Avatar flight of passage... When do i ride it?

FOP-when to go

  • Rope drop

    Votes: 35 81.4%
  • Nighttime extra magic hours

    Votes: 8 18.6%

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
I am going on Saturday and debating what to do. I imagine you can walk through the park and ride the majority of the big tickets in that first hour. If i dont get there until close to rope drop I am wondering if it may be decently time efficient to just go ride all of the other rides with minimum wait and then come back to avatar in early afternoon and wait in FOP then. By then I probably wont feel as rushed as I had already rode the other attractions. Anyone gone this route?

If you can't guarantee you'll be at the AK bag check around 1 hour before park open (or maybe by 50 minutes prior to park open at the absolute latest) , I would definitely skip FOP first thing. If you are getting there close to rope drop you could even go into Avatar to ride Na'vi River Journey and then leave to do the rest of the park with short waits. Then come back to FOP after lunch.
 
what do you all think it will be like on a morning EMH day (so, 8:00 am open for EMH guests) once summer is over? TP has it estimated as about 23 minute wait if you go right at rope drop (8:00 am). Seem likelY?
 
I am going on Saturday and debating what to do. I imagine you can walk through the park and ride the majority of the big tickets in that first hour. If i dont get there until close to rope drop I am wondering if it may be decently time efficient to just go ride all of the other rides with minimum wait and then come back to avatar in early afternoon and wait in FOP then. By then I probably wont feel as rushed as I had already rode the other attractions. Anyone gone this route?


I'm torn on this in December. If i'm able to get a FP for FOP i'll fight the crowds and rope drop the Na'vi River Journey before heading to the rest of the park. If I can't get a FP for FOP i'll just knockout the rest of the park those first few hours with little to no wait and then see if I feel like waiting in line for FOP when I head back for my FP for Na'vi River Journey. It just seems crazy to waste so much park time in line when you could be enjoying the rest of the park with little to no wait.
 
You just have to realize you are going to wait, and go for it. We were there on a Sunday afternoon the last week of July and waited just under 2 hours. We loved the ride and decided to wait again at the end of our trip, which happened to be a Friday night. We again waited about 2 hours. It was worth it to us, we felt the ride was that good ! The good thing about the line is that it is constantly moving and there are a lot of fans blowing on you, so it wasn't the worst wait I've ever done. Did I mention I love the ride. I'd wait 2 hours again if I was still there. (Would love a fp, but not staying on Disney property that wasn't happening).
 

A lot of people are suggesting you have to get to the park well over an hour before opening for FoP RD to be effective, but from my experience, 45 minutes would be more than enough time.

I went to AK on July 3 (it was a Monday sandwiched between the weekend and a major holiday) - park officially opened at 8, but I entered around 720. There was a crowd waiting ahead of me for Pandora, but the FoP queue itself is so long that the ride was still essentially a walk-on for me (i.e. it took me a while just to walk through the queue, but I didn't have to stop at any point until I got to the CM at the front of the line who directs you to the ride). I would highly recommend using RD for FoP - if the line is ever bearable while you are in the park (no gurantee, even if you stay for EMH), you could always ride again
 
We rope dropped last Wednesday. Opening was at 9. We got to the tapstile line at 7:35 and were off the ride and out of Pandora at 9:12. Sure we waited in a crazy crowd with 1000s of our new (sweaty) best friends but we didn't waste hardly any park time and got to experience the ride. This was the crowd behind as at the entrance to Pandora

View attachment 260122

That's CRAZY!!
 
What about if you have a ECV? I can get there an hour early, but do I take my ECV right through the line, or do I have to park it, and walk through the entrance?
 
My son got to Animal Kingdom today, 8/9/17 @ approx. 7:45 am. Was one of the first there/first 10 or so inline. At opening time, he said he walked right to the ride and was on and off within 20 mins.. Said the ride was great! He said there were hundreds and hundreds on line as he exited the ride. He also mentioned that within in a short period of time afterwards, he walked by the attraction, and wait time was shown as 320 minutes.
 
What do you do if you do not have a FP. Are there very early and are on an ECV. Where do I go? Do I take the ECV through the whole que? Sorry double post.
 
If you can commit to getting there one full hour (not driving into AK, or being on the bus, but actually being outside the gates) before opening, definitely do that. We did this for an 8 AM EMH morning and were off the ride by 8:20. Behind us was a crowd of thousands like that picture someone posted a few posts up, but we were in the first group of people on the ride. So worth it. If you know you can't get there until the park is opening, or even 30 minutes before, don't bother.
 
I was there mid July with the plan of going during their evening EMH. The first couple of nights, I would check the wait times and they were still at least 2 hours at 11 at night. AK was my 5th park day, so I just did RD. It was packed and crazy, but I was off the ride by 930am.
 
A lot of people are suggesting you have to get to the park well over an hour before opening for FoP RD to be effective, but from my experience, 45 minutes would be more than enough time.
I completely agree! I think it was July 3rd when we RD'd FoP. As I said earlier, we hit the front gate 30 minutes before posted opening, entered the park immediately and finally came to a stop about where the umbrellas in front of Tiffins are in the mass photo posted above. It only took us about 40 minutes from RD until we got into the pre-show area of FoP. It not as horrid as it appears... and I'm someone who HATES crowds. Even when you get to the end of the line at opening, it's deceiving it looks like the queue is full, but it isn't. There's a very popular photo spot that overlooks Pandora that EVERYONE stops at to take a photo... and then continues. We got to that point, and then it was a non-stop walk through the rest of the queue into the inside portion of the queue.

This is the photo that everyone stops to take:
animal_kingdom_9am_rope_drop_pandora_disney-35.jpg


One other tip if doing RD... if possible, scope out the lay of the land so you know where you need to go to when the herd starts moving. It's a little confusing, and you don't want to have to stop and look at a map.

If you want to ride FoP with almost no wait, then I'd say get to AK at least an hour before opening, but if you want a reasonable wait you can still get there 45 or 30 minutes early. But if you wait until the posted opening... don't bother.
 
I completely agree! I think it was July 3rd when we RD'd FoP. As I said earlier, we hit the front gate 30 minutes before posted opening, entered the park immediately and finally came to a stop about where the umbrellas in front of Tiffins are in the mass photo posted above. It only took us about 40 minutes from RD until we got into the pre-show area of FoP. It not as horrid as it appears... and I'm someone who HATES crowds. Even when you get to the end of the line at opening, it's deceiving it looks like the queue is full, but it isn't. There's a very popular photo spot that overlooks Pandora that EVERYONE stops at to take a photo... and then continues. We got to that point, and then it was a non-stop walk through the rest of the queue into the inside portion of the queue.

This is the photo that everyone stops to take:
animal_kingdom_9am_rope_drop_pandora_disney-35.jpg


One other tip if doing RD... if possible, scope out the lay of the land so you know where you need to go to when the herd starts moving. It's a little confusing, and you don't want to have to stop and look at a map.

If you want to ride FoP with almost no wait, then I'd say get to AK at least an hour before opening, but if you want a reasonable wait you can still get there 45 or 30 minutes early. But if you wait until the posted opening... don't bother.

I'm worried about figuring out where to go because it's been over 17 years since I've been to animal kingdom but I was thinking it would be obvious to just move with the crowd??
 
HELP!
Is it possible that today is my Fastpass day and FOP has no availability? I got Fastpasses easier the end of May!!! I am doing something wrong?
 
If you go an hour or so before rope drop, is there access to a bathroom?

Yes there is. I might mention, if you are there solo, you can always ask some other adult in line right next to you to save your spot in line while you do a quick bathroom break. I've never had anyone refuse to do this. Just tell that person you need to use restroom and you are solo.
 












Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top