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WDW Radio Newswire: Opening Week Observations From Pandora – The World of Avatar

Plus… mobile ordering coming to select restaurants at Magic Kingdom, new on-ride photo op at Pirates of the Caribbean, and more!

Pandora Floating Mountains - disneyWe begin the June 2017 Edition of the WDW Radio Newswire with a look at the opening weeks of Pandora – The World of Avatar. Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s newest land opened to Guests late last month, and things have been quite busy over in the the realm of the Na’vi. The park has been open daily from 8AM to 11PM, with morning (7AM-8AM) and evening (11PM-1AM) Extra Magic Hours in place for Resort Guests. Standby wait times for Avatar – Flight of Passage have been averaging about 120 minutes, with the high end reaching and exceeding 180 minutes at certain times of the day. Na’vi River Journey has an average standby wait time of about 70 minutes, with highs reaching and exceeding 90 minutes at times. So if possible, FastPass+ is highly recommended. If you can’t FastPass the attractions, the shortest wait times seem to be late-night after Rivers of Light. Meanwhile, the land’s gift shop, Windtraders, has been a bustling hub for Avatar-related merchandise. Satu’li Canteen has been hopping, with mobile ordering now available to guests using credit cards (we’ll dive deeper into that later). All in all, things have been pretty packed, but the wait times to enter the land subsided after the first few days of operation. I’m a bit surprised there isn’t a Meet and Greet location, perhaps in due time…

Satuli Canteen - disneyIn more DAK news, mobile ordering is now available for the Satu’li Canteen in Pandora and Pizzafari on Discovery Island. In addition, Flame Tree Barbecue and Restaurantosaurus will be joining the mobile ordering mix within the coming days/weeks as well. Mobile ordering is done through the My Disney Experience app. Initially, mobile ordering will only be available to non-Dining Plan Guests paying with a credit card.

Meanwhile over at Magic Kingdom Park, mobile ordering will be coming soon to five popular quick-service spots. Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe, Pinocchio’s Village Haus, Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale Inn and Cafe, Columbia Harbour House, and the Tomorrowland Terrace will all be accepting mobile orders later this Summer. As with the mobile ordering process at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the service will initially only be available to non-Dining Plan Guests paying with a credit card.

In more MK news, let’s follow the hub over to Adventureland, where a New on-ride photo op has just debuted. As of yesterday, Disney PhotoPass will snap an on-ride action shot of you and your crew mates before the plunge on Pirates of the Caribbean. For all guests wearing Magic Bands, the photo will be directly linked to your My-Disney Experience account, and will then be available for purchase or download.

Time to park-hop over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios now for a pair of newsbits. For our first bit of news, let’s venture over to Pixar Place. A brand-new character Meet and Greet has just debuted, as guests can now pose for photos with Cruz Ramirez from the Disney-Pixar film: Cars 3. As with the now defunct Meet and Greet with Lightning McQueen and Mater, moving eyes and sound effects bring Cruz to life. The new Character Experience can be found near the exit of Toy Story Mania.

In more DHS news, let’s head down Hollywood Boulevard to the site of Star Wars – A Galaxy Far, Far, Away Stage Show. The show re-opened on Sunday, June 18, and with it comes brand-new mobile stages. The stages can be rolled out in the morning, and once the final performance of the show takes place each evening, the stages are rolled away. The portability of the stages frees up the clutter in front of the Chinese Theater, and allows for some much needed extra viewing space for the nightly performances of Star Wars – A Galactic Spectacular.

Well, that’s gonna do it for the June 2017 Edition of the WDW Radio Newswire. But I’ll be back again next month with lots more news, notes, and happenings from Walt’s beloved “Florida Project!”

 

(Photos ©Disney)

To learn more about Don and read his recent posts for WDW Radio, visit his author page by clicking the link on his name at the top of this post.

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About Lou Mongello

Lou Mongello is a former attorney who left the practice to pursue his passion, and is now a recognized Disney expert, author, speaker, and host of WDW Radio. Learn more…

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