Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - A Walkabout to Pandora The World Of Avatar and the Valley of Mo'ara in Disney's Animal Kingdom

Episode Date: March 8, 2021

Hello traveler! This week's audio expedition takes us to Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World and the Valley of Mo'ara in the land of Pandora The World of Avatar. We sample the soundscape that makes this land so unique. Trivia: what does the 1980's Knight Rider show have to do with Pandora? The answer is: nothing, but you'll still hear the theme to the show in this episode when we walk through Windtraders. Connect with us on Instagram at @walkaboutWDW.  Our logo was created by our producer Joshua Steele, and you can find him on Instagram at @thesteele.   Walkabout The World is a weekly Disney Podcast, always recorded on property at Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort with the simple goal of making you feel like you are in the middle of the magic. 

Thank you. Well, hello, traveler. Welcome back to another walk about the world, your weekly audio expedition through one of the parks or resorts of Walt Disney World here in Orlando, Florida, and today we are in Disney's Animal Kingdom. Currently on the Discovery Island Trail, which is a lovely little trail that walks around the Tree of Life and down by the river. It's beautiful. And today we're going to be exactly in no hurry whatsoever. I think we're going to take a little tour of the

valley of Moara today. We're going to start off here, walk from here to there, take in the sights and sounds, see what we can see with our ears as usual, and generally relax and have a great time. Are you ready? Let's go. The creaking that you hear right there, I'm standing next to a little grove of very tall bamboo, and it's a windy day here at the Animal Kingdom. It is, for us Floridians, a little brisk. It's in the 60s. I know. I know.

If you're not from here, we sound like a pack of wimps, but, you know, we don't dress for this stuff. So Creature Comforts is directly ahead of us, which is the Starbucks location for Disney Springs. We're going to turn left. The Kampung Kampung Pete Safari here is currently closed, but got to get a little taste of the music over here because it's just too cool not to. Svartålskog The crowds in a park, as they always do, come and go and pass in waves. And I would have told you a minute ago it was crowded. And it does kind of seem a little crowded, but currently, not too bad. Just turning right here, headed towards the area towards Pandora, and up ahead, she looks packed, folks. We'll see what happens. See what we can get into up here. See what the crowds will let us do. Regardless, I'm going to walk around and sample the soundscape

tiffin's on our right if you haven haven't experienced Tiffin's, and especially the Nomad Lounge, you're missing out. Nomad Lounge, probably my favorite lounge on Disney property. I'm a Jock Lindsay fan, but for the moment, Nomad Lounge tops it. Not only is the design great, you can see hints of Joe Rohde's handiwork and his team all over it, but they have a bunch of very unique drinks. It's not your common Disney bar fair. Now we are on the bridge that leads from Animal Kingdom into the Valley of Moara. Obviously you can tell the soundscape is changing already. The details of the bridge are amazing. Not only does the construction look like it's been here forever, but the vines and moss look real. No clue how they did it, but it hasn't faded yet since they did it very lived in feel which i love As we go further into the land, pay attention to how the sound changes, what creatures you

may hear. Also a very Pandoran helicopter passing overhead. Truly is astounding how much the soundscape is a placemaker for lands like this. I personally think they outdid themselves with this land. I love, love, love Star Wars land, Batuu, Black Spire. And the soundscape there is great too. But over here it's a masterpiece in my opinion. Going to continue up through the land. We have the large leaking smoking plant thing to the right. See, I should have looked at notes about that. So listeners tell me what is the big smoking leaking plant

thing off to the right that we passed. Let's walk by let's see if it's got any markers. And actually it's neither smoking nor leaking right now. We've stopped off to the right, right off the path. It's our first encounter with a water feature. And that is a common theme here. And it's something that I think really adds a huge amount to the land. Something, frankly, that I think Star Wars land misses. I know it's supposed to be an arid environment, but having the moving water just makes this area feel so much more alive.

The landscaping and the rock work that they have done here and around these streams that converge down there for the Navi River journey it's amazing how how not purposeful it looks incredibly well decorated It's amazing how not purposeful it looks.

Incredibly well decorated. Norske Norske heading back down the path now moving into the land you can start to see a glimpse to your right of the floating mountains. Now what I haven't told you is ever since we've been in the land, we have been passing a giant line of people to our left. The line extends literally out to the beginning of the entrance to the land. I'm guessing that may be for flight of passage, but I could be wrong. It may be for Navi River Journey because recently that's been some of the highest wait times in the entire park.

I'm right down here by the entrance to Navi River Journey now, and the entrance line is 90 minutes, folks. And I do indeed believe that is the line that we were just passing, not Flight of Passage. Wow! Okay. So where you are now, Navi River Journey, to your left in the floating mountains directly ahead. You can probably hear the waterfall already.

I'm going to slowly walk through this area just underneath the floating mountains and give you guys a taste of the soundscape. RETURN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE ROAD Repare! It's quite windy here in Moara today. The We're directly under and across from the floating mountains now into an area that has multiple waterfalls. Not sure if this will just be loud static to you or it will be as nice as it is for me. Also cooler over here. The All right, let's move on. You are directly under the floating mountains now. Congratulations, traveler.

You made it. Flight of passage to our left, and it's 80 minutes. Less than Navi River Journey. Told you. I love how the screams of the children just add to the background noise of the land. Now in the main area, the Town Square, is that a thing? I'm not sure. Near Satooli Canteen. The giant mech to our left, left over from the days of the RDA, which is the Resource Development Administration.

And you will even see rusty manholes on the street that say RDA. These were the bad guys in the Avatar movie. The guys mining unobtainium. And some of their stuff is left rusting. We're about a generation past that film here in the land. That's the date of the land. Currently in front of wind traders. I'm going to go in and look around. That was amazing. You heard it here It doesn't matter.

We can figure that out. Thank you. If you like Hi guys. Have a good day. Have a good day. That was a little quick walk through Wind Traders, which I suppose I should have mentioned is the gift shop here in Pandora. Thank you so much. It's a Thule canteen to our left, making our way up around and past it. Land exit? Land exit's going to be around the corner over here today. Thanks, sir. No problem. Alright, well that was new.

They have one of the exits to the land roped off, using it for the line for Flight of Passage. And I can actually see some of the big RDA rusted gates open back to the backstage area and they're using that for the line as well she is busy today alright the bonus is we get to walk underneath the floating mountains again Now at some point, I will take you guys with me and we will do Navi River Journey together. Most of the time what we do isn't about riding rides it's about just chilling and enjoying the lands and the parks but we will do that at some point because it's fun and it's slow it's our speed the creep over here to the left through some of the trails around the drum

circle see how sparsely or densely populated they are maybe we can hear a thing The city is a city of1927年 4月1日 東京都交通局8000形電車 There's obviously a spot that I know of here. I'll let you guys soak up some of this Pandora soundscape for a minute.1987年 4月1日に東京都交通局8000形電車により、東京都交通局8000形電車により、東京都交通局10-300形電車 Terima kasih telah menonton so kind of hidden back here literally no one around us that whole time. Heading back out, and I'm still blown away by the length of this line for River Journey Wow I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do.

I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. I don't know if I do. Yes, it does. so All right, travelers, that's going to bring our expedition for the day to a close hope you had some fun listen to some cool stuff in the valley of moara i had fun walking around with you if you can give us a look and a follow over on instagram at walkabout wdw drop us a note let us know what you like what you don, how and when you listen.

And if there are particular areas of the park that you enjoy, that you would like us to seek out, hang out in and do some recording, we'll try to make that happen for you. Any questions or comments, send those along. We'll do our best to answer them. Behind the mask and behind the microphone is me, Jeremy. And behind the scenes and behind the wonderful artwork of our logo is our producer, Joshua Steele. You can find him on Instagram at TheSteele with an E. Go check out his account. Say hi. And for now, I will remind you that there really is a great big beautiful tomorrow out there. And we will see you in one of those in another episode of Walk About the World. Thank you.