It’s a trap a lot of even the most passionate Disney fan has fallen into, discounting the fourth park, Animal Kingdom. Often called a “glorified zoo” it’s largely gone overlooked because it is the understated of the four parks. Animal Kingdom celebrates animals and cultures from where some of our favorite animals come from, but usually it took a back seat to the other three parks. Pandora changes everything! We were provided free press passes to visit the park and share about our experience.
Pandora changes everything!
Head directly for the Tree of Life and take two lefts and you’ll start to see a change from real, but exotic plants and animals to fantasy plants and waterfalls falling from floating terrain in the sky. A beautiful array of colors and sights, Pandora has the attention to detail Disney is known for!
I spent an evening in Pandora watching the sunset and the blacklights slowly light up the park with stunning blues, purples and pink. Walking around in the evening was awesome. I walked down to the Satu’li Canteen, unfortunately I didn’t have time to eat but it looked amazing and smelled so good! Unable to use fast passes on this trip I had to decide between one of the two rides, both had a two hour wait! I opted to wait for Flight of Passage (hoping to wake early to get in line for the cruise in the morning).
The Flight of Passage is the best ride I’ve ever been on, and it’s not close. When you get on the chair which looks like a cross between a video game motor cycle and a massage chair, the restraints lock you in and you are “uploaded to your avatar” at that point you can hear your banshee breathe and you can feel it as the chair expands between your legs in unison with the sounds. You’re then whisked on an flying tour around Pandora and out over the water, you narrowly avoid some dangers before landing safely and looking out over the ocean. You’ll feel wind in your face, water splash across you, and you’ll smell the rainforest and the ocean, it’s Disney Magic at its absolute best! I would make this ride a priority even if you’re not fortunate enough to snag a Fast Pass!
The next morning I was outside Animal Kingdom waiting for it to open, sprinted right for the Na’vi River Journey. It’s spectacular, beautiful scenes as you slowly cruise along the Na’vi River at night, you’ll hear the Na’vi chanting and come across one singing! Very cool ride, especially for those who love Avatar. Cool ride, but if I didn’t have a Fast Pass I’d probably pass on this if there was any sort of line.
Bottom line, make time for Pandora, it’s so worth it! Even if you don’t ride the rides there is a ton of stuff to do and see in this incredible new land!
Animal kingdom looks like a great park.
What a neat place to visit. My family would love this place.
That Animal Kingdom sounds wonderful. Thank you for the post letting me know that it’s a worthwhile place to visit.
Looks wonderful! I would love to visit!
Ohh wow, sounds like it’s DEFINITELY worth seeing! 😀 It’s been… uhh… 25 years since I was there last (yikes, lol), & I’m really wanting to go back!
This looks amazing. I would love to go visit!
We love Disney World and have gone the last three years in a row. Last year we only visited Magic Kingdom. We plan on going to Animal kingdom this year and cannot wait to check out Pandora. It looks AMAZING!
WOW! Those pictures are amazing. After reading and seeing everything, I so want to go and see everything myself.
It’s beautiful at the Animal Kingdom! I would love to take my family there, it’ll be our first time.
My family visited Pandora and absolutely loved it. We especially loved Flight of Passage. We can’t wait to go back.
Id love to see the Animal Kingdom parks! This has got to be a dream vacation!
Wow!! I liked Animal Kingdom before but Pandora sounds AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharing! kristiedonelson(at)gmail(dot)com Thank you. Happy Spring!
love the pic and then i would to go there
Animal Kingdom–what a beautiful place it is! Perfect for family trips. My kids like Disney. And they will enjoy trip to this place.
I went to Disney in January and got to see Pandora for the first time! It was beyond real! I really like the decoration and scenery, Disney always puts so much detail into everything.
Okay this looks totally amazing!! It is going high on my to-do list for Disney.
I would love to visit! I have never been to Animal Kingdom and Pandora is beautiful!
The scenery of Avatar / Pandora was the best part of the movie, so the park should be beautiful too!
We were so impressed with Pandora when we went last fall! The detail was so amazing!
That looks like a beautiful place to visit, I love the waterfall!
Animal Kingdom has always been a favorite to our whole family every Saturday. I cannot wait to see this Pandora version, any day
What a beautiful place to visit!
I would love to do this
Oh wow! This place looks absolutely amazing! This place would be perfect to bring my family on vacation to!
This looks and sounds so beautiful. I would love to someday go there with my family.