The movie Avatar is a fast-paced, sci-fi action film about a different world in which blue people called the Na’vi live. In this movie, human scientists and soldiers can link their brains to an Avatar, which puts them in the world of Pandora.

While on vacation in Orlando, Florida, I got to experience this in a certain way. After a day of anticipation in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, my family and I decided the lines wouldn’t get any shorter and made our way into the recreated world of Pandora.

The detail put in every setting was amazing. The floating rocks towered over everything else in the area, and every plant was thought out and purposeful. Stepping into Pandora was like stepping into a lush, colorful, and unique other world.

Most of the admiration though came while we were waiting in line. First, we waited an hour and a half for a short and underwhelming boat ride called Na’Vi River Journey through the floor of the forest.

Again, the details were incredible, but the slow-paced and anticlimactic ride was not what we had been waiting for.

Our expectations were surpassed though on the second ride in Pandora. The line was estimated to be an unbelievable 135 minutes, or a little over two hours. We ended up waiting for almost two hours exactly.

We passed the time by playing games or talking. While taking frequent breaks to sit or squat down to give a break to our fatigued legs. Eventually, after what seemed to take forever, we made it to the front of the line.

We were ushered into a small room with a screen where we were scanned for “viruses” and “decontaminated.”

Then, we moved into another small room where we received our flight goggles and were told that we would be “linking,” like in the movie, to an avatar that would then take us for a ride on a banshee (which, in the movie, is a large dragon-like creature that the Na’vi ride). After this step, we went onto the real part of the ride.

We stepped onto these bicycle-like chairs, where a back and leg rest was fitted into place behind us. Looking down, there was a screen mirroring our face. The ride began by showing our own face morphing into an avatar. Then the screen lit up and we took off into the skies of Pandora.

During the amazing ride, you could feel the artificial banshee breathing and you could smell the different smells of the Pandora forests. You could feel your stomach dropping as the banshee was free-falling through the floating rocks.

The ride was unlike any other 4-D experience I have had. The ability of the technology to make the rider feel like they are truly doing the activity is amazing. This ride was well worth the long wait, and is something everyone should do if they are given the opportunity.