Pandora: The World of Avatar, the long-awaiting new section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, is open and welcoming thousands of eager guests with two brand new rides: Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey. These two experiences are each very different, allowing riders to experience two different parts of Pandora.
New boat ride at Walt Disney World
Na’vi River Journey is a sedate ride that’s suitable for everyone in the family, regardless of age. It takes riders on a journey through the bioluminescent world of Pandora, with wildlife and native Na’vi all around.
The ride uses a combination of projection technology and Audioanimatronics to fully immerse you in the world of Pandora at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The figures are so lifelike, and their movement is so fluid that you’ll almost be convinced that they’re living beings.
Exploring rainforests on Pandora
The main objective of your float trip through the Pandora rainforest is to find the Na’vi Shaman of Songs. You head through the Valley of Mo’ara on your watercraft, viewing the glowing foliage, native creatures, and people before the Shaman finally reveals herself at the end of your trip. It’s a slow-moving, scenic and sedate ride, unlike the river raft adventure in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It’s a great option when you want to rest your feet and get some relief from the heat and the massive crowds descending on Pandora.
Be sure to get a Fastpass+ to slash your wait time.
The video below shows a full journey on Na’vi River Journey, one of Walt Disney World’s two newest rides in the Pandora: The World of Avatar area:
Ride a Banshee at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Flight of Passage is as exciting as Na’vi River Journey is sedate. This simulated flight through Pandora on the back of a Banshee is currently the most popular ride at Walt Disney World, with guests flocking to Disney’s Animal Kingdom and waiting up to 400 minutes or more for the experience.
Flight of Passage uses state-of-the-art simulator technology to give you an experience so real that you’ll feel your Banshee breathing beneath you. Unlike Soarin’, where you’re strapped into a seat among rows of guests, you have your very own ride vehicle in a row of 16. You straddle it, somewhat like a bicycle, and are secured by the restraints to ready you for a breathtaking flight.
The backstory of this attraction is that you’re going to experience a Banshee flight by linking up to an avatar. As you can see in the videos below, which show the richly detailed queue line and pre-show, it is as detailed as anything else at Walt Disney World. First, you walk through the lab and explore the technology that will make your flight possible:
Next, you go through staging rooms designed to prepare you for your flight. Flight of Passage is one of the lower capacity rides at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, so the staging rooms act as a way to break you down into appropriately sized groups, prepare you, and give you safety warnings before your flight:
There’s no videotaping allowed on Flight of Passage, so if you want to go on your own Banshee adventure, you’ll have to visit Walt Disney World Flight this summer and head over to Disney’s Animal Kingdom to spend a day on Pandora exploring all of its wonders.
