Avatar Flight of Passage is the best ride in the country. Period.

Pandora - The World of Avatar opened on May 27th, 2017. The official word from Disney is that it cost around $500 million to make but rumors are that it is actually somewhere around a billion dollars. This was considered a huge risk because even though Avatar is the highest grossing movie of all time it doesn't really have a huge fan base. This isn't Marvel, Harry Potter, or Star Wars. So when it was announced that Avatar was going to be built it left a lot of people saying "but why tho?"

Pandora contains two rides, a few gift shops, and one of the best counter service restaurants (Satu'li Canteen) in any Disney property. I'm not sure if the billion-dollar investment was worth it but the area itself is incredible. The Disney imagineers managed to make the environment of the movie a reality. It really feels like you are on another planet. The floating "mountains" are a sight to behold. It's unlike anything you've ever seen. You must visit Pandora twice: once during the day and again at night. It is a totally different experience at night. Imagine taking LSD and being dropped off in the Amazon rainforest. Everything is lit up with fluorescence glow coming from the flora, mountains, and animals. It is the most detailed land in any theme park I've been too. Diagon Alley fans fight me!

Flight of Passage is the star attraction of Pandora. The average wait time for this ride is 2 hours and it is worth every minute. Please do not let the wait times deter you. The best time to go is right before the park closes. It doesn't matter if the park closes in one minute as long as you are in line, they will let you ride. This isn't just a ride. It's a damn life altering experience. This is the closest experience to flying outside of sky diving. (Full disclosure I've never actually been skydiving but I didn't want to put closest experience to riding your dog down the street which I have done.) The feeling you get after you get off the ride is nothing short of euphoric. It is six minutes full of pure bliss.

For some reason they matched me up with an Avatar that had more of a dad bod.

Flight of Passage is the future of rides and pushes the limits of technology. I won't spoil the full ride, but the basic synopsis is that you are connected to an Avatar which allows you to ride a banshee. Once your banshee is chosen for you then it's time to set off and explore the world of Pandora. Pandora is an almost heaven like environment except for the fact that everything is trying to kill you. Not only are you flying and what seems like dropping hundreds of feet, you can also feel the banshee breathe in between your legs. You can feel the ocean spray and breeze on your skin as you barrel roll through the waves. The ride culminates into this grand finale that would make any grown man emotional. As soon as the ride is over, everyone is clapping and cheering. No other ride at Disney comes close to that level of excitement. This is the only ride where I felt fully immersed into the experience. It was like I was instantly transported into another world. For those 6 minutes nothing else mattered.

Banshee's are basically dragons with goatees

The hype is real. To be able to experience what humans are just not physically capable of doing is nothing short of spectacular. From start to finish this is an experience. The wait may be long but this the number one thing you must do if you come to Disney World. Forget Cinderella's castle, forget world showcase, forget the fireworks show. Make Flight of Passage your top priority!