Animal Kingdom Rope Drop question

[GenGen22]

Right now, EMH has been at 8am, regular park open has been at 9am. For a regular open, get there at 8am, or for EMH 45-60 min early. The "best" time is to get there an hour early. We were on the bus at 7 for an 8 am EMH open, and we were done with both FoP and NRJ by just after 9am. They held us at Pandora until about 7:45, and then led us back to line up for FoP.

Ok that is what I was thinking but just wanted confirmation so, I don't miss out on both attractions. Obviously I wont know my FP selections until October but I have to make some sort of plan in order to not wait hours in line to do both attractions. And I plan to do a non-EMH day for possibility of less crowds. I based my park days on Kenny the Pirates crowd calendar before making my ADR's as park hours etc. Weren't released yet.

 

[GenGen22]

i would check out easywdw website regarding Animal Kingdom openings. He's got a great description of how things work at what time and pictures too so you can see what the crowds look like. One basic point he makes is that if you can get a FastPass for flight of Passage it's much easier to deal with the crowds if you're just going straight to River Journey. Hope this helps

I just read this per your suggestion and its a great plan. I'm definitely gonna do this. Thanks for the tip! If anyone else wants to read it here's the link: https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/a...-rope-drop-touring-at-disneys-animal-kingdom/

 

[larsonb74]

Thanks!

Is it possible to rope drop safari, dinasaur and everest in the first two hours ?

During our June trip this year at rope drop I was able to do FOP, Primeval Whirl, Dinosaur and Everest within the first 1-2 hrs, with no FP. Rode both Everest and Dinosaur twice. Did this on two separate days of the trip.

 

[TigerLaw]

Just want to make sure you saw about halfway through the thread there is a link to a separate page where he did a River Journey rope drop discussion on its own...and then that page refers to another page from 2017 on the same topic.

 

[MinnieMommyof2]

Question - If I am able to get a FP for FOP for myself, DH and DD - can we do rider switch on this ride so one of us can stay with our 2 yo DD? I wasn't sure if rider swap was only available on certain rides. Also, if we have a FP for DD5 and she decides last minute not to ride, is that ok that we are still in line? Can she stay with the baby and the non riding parent or does that change our FP to where it's not valid anymore bc the # of riders changed?

 

[KateP85]

Was this during an EMH? And how much before park opening do you suggest getting to the gate for RD? We need to do this in December as we will only be able to get a FP for either FOP or Navi and we want to do both so, RD it is.

This was a regular day, no emh. We arrived at the park at 7.45am for a 9am opening and there were already multiple lines as the turnstiles. I think there were about 8 people in front of us in the line we chose. We were able to get on and off the ride basically by 9am and didn't have to wait too long in each place (wish I'd brought a coffee though!) so that seemed to be a good time to arrive.

 

[KateP85]

Was this during an EMH? And how much before park opening do you suggest getting to the gate for RD? We need to do this in December as we will only be able to get a FP for either FOP or Navi and we want to do both so, RD it is.

This was a regular day, no emh. We arrived at the park at 7.45am for a 9am opening and there were already multiple lines as the turnstiles. I think there were about 8 people in front of us in the line we chose. We were able to get on and off the ride basically by 9am and didn't have to wait too long in each place (wish I'd brought a coffee though!) so that seemed to be a good time to arrive.

 

[MrsPete]

... We didn't see any running or shoving, there was just a lot of people walking. There have been reports of elbows and such, but I think if you just walk steadily and stay over, it'll be ok. ..

Yes, this is what I've seen too. Lots of people? Oh, yes! But pushing and elbowing others? No.

I suggest you go early as possible and position yourself to the side -- the side towards the ride you want to hit first -- and then walk steadily once "the rope drops". It will be crowded, but not nearly so crowded as Magic Kingdom at the same time. The crowd will dissipate quickly once things get started.

 

[Jen1995]

Thanks!

Is it possible to rope drop safari, dinasaur and everest in the first two hours ?

When we rope dropped AK, we rode both Pandora rides, Everest three times, and safari all in the first hour (Dinosaur was down, or that would have been on our list too). Part of that is because they opened Pandora up early.

 

[WaltDavisWorld]

If you don’t want to do rope drop you could always wait until near park closing and get in line then. As long as you’re in line before closing time you’ll be good. In my honest opinion I wouldn’t even bother with Na’vi River Journey. It’s a snooze fest compared to FOP. I’m sure some like it but I was extremely underwhelmed and felt like a waste of time. FOP on the other hand was awesome and would be worth even waiting in line for.

 

[Diasmom]

Thank you everyone for your advice.