I suspect the placement here is going to alarm quite a few people. Let me establish I will not be spending any blog posts justifying why I might like an attraction less than others, because this list is meant to be celebratory. If you've got placement questions, that's for another venue.
That said, every attraction on this list is great, and the next several spots are really just splitting hairs, so your favorite ride being "merely" one of the 27-or-so greatest attractions ever shouldn't be a slap in the face.
It takes a lot to sell me on a 3D projection ride, but I remember the exact moment I was sold on Flight of Passage: it was the first moment I realized the banshee I was sitting on was breathing, and I could feel its chest expanding against my legs.
There have been quite a few entries in the Projection-Based Flight Simulation genre. We've already seen Soarin' on this list, and we'll be exploring the roots of that genre eventually (sorry for the spoiler). There is a lot to be said about moving through physical set pieces, and those attractions do dominate this countdown, but that's not to say a flight sim isn't a good time. And when it comes to sitting down and watching a screen with the sensation of flight, you could easily argue that Flight is the absolute king of the craft.
It gets there by paying absolute attention to detail in selling the impossible, surreal experience you're meant to be having. In a way, the ride isn't even hiding that it's a simulation. You are in a lab, and you are being strapped to a device that will give you a sensation of flying while your body is safely in a machine in a lab; that's a flight simulator.
What makes it special is how it attempts to trick your brain in to believing you are not experiencing the flight because of the simulator, but because you're having a highly-engineered out of body experience.
Pains are taken to hide you from the massive crowd having the same experience. To keep you from seeing the "lab" that you are still in. To justify the use of the 3D glasses that allow the world to feel like it has depth in front of and around you. The aforementioned breathing sells the idea that your "avatar" is on an actual living, breathing creature.
It's honestly a fantastic effect. I argue in both video games and theme park attractions that sometimes leaving a bit to the imagination is okay. As in magic, often the trick is not in being actually fooled, but in wondering what exactly happened. That said, an attraction that does such a tremendous job of making its core experience literally feel real is absolutely commendable. The Haunted Mansion and Flight of Passage operate on two ends of the design spectrum, but there is room for both approaches.
That convincing trickery is nothing without a great setting, though, and the world of Pandora gives that. As we talked about several posts ago with Na'vi River Journey, it's not important that the place you are taken to is necessarily familiar, it's just important that it looks cool. James Cameron's story may have mixed reviews in hindsight, but the world he created is absolutely awe-inspiring.
Flight of Passage makes the most of that world. With bioluminescent caves, gorgeous ocean fronts, and thick forests, the locations you get to see from the back of your banshee are breathtaking. You see beautiful sunsets, and smell the ocean breeze. It all feels simultaneously alien and yet believable.
(And, truthfully, the beautiful settings and bizarre creatures really just makes me want a Monster Hunter ride. . .)
Oh, but also it really gets your juices flowing in a way that none of the other simulators do. The range of movement on your little bike thing that's meant to represent a banshee is pretty great, and your one-man-vehicle takes some extreme daredevil routes over, under, and around the sights of Pandora. Hairpin turns, death-defying dives, and sudden twists make for an exhilarating run, without ever being on a ride path.
The designers of the attraction should also really be commended for not feeling the need to shove a plot into the attraction. There is no central conflict, there is no villain, you don't "save the day," there is not really even much in the way of dialogue. You don't participate in the story to make something happen, or watch an even unfold, you merely participate to exist in Pandora. The entire story of Flight of Passage is: fly around this cool planet and see neat stuff. Not only is there nothing wrong with that, it's genuinely refreshing to just have a great tour of an awesome place exist for the sake of existing.
Despite not having an unnecessary plot, though, the experience is extremely well paced, much like a good story. There are high moments (surviving a giant wave) balanced with moments to catch your breath and contemplate (the banshees perching together in a cave as creatures begin to light it up).
Something I used to say about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is that I was not much of a Harry Potter fan, but the themed lands made me far more interested in the books than any movie or other media ever could. In a way, Flight of Passage does the same, making me far more interested in the world of Pandora than the movie ever did. That is just about the highest praise you can heap on a theme park attraction.
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