flora and fauna of Pandora is a major attraction to the land. It seems like it's kind of the point, bringing the overall environmental message to visitors as they're entertained. It's not about the rides. Indeed, there are only two rides in the land, and while they're great fun, they couldn't sustain the reason for the land to exist. We believe it's the bigger picture of the environment that makes the land worthwhile. And we should mention that, while we keep harping on the overall message, Disney isn't beating us over the head with the message, trying to guilt us into accepting their philosophy. They're simply trying to bring about an awareness.
Disney has spent a great deal of time designing Pandora to be true to the back story of the Pandoran moon in the Avatar movie. We were able to find descriptions for most of the plants and animals by referencing on-line documentation for the movie. There were a few items, however, that were not well described. We're thinking that Disney Imagineers have expanded on the original story and the specifics of these creatures will come out in time.
All the parks and lands have street performers of some kind, and Pandora is no exception. We were fortunate to see the Drummers of Pandora on one of our visits during a soft opening the day before the grand opening. While we never learned their name as a group, we did learn that this performance was their first in front of real audiences, and they were already quite polished. That's no surprise though. While we didn't recognize the two guys in the group, the young lady looks suspiciously like one of the members of a group known as Matsuriza, who have been performing at Epcot in Japan for several years.
The Pandora Drummers perform several arrangements daily on the drums near the floating mountains in the Mo'ara Valley. You can hear them from everywhere in the land, so they're not hard to find. When they're not performing, the drums on the ground level are still functional, and guests can try their hand at arranging dramatic drum pieces. Video by Donald and Bonnie Fink.
There are two rides in Pandora. This one, the Na'vi River Journey, is a boat ride through a night scene along the Kapsavani River. Here, you can see the night time side of Pandora, with the bioluminescent animals and plants of this mysterious moon. The boats used are different than the usual for Disney. There are only two rows of seating, which makes for a more intimate experience for the ride. This might be a mistake on Disney's part because it seems like they'll be hard pressed to put the kind of volume through as they do in, say, Pirates of the Caribbean, but it makes for a better ride in our view.
During the press event, the Disney folks advised us to not spend our entire trip shooting videos. Instead, they wanted us to enjoy all we could by just taking it all in. We would like to pass that information on to you. If you come here and like to shoot pictures or videos of these things, try to make time to do this experience twice: once for the pictures, and once more just to see what's there.
The Na'vi River Journey is a lazy nighttime float in a two row boat along the Kapsavani River. This short video reveals a bit of the journey and a quick look at the Na'vi Shaman of Song. Video by Donald Fink.
The main dining area in Pandora is called Satu'li Canteen. It's a quick service facility that's themed to look like it was reclaimed from an abandoned RDA hangar. There are a couple of interesting things to know about dining here that are a bit different from other Disney restaurants. First, you can order your meal on-line using the My Disney Experience mobile app. The second difference is that, with many of the meals, you order as you go. This is how it works: First, you pick a protein. Your choice is amon slow-roasted sliced grilled beef, chopped wood-grilled chicken, sustainable fish fillet, or chili-spiced crispy fried tofu. From there, you select a base. This can include a quinoa vegetable salad, red and sweet potato hash, mixed whole grain and rice, or romaine and kale salad. And finally, you choose your sauce. The sauces can be charred onion cimichurri, black bean vinaigrette, or creamy herb dressing. All of these combinations can make up a huge variety of meals. Personally, Don preferred either beef or chicken with rice and beans, followed by the black bean vinaigrette. Here's a menu that shows the other items.
In the Satu'li Canteen, chefs prepare local food on an open grill. Photo by Donald Fink.
Disney hasn't missed the opportunity to offer a great deal of merchandise and food here in Pandora, but they don't seem to be overdoing it. Of course, we're not all that sensitive to all the commercial hype since we fully understand that Disney needs to make money. That's ultimately why they're here. And while they're busy making money, we're busy having a great time being entertained. It's a win-win situation.
Photos are not allowed during the Flight of Passage ride. It makes sense since it's a 3D ride and a picture wouldn't show anything substantial. Also, you're riding on top of a Banshee, and if you're being safe about it, both hands are occupied hanging on. We were able to capture a couple of images in the queue on the way in though, and thought that the whole experience was interesting.
This ride is going to easily be as popular as anything Disney has. It's along the same concepts as Soarin', but with 3D. The 4D part—the wind, scents, mist from the waterfalls—is taken to the next evolutionary level from Soarin' and is way more intense.
We recommend that when you visit Pandora, you place a high priority on visiting when you can get Fastpass+ reservations for Flight of Passage. Then, when you show up, if the standby line happens to be within tolerable limits, ride it through the standby line too. The queue for the standby line is way more interesting than the Fastpass line.
There has been lots of talk on-line in social media about whether Disney's Animal Kingdom should be considered a full day park. Until the Pandora opening, we were seeing a trend towards people considering it a half day experience, but since its opening, we're noticing almost complete consensus that Animal Kingdom has transformed into a fully qualified full day adventure.
We were never in full agreement with the notion Disney's Animal Kingdom was a half day experience. We could always find ways to occupy ourselves for most of a day and have fun doing it. But since Pandora has opened, we have to treat it like most other Disney parks where we pick and choose what we want to do in order to get it all done without being rushed. So if Disney's Animal Kingdom was ever just half day experience, we think it's safe to say that it has easily crossed the barrier. When you visit, we would certainly be curious to know your thoughts.
You can see a bit more of Pandora if you visit our other article, A Sneak Peek at Pandora - The World of Avatar, here at MousePlanet.
 
Comments
Beautiful pictures, but something so sad. We were there on June 2. It had only been open to the public for one week. One of the streams already had a bunch of U.S. coin, not Pandoran coin. The worst was seeing the trash and empty water bottles dropped around, behind rocks, or floating in the water. It was just so awful and distracted from the experience. What kind of person can be so callous?