This moment has been anticipated for years. The opening day of Pandora – The World of Avatar finally arrived yesterday and the crowds were intense.
I made a last minute trip to Disney World specifically for the opening of Pandora, so I knew I needed to get there early. The park opened at 7 am for resort guests and 8 am for everyone else. Instead of dealing with the buses I had a cab pick me up and was at Animal Kingdom by 5:30 am.
People were already there waiting when I arrived, but I was pretty close to the front. The crowds kept pouring in behind me and the lines were building up fast.
They started letting people through the bag check around 6 am or so and then started letting us into the park around 6:20 am. Once we were in the park there were other Cast Members stationed to scan bands and make sure you were a resort guest.
After getting through the scan that’s when people started the “Flight of Passage sprint” to Pandora. Cast Members were stationed all along the walkway reminding people to walk and not run. There were a lot of Cast Members, I’m guessing this was an “all hands on deck” kind of day.
We made our way to the entrance of Pandora, which is right by Tiffins Restaurant. They kept us there for another 20 – 30 minutes before we were officially let into Pandora.
Walking into Pandora on the official opening day was pretty amazing. The crowd was energized and the walkway was lined with Cast Members who were taking videos of the crowd and cheering with us. Everyone was excited and the energy was very cool.
Once everyone made their way into Pandora the lines for the rides started. I decided to go another direction and head to the gift shop for a banshee. I really wanted to bond with a banshee and bring one home. Luckily there were not a lot of people in there and I was one of the first to adopt a banshee. It’s a good thing too, because a little while later the line for the gift shop was ridiculously long.
I think a lot of people were looking to adopt banshees. The problem is the area where you choose your banshee is very small, so not many people can fit. However, they do have banshees in boxes to choose from, kind of like an express banshee adoption.
The wait times for the rides got pretty long pretty quick. I hopped on line for the Na’vi River Journey when it was at 90 minutes, but it didn’t take that long which was nice. An hour or so later it was up to 195 minutes and Avatar Flight of Passage got up to 250 minutes! It’s not surprising, but wow that’s a long time to wait for a ride.
I was able to have breakfast at Satu’li Canteen before it started getting crowded. The French Toast was so good, but I’ll do a separate write up of that. The inside of the canteen is cool too. I have lots of pictures and videos to show you that I will put in the post.
By the time I left Animal Kingdom, around 10:30 am, there was an hour and a half to two hour wait just to get into Pandora and then you had to wait in line for the rides too. The line to get into Pandora stretched all the way back to the entrance of the park. It was crazy!
There will be more posts coming soon with lots of pictures and videos from opening day, but for now check out the crowds in the video below.
Were you there for opening day?
Thanks for reading!
*Liz*
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Liz
I love all things Disney, but my main love is for Disney World and I'm always planning for the next trip. Before becoming a Disney blogger, I was a radio DJ, so I guess I'm just continuing in the communication industry, just in a different form. I love talking Disney and I could talk about Disney all day. That's why I started blogging and created the Facebook group. The Disney community is full of friendly, helpful, and happy people...and I love being a part of it! If there is any Disney subject you would like to see covered just let me know! Need help planning your Disney vacation. Feel free to contact myself or Melissa at Never Stop Dreaming Travel Co. We love helping people plan their trips! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to check out our Countdown to Disney app! Feel free to email me with suggestions of things you would like to see in the app :-)
What if you have a fast pass for one of the rides in Pandora, do you have to make sure you allow for the wait time just to get into the area? That would be frustrating if you missed your fast pass time because you couldn’t even get back into the section. I’m hoping it settles down some by our trip near the end of August!
Hi Lisa!
As of when I left yesterday you did not have to wait in line if you had a FastPass. I’m sure when you are there it won’t be as busy as it has been these first two days, but it will still be busy. If you see a queue line when you enter the park for Pandora just find a cast member and let them know you have a FastPass, they should let you in.
I hope you have a magical time!
Thank you for responding to my question! It’s a relief to know you can enter Pandora without waiting to get in if you have a fast pass, as we are booking fast passes soon! Thank you!
Glad to help! 🙂 Hopefully, it won’t be as crazy when you go.
Can you explain what adopting a banshee is?
Hi Brian!
Guests can go to the Windtraders gift shop and visit the banshee rookery. There are 10 different varieties to choose from and cast members will help you bond with your banshee. The cast member will ask you which banshee is calling to you and once you pick one they will put it on your shoulder. They let you play around with the controls for a few minutes to make sure it’s a good fit and then you can head to the register. They give you a nice box to carry your banshee in and you can purchase a perch for the banshee to sit on too. I’m going to do a separate post on the banshees with more details. It was a fun process 🙂
Thank you Liz,
I watched your video and no one can say you don’t put the time and effort into all things Disney, I hate massive crowds fair play and thank you for going through that to bring us all the information.
Thank you for the kind words Brian! I really appreciate that 🙂 I’m not a fan of huge crowds either, that’s why I left Animal Kingdom by 10:30 am that day. Lol
It’s been a while since I was at AK, what other attraction is the Pandora entrance near? You mentioned Tiffins but I’m not familiar with it. Is this near the Dinosaur area or closer to the Africa area or ? Thank you!
Hi Lin!
It’s closer to Africa. You go through the entrance, over the bridge, and take a left. It’s not far after you take the left.