FYI: Na’vi River Bummer

[glocon]

I’ve always thought if they just slowed the ride down it would be better. It’s too fast. You can’t see all the details they put in to it. Otherwise, I like the ride fine for what it is, I scenic boat ride. It’s not thrilling but not all rides have to be.

Yes! Brilliant!
Slowing it down would make it a longer ride too!
Great idea .

 

[robinb]

Yes! Brilliant!
Slowing it down would make it a longer ride too!
Great idea .

It would also make the lines longer.

 

[kanerf]

I usually use G+ for this so I don't have to wait. There aren't that many rides at AK anyway, and I don't do coasters. That said, I have ridden it many times an the animatronics were always working. Sorry it did not work out for the OP, but you should give it another try.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Yes but it’s a worthwhile trade off

 

[fly girl]

My only complaint with Na'vi is I wish it was longer. It is pretty and I love the little floating dandelion looking things (I am sure they have a name but I don't know it!)

I would use G+ on it, but wouldn't wait more than 15 minutes to ride it.

 

[gharter]

Unfortunately Navi River Journey was the victim of budget cuts when Imagineering was building Pandora. They went overbudget with the whole land + the Shaman animatronic. Thus we are left with what the ride that is there now. I don't think it's bad but it really isn't worth anything more than a 20 minute wait.

My understanding was it wasn't Pandora that was over budget, but the budget cuts came from Disney China being way over budget and that caused budget cuts everywhere.
Rumors are the current ride is about 1/2 as long as originally planned.

 

[Smugpugmug]

My understanding was it wasn't Pandora that was over budget, but the budget cuts came from Disney China being way over budget and that caused budget cuts everywhere.
Rumors are the current ride is about 1/2 as long as originally planned.

I think that's definitely a part of it. Pandora as a whole cost approximately $500 million to build, around the same price as Cars Land in California Adventure. I'm sure that having big projects in a row such as Cars Land, New Fantasyland, and Shanghai Disneyland caused cuts to Pandora in one way or another. I found conflicting answers for this but the Shaman animatronic alone cost $10-25 million to make (some sources said 10 and others said 23. Unsure which one is true). Navi River Journey was proposed to be twice as long and I'm sure slashing the ride in half as well as only having one standout animatronic was simply a cost cutting measure.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My understanding was it wasn't Pandora that was over budget, but the budget cuts came from Disney China being way over budget and that caused budget cuts everywhere.
Rumors are the current ride is about 1/2 as long as originally planned.

Yeah it sorta got all wrapped up in it but on the same token Toy Story had cuts there was supposed to be 3 rides IIRC and a sit down place from the beginning, Star Wars had cuts and opened with 1 ride and while you do sorta expect cuts from when something is announced to completion Disney has had enough of a track record of issues delivering what has been promised/mentioned. Universal tends to wait until quite late in the game to announce stuff and even though their permits are public knowledge you know less about if some place had cuts to it or not although I'm convinced Fast and Furious had something go wrong during planning stage to completion because that thing is whew I don't even know how to explain it lol.

 

[IndyToThere]

I've seen Smuggler's Run not having the intro animatronic not working as well - they substituted video screens to either side to take the place. If you hadn't ridden the ride before, you wouldn't know you missed on the animatronic. It happens... sometimes those things need a break or some maintenance.

 

[SteveH]

They really should have made Navi River Journey one leg as of the line to get to Flight of Passage. Beyond that's it's a cool break from the heat and a big bag of disappointment ride.

 

[OppR2nist]

We first rode NRJ in 2017. We were blown away. We have a DAS, so the wait didn't feel very long, and we saw the shaman in all her glory. We went back n 2018, left our DAS family member at home, stood over an hour in Standby, and we got B mode. Extremely disappointing. If we had gotten B mode on a shorter wait, or waited over an hour for one of the most impressive animatronics on property (to that point), it really would have been just fine. As of now, if there's any wait over 20 mins, we skip it.

 

[Davey Jones II]

If you can, try to go back to AK to do the ride again later in your trip. You can ride without a long wait just before closing time. That AA is truly amazing, it's well worth taking another shot.

 

[tentaguasu]

I've seen Smuggler's Run not having the intro animatronic not working as well - they substituted video screens to either side to take the place. If you hadn't ridden the ride before, you wouldn't know you missed on the animatronic. It happens... sometimes those things need a break or some maintenance.

uhhh.... so there was supposed to be an animatronic there? I was there two weeks ago, rode it twice, and had no idea that I missed out on something!

 

[Biggen]

Oof. This ride ranks up there with the Epcot Spaceship Earth. We avoid these two rides at all costs.

 

[OppR2nist]

Oof. This ride ranks up there with the Epcot Spaceship Earth. We avoid these two rides at all costs.

We LOVE Spaceship Earth. To be fair, though, if we went in there and Michelangelo was a cardboard cutout, it would leave a bad taste in our mouths.

 

[k5xs]

We LOVE NRJ! Such a relaxing ride in the cool indoors air.

We notice that many guests seem to fail to take in all of the cool action going on overhead. They are missing some cute creatures!

 

[k5xs]

Oof. This ride ranks up there with the Epcot Spaceship Earth. We avoid these two rides at all costs.

Each to his or her own, I suppose.

To me, Spaceship Earth is one of the few attractions that keep alive the original vision for EPCOT. It reminds me of the Atomium at the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels and the Unisphere at the 1964-65 NY World’s Fair, both of which shaped me immensely as a very young child.

We love it.

 

[R&RsMom]

Navi is beautiful. I’ve ridden it twice and was bored half-way thru even the first time. I’m the grandma in my family and while I ride most everything, I am not an thrill junkie. This attraction needs something to engage people more.

 

[HopperFan]

Every single time I ride I get the real big foot. Surely the big foot is less scary on a video screen?

 

[randumb0]

I love the ride and have no problem waiting 40 minutes for it