Animal Kingdom rope drop time

[John Kilcrease]

We do not have a fast pass for FOP. What time are people arriving to AK for rope drop to get on it without a huge wait. We are going July 3 (party of 4). Park opening is 8am. Maybe arrive at 7am? We are staying offsite. We have fast passes for the Pandora river ride at 12, Safari at 10:30, Everest at 1:20. What should we do to maximize time assuming we can get on FOP quickly?

 

[wareagle57]

We'll be there at the same time as you. I've about decided FOP at RD isn't worth it. If you want to try it, you need to get there around 6:30 or your total experience time will end up being close to an hour. Even getting there at 6:30, it seems as though it is taking people 40 minutes or so to experience the ride first thing in the morning no matter how early they are there. That is certainly better than 2 hours, but when I think about the fact that I could probably do Navi River Journey, Everest multiple times, dinosaur and primeaval whirl all in the first hour, is it worth it? I think I'll just wait for FOP in the middle of the day when all the other lines are long anyway.

 

[mariemarie]

We just got home from a week there. We rope dropped Animal Kingdom twice over the course of our trip. We did have fast passes for both Pandora rides, but really wanted to do them twice each. Monday (Memorial Day) we arrived just an hour before rope drop and were able to walk onto Navi with a super short wait (less than ten minutes). Friday we arrived about an hour and a half before park opening and were able to get onto FOP with a super short wait as well. They did let everyone through the tapstiles about 45 minutes before park opening and lined us up at the bridge to Pandora. This is where it really helps to be towards the front, so go directly there from the entrance. They also opened Pandora about 15 minutes early. By the time we got off of FOP on Friday the line extended all the way to the Africa entrance of Pandora and looped around! Get there EARLY!!

 

[happybear025]

Question: when you arrived an hour early, what was the crowd like to get through the entrance turnstiles?

 

[gaj31869]

I did rope drop last Thursday (June 1). I was at the turnstiles at 7:00, and when I arrived, there were about 30 people in each line already. The turnstiles opened about 7:15-7:20. Walked to the bridge to Discovery Island and was held there for a minute or two. Then was walked to the entrance to Pandora and was lined up there by 7:30. They let us into Pandora and the queue for Flight of Passage at 7:45. The queue for Flight of Passage is very long, and even though we were moving almost the entire time, it took 20 minutes or so just to walk through the queue. I then had a few minutes wait where they assign the queue to different loading areas, and a few minutes wait before being sent into the first pre-show. A few minutes there, and then a few minutes for the second pre-show. Finally into the loading area, and that took a couple of minutes as well. Finally the ride. So even though I wasn't that far back in the line ever, I was not done with the ride until after 8:30. At that point the line for Na'vi River Journey was already 75 minutes, and growing fast.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

Question: when you arrived an hour early, what was the crowd like to get through the entrance turnstiles?

We did AK at RD last Sunday. It was an 8am opening. We were there by 720 and got through with hardly any wait. Made it to the bridge and walked right on the Navi when they opened Pandora 15 mins early (745).

 

[wareagle57]

I did rope drop last Thursday (June 1). I was at the turnstiles at 7:00, and when I arrived, there were about 30 people in each line already. The turnstiles opened about 7:15-7:20. Walked to the bridge to Discovery Island and was held there for a minute or two. Then was walked to the entrance to Pandora and was lined up there by 7:30. They let us into Pandora and the queue for Flight of Passage at 7:45. The queue for Flight of Passage is very long, and even though we were moving almost the entire time, it took 20 minutes or so just to walk through the queue. I then had a few minutes wait where they assign the queue to different loading areas, and a few minutes wait before being sent into the first pre-show. A few minutes there, and then a few minutes for the second pre-show. Finally into the loading area, and that took a couple of minutes as well. Finally the ride. So even though I wasn't that far back in the line ever, I was not done with the ride until after 8:30. At that point the line for Na'vi River Journey was already 75 minutes, and growing fast.

Since the boat ride is shorter and does not have the situation where you have to walk through a long queue, would it be possible to ride it first, be off by 8:05, and get into a FOP line before it gets above 45 minutes or so?

 

[DrummerBoy523]

Since the boat ride is shorter and does not have the situation where you have to walk through a long queue, would it be possible to ride it first, be off by 8:05, and get into a FOP line before it gets above 45 minutes or so?

small chance IMO. At least not when we were there Sunday. By the time we RD'p Navi, when we came out FOP was already posted 60min so I'm guessing the wait was about 45. It is a long queue and a long ride.

 

[gaj31869]

Since the boat ride is shorter and does not have the situation where you have to walk through a long queue, would it be possible to ride it first, be off by 8:05, and get into a FOP line before it gets above 45 minutes or so?

I was thinking the same thing, and if I had it to do over again, I would probably try that strategy. There were a lot fewer people heading to the boat ride at 7:45 as well. That said, I'm just not sure how fast the FOP line grew. One other factor would be that the FOP queue is much more interesting than the boat ride queue, so if I had to pick one to stand in for an hour, it would be FOP.

 

[CAS239]

Since the boat ride is shorter and does not have the situation where you have to walk through a long queue, would it be possible to ride it first, be off by 8:05, and get into a FOP line before it gets above 45 minutes or so?

Imo, not a chance.

By the time you get into pandora, go through the river Journey queue, get put on a boat, ride the ride, get off and exit, and head to FoP entrance...I personally would be shocked if it showed anything under a 60 min wait.

It's the most popular ride at wdw, brand new, and people are rushing straight for it. By the time you get off river Journey there could and will likely be hundreds of people that went straight for it..much like Frozen when Epcot opens. It's like watching a sea of zombies

 

[happybear025]

We did AK at RD last Sunday. It was an 8am opening. We were there by 720 and got through with hardly any wait. Made it to the bridge and walked right on the Navi when they opened Pandora 15 mins early (745).

Thank you so much for this info!! I hope your trip was awesome

 

[KMan66]

My experience from last week ... for an 8 am opening ...

Arrived at AK at 6:50. Less than 100 people in line.
Tapstiles opened at 7:17.
Held at the bridge until 7:34 (there were probably 150 people in front of me at this point).
Held again somewhere after the bridge for a few minutes.
Not sure exactly when FoP started running, but I was off of it at 8:14.
As I walked over to Navi, FoP was posted at 75 minutes (and people were streaming into it).
Navi was posted as 20 minutes, I waited 17 minutes.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

Thank you so much for this info!! I hope your trip was awesome

It was. We were a bit disappointed in the River, but Flight of Passage was unreal. Have fun!