With the opening of Pandora: The World of AVATAR over the weekend, the world was finally introduced to the beauty and splendor of the nighttime bioluminescence that fills the newest land at Animal Kingdom when the sun goes down.

While there is no grand lighting ceremony, watching the plants and walkways slowly come to life as the sun goes down is pretty neat. It’s not the greatest nighttime lighting package I’ve ever seen, but it’s still awesome to see. While I still think Cars Land at Disney California Adventure is far more grandiose (in the mountain range alone, never mind all of that fantastic neon), this is a solid runner up.

Nighttime on Pandora is a hard thing to capture in pictures or video, so you will need to see it for yourself before you judge, but here is a look at some highlights:

Last night, we actually got caught in the land during a thunderstorm which offered some really beautiful shots.

We also have video of that experience to share:

If you haven’t seen it yet, a nighttime trip to Animal Kingdom is certainly in order to experience Pandora: The World of AVATAR at night.

Tom Corless