How to Avoid Lines in Pandora – The World of Avatar
Pandora – The World of Avatar is the hottest place to be right now in Disney World. It’s Disney World’s newest expansion and is exciting to explore. Inside the World of Avatar, you can climb aboard a banshee and fly in Avatar Flight of Passage. Or you can explore the bioluminescent rainforest on the Na’vi River Journey. On normal days, wait times for the rides can exceed over two hours. On peak days, the rides can have up to five hours wait times. It’s ridiculous and a waste of your precious park time. Here are the best ways to maximize your time and avoiding long waits in Pandora.
Stay on Disney World Resort property
Staying on property allows you to make your Fastpass + plans 60 days in advanced. This is an entire month before guests who aren’t staying on property. Getting a Fastpass + for the ride and time you want isn’t a guarantee. But the earlier you can make your reservations, the more likely you will get what you want. My recommendation is to make your reservations the first day it becomes available. Logging into your My Disney Experience account at midnight eastern time is preferable. These Fastpass + reservations will go fast.
You will NOT be able to make Fastpass + reservations for both rides in Pandora on the same day. If you plan on going to Animal Kingdom over multiple days, this won’t be an issue for you. Get a Fastpass + for one ride on the first day and get a Fastpass + for the other ride on the second day. If you only have one day to go to Animal Kingdom try to get a Fastpass + for Flight of Passage. Flight of Passage tends to have a longer wait time than Na’vi River Journey and loads fewer guests per hour. Whichever ride you don’t get a Fastpass + for, run to that ride at the beginning of the day. This way you will be able to experience both rides at least once.
If you’re not staying on Disney property…
Avoid going to the Animal Kingdom on Mondays and Saturdays. Monday and Saturday are the days that Animal Kingdom has extra magic hours. Usually, the extra magic hour will happen before the park opens. This means there will already be lines in Pandora before you get there. And they will be long, but not as long as they will be.
If you’ve purchased your park ticket, you can make Fastpass + reservations 30 days in advance. You might luck out and get a Fastpass + reservation for one of the rides in Pandora, but don’t count on it. As I said above, the reservations for these rides will go fast. It never hurts to keep checking for a Fastpass + on the My Disney Experience app. I’ve stalked the app for a few weeks and was able to snatch a Fastpass +. You never know if one will open up, so check often.
If you weren’t able to get a Fastpass +, get to Animal Kingdom at least an hour early (except on Mondays and Saturdays). You will be one of the first at the gates. Once the park opens, “walk with a purpose” (a.k.a. run) to Flight of Passage, then ride Na’vi River Journey. If you’re lucky, this will only take up an hour of your park time.
Wait until Summer 2019 if you can
Pandora isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. With four film sequels to come, Disney isn’t letting Avatar go.
In Summer 2019, Stars Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will be opening in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Disney announced it’s going to be the most immersive experience they’ve built. If this expansion is going to be anything like Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter, then it will be a beacon for crowds. When Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens, crowds for Pandora will be much more manageable. The crowds at Hollywood Studios on the other hand…
Toy Story Land will open next summer at Hollywood Studios, a year before Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. I don’t expect this expansion will lessen the crowds in Pandora. The two lands appeal to different demographics. Toy Story Land will be for younger children. Pandora is for an older audience. The rides in Toy Story Land aren’t going to be innovative, unlike the rides in Pandora and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. While it’s undergoing construction, Hollywood Studios is a half-day park and I don’t think the addition of Toy Story Land will change that status. Pandora will still reign supreme, even when it isn’t the newest expansion in Walt Disney World.
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Special thanks to Brittni Sutter for writing this article! As a lover of all things Disney, I’ve made it my life’s mission to learn about the history and artistry the House of Mouse. I’ve vacationed to half of the resorts and plan to complete the Disney Parks mecca in the coming years. I fill my life with as much magic as Disney can muster and I love encouraging others to do the same.