by Beth Keating
News
DisneyBizJournal.com
September 15, 2022
The first time our boys rode “Flight of Passage” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, they hadn’t seen the 2009 Avatar movie that the ride is based on. And while, strictly speaking, you can thoroughly enjoy this amazing ride without having seen the movie, it certainly helps to have the origin story for the spectacular land of Pandora. (Seriously, don’t miss Flight of Passage… it is arguably one of the two best rides at Disney World.)
If you want the opportunity to see the Avatar movie on the big screen, now’s your chance. Avatar will be back in select theatres in 4K High Dynamic Range on September 23, and will run through October 6. Avatar is rated PG-13. It’s the top-grossing film of all time, at $2.84 billion in ticket sales, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Avatar was written and directed by Academy Award winner James Cameron, and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director; and won three Oscars for Best Cinematography, Production Design and Visual Effects.
The four – yes, four -- sequels to Avatar are currently in production, and will no doubt bring even bigger crowds to the already popular land of Pandora at Animal Kingdom. The first of the sequels, Avatar: The Way of Water, is expected December 16, 2022, having been previously pushed back several times.
In addition to “Flight of Passage,” where guests take a 3D ride on the back of their very own mountain banshee through the Pandoran landscape, the land also includes the slower moving “Na’Vi River Journey,” a boat ride that takes visitors past the bioluminescent flora and fauna of Pandora in search of “the Shaman of Song,” an animatronic that is so lifelike many guests mistake her for an actual cast member. The rest of the Valley of Mo’ara, especially at night, wows visitors with plunging waterfalls, floating mountains, and, if you are lucky enough to be there after dark, a stunning glowing landscape. Stop in at the Satu’li Canteen, the former “mess hall,” for some of the coveted cheeseburger pods, or grab a glass of Hawkes’ Grog Ale, a green shaded draft beer brewed just for the land of Pandora.
If you missed the movie in the past, now’s your chance to catch up before the storyline continues on… or just so you know what’s happening at Animal Kingdom.
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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.
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