It is time for us to tackle one of our top attractions in Disney World, Avatar Flight of Passage. This attraction has it all, from the story telling queue, through the preshow, you would be challenged to find a Disney attraction anywhere in the world with so much going on. Avatar Flight of Passage is the most popular attraction in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and we will share how to experience it. (Updated 3/20/23)
Avatar Flight of Passage is in, Pandora – The World of Avatar section in Disney’s Animal kingdom. This entire area is thematically awesome!!!! Even if you do not like Avatar the movie, you can’t help but stare in awe of the Valley of Mo’Ara. Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) spared no expense when it came to building out this addition to the park. Working closely with James Cameron they have a beauty on their hands.
The popularity of Avatar – The World of Avatar continues to draw in visitors, and this will likely go up a little bit as Avatar 2 The Way of Water comes out later this year. This article is not just for our love of Avatar, but designed to help you experience this magical attraction.
Avatar Flight of Passage the Ride
Let’s take a look at what makes Avatar Flight of passage amazing! The technology is a good mix of old tricks and new, and what I mean by that is think of “Soarin’ Around the World” at EPCOT, but bumped up a couple of notches with added tech.
It all starts though with your walkthrough of Pandora outside before you get into the lengthy queue. Supposedly the imagineers planned on lengthy lines, and to that point the queue can accommodate 6 hours! Don’t worry the queue doesn’t get anywhere near that, and if you follow our advice you won’t wait that long either.
Once you get through the awesome queue you will be sent into the preshow room. The preshow for this attraction is well thought out and really gives you a sense of the journey you are about to embark on. Count how many times the word Avatar is used and take a shot for each one!
Now it is time for the ride portion of the attraction. You straddle a bicycle type of vehicle, and put on your 3D glasses and get ready to soar on the back of a banshee for 4 minutes. I can’t tell you how awesome this attraction is. Not only do you feel like you are in Pandora, but the Banshee comes alive!!!
Alright now let’s talk how to ride this attraction. Like our other articles, How to Ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, How to Ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and How to Ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, we will explore how to minimize your wait time for Avatar Flight of Passage. First the individual Lightning Lane.
Genie+ which includes Lightning Lane
In order to utilize Lightning Lane, you need a cell phone with the “My Disney Experience” app, and also, purchase Genie+. To purchase Genie+ is to do it daily starting at midnight, and before 7am EST on the day of your visit to the parks. Very important that you purchase this before 7am or you will miss out on attractions that are fully booked at 7am.
To complicate things more, certain rides aren’t even included in the purchase of Genie+. You actually have five attractions, that you have to purchase separately. These are called “Individual Lightning Lane”, or Lightning Lane a la carte. These attractions are currently listed below. Please note Disney opted to leave Seven Dwarfs Mine Train as a ILL making this the first park with two of those.
- Magic Kingdom: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train & TRON Lightcycle /Run
- EPCOT: Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: Avatar Flight of Passage
Each Individual Lightning Lane can be purchased at 7am by guests staying on property for any of the attractions above. Guests not staying on property can purchase them at each park’s respective opening times, however be warned, most of the attractions above are gone within the first couple minutes or even seconds in the case of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and we are sure TRON will even be faster for a while.
Also, one more point of contention, if you are managing Lightning Lane and also Individual Lightning Lane, you have a choice to make at 7am on which one to concentrate on. Meaning if your day starts at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and you wanted to grab Na’vi River Journey, and Avatar Flight of Passage at the same time you will want to prioritize grabbing the Individual Lightning Lane for Avatar Flight of Passage. This way you can set your return time. After that is secured, you can go back in for another Lightning Lane reservation, unlike Disney’s Hollywood Studios these reservations do not disappear as fast, therefore giving you a break from anxiety for Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
The only issue with Genie plus in DAK is the lack of options. I often tell people you don’t really need genie+ for this park, but to each their own.
Waiting in Line for Avatar Flight of Passage
Now on to the other way we experience Avatar Flight of Passage. This would be the good old fashioned standby by queue. Now if you are at Disney’s Animal Kingdom for rope drop we would suggest you do not go with everyone else over to Pandora, but instead make your way to Expedition Everest in the opposite side of the park.
Almost everyone rushes over to Pandora to spike the lines for the two attractions. We have gone on Expedition Everest as many as 4 times in the early moments of rope drop. You can also wander over to Kilimanjaro Safaris all while everyone is waiting in line for the two Pandora attractions.
What we tell people is go to Pandora during the last 1-2 hours the park is open. During certain times of the year you will be treated to the bioluminescence that they added to the area, and also shorter wait times for each of the two attractions. Often you will find us getting in line for Avatar Flight of Passage with 1 minute to go for park closing. You will have a relatively shorter wait at that time. We have even almost walked right onto it without a wait.
Conclusion on Avatar Flight of Passage
Make sure to put Avatar Flight of Passage on your must do list! For those of you from California who can get to Disneyland’s Star Wars Galaxies Edge, I would prioritizing seeing Pandora here in Orlando if you are short on time, and at night! You will be able to take in all of the awesome scenery, and experience a truly one of a kind attraction with Avatar Flight of Passage!
So will you be trying out Flight of Passage? Have you already been on it? Let us know in the comments, and as the Na’vi say Sivako!