AK arrival time for Avatar

[KimK2006]

We are going to AK 1/5/18. I was not on the ball this trip and didn't book my FP's 60 days out. We were not able to get them for Avatar Flight of passage. Our plan is to bet there at RD. It is an 8:00 park opening that day. How much before official park opening are they letting guest in the parks? TIA!

 

[LSUfan4444]

Arrive by 7 am for an 8 am opening and you'll be fine

 

[shanew21]

I would get there at 7 at the very latest for an 8am open. Luckily January 5th crowds shouldn’t be awful, but still those lines are crazy.

Throughout the day, keep refreshing the app for fast passes. We were able to grab 2 of them same day.

 

[Bete]

Keep trying to tweak your Fastpass. Don't forget to try for later times, too.

Also, don't forget to consider going to FOP before or after the ROL show.

 

[karalecia26]

Agree with the refreshing the app. We were there on Saturday and I was able to get a FP for FOP pretty much right away. I was sitting in the Dinosaur gift shop as my kids were looking around and just was messing to see if I could find one and I was able too! Best ride ever!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Rope drop seems to be the busiest time of the day for this attraction. I checked times on Touring Pans recently and the actual wait was 240 minutes within 10 minutes of opening and 30 minutes just before park closing.

I think the most efficient use of our time is to hop in line about 45 minutes before close with the hope of riding twice.

I think it can be done. I know it can't be done in the morning.

 

[KimK2006]

Rope drop seems to be the busiest time of the day for this attraction. I checked times on Touring Pans recently and the actual wait was 240 minutes within 10 minutes of opening and 30 minutes just before park closing.

I think the most efficient use of our time is to hop in line about 45 minutes before close with the hope of riding twice.

I think it can be done. I know it can't be done in the morning.

We might just be out of luck on this one, then. We will give it a try. We have the half marathon the next morning (have to BE THERE at 3:30 AM.) We definitely won't be there around park closing. We might give it a shot another evening, though. Thanks for the advice!

 

[KimK2006]

Agree with the refreshing the app. We were there on Saturday and I was able to get a FP for FOP pretty much right away. I was sitting in the Dinosaur gift shop as my kids were looking around and just was messing to see if I could find one and I was able too! Best ride ever!

I will give this a shot! Thanks!

 

[LSUfan4444]

We might just be out of luck on this one, then. We will give it a try. We have the half marathon the next morning (have to BE THERE at 3:30 AM.) We definitely won't be there around park closing. We might give it a shot another evening, though. Thanks for the advice!

Missing rope drop is not the same as rope drop though...if you're there an hour before advertised park opening you will be just fine. Now, if you plan on being there at park close anyway that changes things of course but in your case, thats not really an option. If you're there at 7 not only will you be able to do FoP without much issue when you get off you'll be able to do River Journey as well with likely a wait of less than 20 minutes.

 

[KimK2006]

Missing rope drop is not the same as rope drop though...if you're there an hour before advertised park opening you will be just fine. Now, if you plan on being there at park close anyway that changes things of course but in your case, thats not really an option. If you're there at 7 not only will you be able to do FoP without much issue when you get off you'll be able to do River Journey as well with likely a wait of less than 20 minutes.

Got it! I was trying to get a feel for how much before the posted opening time they let people into the parks to head to the rides. We thought our best bet was to try getting on this way. I did get FP's for River Journey for later in the day. Is it worth riding twice? We originally planned on heading to EE right after FoP. (Or normal AK morning is head to EE and ride it as many times as we can until a line starts forming. But, that's usually in late May. These new rides and our first time in early January have completely messed up or normal touring!) So, we will get there early. Hope we can get on FoP! If not, we will try to do it one evening before closing. (We will probably do that, too, so we can ride it twice!) Great advice from all!!

 

[LSUfan4444]

I did get FP's for River Journey for later in the day. Is it worth riding twice?

To me, no but I am not the biggest dark ride person around. I feel the same about frozen ever after, pirates, haunted mansion, peter pan, etc....I don't feel I need to do any of them more than once per day.

 

[coolbrook]

Josh at easywdw was recommending an hour and a half, but we got there about an hour and 15 before official opening on Dec. 24. I think we were let in to line up at the bridge around 7:10. Worked great! I have bad knees and do not walk fast, but was walking in to ride at 8am. I would not do it any other way! My feet are too tired at the end of the day to stand in line. Good luck to you! It's a wonderful ride!

 

[epcotty]

We were also there on the 24th but had a fp for FOP. We did NRJ at 9pm, still waited about 45-50 minutes to get on, so in that case the wait time was probably worse than the wait time for FOP at that time according to what's been said here. I wonder if everyone on these boards actually pronounces the attractions as they write them here. "We gotta rope drop fop, or we'll drop and flop and plop from waiting and feel like we'll pop!"

 

[LindyWebb]

I like the idea of going towards the end of closing (45 minutes before park closes). What is the latest time they will admit someone if the park closes at 9? Is it 8 or earlier or later?

 

[baozi]

A datapoint for all the scenarios mentioned. I went in the second week of Dec, during 2 days I rode it 6 times in total. For those 2 days, one was OK, the other should definitely be worse than 1/5 (standby around 6:00pm was 390 minutes).
First day was a 9:00am day. I showed up on 7:35am and there were already around 100 people there. If you are not satisfied with your position, the lines for breakfast reservation might turn to regular lines. Just keep an eye on it and go fast when they open it up. Hold before the turnstile, then hold before the bridge, but it was 8:30am when they released the last hold.
I also showed up on 7:55pm on that day (8:00pm closure, posted standby wait was 120 minutes), and got off the ride at 8:50pm. On the second day when I saw the wait time was 390 minutes I just left.
Fastpass: I had a fastpass for 5:00pm on the first day and 12:00pm on the second. I should have tried to change the time for the first day, but I did not realize that I could get fastpass for it on the day of if I keep refreshing until the second day. On the second day I got 2 more fastpasses after the first one.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I like the idea of going towards the end of closing (45 minutes before park closes). What is the latest time they will admit someone if the park closes at 9? Is it 8 or earlier or later?

If the park closes at 9, you can get in line up until 8:59 and will be allowed to ride.

 

[shanew21]

Agree with the refreshing the app. We were there on Saturday and I was able to get a FP for FOP pretty much right away. I was sitting in the Dinosaur gift shop as my kids were looking around and just was messing to see if I could find one and I was able too! Best ride ever!

I would just refresh while in line and it was amazing. I originally had a 2:30 fastpass, but I was able to move it to 12:50. After we did that we grabbed a safari one and landed a 4:10ish FOP while in line for the safari. Then while in line for FOP we landed ANOTHER one. 3 times in one day with a 5 minute wait (not counting the god awful preshow) while the line was 4+ hours all day.

 

[LindyWebb]

If the park closes at 9, you can get in line up until 8:59 and will be allowed to ride.

But will they let you into AK that late? When do they stop letting you in the park?

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

But will they let you into AK that late? When do they stop letting you in the park?

Same time. The gate closes when the park closes. However, you will need to give yourself enough time to get through the gate and to the ride before closing time.