AK Plan Starting after park open

[Cakesy]

Is there any good strategy for touring AK if you can't get there until actual opening time? We also are hopping to HS sometime later in the day to meet up with my husband and son, so we can't really take an evening approach.
I'm thinking it doesn't even pay to hit Pandora if we can't get there at rope drop. Should we try and do Dinosaur, KS, EE with hopefully still shorter lines in the morning and then just suck it up for 60 minute lines in Pandora sometime midday?
Has anyone had any good touring for arriving at AK at official park open?

 

[pascalspal]

Not sure when you are going, but this is our experience from our recent trip in early February. We got to AK at rope drop and went straight to Pandora - FoP and Navi River Journey. We then hit Everest, Dinosaur, It's Tough to be a Bug, KS, and A great Bird Adventure show. We hit some animal trails, ate lunch and did some shopping as well - all before 11:30am.

With crowds being higher right now, I obviously cannot attest to how feasible completing everything on your list may be in the same time frame. However, in my opinion AK is a half day park at best for our family. I think you should be able to complete most everything you want in a timely manner. FoP has a super high rider capacity so odds are the line will move faster than the posted time. Such a great ride, so I think its worth waiting for.

I would keep an eye on the wait times in the app a few days leading up to your park time. See if there are any predictable times where the wait dies down and plan around that if FoP is your priority. Navi River is going to have a long line regardless because of its lower rider capacity. Take a look at those ride times leading up to your park day and see what is going on with those Pandora lines. The other rides have been having consistent wait times, so I would plan around if you can find a lower wait time in Pandora!

 

[Bobb_o]

It may still be worth it to head to River Journey if you're interested in that but if you're not then yeah you're right I would go to the next tier of rides (Safari, Everest, Dinosaur) and head back to Pandora whenever everything else is long too.

 

[JennyDrake]

I was there in early November and early February and I would encourage you to keep an eye on the wait times. We found them all over the place throughout the day for both Avatar and River. At times Avatar was only 35 minutes while river would be 120! And vice versa. YMMV.

 

[Shellyred8]

I think it will all depend on how long after rope-drop you will be arriving. When you arrive, check the wait time for FOP, Navi, and KS. If they're pretty long, then head towards Dinosaur and then EE. If there is other stuff you want to do (bird show, tough to be a bug, triceratops spin, animal trails, etc) do them after Dinosaur and EE. As you are doing the other stuff, keep an eye on the wait times for KS, as it's another one that fluctuates a lot. If you see it's wait time drop, head on over. Same with the Pandora rides.