Park questions
 

Now the responses I get are going be helpful or I’m going to get hate mail 😂🤣

So I’m steady planning for our trip -

“Pandora” avatar - Iv never seen it
“Star wars” - Iv watched a few as a kid but couldn’t tell you the ins and out of the storyline and characters - rode it at hs many years ago enjoyed the ride

“Harry potter” Iv seen one of them I think ?

Now before you all come down on me like a ton of bricks my question is is it worth us battling for fast passes, queues for something we don’t have a clue about ? Or would you say the rides are worth it regardless of what we know of that

These are 3 new to me areas of Disney some of which I guess you guys book purely for.

I’m dreading the replies 🙈

You don’t need to know the storylines to appreciate the rides.
If you have time before you go, I’d watch Avatar if any of the three as the area is themed very much like the film.

Star Wars, your experience of the early films is plenty to give you a feel of the land, but not essential.

Again if you have time just view one film to get the basics but not essential. You say Disney, but Harry Potter is at Universal in both the main parks. I’m assuming you knew this.

My opinion is you will enjoy without without prior knowledge. If you get a chance to watch some of the videos, all well and good but not essential

You WILL have a great time.

Never seen any of them lol... Only tried FOP but as a ride was such an amazing experience and I loved it...you can appreciate a ride and its theming without liking or knowing the films. In my personal experience. :)

Yeah and now you have thrown me saying there is 3 avatar movies 😂

Yeah we visited island of adventure not long after that area opened I remember seeing a train and being told try butterbeer but I didn’t get it

Iv actually said to ds and dd let’s watch Harry Potter before we go - they just frowned 😏

I know there’s more than enough other than the three areas keep us more than happy but I don’t want to queue and fastpass for something that will confuse or be of no interest to the kids

Sit me everywhere else at animal kingdom and pick me up 2 weeks later :) love the place

We had not seen Avatar and only I had read Harry Potter when they first came out so did not completely remember the books and have no interest in Star Wars. However, we went on both Avatar and Harry Potter rides and thoroughly enjoyed both so from a personal experience it did not matter that we were not particulary familiar with the films or books.

There is currently only one Avatar movie to watch (more planned but not yet made / released.) I think the poster above meant for you to watch Avatar out of the three movie franchises you mentioned, ie Avatar, Star Wars and Harry Potter.

My worry is more that I think my youngest has read too much and yet not enough of Harry Potter (this does make sense, I promise.) There are twists and shocks in the later books that I got to experience with no spoilers, and we somehow got my oldest through all of the books without her finding out any of the big surprises from her friends etc. My 8 year old is only on book 4, and I feel like the later books are a bit too old / dark / scary for her. But we go to Universal this August, AND she’s going to Harry Potter Studio Tour with school in September, so she’ll almost certainly find out about some of those twists and surprises before she reads them.

My first preference would be to experience the rides as a big fan of the books / films. But I think the worst option is to be a fan who has read the first few, but then have the last ones spoilt by the Universal HP areas / London tour. I genuinely think it would be easier to just enjoy the rides etc without ever having read the books / watched the films, especially if you never plan to get into them. You’ll be fine.

No not three Avatar movies I meant of the three areas you mentioned I’d choose the Avatar movie! :)

I rode FOP without ever seeing Avatar - I was blown away with the settings, concept etc and watched the movie upon my return.

It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the ride or indeed Pandora within AK - but do wish I had seen the movie prior to visiting, so I could appreciate it a lot more.

The rides you talk about are certainly worth visiting on their own merit IMO. We're a family of HP and SW nerds so had seen them all. If you do have the opportunity to see them before you go you'll be able to appreciate the little 'in-jokes' a bit more, but you certainly don't miss out on anything.

Also, just for example, I've never seen 'Song of the South' - and probably never will - but I still love Splash Mountain and it doesn't spoil it for me. Now I get that Splash Mountain isn't in the same technical league as the rides you mention, and the theming is certainly not as intense but the fact is the same - all these rides can stand on their own merit and remain just as good.

We watched Avatar just ahead of our visit last year, and I'm glad we did. I'm sure the experience would have been breathtaking without it, but I think it did enhance our enjoyment of the ride - and more generally, of the land itself. I'm happy to admit I felt quite emotional stepping into Pandora on our first visit. It was also cloudy morning which added to the atmosphere. We also really enjoyed visiting the land in the evening; we took some beautiful photos of the sun setting and darkness taking over.