FoP at RD- what are people experiencing?

[kkbrig]

My daughter was at AK a couple of days ago and so I was looking at all the wait time excessively that day. Park opened at 8am, I first looked at 8:15, and waits were already 60 min for FoP. By the time she got there at 9:15, they were over 200 min! Meanwhile, pretty much the entire rest of the park (other than Na'vi too) were like 5 min!!

Five of us are going in August for 10 days. I have a FP for FoP for 4 of us during the later part of that trip, but one DS will only be with us for the first 4 days. I have not been able to get a FP, even for just him, during that time. Our AK day will also be the day he flies out, so he just has half a day there. I figure we have two choices- get FPs for EE, Dino, Na'vi (I have these already), go at RD to KS and easily do those and KRR and Tusker house, maybe even doing EE a couple times by 1-2:00. OR try to do RD at FoP, then head to the other options. Clearly, with everyone heading to Avatar during that first couple of hours, the rest of the park is lower waits and can be more easily experienced quickly. I am worried that if we do the RD FoP, it may eat up our morning.

What would be so helpful to know is what are people experiencing who are getting there at RD and heading straight to FoP? I it truly an hour if you are there at RD or is it an hour if you get there at RD+15min? Touring plans is estimating a wait of 33 min for FoP, but I know it doesn't have much data to go on yet.

Thanks.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Caveat that this is based on MDE data from 5/31-6/10...

https://www.disboards.com/threads/o...rmation-thread.3587311/page-355#post-57726337

https://www.disboards.com/threads/o...rmation-thread.3587311/page-355#post-57726423

• If you REALLY CAN be there AHEAD of rope drop those still will be your shortest waits of the day. Some are saying 1hr early.
• HOWEVER, if you are there even 15-30min later, you may as well wait until 3pm or so. The waits build VERY QUICKLY in the morning.
• There is a drop-off in waits after 9/9:30 or so
• Also note: they have been posting a 60min wait on FoP BEFORE the park opens -- it's clearly not that if you're among the first there at RD.

All of these patterns could obviously change. That's the best I feel I have to go on for now.

 

[Kerriowl]

We did Animal Kingdom abut a week after Pandora opened. We got to AK at 6 for an 8 opening. This was slightly overkill as we were the absolute first ones there. We did enjoy chatting with many of the security guards. At about 7:20 we were processed through security. Then about 7:40 we went through the ticket gates. At about 7:50 we were walked through to Pandora. We were off FoP and headed to Dinosaur by 8:25 and this included riding twice as we were allowed to ride twice in a row (i guess they hadn't processed enough people through the ready rooms).

 

[scjo68]

We did this yesterday. We were in the parking lot at 7:00. About 7:15 they let us in the park. Held us at a rope in pandora till about 7:30. We were in the preshow video at 7:55 and were off the ride by 8:15.
We had ridden it with a FP earlier in the week, which was easier but we missed the cool details in the queue. So we were happy we were able to go a second time.

 

[heidijanesmith]

We found that unless you were early for rope drop, then you had a good chance at a small wait. After that the wait for FOP was the longest we saw through out the day. We were there June 14-22nd, wait times averaged between 120-140 min in the AM. We waited 70min in the early evening.

We did rope drop at the normal time and went to Dino, Primeval Whirl, Everest and Kali with very little to no wait in the AM. Then we used our FP+ for FOP in the later AM. This worked very well for us.

 

[Mickeymouseisking]

We're also going in August, so I'm in the same boat as you. I've been reading lots of reports and everyone I've read has said that if you get there between 6:30-7 (an hour before park opening is the latest time I've seen) you'll be off the ride around park opening time. So I think that's the route we'll be going.

 

[vacationplanningdad]

If you get there at 6:45 you should be able to do both FoP and NRJ by 8am if you walk fast to the bridge. Then you can head over and do whatever you like as the waits are 5 minutes everywhere else. One more tip. Make sure the line you stand in at the tapstiles has the Mickey heads flashing. We got stuck for an extra 30 secs because they had to reboot because the tapstile shut down. Doesn't seem like much, but when 50 people get it while you wait for a reboot it's very frustrating.

 

[CAS239]

Get to the park 60-90 min before park opening then walk quickly to FoP. If you arrive right near park opening then you'll be near the back of the pack and have a long wait.

Getting their early is the key if you don't have a FP

 

[momtotanmanandraerae]

I am going in August also and just staying for three days. I couldn't get a fastpass for FOP so have to go at park opening. We are staying at Grand Floridian and will be relaying on Disney buses. Do they start running to AK at 6:30 if the park opening isn't until 9:00 am?

 

[Budzooka]

Polynesian told me buses start running 45 minutes before park opening. If you want to make sure you are there early, your best bet is to grab an uber.

 

[CAS239]

I am going in August also and just staying for three days. I couldn't get a fastpass for FOP so have to go at park opening. We are staying at Grand Floridian and will be relaying on Disney buses. Do they start running to AK at 6:30 if the park opening isn't until 9:00 am?

Buses start every day at 6:30. Then if a park is opening at 7 they'll start running earlier than 6:30

 

[CAS239]

Polynesian told me buses start running 45 minutes before park opening. If you want to make sure you are there early, your best bet is to grab an uber.

They misinformed you which is not uncommon.

The big myth is buses start an hour prior to park open, which makes no sense as most guests want to be AT the park 45-60 min ahead of opening for rope drop

Buses start daily right about 6:30. Then earlier if a park is opening at 7 for emh

 

[mesaboy2]

Polynesian told me buses start running 45 minutes before park opening. If you want to make sure you are there early, your best bet is to grab an uber.

I say with 100% confidence that Polynesian told you wrong. What CAS said above is 100% correct.

 

[Budzooka]

I say with 100% confidence that Polynesian told you wrong. What CAS said above is 100% correct.

Should have checked on here before our trip. We just went to the bus station about an hour before and caught what we thought was the first bus.

 

[mesaboy2]

Should have checked on here before our trip. We just went to the bus station about an hour before and caught what we thought was the first bus.

I mentioned this in another thread recently, but when even the in-room WDW-controlled information channel on the TV has it wrong it's kinda hard for anyone to have it right.

 

[Ariel Wanna-be]

We RD'd FoP this past Wednesday. We arrived at 7:20, and the park opened around 7:35. It was just DS19 and I, so we were able to move quickly and we were very close to the front of the pack (third "layer" of people from the rope). They held us at the entrance to Pandora for 10 minutes or so.

However, when they started walking us forward, we deliberately hung back just a bit to let a few more people ahead of us. The reason we did this is because it was our first time riding it, and we wanted to be able to walk at a quick-but-not-breakneck pace through the queue. This only added a minute or two to our wait, but it was worth it to not fly through without seeing some of the details.