Pandora: World of Avatar Opening Date
We have an official opening date for Pandora: World of Avatar, an opening year for Star Wars Land, and a likely soft opening date for Rivers of Light. (No, for real this time!) We’ll cover all of this and some commentary in today’s post.
The opening date for Pandora: World of Avatar is May 27, 2017, which is not what we were opening or predicting. However, with a Memorial Day weekend official opening, it is likely that we will see at least a few weeks of soft openings beforehand.
In fact, given how complex the land itself is, with Cast Members stationed around various points offering guests information about plant-life and environmental details (some Cast Members are also expected to know bits of the Na’vi language to share with guests) and how high expectations are for things to run smoothly, we would expect a longer soft opening phase rather than a shorter one to iron things out. I don’t think an event on Earth Day is out of the question, but I would not expect it to include any publicized mention of Pandora. Disney likes to pretend new offerings are not open–even as people enter them–until they officially open.
That brings us to Rivers of Light. Last night, there was a private event at Animal Kingdom for something called “SMMC,” which is not a cool secret society like the acronym might suggest. During this, Rivers of Light was shown. There were no technical issues and a few minutes had been trimmed since the Cast Member preview last month, suggesting that test and adjust on the show is complete and it is ready to go.
More importantly (for the sake of its imminent debut), Cast Members are scheduled for the Rivers of Light theater this weekend. This amphitheater is not currently being used, so unless there’s an epic new projection show about Duffy slaying Maleficent’s dragon form (I’d watch that), it stands to reason that Rivers of Light is about to debut. Now, we have zero inside information on this, but Disney does not tend to staff empty theaters, so draw your own conclusions…
Again, I would not expect any official word from Walt Disney World on Rivers of Light. We are close enough to May at this point that it wouldn’t shock me to see Rivers of Light receive a few months of ‘technical rehearsals’ with an official opening May 27, 2016. That way, all of this can be bundled together as a huge relaunch of Animal Kingdom.
February 9, 2017 Update: Dining packages for Rivers of Light are now available for select dates, as is FastPass+. We stand by our prediction that the show will debut this weekend. These packages and FastPass+ don’t start this weekend, but that’s no cause for alarm; giving the show a week of running without complications is probably for the best. If you’re planning on doing a dining package, let us remind you that we consider Tiffins one of Walt Disney World’s absolute best restaurants.
February 10, 2017 Update: Walt Disney World has confirmed that Rivers of Light will debut tonight. FastPass+ is currently available, so act fast if you’re in the park today!
On the Star Wars Land front, Bob Iger announced yesterday during Disney’s earnings call that the still-unnamed Star Wars Lands will open at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in 2019. We previously reported that construction on Disneyland’s Star Wars Land is significantly ahead of Walt Disney World’s, which is no brilliant insight–it’s obvious to anyone with eyes.
We also indicated there was an internal target opening of Christmas 2018 for Disneyland’s Star Wars Land. It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything on that, but that could still be the target soft opening (to absorb holiday crowds) with early 2019 being the official date.
Alternatively, both could officially open in late 2019 (with a long soft opening for Disneyland’s in advance of that), which I suspect would have to be the timeframe if both are to open simultaneously. Before this announcement, my guess was that Star Wars Land for Walt Disney World would slip into 2020. Unless they pick up the pace of construction significantly, it’s going to be tough to make that 2019 opening date in Florida.
There’s still no opening date or even a target year for Toy Story Land. However, if Star Wars Land is coming in 2019, it stands to reason that Toy Story Land will open in 2018. Honestly, and I think I’ve written this before, Toy Story Land could open at the end of this year if Disney moved quickly on it. I doubt that will occur, and I’d instead predict Memorial Day 2018 as the target (and likely) opening date for Toy Story Land.
When I’ve written about Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land here in the past year-plus, I’ve noticed there’s about as much excitement for each of these lands. My advice to Toy Story fans would be this: lower your expectations. Toy Story Land will be a good addition to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the sense that it diversifies the attraction lineup, but it is not going to ‘wow’ anyone.
It’s different than the Toy Story Lands at Walt Disney Studios Park (in Paris) and Hong Kong Disneyland, but the idea is the same. Both of those lands are ‘dressed-up’ areas with pretty basic amusement park (not theme park) rides. The Toy Story overlays to these rides are neat, but I know of no one who has experienced these lands who has been blown away by them.
On the other hand, everything I’m hearing about Star Wars Land and Pandora indicates they will be mind-blowing, with next-level attractions and environments that will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. I know some people “don’t care about Star Wars” so they aren’t interested in this land, which is pretty much the widespread reaction to Pandora: World of Avatar. How many of you care about Song of the South? Do your kids binge-watch The Twilight Zone or even know what an “Aerosmith” is? Yet, Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror, and Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster are all immensely popular with guests of all ages.
The best example for me, though, is Harry Potter. I haven’t read any of the books (and couldn’t even get through the first few movies), and aside from knowing it’s some sort of version of London in the “Upside Down,” I haven’t a clue what’s going on in Diagon Alley (or maybe that’s Hogsmeade? I don’t know–or care). Yet, I love that area and both Harry Potter attractions, because they are amazingly well done. Likewise, I’ve never been to Morocco, yet it’s one of my favorite World Showcase pavilions.
The point with all of this is that ‘quality will out.’ Just because you don’t care about the source material does not mean you won’t care about the theme park land or attraction. They are two totally different things. This is especially true with Pandora: World of Avatar, based upon an insanely-popular film that hasn’t really entered the pop culture zeitgeist. (I don’t care about this movie or its sequels at all, but I’m incredibly excited for the land.) Conversely, in the case of Toy Story, just because you do care about the source material doesn’t mean you’ll love the land. In any case, after a stretch of primarily focusing on the international parks and years of development, it’s exciting to finally see a big project coming to fruition at Walt Disney World.
Even though Star Wars Land will be objectively better, as a parent of a future preschooler, I’m looking forward to Toy Story Land more. Doubling the number of toddler- and preschooler-friendly attractions is a huge draw for our family!
Yeah, I can understand that perspective. The park has badly needed more for parents with small children for a while!
Any word on what is happening to Osborne lights?
Rumored to be going to silver dollar city !
So glad I found your blog the information is priceless! My family and I are hoping to visit Disney this December.
We too will be there from 2/28 – 3/5. I hope we get to see it. What are the chances in your opinion and where can this be seen?
Sue
My wife and I will be there at the end of Feb for 6 nights at AKL. We have never been to WDW so we are giving it a shot. I have been going to Disneyland since opening day in 1955(o0ver 300 times) and spent many hours with Walt and Lillian in my younger years but getting to the point..will Rivers of Light require a fast pass? Sure would love to see it.
Love your blogs, Tom
During a soft opening, FastPass wouldn’t be an option. Once it’s officially showing, it will likely have FastPasses.
Thank you. Will be a lost newby. I have read 95% of your blogs about WDW. Have made many ADR’s and FP’s
Do you know which days of the weekend Rivers of light is being staffed? Trying to decide if it’s worth changing plans to get over there on a maybe…
I didn’t think I could be more of a fan of yours, but if your “upside down” reference was a nod to Stranger Things, then I am indeed more of a fan!
If it wasn’t a nod, then no matter, because I’m still a huge fan
Thanks for the info!
Guess you’re even more of a fan. 😉
I knew it! You seriously rock!
We’ll be at Animal Kingdom in early April. Based on history of other items, do you think there’s a chance that we’ll be able to see Rivers of Light or parts thereof? We have a 6:30 reservation at Tusker House, and the park “closes” at 7, so I wondered if they might be trying it out unofficially for everyone or perhaps will do it right after closing.
My family and I will be there at Disney the end of this month. Do you think we might have a chance to see Rivers of Light? Do you feel they will be holding ‘technical rehearsals’ every night?
Will that be Disney’s soft opening? Sure hope so!
This is the biggest question. It wouldn’t surprise me if they only show it on weekends, or nights where park hours are already such to allow for it. I’d expect it every night during spring break, but could see it as weekends-only for offseason dates the next few weeks.
So who had the date closest for Pandora opening?
I’m going to WDW the week of the 14th-19th, hopefully there’s some early soft previews going on for the land.
I’m sure a lot of people predicted Memorial Day. The big question is who will have the soft opening correct. Any wagers???
Tom,
We will be there June 1-6 and I am so excited that this will be open. We aren’t really Avatar fans, but looking forward to the technology of it anyway. Do you have any suggestions for decreasing the wait times or do we just need to expect camping out in line for most of the day? Do you know if Fastpass will be offered? Probably no hope in scoring one, if so, but thought I’d ask. TIA
We’ll be in Disney May 23rd through the 28th….does this mean we’ll get to experience Pandora?! Or will it be entirely too crowded?
Dangit, you said you had an RoL opening date. Talk about bait and switch, haha.
Anyway, I’ll also be out there in April for the Star Wars races, and hoping we can sneak in a soft open or two while we’re there. I’m guessing FPs (for either) or dinner packages (for RoL) would be too much to wish for. But here’s hoping!
I’m 95% certain as to the debut of Rivers of Light. It may not be confirmed by Disney at this point, but I would be shocked if it did not happen. (And if you’ve paid attention to our track record concerning Rivers of Light–predicting it would not open when everyone else said it would last spring/summer and subsequently predicting it wouldn’t debut until 2017 when everyone else was saying otherwise–I think we have done pretty well.)
Honestly, an unannounced technical rehearsal for a period of month(s) is better than an announced one. This way you don’t have to book a dining package for a show that very well might disappoint you…
Nope…I’m not in the business of tracking blogger predictions, lol. But thanks for the info nonetheless!
Though maybe that could be a new meta-disney blog. I actually like that idea. Instead of actually visiting the parks, I’ll just read all the blogs and comment on *them.* With as much sh!t that Josh can stir up on DisBoards, I could probably get some decent traffic right away!
“Welcome to The Disney Blog Blog where we rate who has the best photos, calendars, and bathroom reviews.”
We will be there next week. How do we know if Rivers of light is showing & how do we attend?
I’m 60 days out today so forgive me if I hold out hope for Rivers of Light opening in time for spring break crowds. It seems to me that pairing it with Padora buries it promotionally. But maybe that is what they want at this point.
I think burying explicit references to Rivers of Light would be a wise move, while more broadly being able to hype “Pandora: World of Avatar and other, all-new and exciting entertainment at Animal Kingdom.” Follow that with guest ‘testimonials’ that it’s “basically an entirely new park!” and you have a great summer marketing campaign.
Drat. We are going April 26-May 2, and I was really hoping for your predicted Earth Day opening to be correct. Here’s hoping for a lengthy soft-opening period.
Going for the Dark SIde races in late April, so here’s hoping….
So am I! I hope that a soft opening on Earth day is possible
…or even know what an “Aerosmith” is?
That made me chuckle 🙂
I do agree with you about the Harry Potter lands: absolutely beautiful.
My trip is planned for May 6-13, so I REALLY REALLY HOPE there’s a soft opening of Pandora. Or at the very least that we get to see Rivers of Light!
We are going to Disney the first week of June (past Memorial Day). I’m wondering if anyone has a sense of how the opening of Pandora will impact crowds, and if Fast Passes will be available for it on our Fast Pass date in early April? I’m excited too see it – Animal Kingdom already was my favorite park after Magic Kingdom, and this sounds like a great addition.
I wouldn’t count on the FastPass+ situation being ironed out by then. If Disney’s management has any sense, they’ll move to a tiered FP+ system for Animal Kingdom, making it impossible to get FastPass+ for both Pandora attractions.
FINALLY SOMEONE SHARES MY DISINTEREST IN HARRY POTTER. I did read the books but I thought they were… fine (to be said in a Peter Gregory voice).
Hogsmeade and especially Diagon Alley are indeed unequivocally awesome, though, which I why I hold out hope that maybe, just maybe, the Imagineers have taken the complete waste of time that is Avatar and made it into something great.
With the staggering amount of money spent on Pandora, the skilled people involved, and the technical feats utilized, it would be a surprise to me if Pandora isn’t a huge hit.
A lot of people who were vehemently anti-Avatar are going to be instant fans of this, I suspect.
I hated the movie on many levels (I probably would have liked the effects if I’d seen it in 3D IMAX), but am looking forward to the new section and rides tremendously.
I think picking that property to exploit when they lost out on Harry Potter was a tremendous miscalculation on their part (can you imagine how ‘crowded’ the Studious would be if they hosted “Avatar Days?”
But I still think the imagineers will do a great job with it, regardless of my disdain to the movie. Lots of cool visuals to work with in there.