Will There Be A Soft Opening for Pandora- The World of Avatar?

March 15, 2017

Pandora Soft Opening

Q: Is there any chance that Pandora: The World of Avatar will open to guests before May 27th?

A: As people begin to finalize their 2017 Walt Disney World plans, a question that’s cropping up a lot is whether or not there’s any chance that Disney will be doing a “Soft Opening” for Pandora: The World of Avatar or if its possible that those heading to the parks before the official May 27th opening will still get to enjoy Disney’s newest expansion.

Sadly, the answer is that we just don’t know at this point. We do know historically that soft openings are something that Disney has offered. Let’s take the recent example of Rivers of Light. Originally slated to open on February 17, 2017, Animal Kingdom started running soft opening performances on February 10, 2017. Going back a bit further, when the Magic Kingdom opened its New Fantasyland expansion back in 2012, it did offer preview dates as well as a soft opening that included many of the key attractions like Enchanted Tales with Belle, Ariel’s Grotto, Under the Sea and Gaston’s Tavern weeks before anticipated. We here at Disney Addicts are certainly hoping that Disney’s Animal Kingdom will follow suit and allow visitors early access to explore Pandora.

Another possibility prior to opening date is that Disney may offer select visitors at Animal Kingdom a guest testing opportunity to try out the new attractions. However, this strategy is much more spontaneous and luck of the draw. Therefore, it may not be widely advertised.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from all of the media coverage that Pandora- The World of Avatar has received as of late, it’s that key elements of this new land are already operational- as evidenced by this walkthrough that The View’s Whoopi Goldberg did with James Cameron. Though its all conjecture at this point, it may bode well for those visiting Walt Disney World earlier in May.

However, visitors to the parks in late May and early June should also be mindful of the fact that delays can happen. Recently opened attractions Frozen Ever After and the newly revamped Soarin’ were marred with technical issues as was the aforementioned Rivers of Light. None of these actually opened on time. So it is possible that we may see the May 27th date get pushed back to accommodate any last minute glitches.

Though we here at Disney Addicts certainly wouldn’t bank on early admission to Pandora, we do know that its not out of the realm of possibility. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. Keep following along on Disney Addicts for the latest and up-to-date information on the opening of Pandora – The World of Avatar.

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