FOP 4/29 strategy questions

[eand3]

Hola fellow disney lovers! I am so excited to be going to AK to celebrate me and my honey's 18th wedding anniversary this Sunday. I am a little confused about the best way to get into FOP without spending half of the day in line. We tried for FP's but had no luck.
I've read the trick is to get there early, which is our plan, but I just saw that there are magic hours that morning, opening at 8:00 but we are are going as Florida residents ( almost a year now!) and not staying on property, so it doesn't open til 9:00 to us (the general population)...what does a girl do? what time should we arrive?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much!!
Eand3

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I checked Touring Plans a few days ago and the reported actual wait for FoP was down to 16 minutes about 45 minutes before park closing time.

You won’t find a wait that short in the morning no matter what time you arrive.

 

[disndatworld]

Rode twice today: Got to AK @8:10a - checked into the park by 8:18a and exited the attraction @9:03a.

Rode tonight and got in line at 8:15p. Exited after 10p.

I cannot imagine that the night option would be better. It was much shorter in the morning.

Good luck!

** Just read you mentioned EMH. Yes... that will be a problem. Sorry as my comments may be misleading.

 

[Haley R]

Rode twice today: Got to AK @8:10a - checked into the park by 8:18a and exited the attraction @9:03a.

Rode tonight and got in line at 8:15p. Exited after 10p.

I cannot imagine that the night option would be better. It was much shorter in the morning.

Good luck!

** Just read you mentioned EMH. Yes... that will be a problem. Sorry as my comments may be misleading.

What time did the park close that day when you got in line? Just wondering how close 8:15 was to the close time.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

What time did the park close that day when you got in line? Just wondering how close 8:15 was to the close time.

The park was open until 10:30 today. 8:15 is too early to line up for a short wait.

 

[Haley R]

The park was open until 10:30 today. 8:15 is too early to line up for a short wait.

That's what I was thinking, too. I would've hopped in line as close to 10:30 as possible.

 

[holden]

Keep checking for FP+ too. You might luck out getting one the day of.

 

[saraheliz]

1. Keep checking. We scored a same day FP while we were sitting at dinner in AK. Check for specific times, not a generic '"afternoon" or "Evening" time slot.
2. Get in line at the end of the evening if this doesn't work (this was our plan, had the FP not shown up).

 

[eand3]

Thanks for the input!! I already have 3 FP for tomorrow-(River of lights, Navi ride, Expedition Everest) do I have to delete one to look for FP for FOP - I am sure the wait for EE wouldn't be too bad without a FP? I am still figuring out the app.
So I guess we will plan on checking the wait time in the morning as we get closer to opening for non-magic hours - does anybody know if they are sticklers about if we, say, showed up at 8:30 and wanted to enter the park? ( It opens at 9:00 officially)

 

[FCDub]

Thanks for the input!! I already have 3 FP for tomorrow-(River of lights, Navi ride, Expedition Everest) do I have to delete one to look for FP for FOP - I am sure the wait for EE wouldn't be too bad without a FP? I am still figuring out the app.
So I guess we will plan on checking the wait time in the morning as we get closer to opening for non-magic hours - does anybody know if they are sticklers about if we, say, showed up at 8:30 and wanted to enter the park? ( It opens at 9:00 officially)

If you are not on site, they will not let you enter early. Not fair to those who have paid for the privilege.

 

[eand3]

That is fair - lol, my hubby will be happier if we don't have to leave as early - we are still about an hour away.

 

[reluctantredhead]

1. Keep checking. We scored a same day FP while we were sitting at dinner in AK. Check for specific times, not a generic '"afternoon" or "Evening" time slot.
2. Get in line at the end of the evening if this doesn't work (this was our plan, had the FP not shown up).

Re: #1, same thing happened to us...scored FP+s for 8-9 while waiting to enter Voyage of the Little Mermaid at around noon.

Re: #2, I agree...the night we were there (park closed at 9:30, by 8:30, the wait time was stated at 45 minutes but was actually 30. and the Na'vi River Journey's stated wait time was 10 minutes, but you could actually walk right on.

HTH!

 

[sharonabe]

Thanks for the input!! I already have 3 FP for tomorrow-(River of lights, Navi ride, Expedition Everest) do I have to delete one to look for FP for FOP - I am sure the wait for EE wouldn't be too bad without a FP? I am still figuring out the app.
So I guess we will plan on checking the wait time in the morning as we get closer to opening for non-magic hours - does anybody know if they are sticklers about if we, say, showed up at 8:30 and wanted to enter the park? ( It opens at 9:00 officially)

The only FP you can change to FoP is the Na'vi one. Click on that one and try to modify and look for FoP availability.

As others have said, your best option will be to wait until just before park close and get in line then.

However, if you are there in the morning and checking wait time around 9:00 a.m., please come back and report what it was like. AK has early EMH every day from now until June 30 and there are many in your same situation that can benefit from your experience.

 

[SG131]

Once you have used all three of your fast pass you can start looking for fop without having to give anything up.

 

[eand3]

Ahhh, it always goes way too fast - but a magical time was had! I wanted to report back and say a HUGE THANKS for the suggestion to 1) keep checking the fp and B) to try at the end of the night.
We never got a FP, but we checked wait times throughout the day and at it's best wait times were 80 minutes. We made the plan to go after the first River of Lights ( WOW) and even though the wait time on the app said 105 minutes, it was more like 30 minutes. I think part of the success is that the FP for the day were done so it was just the stand-by line. I am SO happy we got to do it - it was a top of the list thing for us to do and it was soooo amazing- I had to contain my squee! ( which was NOT contained on EE)
On a side note, when we headed back to Pandora after ROL, we went via the route of Africa and it gave us the perfect viewing spot to watch the Tree of Life wake up- such a neat experience and worth the stop!