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REVIEW: NA’VI RIVER JOURNEY

Na’vi River Journey, a new ride that opened in the Animal Kingdom’s new land, Pandora: World of Avatar in late May 2017, is a boat ride that takes you through the flora and fauna of Pandora, the moon on which Avatar is set.

Here’s what Disney World’s website says about the ride:

“Glide down a gentle, mysterious river and feel a sense of wonder as the full beauty of Pandora reveals itself. Located within the Valley of Mo’ara, Na’vi River Journey offers explorers an experience that has to be seen—and heard—to be believed!

“As your expedition begins, climb aboard a reed boat and drift downstream. After coasting through a series of caves, and passing by exotic glowing plants and amazing creatures of the rainforest, you’ll soon find yourself face-to-face with the Na’vi Shaman of Songs.

“The adventure comes to a conclusion as the Shaman demonstrates her deep connection to the life force of Pandora—and sends positive energy out into the forest through the power of her music!”

Disney’s second paragraph is dead on; the accuracy of the first and third will vary by person.

The standby queue is uninteresting—although the FastPass+ return queue is lovely at night (I’ll post photos of it after my July visit; the ones I took during my June trip were unusable even by my low standards).

You board boats with two benches—holding in theory six…

…although sharp eyes will see seven in this one.

And then you are off.

Especially for those who know and appreciate the film, Na’vi River Journey can work as a gentle, lovely and poetic tour through the distinctive plant and animal life of Pandora, picking up on many themes that are not so present in the land’s other ride, Flight of Passage.

For those who don’t know, don’t remember, or don’t care to remember the movie, reactions will be mixed, especially among youngsters.

• Some will leave it finding it skippable. While the ride system sets a new standard for a dark boat ride, for many the great ride system will not be adequately matched by its content—kinda like how great music can be paired with weaker lyrics (think of the Beatle’s “Paperback Writer”).
• Others will be delighted and intrigued by what they have seen and heard—and the music really grows on you from ride to ride, unlike the music of some other Disney boat attractions I could name.

For those who don’t know the movie, Na’vi River Journey at its best is like an excerpt from a poem—an excerpt that makes you eager to read the entire work.

This potential intrigue is awfully hard to communicate—especially since my photos are principally of poorly-focused blueness.

So by way of example, here’s two excerpts from a couple of different poems. If either makes you want to read the entire poem it was taken from—well, then that’s potentially the reaction you could have to Na’vi River Journey:

Excerpt 1
They flee from me that sometime did me seek
With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,
That now are wild and do not remember
That sometime they put themself in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
Busily seeking with a continual change.

Excerpt 2
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Lines for Na’vi River Journey have been quite long since it opened—though not nearly as long as those for the other ride that opened at the same time, Flight of Passage.

Because of the very real chance that some in your posse won’t find it worth much of a wait, use FastPass+ to avoid the lines, or, even better, so you can save your FastPass+ for another ride, if you are eligible see it via Morning Extra Magic Hours.

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(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, see this.)

Note 10/3: At least some dining will re-open on October 8, 2018!

The counter service area and Shutters table service venue in Centertown at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort closed in May 2017 for replacement.

Alternate dining arrangements have been made, and during my May visit and June stay at Caribbean Beach, I had eight meals among them.

Subsequently, in March 2018 Spyglass Grill, a small counter service venue offering breakfast, lunch and dinner, opened in Trinidad South. I had two meals there in April.

A full report follows later on this page, but here’s the short review of  temporary dining at Caribbean Beach:

• Breakfast: Fine. Supplies for cold in-room dining are easily available, and the hot buffet and food truck offerings are entirely adequate.
• Lunch: Weak. Both hot and cold offerings are limited. The quality of the hot food is good, but options and capacity are each slim. Cold food is widely available in limited options and while the fruits and salads are OK, the cold sandwiches are weak.
• Dinner: Adequate for a meal or two.  Between the buffet, food truck, room service, Spyglass Grill, and other options, most will find something to like, but the offerings at each option are limited, and capacity is tight except at the buffet.

A couple of general points before diving into the details

• Disney has not consistently met demand in its smaller venues, so outages have happened–the Centertown food truck was out of sliders when I wanted them, and I’ve seen reports of the Island Markets selling out of sandwiches.
• Waits at the Centertown food truck and buffets may “feel” long at busy times. By my stopwatch, in both cases the entire cycle wait (from committing to starting to eat) is comparable to what you’ll find at other Disney World moderate and value resort food courts at busy times, but don’t expect these to be “quick” options.
• The buffets may use two holding lines–one to enter the tent (for fire marshal/egress safety issues) and a second before the buffet line (to allow those who have already eaten to get in line for seconds without going back out of the tent to the beginning of the line).
• While you are in these lines, others may enter the tent simply to use the air conditioned tables or access the beverage station. Neither these people nor those returning to the buffet line for “seconds” are cutting in line, though it may feel like that at times.

OK, everything else I know is covered below.  If you want to see a specific venue, click the links:

• The Minor Centertown Offerings
• The Centertown Food Truck
• The Centertown Breakfast Buffet
• The Centertown Dinner Buffet
• The Island Markets
• The Freestyle Coke Machines
• The Spyglass Grill
• In Room Delivery
• Custom House Snacks
• Breakfast Bag
• Vending Machines

THE CENTERTOWN OFFERINGS

The largest range of dining options is in Centertown, between the main pool and Trinidad North.

Here’s you’ll find a food truck offering all-day dining, a buffet serving breakfast and dinner, a bar, and, at times, a mini-truck with snacks.

I’ll get to the food truck and buffets in a minute, but to cover the minor Centertown entries, here’s the mini-truck…

…and a closer shot of its menu (click it to enlarge it).

The bar is visually horrible but with two bartenders, it operates just fine.

The bar menu.

Bar seating is available along a rail and at tables by the beach.

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THE CENTERTOWN FOOD TRUCK

All day dining is available from a food truck. You order from the kiosk on the right above…

…and pick your food up at the truck itself, typically being given a pager so that you can wait for your meal in the air-conditioned buffet tent.

You can then eat outside, bring it to your room, or enter the buffet tent and eat there.

The food truck runs two menus, one for breakfast and one for lunch and dinner. My image of the truck’s limited  breakfast menu, above, has a bit of a Jungle Cruise feel. For a more readable version, click here.

I had the bacon egg and cheese sandwich with a side of potato casserole. Both were fine.

Morning coffee is available outside (later in the day sees a shift to a lemon-water service here) and also inside the tent, which also has a refillable mug station.

The lunch/dinner food truck menu is also limited (click it to enlarge it)…

…but the burger was much better than most Disney food court burgers.

The fish tacos were good, too.

The food truck serves breakfast from 7-11.30a, and lunch/dinner (same menu) from 11.30a to 9p.

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THE CENTERTOWN BUFFET–BREAKFAST

The main option, however, is the buffet. It’s open for breakfast and dinner–but not lunch. The buffet is open for dinner from 5-10p, and for breakfast from 6.30-11.30a.

You pay for the buffet at the same area where you pay for the food truck. Breakfast prices are $13.99 for those ten and up, and $8.99 for those 3-9 years old, or one quick service credit. Dinner prices are $20.99 for those ten and up, and $11.99 for those 3-9 years old, or one quick service credit.

You then get a wrist band, which is what allows you into the buffet line—and allows the buffet tent to also serve double duty as an air-conditioned area for eating off the food truck, and/or filling your refillable mugs.

Here’s a couple of views of the buffet tent, which seats on the order of 250-300 people.

The buffet is all-you-can-eat if you dine in, and you can dine in or do it as a takeaway. However, you can’t both do a sit-down all-you-can-eat buffet meal and then also fill up a to-go plate. One or the other, bucko.

The breakfast buffet menu is above and also here.

First on offer is the waffle station, with waffles being made in the background.

The waffle station includes waffles, syrup, and blueberry and strawberry toppings.

Next is oatmeal, grits, and some more toppings.

Around the corner you’ll find butter and cream cheese, a variety of fruits…

…and several yogurts.

The hot station is next, with eggs, sausage, the same potato casserole you can get at the food truck as a side…

…veggie fritattas and “Island Crepes.”

Next is  a station with biscuits, sausage gravy, and pastries.

Then the bacon and ham station, with ham glaze.  This is the only station where a cast member portions the offerings–which, after you’ve tried the sausages, will make perfect sense to you.

Finally,  there’s a selection of breakfast bagels, pastries and breads.

Here’s what I assembled.  All was fine except the sausages, which looked unappetizing, were cold, and had little flavor. Bacon is the way to go! (The potato casserole looks weak but was quite good, as was the frittata.)

See below for the drinks station.

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THE CENTERTOWN BUFFET–DINNER

Here’s the dinner menu. Frankly, there’s a little less here than meets the eye, so I strongly suggest that early on a stay at Caribbean Beach you go inside and inspect the actual offerings, so that if you later decide to have dinner here there’s no surprises.

My main issue with the buffet is how limited the options are. Frankly, for a quick service credit, it’s nicely priced if you can find meal items you are in the mood for, but the adult cash price is high for the range of options available.

The first station combines some kids offerings with what the menu calls the “Pasta with a Selection of Sauces.” You’ll find here chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, meatballs, sausage, pasta alfredo, and pasta marinara.

Next are a couple of soups—on one of my visits, tomato and Island Conch Chowder. I had the chowder—it was very mild.

On another visit, instead of tomato, the second soup was collard green soup.

The salad section has precisely one greens option—mixed lettuce, mostly garden variety—well you know what I mean, it’s exactly the opposite of the variety of greens in our salad garden—six dressings, mixed fruit, and a pasta salad and slaw salad.

The entrée station includes the carving station—at both of my dinners, it was carved turkey. At one dinner, other options included roast pork, jerk chicken, and shrimp curry.

At another dinner, the same roast turkey, pork, chicken and shrimp was available, with “Island Glazed Fish.”

No beef—even though beef is common at carving stations at moderate and value food courts. If you want beef, get a burger at the food truck.

The meats were all adequate–mildly flavored (even the curry) and with a tendency to dryness–although the turkey gravy helps with this. The baked chicken and the shrimp curry were probably the best of the lot.

The image is of one of my dinners–the chowder, shrimp curry, rice, and collard greens. All these were delightful, expect for the greens, which were far too sweet.

Vegetables available my visits included broccoli, mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, rice, black beans and collard greens.

There’s also a dessert selection…

…and a bread service area.

Off to the side is the beverage station, which is also accessible to those with refillable mugs. (You can get the mugs both outside the buffet and in the Island Markets, covered next.)

Service is incredibly attentive—at my first dinner, I must have had three cast members ask me how the food was, and two others ask if they could get me a drink. Others have commented on nightly live music here as well—such was not playing during either of my dinners.

An expansion in offerings would make me not hesitate to recommend this buffet. Another pasta, another soup, one or two more leaf salad leaf options, some salad toppings, a beef entrée and one or two more “casserole” or sauced entrees, and a couple more vegetable options would round it out nicely.

But without that, if exactly what’s on offer works exactly for your group, it’s fine; otherwise, it’s more of an emergency option than something I’d count on for a nice dinner at Caribbean Beach.

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THE ISLAND MARKETS

“Island Markets” are in three converted rooms—one each in Martinique (2509), Jamaica (4308), and Aruba (5524). (The first two digits of the room number indicate the building number.)

They offer

… ice cream (above, in the box at left), pastries, coffee and tea, cereals and pop tarts (with a microwave above)…

… drinks, yogurt, fruit, salads, sandwiches and wraps…

… and refillable mugs, bananas, and snacks.

A couple of closer looks at the salad side of the cold case…

…and the sandwich and wrap side.

The wraps/sandwich/fruit/salad choices are thin, and have sold out at times by early evening. I expect that problem to be largely fixed shortly as Disney learns more about patterns of demand.

Regardless, the offerings of these spaces work better for snacks and for breakfast supplies than they do as a place to grab lunch or a light dinner—unless you are thinking very light.

The Island Markets are open from 7a-10p.

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THE FREESTYLE COKE MACHINES

Refillable mugs can be refilled in freestyle coke machines—where you get to design your own drink, like my favorite, peach Sprite.

These machines are available in one or two buildings in each village, replacing in those buildings the old-style Coke machines—which remain in the rest of the buildings. Find the right building, then follow the signs for Ice and Vending.

Buildings with the freestyle machines are marked on the resort map–note what I’ve circled in red.

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THE SPYGLASS GRILL

The Spyglass Grill (full review here) opened in Trinidad South in March 2018.

It offers an interesting and well-received, though limited, menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It does not have a lot of capacity, and is a bit of a hike from areas outside of Trinidad South.

But it’s a handy option for those staying in the otherwise distant-from-food Pirate Rooms in Trinidad South.

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IN-ROOM DELIVERY OF PIZZA AND SUCH

Another option is ordering off of the limited delivery menu, which features, pizza, wings and such. The menu (click to enlarge):

I’ve never had delivery pizza at Disney World. I tried to order one on my June visit, but a lizard-drowner of a storm meant everyone was sheltering in their rooms and ordering pizza, so after 15 minutes on hold I gave up and got a salad from an Island Market instead.

This option is available from 4p till midnight. Don’t use the dining plan for these options–way too many credits will be charged.

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SNACKS AT CUSTOM HOUSE

There’s a small selection of snacks available for sale at the Custom House.

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A BREAKFAST BAG IN YOUR ROOM

As a “thank you” for staying here during the construction, you’ll find a small soft-sided cooler in your room (if you don’t get one, call from your room phone for one).

The bag includes a couple of bottles of water and a selection of shelf-stable breakfast items.

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THE VENDING MACHINE IN THE QUIET POOL LAUNDRIES

Finally, a post on the disboards Caribbean Beach thread reminded me that there’s a vending snack machine in the quiet pool laundry rooms!

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THE MAIN FUENTES DEL MORRO POOL AT DISNEY’S CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

This review continues here.

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THE MARKET AT DISNEY’S YACHT CLUB RESORT

A new quick service venue opened at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort in mid-May. I checked it out then, and then again in my June visit.

Part of a renovation (not yet complete) of the Yacht Club’s gift shop area, the new venue provides shelf stable snacks and breakfast goods, frozen treats, fruit, pastries, drinks, a coffee bar, cold packaged food, an eating area, and hot food. All are successful except the hot food, which is quite limited.

Traditionally the biggest weakness of Disney World’s Epcot resorts has been their quick-service offerings. There’s a bit at the back of the Beach Club gift shop, more at the Stormalong Bay pool bar and grill, Hurricane Hanna’s, and a bit more at the Bakery along the Boardwalk. (Links are all to overviews on Disney’s site.)

The opening of the new Yacht Club venue, the Market, adds one more minor option among a bunch of other minor options. It’s better than nothing, but still quite limited.

On one side as you enter is the coffee bar and the area where hot food is prepared heated.

The coffee bar—Joffrey’s coffee—has the full range of coffee options.

Beyond the coffee and grill space is a seating area.

Deeper in the Market is a mix of shelf stable snacks, fruit, pastries, and breakfast items. Other than maybe the fruit, this is comparable to what you’ll find in many resort gift shops, but better merchandised.

Along a wall are freestyle refillable mug machines…

…and coffee, hot chocolate, tea, a toaster, and such.

Around the corner is a microwave and frozen treats.

On the opposite wall is the cold case and hot case.

A closer view of the cold case, with drinks on the left and sandwiches, salads and such on the right.

The hot case has a small selection of ready-to-eat cooked food.

This feta and spinach pastry came from it—it was delicious.

The same hot food can also heated to order behind the counter. The limited hot food menu is above.

My Ham and Cheddar Sandwich came from behind the counter looking like this.

Here it is out of its wrapping. This is likely a good choice for kids, as there is no particular taste for them to object to. I mixed hot sauce and mayonnaise together into a sort of gesture towards horseradish. With that it was fine.

The limited set of hot food means that, other than the drinks, there’s not much here beyond what you might find in a Disney World gift shop anyway. As an addition it is welcome, but it does little to make up for the general lack of quick service offerings in the Epcot resorts.

Note that Josh has a longer and more detailed review of the offerings at The Market here.

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POP CENTURY REFURB UPDATE

As of this morning (6/5) the first building to be refurbed at Pop Century, the 90s area Building 8, had not yet re-opened. [Update: Building 8 opened later that week!]

What’s left seems to be largely punch-list items.

Being unloaded outside are what appear to be new ice-makers and/or Coke freestyle machines.

Construction fences are being moved to from 90s area Building 8 to 80s area Building 7–which has now kicked off.

Building 7.

More Building 7.

The bed side of a nearly-done room in Building 8.

The coffee-maker side of a nearly-done room.

The sink area.

There’s been speculation about the size of the fold-down bed here. Widely assumed to be a full, with the regular bed a queen, some have reported discussions indicating that the fold-down is a queen too.

I got one bad shot of the fold-down bed folded down:

In real life the foot looked much closer to being about where the foot of the queen was. Since I think the bed system requires clearance at the head for the depth of the bed to rotate, this suggests to me that it is in fact a full.

(After these rooms opened, reports that it is a queen continue to come out. None–so far as I know–show the tape measure used to confirm this, so I’m gonna remain a bit agnostic on this for the moment.)

Rooms in the 80s area Building 9 are also being worked on. A to-do list:

So to sum up:

• Building 8 is nearly done, and the new rooms include coffeemakers!
• Building 9 is completely underway
• Building 7 has just kicked off

There’s more on this Pop Century refurb here.

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

MISS ADVENTURE FALLS

By Jim Korkis

Miss Adventure Falls opened at the Disney World water park Typhoon Lagoon on March 12, 2017. Built on two acres near the pineapple fields of Crush’ n’ Gusher, the water rafting attraction was originally announced as “Miss Fortune Falls”. It was added to the water park to strengthen its competitiveness against Universal Orlando’s new Volcano Bay water attraction.

(c) Disney

Its story is that fictitious Captain Mary Oceaneer, a treasure-hunting heroine who collects and protects deep sea antiquities, got stranded with her pet parrot at Typhoon Lagoon years ago by a rogue storm.

On “treasure” rafts, Disney guests journey up past Mary’s wrecked ship, the M.S. Salty IV, with a massive hole in the side hull revealing her talking pet parrot, an audio-animatronics figure who sings and talks at a telescope trying to keep track of the unique artifacts that have been scattered when the ship crashed.

From there, it becomes a white-water adventure with twists, turns and dips that also feature some of the treasures along the way that Mary and her parrot have gathered in their travels around the seven seas. With a ride time of two minutes, it is the lengthiest slide experience at any Disney water park.

Mary is part of a new ongoing storyline at the Disney theme parks centered around the members of S.E.A. (Society of Explorers and Adventurers) inspired by the affection for the former Adventurers Club that operated at Downtown Disney. She appears in a portrait of the S.E.A. members in the queue of Tokyo DisneySea’s Mystic Manor.

Other prominent members of that fabled group include Harrison Hightower III, Lord Henry Mystic, Barnabas T. Bullion, Dr. Albert Falls and founding member Jason Chandler.

Captain Mary Oceaneer is also the main character of the Oceaneer Labs on the Disney Cruise ships. Portraits of her and her parrot named Salty show them to be treasure hunters, oceanographers and deep-sea divers. In fact, her diving suit is on display.

Her back story is that she and her parrot found treasure on and below Castaway Cay and established the first Pirate Party onboard the ship. For the new water park attraction, the parrot has been named Duncan.

The same storm that transformed Typhoon Lagoon also beached her ship and left her stranded. The impact scattered her nautical treasures around the tropical paradise.

The entrance of the attraction is composed of items from the shipwreck, including a bird cage, a diving helmet, a vintage Adventurer’s magazine with a cover painting of a smiling Mary. That undated magazine is Under the Sea Quarterly: The Magazine by and for Divers. Special Edition. “Treasures from the Deep. Meet Mary Oceaneer Collector & Protector of Deep Sea Antiquities.”

The queue is filled with items including unopened crates of S.E.A. artifacts, crackers for the Captain’s parrot, as well as parrot-shaped footprints.

Also nearby is Mary’s diving bell with the S.E.A. motto, “Exploratio Continua”, and underneath Atlantean lettering first created for the Disney animated feature film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).

“Burma Shave” style individual signs share the story: “Follow the adventures of Captain Mary Oceaneer aboard a family raft ride featuring rushing rapids, an enclosed slide flume and treasures around every twist and turn. Captain Mary and her parrot…Dove for treasure hoping to share it… As they were hauling their treasures to port… a typhoon hit and cut their trip short. Bon Voyage.”

A map is posted indicating where there are gold coins, pearls and gems, “shiney” objects, sandals and crackers along the shores of Blustery Bay and Leaning Palms.

On the bookshelves of the Skipper Canteen restaurant in Adventureland is a copy of the book Parrots as Pets by Mary Oceaneer.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, Secret Stories of Disneyland, his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JUNE 3 TO JUNE 11, 2017

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

For more on June 2017 at Disney World, see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 6/3/-6/11/17

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 8a-11p 6/3, 9a-10p 6/4, 9a-11p 6/5 through 6/8, and 9a-10p 6/9 through 6/11

Epcot will be open from 9a-9p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-9.30p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 8a-11p every day

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 6/3-6/11/17

Saturday 6/3 Morning:  Animal Kingdom Evening: Animal Kingdom

Sunday 6/4  Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: Animal Kingdom

Monday 6/5 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: Animal Kingdom

Tuesday 6/6 Morning: none Evening:  Epcot, Animal Kingdom

Wednesday 6/7 Morning: none  Evening:  Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom

Thursday 6/8 Morning: Epcot Evening: Animal Kingdom

Friday 6/9 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: Animal Kingdom

Saturday 6/10 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: Animal Kingdom

Sunday 6/11  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: Animal Kingdom

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 6/3-6/11/2017

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 6/3-6/11/17

Happily Every After at Magic Kingdom: 9p every night

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9.30p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom 9.15p and 10.30p every night; additional 11.45p show for Extra Magic Hour attendees 6/3

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 6/3-6/11/17

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

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