Pandora and a Galaxy Far Far Away
Disney World
Feb 17, 2024
Our daughter absolutely loves the Avatar movies and we recently decorated her room Pandora Themed (which basically means lots of neon colors and forest, sky and water lights - just take my word for it, it looks cool). We thought it would be awesome to take her to Pandora for her birthday. Naturally Disney has a solution for that!
We started our day at Disney's Animal Kingdom!
So much has changed at Animal Kingdom, I remember always skipping this park as a kid and younger person because I thought it was boring. NOT ANYMORE!
It was a cold and very rainy day but it was still totally worth it! Let me start off by saying you need to get Disney Genie+ for your day. It is not crazy expensive and totally worth it! It is like the Fast Passes from the old days. It was just over 100 bucks for all 5 of us and we got to go on more rides because of it and it comes with a lot of little extras.
My kids love roller coasters... kinda. Well they say they do but it changes everyday. On this particular day they were ALL FOR IT. We used our Disney Genie+ to set up Lightening Lane for Expedition Everest (AKA the Yeti ride if you are talking to my son). My mother in law opted out of this thrill experience.
We waited in "line" for about 2 minutes (yes minutes, thank you Lightening Lane) but it was just enough time to find a hidden Mickey in a boot!
Naturally (probably due to the Pandora Rainforest and absolutely nothing to do with the ridiculous FL temperamental climate) it started raining super hard! So we decided to stop for some lunch at the Satu'li Canteen. We grabbed some Pandora drinks (you can have them add a little alcohol to the adult beverages and the boba was passion fruit, YUM!) and headed into the restaurant. It was like being inside of a tree and overhead you could see the Na'vi beds just like in the movie. The food was different but it tasted great!
These were some kind of hamburger pod, the bun was sweet and the hamburger was great. Everyone loved it! Definitely a must try! It finally stopped raining for a little bit and the kids found this tree stump area right outside the restaurant where the stumps were drums. They had a lot of fun doing that for a good ten minutes.
Remember me mentioning that the Genie+ had some cool extras? One of those extras are Disney filters you can add to your pictures. Its a great way to pass some time if you need to wait for a ride or your next Lightening Lane time. There are filters that add characters, or borders and some where it scans you and tells you which Disney princess or villain you are and some of them you can only use in certain parks. Like these (I think I would make a great Avatar!):
My husband didn't want an inner princess so he can be Ursula instead!
You know, another recommendation would be to get the Memory Maker. This is a photo pass for Disney. There are hundreds of people posted all around the park just waiting to take your picture in front of just about every amazing background. For one flat rate you get ALL of those pictures. They link straight to your My Disney Experience app and you download them. Honestly, it is priceless (but if you need the price ours was $79 for the day - doesn't matter how many parks you go to). Check some of these out:
Just Do It! It's Worth It!
We enjoyed the Na'vi River Journey ride and it was at this point that my son started complaining that he wanted to go to Star Wars. When I say the phrase "We are going to Disney" my son's immediate reaction is always the same, "Can we go to Star Wars?!" Last time he got to go with his dad, I tried to make it but I was pregnant with my daughter and my feet hurt. This time I wasn't going to miss out!
Hello Hollywood Studios!
And here is an official SORRY to Disney but if you find something you really like (or your kids won't leave you alone about) in a gift shop - look it up on amazon before you drop 100 bucks on it! Seriously.
And again GET the Genie+, it makes a world of difference. We used that to jump on to Star Tours - The Adventures Continue its a 3D, motion-simulated space flight where you hop around to several planets featured in the movies. The even select a member on the flight to be a Rebel Spy and post your face on the screen. My son was the rebel spy this time around and he made a big show of apologize to the other occupants for putting everyone "in danger". He is a character for sure.
But if you want a SERIOUS laugh and I mean a really good time! Take your kids (especially if they are younger and don't have a firm grasp on Left and Right yet) onto the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and let them be the pilots. I'll explain. The Falcon is looking for a new flight crew and this is essentially a job interview where you interview on the fly (literally) - let me just say we did not get the job...
The flight crew is 6 people. 2 Pilots, 2 Engineers and 2 Gunners. My son was the pilot that made the ship go up and down, my daughter was the pilot that made the ship go left and right. My husband and I were on the guns and my mother in law and some poor innocent bystander were the engineers.
We smashed into EVERYTHING!
And the whole ship would shake with the impact! My mother and law and the poor guy stuck with us were madly pushing buttons to repair the ship. My husband I were shooting everything we could - we couldn't aim... that was kids job. Somehow my husband scored over 1000 points, obviously I was set up for failure with my horrible pilots, because I scored -42. Yes NEGATIIVE 42. How on EARTH can you score negative points?!?!?!
Let's just say a very long, in-depth lesson of Left and Right followed our flight. And I am not expecting a call back from that interview.
We had a great day visiting the Disney parks. If you took anything away from this post I hope that it was use Disney Genie+ and the Memory Maker on your next trip to Disney!
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