FOP & NRJ FP Availability Doubled As of 9/22 - How Long Will FP Lines Be?

[ScrapYap]

So the flood of extra FOP FP today (starting today and every day from now to the extent of booking windows) - with all day availability, even for very large parties) caused a small panic. Was it a disastrous mistake, a glitch? Too good to be true? Would these new FP all just end up cancelled? Was Disney hacked?

It turns out that it wasn't a glitch or a hack. If you booked or modified FOP or NRJ in this miraculous gush of new FP, you'll be fine.

The new attraction "shake down" period is over, and it's been determined that the FP lines for the Pandora rides are too short (those final corrals were less than half full, right?).

Remember the long FP waits for the old Soarin'? FOP will now be more like that. So Disney basically doubled FP availability. Moving forward, guests booking FP at 60 days won't be aghast when they see that FOP FP are gone - because they'll be less likely to be gone. (And fewer angry calls to guest services about the absurdity of staying onsite for 60 day windows and getting no FOP 60 days out.)

Availability is starting to dwindle now - the torrent of FP wasn't depthless. If you haven't booked (or modified) for September, October, or November, do it!

Now ... we all want to know how long the "new" FOP FP line is going to be. Not that we'll *really* care if we have to wait 25-45 minutes (in addition to all the walking time) - because it will still be so much shorter than the posted stand-by time (which of course is inflated by 45 minutes or more).

Hopefully FOP FPers will report in to tell us how long they waited.

 

[anomamatt]

Doubled? Yikes. While the FP lines were indeed short for a headliner (10-15 mins to get to first video), a doubling will have a dramatic effect. I wouldn’t be suprised if it took 45-55 mins entry to exit. It took 30-40 in late august.

 

[ScrapYap]

Knock on wood, the number of new FP released was fewer on days with higher expected crowds.

 

[cinderlexa's mom]

Thanks so much for this info--I was able to pick up a much better time!

 

[scottandtisha]

You are AWESOME! I was able to get FP for 4 on both days I'm at AK in November!

I wasn't able to get them at the 60 day window!

Thank you!!!!!!!

 

[Gus V.]

So I shouldn't have a problem getting FPs for early December?

 

[anomamatt]

This will be a very good thing for people trying to get pandora FPs over Christmas/New Years week.

 

[ScrapYap]

You are AWESOME! I was able to get FP for 4 on both days I'm at AK in November!

I wasn't able to get them at the 60 day window!

Thank you!!!!!!!

I guess I finally found a legal way to help guests get unexpected FP!

 

[hakepb]

So I shouldn't have a problem getting FPs for early December?

Phases releases make it easier on guests that didn’t book at 60 days out.

I benefited from a similiar 7DMT release when I booked a Christmas trip a few years back (but you have to be following this board or other social media to alert you.)

I wonder if this release was due to ththe decision to run all theaters?

 

[Itinkso]

I wonder if this release was due to ththe decision to run all theaters?

That's what @rteetz and I have been discussing. On Wednesday, I waited about 10 minutes to get to the video room after being assigned to one of two theaters that were running. At 10:30a, the Standby wait was a posted 2 hours.

Perhaps they want to decrease Standby waits/increase FP numbers by running all 4 theaters.

 

[Gus V.]

Awesome, thanks! I will have to keep an eye out

 

[LuvMyEAR]

I have been trying every day since 60 days out and just got my FOP fast pass tonight for Nov 2!

Wouldn't have even checked tonight had it not been for getting the news here. Thanks (again) to OP and all the great folks who share news like this.

 

[kagmypts]

Thank you! I just picked up FOP FP+ for the second week in October!

 

[Dr.Mickey]

Question: Have they been intentionally running FOP at less than full operating capacity all along? I heard about HVAC issues early on, but I assumed all theaters have been running steady since early on. Are there 2 theaters or 4? Thanks!

 

[KCBelle]

I was at AK today and was able to score several same day NRJ FP+ and a same day FOP FP+. I could have added another FOP but we needed to head out for our ADR. We never waited more than 5 min for either one. We went through about 8 FP+ total today.

 

[AngiTN]

I don't think it's going to have a major impact. The reason I say that is there is no wait with a FP now. At least we've never had one. Walked right to the merge point every time. So even if you end up with say a 5, 10 min wait it's not a major wait.

 

[AngiTN]

Question: Have they been intentionally running FOP at less than full operating capacity all along? I heard about HVAC issues early on, but I assumed all theaters have been running steady since early on. Are there 2 theaters or 4? Thanks!

I can't fathom that they have intentionally been making guests wait in line longer than necessary for no reason. There are 4 theaters and they've been running all of them any time they've been up

 

[Blue32]

How do know the availability doubled? They are probably tweaking how many FP are released but I don't believe these extra FP times accounted for a ton of new availability. Just some.

 

[jayohjayoh]

We picked up 5 for today, and the wait was minimal.

 

[hiroMYhero]

We entered the FoP FP line at 4:23 today with a scheduled return window of 4:30 - 5:30.

CMs were loading 4 lines and it took us 26 minutes to get from the FP touchpoint to the first video room. This was almost 3 times longer than our FoP FP experience on Wednesday when only 2 theaters were being loaded.