Disney's Animal Kingdom and Pandora - World of Avatar

Disney’s animal Kingdom and Pandora - World of Avatar

When I started planning my Christmas and New Year’s vacation in Orlando, Florida, I decided to visit all the famous amusement parks there, even if some of them were targeted more towards different customers, for example Walt Disney world for is more targeted towards little kids than towards adults. And, to be honest, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Pandora - World of Avatar were two of the parks that I was the least excited about visiting.

I am not really sure why, but from all the descriptions and reviews that I have read, Disney’s Animal Kingdom appeared more like a big zoo or safari with two or three rides than an actual amusement park, and the Pandora - World of Avatar just recently opened so all the lines for the few attractions there are terribly long. But, like I said, I went anyway, and I am glad that I did, because both parks more than just exceeded my expectations.

How to get there and parking options.

Both parks are situated in Orlando, Florida, and it is impossible to miss them with all the signs. Unlike the Walt Disney world, Disney’s animal kingdom and Pandora - World of avatar have their own parking lot, so you do not need to take a park transportation to get to the entrance. But there is a catch - if you do not buy preferred parking, it might take you up to two hours to get out of that parking lot at the end of the day. Yes, there are that many people in the park. So the best thing you can do is to buy preferred parking. It does cost forty dollars per day, but buying preferred parking will allow you to leave without having to wait in a traffic jam with other people who did not buy preferred parking.

Regular parking is pretty expensive as well - twenty dollars for the whole day. But the good thing about the parking (even with regular, non - preferred parking) is that you can leave and re - enter the parking lot as many times as you want in a day without having to pay the parking fee again. And if you purchase regular parking, you can upgrade it to preferred parking later in the day by, you guessed right, paying an additional twenty dollars.

To make your way of remembering where you parked a little easier, since the park’s parking lot is enormous, all the light poles have different signs on them, such as Mickey mouse, Donald duck and so on. The easiest thing is just to take a picture of the sign and finding the car at the end of the day will be much easier.

Admission prices

A daily admission for Disney’s animal kingdom and Pandora - world of Avatar will cost you a little less than one hundred dollars. Which is an awful lot for a theme park admission for just one day, but keep in mind that this is actually two parks in one. The exact price also depends on the day. For example, if you are visiting the park on a holiday the admission price will, of course, be higher,

And just like with any other Disney park, the fast pass admission will allow you to choose three attractions for the fast pass, meaning you will not have to wait in line for them. The catch with the fast pass for the most popular attractions is that you have to book the fast pass for them months in advance. And most people plan their holidays quite a few months in advance, so the sooner you do it, the bigger chances you will have to get the fast pass for your desired rides and attractions. Also, keep in mind that the fast pass almost doubles the ticket price.

Disney’s animal kingdom

Disney’s animal kingdom is divided into several areas, including my favourite ones Dinosaur land, Asia and Africa. And these are the rides and places in the park that I liked the most:

The first thing you will see after entering the park, is a tree of life. The tree of life  is an  amazing place for a picture, and it also hosts the movie theater for the show, called It is tough to be a bug. It basically shows the life from the perspective of a bug, so if you are afraid of spiders and other critters, I would kindy suggest you to avoid seeing this show, because the enormous creatures will fill the whole screen. It is still a fun thing to  do, though, but seeing spiders from so close (even though they were just on the screen) gave me goosebumps. I would say that seeing It’s tough to be a bug is worth is if the line is shorter than an hour.

The Dinosaur ride is a fun, but a little scary indoor roller coaster. It is themed around a scientist who thinks he invented time travel and wants to travel to the dinosaur era and bring back a dinosaur. And guess who is the lucky passenger. Yes, you. The ride itself is super fun, a little thrilling, and the visuals are great. And, I admit it, the part where the dinosaur runs after you, is just a little scary.

Expedition Everest is a very fun roller coaster. And you will see the ‘Everest’ mountain from quite a few areas in the park. The theming of this roller coaster is basically finding the yeti. And I almost had a heart attack on this ride, and I will tell you why in just a moment. So, just like any other roller coaster, you have to go up a big hill. And once you reach the top of the hill on Expedition Everest, there is another hill. And at the end of this hill, you will see the broken tracks. And this is when the roller coaster will start to go backwards really fast and eventually stop in a cave. Then, a yeti shadow will appear on the wall, you will go backwards a bit more, and then go forward again, down a pretty steep drop.    

This is how the Expedition Everest looks like from pretty much any point in the park. Pretty fabulous, right? I was genuinely impressed about how much attention to details was put into all the Walt Disney parks I have visited.

The jeep safari. The landscape actually looks like Africa, and the driver will make you feel like you are on a real African safari, including the fact that he or she will talk like: ‘Here in Africa,…’ I was surprised how many animals we saw, and the driver was super informative and also funny. At the beginning of the safari, he told us that we can take as many pictures as we want, but we need to hold on to the camera, because the road is bumpy and they are not allowed to stop the vehicle if somebody loses a camera or a phone. Then he said: ‘If you lose a camera, the best thing you can do is to raise a hand and wave goodbye.’ It was hilarious, because everybody assumed that the second part of the sentence will be: ‘so we can figure out how to get your camera back.’

If you run out of the things to do, you can walk one of many discovery trailson the Discovery island. The trails are basically a zoo and they allow you to see animals from up close. This part of the park reminded me of a typical zoo, but with more unusual animals that you would see in a regular zoo.   

We saw these flamingos while strolling along the discovery trail.

Pandora - World of Avatar

This park opened just recently, and it is pretty small, but I guarantee you that it will take your breath away. It does not offer many rides, but, like people say, it is about the quality, not the quantity. Since this is a fairly new park, expect loooong lines. But the good thing is that even if you have to wait in line, the theming in this park is so good that you will forget you are actually waiting in line. I seriously admire the fact how much work was put into this park. And if you have seen the Avatar movie, you will think you were somehow magically transported to Pandora when you visit the park.   

The creators Of Pandora: World of Avatar managed to create an illusion of the floating island.

The Pandora river cruise is a relaxing underground canoe ride through the river on Pandora. There will be different creatures, bioluminiscent plants and music straight from the Avatar movie. I was lucky enough to get a fast pass for this attraction, and even with a fast pass, I had to wait almost thirty minutes. This ride usually has waiting times almost as long as the Pandora - Flight of passage ride, but I must say it is not worth waiting in line for more than an hour. I mean, it is amazingly well made, but this is just a canoe ride and it offers nothing thrilling or extraordinary, other than an amazing visual experience.

Pandora - Flight of passage. Usually, I never want to wait in line for a ride for over an hour. Two hours is my limit. But for this ride, I waited in line for four hours and a half (!!!) because everybody said it is amazing and incredible and so on. And, despite my doubts, I have to say the wait was worth it, and if the park was open longer I would wait in that line again! The ride is themed around a ride through Pandora on the back of a Banshee. You get 3D glasses and you sit on a motorbike - like thing, which will move, and therefore you will feel like you are actually flying. The sides of the seat will even inflate and deflate, giving you the impression of the Banshee breathing. And the best part, other than the amazing visuals, are the smells. When the Banshee is flying through the forest, the air will actually smell like forest, and when flying over the ocean, the air will smell like sea water. Again, trust me, this ride is worth waiting hours in line for.   

This was a part of theming in the line for the Pandora - Flight of Passage. The creature was moving and it looked pretty real to me!

After you exit the Pandora - Flight of Passage, you will have to walk through a gift shop, where you can buy some cool souvenirs, and even design your own avatar. It is pretty cool. And you do not have to pay for it!

Food and drinks

Types of food depend on the part of the park you are in. For example, the area next to the Expedition Everest ride is themed like a Himalayan village and therefore, you can find restaurants with mostly Himalayan (Indian) food in that area. In the African part of the park, expect to find some traditional African dishes. And do not worry, you can find regular food in the park too. Read: fast food, typical for all amusement parks.

In Pandora - World of avatar, try the colourful slushy drink with bubbles that pop in your mouth. The drink is super sweet, but it will quench your thirst and refresh you. And it looks pretty cool - every layer has a different colour.

Tips for surviving a day in both parks

First of all, do not run, at least not in Pandora - World of Avatar. It rained the night before so everything was slippery. I ran after my friend, fell on my back, broke my camera and fractured a bone in my wrist. And I only found it out the next day because the pain did not stop and I went to the doctor. On the day of the fall, I simply thought it hurts from the impact. But it turned out that I was wrong. So please do not run - the attractions will still be there even if you get to them a few minutes later than you planned, but you might regret a broken bone. I know I do.

Get a fast pass for the new attractions well in advance. Looking at you, Pandora - World of Avatar. The admission ticket will allow you to skip the lines for three attractions in the park during a selected period of time. The bad thing is that the fast passes for Pandora and other popular rides are usually sold out months in advance.

Prepare for long lines. If you did not manage to get a fast pass for any of the rides, prepare to wait. A lot. Since Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Pandora - World of avatar only have a few rides, wait times can get terribly long.   

As you can see from this picture (although the angle is not the best), the line at this point was 270 minutes long. Seeing this sign shattered my dreams of a shorter line.

Drink enough fluids. Florida is warm year - round, and it is easy to forget to drink enough fluids in amusement parks. At least I always do. But luckily, I have amazing friends that are constantly reminding me to drink enough when we visit different amusement parks together.

Plan out your visit a little. And I do not mean just booking everything in advance. Look at the park maps and attractions, figure out where rides you want to try out are situated, and make a plan which rides you want to hit first and which ones later in the day. Different theme parks online forums usually have a ‘day plan’ for every amusement park you can think of, telling you the best strategy for experiencing as many rides in a day as possible. And since Disney parks are much much busier than any other theme park I can think of, this is the best advice I can give you: get to the park as  early as you can. And by that, I mean around an hour before it opens. And when the park opens, run to the most popular attraction. (Well, walk. And walk fast.) In my case, the ride was Pandora: The flight of passage. I got to the ride as fast as I could, and the line was already almost three hours long. But, as I said, the wait was worth every single minute.

A few words for the end…

If you would like  a relaxing day and not focus on the rides, but more on walking around and seeing the animals, then Disney’s animal kingdom and Pandora - world of Avatar are the right choice for you. If you are visiting all other parks in the area, these two parks can be a welcome break from all the thrilling rides in other parks.