Argh! Pandora mess-up!

[LISmama810]

We're going to Disney World next week. I'm a compulsive planner, so I had everything figured out months ago...and that included skipping Animal Kingdom. But then my husband and oldest son NEEDED to go to Pandora. I'd never even seen the movie, but it seemed important to them, so fine.

I didn't bother researching the rides because...I don't know. I guess I didn't really "need" to know about them. My husband said the River ride was supposed to be best at night, so fine. I made our FastPass for the ride at night and figured we'd have all day to stand in line for Flights of Passage.

Then just now I saw some photos and realized: Duh! It's an indoor ride! It's the same whether you go at night or during the day. (Right?)

So now I have a FastPass for a ride at night that we don't even NEED to ride at night, and it seems like it would be better to have a FP for FOP, but of course there are none available now, and no other times to switch the River one.

Oh well. This is what I get for not doing my usual research.

We'll be there on June 7. Any idea how many hours we'll stand in line to ride both of these standby during the day? Getting there at rope drop is a possibility, but not guaranteed. We can certainly be there early-ish.

 

[Amelia :)]

If you're not there for rope drop you will be waiting for around 3 hours for each ride. I would rope drop FOP, and by rope drop I mean get there two hours before park opens, and I would still just wait and use your night time FP for Navi River.

 

[danikoski]

Are you staying on site? If you are staying on site, folks have been going to extra morning hours and getting there about 6 am, or, they are running evening magic hours through July from 11 pm to 1 am. For those, if you have evening FP already, just hang around until about 10:30 pm and wander over to FoP. They have been letting resort guests in at 10:50 pm and it's been basically a walk on to start with. Otherwise, if you leave the land, you'll have to line up between 10 and 10:30 pm to get back in for EMH.

If you aren't staying on site, you can rope drop, getting to rope drop aroun 7 or 7:30 am.

 

[mesaboy2]

We're going to Disney World next week. I'm a compulsive planner, so I had everything figured out months ago...and that included skipping Animal Kingdom. But then my husband and oldest son NEEDED to go to Pandora. I'd never even seen the movie, but it seemed important to them, so fine.

I didn't bother researching the rides because...I don't know. I guess I didn't really "need" to know about them. My husband said the River ride was supposed to be best at night, so fine. I made our FastPass for the ride at night and figured we'd have all day to stand in line for Flights of Passage.

Then just now I saw some photos and realized: Duh! It's an indoor ride! It's the same whether you go at night or during the day. (Right?)

So now I have a FastPass for a ride at night that we don't even NEED to ride at night, and it seems like it would be better to have a FP for FOP, but of course there are none available now, and no other times to switch the River one.

Oh well. This is what I get for not doing my usual research.

We'll be there on June 7. Any idea how many hours we'll stand in line to ride both of these standby during the day? Getting there at rope drop is a possibility, but not guaranteed. We can certainly be there early-ish.

Right.

 

[wrf2e]

We went Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was EMH and Sunday was not. We stayed offsite so Saturday we waited to get into Pandora and by the time we got in, the lines were about to their max so we just stood in line for the merchandise and walked around the land. Sunday, we got their 40 minutes before the park opened and went straight for FOP. The wait for that was about 25 minutes at that time and their wasn't a line to get into the store when we got off. I would suggest rope dropping FOP and use your FP for NRJ. That way you can get ahead of the crazy wait times for FOP and the FP will get you into Pandora at night. Of course, this assumes the crowds are similar for your visit.

 

[bmalonef45]

Don't feel bad. We'll be there at roughly the same time and I got a FP for the River ride as well feeling it was better for my wife who has motion sickness issues. Now I'm kicking myself when I see all the great reviews of FoP. I was originally planning to do FoP during the late EMH but now seeing all the long waits I'm worried we're going to miss out on FoP.

If I understand the previous posts if we're inside Pandora between 10:00 and 10:30 we'll be able to stay in there and not go out to the EMH line they start? Anyone else have experience with this?

 

[jaysmom4285]

I don't ever believe the MDE app when it says there are no more FP+ available. By dint of constant refreshing of the attraction I wanted a FP+ for, I've almost always been able to get what I want eventually. Of course, I've never tried this with the new Pandora attractions, but it's worth a shot. Try to get a FP+ for the attraction you want for day you want, and when it says there aren't any, just keep refreshing that screen, dozens of times if you need to. If you want to try for another time for the river ride, just try modifying the FP+ you have, and again refresh incessantly.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Spend two hours and watch the movie - it will enhance your trip and excitement of the land so you can enjoy it with your two boys.

 

[mjohnson96]

I feel your pain we are heading out in 2 weeks and I booked my ADRs at 180 days, my FPs at 60 days and then what happens.... My mom who didn't want to go into the parks told me yesterday that she wants to go with us when we visit Animal Kingdom because she really wants to see the new area... We had planned on going to early entry and doing stand by for the FOP and then I had FP for the river ride at 9:30am .... but now I am just hoping we get a little pixie dust and can get her on with us for the river ride or we will be trying to do stand by with both and that should be quite interesting

 

[marie1981]

Go to guest relation and explain your situation.. since you already have fast pass, they might be able to add fast past for your mother....

 

[siskaren]

Go to guest relation and explain your situation.. since you already have fast pass, they might be able to add fast past for your mother....

Did you respond to the right thread? The OP didn't say anything about needing a FP for her mother.

 

[joyjoy]

Did you respond to the right thread? The OP didn't say anything about needing a FP for her mother.

I think she did, though. ....... and then I had FP for the river ride at 9:30am .... but now I am just hoping we get a little pixie dust and can get her on with us for the river ride ...... To me, that says she's hoping her mom can get on the ride they have fp for along with them, which would mean mom needs a fp also. So the suggestion to go to GS and inquire is valid. Or I'm crazy.

 

[siskaren]

I think she did, though. ....... and then I had FP for the river ride at 9:30am .... but now I am just hoping we get a little pixie dust and can get her on with us for the river ride ...... To me, that says she's hoping her mom can get on the ride they have fp for along with them, which would mean mom needs a fp also. So the suggestion to go to GS and inquire is valid. Or I'm crazy.

I thought marie1981 was responding to the OP, who didn't say anything about her mother. I see now that she was responding to mjohnson96.

 

[joyjoy]

I thought marie1981 was responding to the OP, who didn't say anything about her mother. I see now that she was responding to mjohnson96.

Ahh, gotcha.

 

[AllieBoo]

Don't feel bad. We'll be there at roughly the same time and I got a FP for the River ride as well feeling it was better for my wife who has motion sickness issues. Now I'm kicking myself when I see all the great reviews of FoP. I was originally planning to do FoP during the late EMH but now seeing all the long waits I'm worried we're going to miss out on FoP.

If I understand the previous posts if we're inside Pandora between 10:00 and 10:30 we'll be able to stay in there and not go out to the EMH line they start? Anyone else have experience with this?

This is exactly what happened to me. I have motion sickness issues, so decided to do the river journey, but now i'm hearing it's similar to Soarin, which I have no problems with, so it should not be an issue. I've been refreshing constantly, but can't get a FOP fp now.

 

[Klayfish]

I would rope drop FOP, and by rope drop I mean get there two hours before park opens, and I would still just wait and use your night time FP for Navi River.

If you aren't staying on site, you can rope drop, getting to rope drop aroun 7 or 7:30 am.

Nope, nope, nope...not this bald headed guy. If that's what it would take to get on it, then we're skipping it this trip. No ride is worth that wait, or getting up that early on vacation, for us. But there's still hope...we were at WDW during the grand opening of FEA and we thought there was no way we'd ever get on because we refuse to wait in long lines or rope drop. However, less than 10 days after it opened we got on it standby and waited less than 30 minutes. My FP+ window (30 days) starts tomorrow. I'll try like heck to get FP+ for both Pandora rides, but if I don't, we'll just play it by ear.

 

[danikoski]

Nope, nope, nope...not this bald headed guy. If that's what it would take to get on it, then we're skipping it this trip. No ride is worth that wait, or getting up that early on vacation, for us. But there's still hope...we were at WDW during the grand opening of FEA and we thought there was no way we'd ever get on because we refuse to wait in long lines or rope drop. However, less than 10 days after it opened we got on it standby and waited less than 30 minutes. My FP+ window (30 days) starts tomorrow. I'll try like heck to get FP+ for both Pandora rides, but if I don't, we'll just play it by ear.

You should be able to get NRJ FP. However, I have heard some people have gotten lucky at 30 days and been able to get a FoP FP. But if you're going over July 4th week, that might be hard.

I've also seen on the Pandora thread that between 3:30 and 5:30 crowds have died down the last few days, and there was a brief moment yesterday about those times that FoP dropped to a 90 minute wait.

 

[capegirl]

We went Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was EMH and Sunday was not. We stayed offsite so Saturday we waited to get into Pandora and by the time we got in, the lines were about to their max so we just stood in line for the merchandise and walked around the land. Sunday, we got their 40 minutes before the park opened and went straight for FOP. The wait for that was about 25 minutes at that time and their wasn't a line to get into the store when we got off. I would suggest rope dropping FOP and use your FP for NRJ. That way you can get ahead of the crazy wait times for FOP and the FP will get you into Pandora at night. Of course, this assumes the crowds are similar for your visit.

A 25 minute wait for FOP at RD is encouraging. We are staying at SOG; we have to book FP+ at 30 days, so were planning on RD. We will probably drive to AK to make sure we get there early enough.

 

[FlyingBelle]

FWIW, I read a review this morning that said that riding the river ride at night is amazing because when you exit the ride, the theming of the land is so amazing you feel like it's real, and not just dumped back into the 'real world'

 

[patrickpiteo]

Keep trying for that FP