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Flight of Passage - Overrated?

I've been fortunate enough to visit all the Disney parks around the world and FOP is among my top 3 rides in all the parks. I've ridden it 20-30 times and never had a blurry ride, but sounds as if that might be glasses related? FOP is always in the top three along with Pirates at Shanghai Disney. I also loved Tron, but I go back and forth with that one and a couple others. ROTR is an amazing ride, but I feel sometimes as if the technological advancements of the ride factor into my enjoyment rather than the ride itself, if that makes sense :)
 
I did not have any blurriness, but I did find the ride disappointing and underwhelming. It just didn't do anything for me.
 
It is definitely Soarin 2.0 with a ridiculous wait. People love it, Im just not one. Its a beautiful ride, but not for me
Honestly my husband isn't a huge fan either. He rode it in 2017 and didn't get to enjoy it because our youngest was having a meltdown the entire ride (she wanted to ride it until the moment it started, and then decided real quick it wasn't for her). He didn't go to WDW again until this past Thanksgiving and could wait to give it a try again since we were there without the kids.....and he didn't love it. He didn't hate it, but he really doesn't see what the fuss is about. We honestly feel that way about ROTR too, it's not not fun, but we don't get the hype. I still enjoy riding FOP, I do like it, but it's not like "OMG best ride ever!!!"
 
Honestly my husband isn't a huge fan either. He rode it in 2017 and didn't get to enjoy it because our youngest was having a meltdown the entire ride (she wanted to ride it until the moment it started, and then decided real quick it wasn't for her). He didn't go to WDW again until this past Thanksgiving and could wait to give it a try again since we were there without the kids.....and he didn't love it. He didn't hate it, but he really doesn't see what the fuss is about. We honestly feel that way about ROTR too, it's not not fun, but we don't get the hype. I still enjoy riding FOP, I do like it, but it's not like "OMG best ride ever!!!"
You and I sound alot alike. Im just not a fan of so many screens. Give me a good ride, made with physical pieces instead of just simulators. Universal is killing it with new rides lately. Although I do think TRON will be amazing when it opens
 


Yes everyone is so different. For myself, cannot pass up a ride on FoP. I get so emotional on it, the smells alone are amazing and so immersing, Also ROTR is a huge contender too. Truly enjoy both so much.
 
FOP changed our Disney World trip from a "once-and-done" to simply WDW trip #1, we are going back next spring, mostly due to that ride! (We live nearly Disneyland, so pretty much everything else we have!) AK was our last park to visit. We'd had a great week and honestly had felt like we'd done everything we wanted to without regret. Got off that ride and instantly knew we were coming back again.
 


FoP is one of the best rides at WDW...

In the end different people like different things.. or their view of rides changes. Use to love EE @ AK but getting old and those Gs are just too much for me.

Was worried about there being a bent Eiffel Tower effect like Soaring is prone to, just haven't noticed that in the half dozen times I've ridden FoP. And if/when it get's old... not going to be too hard to adapt to a new adventure. Maybe add some content from Avatar #2 - #5 over then next decade.

Overrated.... Mickey's Railroad might fall into that. Or maybe it's just the feelings about the attraction it replaced, always hate to see. Well mostly - don't miss Lights, Motors, Action! at all, and Backlot Tour gave use two new lands...
 
I have only ridden FOP once and I could not get into it. I just felt like I was watching a short film in a moving seat instead of being on an actual ride. Grant it, I am not really a fan of the IP either (haven't seen Avatar and never plan to) but I wanted to see what everyone was talking about with this ride. I feel like if I was younger ( between the ages of 5-10) I would have loved this ride. It would have easily been in my top 3 favorite WDW attractions. Maybe I just need to give it another try on my next trip this July. Interestingly enough, one of my favorite USO rides is Escape from Gringotts which is very screen heavy. Although, that ride has an unfair advantage over FOP since I have been a Harry Potter movie/book series fan from the beginning.
 
I’ve never ridden FOP and we will be at WDW next week with morning res. at AK so should be able to head right over there at opening. My question is, I don’t like rides with much violent or stomach churning movement (like Expedition Everest!), would this ride be ok?
 
I'm a 3D nerd, for what it's worth, so I may have some insight into one possible reason for blurriness. I also had problems with the 3D on FOP the first time I rode, and it took me some time to realize that glasses were partially to blame.

The glasses they use for FOP and several other newer 3D ride films are the Dolby 3D system, licensed from Infinitec. Their technology uses extremely expensive multi-layer filters on the glasses, and for some reason they really only work well when you look straight through the center of the lens, or a little to one side or another. If you move your eyes to look around the screen, as you look through the edges of the glasses you lose the 3D effect, and you get a "double vision" effect where both eyes see both the left and right images instead of the left eye seeing the left image and the right eye seeing the right eye image. This often registers as "blurry" rather than "double image."

This is only a small problem for people who don't wear glasses, because the Dolby 3D lenses are closer to the eye, and you're only likely to look through the edge if you have your eyes way over to one side or the other. When you wear the Dolby 3D glasses over your own glasses, the Dolby 3D filters are further away from your eyes, and it only takes a small deviation for you to end up looking through the edges of the glasses.

The solution is to move your head to look around rather than your eyes, and keep your eyes pointed straight through the center of the glasses. This is easier said than done, but every time you see a blurry image, that should remind you to turn your head, at which point the 3D should come back and the blurriness should go away, or at least get better.

My suspicion is that they only coat a small rectangle in the center of the glasses with the expensive coating, really to save money. Alternatively, it might be that the filters are sensitive to the angle the light is passing through, and when you look through the edges of the filter you're looking through the lenses at too high an angle.

I have verified this effect on Star Tours and on FOP; you can try it yourself. Deliberately rotate your head back and forth while looking hard at something with good 3D separation from the background. As your view shifts from looking through the center of the glasses to the edges, you'll see the 3D effect collapse and will see a superimposed double image instead. Rotating back so you're looking through the center will bring back the 3D. The section of Star Tours where the message from the rebellion is beamed into the cabin is a great time to look at this effect, as the messenger (Yoda or other) is strongly separated from the background and the switch from 3D to double image will be easy to see.
 
If you move your eyes to look around the screen, as you look through the edges of the glasses you lose the 3D effect, and you get a "double vision" effect where both eyes see both the left and right images instead of the left eye seeing the left image and the right eye seeing the right eye image. This often registers as "blurry" rather than "double image.

Was just going to post this ^

You have to move your whole head in the direction of what you are looking at. If you just move your eyes you will likely have blurring issues.

My biggest complaint is the "motorcycle" does not LOOK like a banshee. I think they could have created something to help you feel like you are on a banshee. I do love the breathing effect but I think most miss that.

I've never gotten through Avatar (0-3 - it's so bad) but I enjoy the ride (and we skip Soarin'). Would I wait hours? no way.
 
I love FoP! Have ridden it over 20 times. Love the sights, sounds, and smells!
After DH and I rode it on our adults-only trip, we took our teenage sons the next year. They LOVED it as well.
I do find it somewhat blurry sometimes, but my eyes suck.
 
To each their own! It is my husband’s favorite attraction and the ONLY line he would stand in for 1.5 hours anywhere. I close my eyes the entire time because it makes me dizzy. We’ve rode ROTR twice and still don’t understand what the excitement is all about. I prefer the food attractions...
 
It’s my favorite ride. But there’s always a danger in building something up too much in your head based on other people’s hype. I try not to let it influence me too much. Fortunately I’ve rarely been disappointed.

(Though I have not tried Rise yet, my last trip was right before it opened. I’m practicing for 3 weeks time!)
It's my favorite too. There's nothing exactly like it. That's so true about building up expectations too. Last year my DD got me so pumped up about ROTR that I was slightly underwhelmed after riding because it wasn't what I was expecting. That being said I'm going again in two weeks and I know I'm going to dig it a lot more this time around.
 
You know, I never really thought about it but I haven't ridden it since before I was pregnant with my now 18 month old and haven't really missed it. We are very frequent AP visitors and have had multiple opportunities.

I think that's partially because of the child swap + lack of FP but we do occasionally child swap for other favorite rides :confused3

Pre-pregnancy I rode it many, many times and did often encounter blurriness, esp when seated on the edges. It's definitely not as immersive among the edge, either.

I do everything I can to get family/friends to ride it but try to not hype it (or anything!) up too much for fear of setting the bar too high. So far, everyone has loved it but if they also do Universal on the same trip, HP always wins out as the favorite.
 
Visuals are not perfectly in focus for me on this ride, especially during scenes with lots of motion. But it is good enough that I am amazed by the experience.
 
Today was the first time I had been to Animal Kingdom since 2016 and my first visit to Pandora. The area is beautiful. We went on Flight of Passage after hearing for years how great it is. I was unfortunately disappointed with it. It never felt I was riding on a banshee and the visual was blurry. My eyesight is very good. Has anybody else been disappointed by the blurry nature of the ride.

I'm not sure it was blurry, but I was a little disappointed in the ride. To me, it felt like I was just watching someone play World of Warcraft on the computer.... watching them on their flying mount or something.

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My husband and kids also weren't impressed. I don't want to pooh-pooh on what people enjoy. Heck, my kids' favorite ride in all of WDW is Buzz Lightyear, and people could tear that ride to shreds if they wanted! So, for all of you who love Flight of Passage, I'm glad, but we just didn't feel the same way.
 
Was just going to post this ^

You have to move your whole head in the direction of what you are looking at. If you just move your eyes you will likely have blurring issues.

My biggest complaint is the "motorcycle" does not LOOK like a banshee. I think they could have created something to help you feel like you are on a banshee. I do love the breathing effect but I think most miss that.

I've never gotten through Avatar (0-3 - it's so bad) but I enjoy the ride (and we skip Soarin'). Would I wait hours? no way.

You aren't suppose to be getting on a banshee.... your in a lab, so the simulator that connects you to the Avatar kind of fits the theming.

I loved Avatar back when it was released as one of the first new 3D Films and with it's unique capture technology, very impressive from that stand point. Story and characters are terrible and it's just about impossible to watch or care about today. Not really sure what they'll do with another four films... maybe explain why the Na'vi are so different from most the life on the planet and are so "human"?
 

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