in association with
Park Hoppin’ with Paul Ruben
Dazzling, Just Dazzling I
f you are among those trying to decide what improvements and upgrades you should make in your park for $500 million, I suggest you go to Walt Disney World. See what they did to Disney’s Animal Kingdom when they
added Pandora – The World of Avatar, because it is dazzling. Even if you don’t plan to spend $500 million you should see this new land. It is spectacular. Disney started by deciding to populate Pandora with two of its most popular rides, Pirates of the Caribbean and Soarin’. Is there anyone in the world that does not thrill to these attractions? Is there anyone in the world who is too timid to ride them? They changed the rides for Pandora, of course, themed them to celebrate
director James Cameron’s blockbuster film, Avatar. Pirates became Na’vi River Journey, a hauntingly beautiful float through a bioluminescent forest. It’s the most beautiful dark ride I’ve ever experienced, just awe-inspiring in its grandeur. The audio-animatronic figure at the end of the ride is the best Disney has ever done. Transformed with new seating and 3D computer generated imagery, Soarin’ metamorphosed into Avatar Flight of Passage, a flying theater attraction where guests soar above the colorful Pandoran landscape on the back of a flying mountain banshee. How cool is that? The seating is motorcycle style similar to that found on Zamperla’s Moto Coaster or Disk’O. You are tightly secured in place, for good reason. Unlike Soarin’ that takes guests for a leisurely aerial view of familiar earth-bound sights, Flight of Passage treats guests to more of an adrenaline rush. They soar, twist, and dive over the Pandoran landscape, confronted by alien monsters, and race through spaces that appear too tight to squeeze through. Guests were alternately screaming and laughing during their four-minute flight. I’ve never seen Avatar the film, but Avatar the park attraction has been the highlight of my 2017 park visits. Disney did everything right. The storytelling is magical. The rides are memorable. They control the vistas, so you are immersed in this alien environment with no visual clues of the outside world. The vegetation and the landscape with floating mountains is surreal. The dining is Pandoran casual, that is, healthful and different. They don’t have corn dogs in Pandora but they do have adult beverages, so I survived. Not surprisingly, there are even retail opportunities in Pandora, and, surprise, they accept U.S. dollars. I usually pass quickly by the merchandise, but Pandoran merchandise was unusually attractive and unique. Most surprisingly, there were no mouse ears in sight. Not in the store, not in the Pandoran portion of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It was here I met the babe du jour pictured below. My immersion into Pandora was complete. Anyone visiting Pandora must return after the sun goes down. It transports
you to another level of otherworldliness. The bioluminescent vegetation glows. So did the white in my clothing, aided by black light. It was magical just to stroll along the pathways, soaking up this ambiance. Disney’s success lies in its ability to tell stories. Here, aided by James Cameron’s Avatar, the story is one of conservation and land stewardship. In a world consumed by all sorts of foolishness, it is a good story to tell.
JULY 2017
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