FoP Strategies with Morning EMH

[dreynolds1982]

I'm sure FoP strategies have been discussed ad naseum, so I apologize if this is repetitive. Going in November and just booked FPs. My AK day was 60+2 and (not surprisingly) no FoP for a party of 2. We're going to AK on two different days. First day is a morning EMH so we're going and staying till about 2 pm or so. Second time, we're coming around 6 and staying till close (8pm) just to do the park at night. My question is, based on everyone's personal experience, what's your best strategy?

• Rope Drop on EMH Day (if so, what time to get to park given EMH starts at 8 am?)
• Refresh method for day we're coming in the evening - I plan on doing this regardless of course, starting around 2 p.m. or so when our last MK FP is up.
• Get in line right before park close (5-10 minutes? or longer?) - With the park closing at 8 p.m., at least we wouldn't be there too terribly late, and we're not doing anything else that night.

Thanks!

 

[sarehm]

We had no problems walking on FOP during EMH last year, and it was Earth Day mind you! We were lined up outside the gates by 7:15 am I believe. And they did start letting people in prior to 8am so if you choose that route be sure to get there plenty early!

 

[disneydentist]

7:15 might work well. 7:34 does not. We got there at that time in August and weren't in the first pre-show room until 9:02. Lesson learned.

On a 9:00 open in early October 2018 we got there at 8:22 and were on @ 8:50.

YMMV.

 

[chris benton]

7am on emh day.
After you are done with FOP that am, you can prolly walk on everest several times, OR hit Navi then hightaill it to everest for just a few walk ons.

I'd be confident in getting a same day FP at some point as well on emh day if you set up your prebooked ones early.

If you'd like to do FOP on that MK day, start looking as soon as you are done with your last mk fastpass. I'd be confident on getting a same day as well that day.

 

[CastAStone]

I'm sure FoP strategies have been discussed ad naseum, so I apologize if this is repetitive. Going in November and just booked FPs. My AK day was 60+2 and (not surprisingly) no FoP for a party of 2. We're going to AK on two different days. First day is a morning EMH so we're going and staying till about 2 pm or so. Second time, we're coming around 6 and staying till close (8pm) just to do the park at night. My question is, based on everyone's personal experience, what's your best strategy?

• Rope Drop on EMH Day (if so, what time to get to park given EMH starts at 8 am?)
• Refresh method for day we're coming in the evening - I plan on doing this regardless of course, starting around 2 p.m. or so when our last MK FP is up.
• Get in line right before park close (5-10 minutes? or longer?) - With the park closing at 8 p.m., at least we wouldn't be there too terribly late, and we're not doing anything else that night.

Thanks!

Count me as one who sees zero downside to your get in line right before close plan. Getting up early will work but to make the plan work, you’ll wait outside the gate for as long as you’d wait in line, and you have to get up early.

If you really have nothing else to do that night, get in line right before close. You’ll probably wait less too, if you include waiting outside the park before EMH as wait time.

Neither plan is bad though.

Good luck!

 

[chris benton]

Count me as one who sees zero downside to your get in line right before close plan. Getting up early will work but to make the plan work, you’ll wait outside the gate for as long as you’d wait in line, and you have to get up early.

I'd bet that if you wanted to do anything besides FOP, that if you got in line at 7am for an 8am emh, I'd be confident in doing a decent amount of other attractions as walk ons. If you showed up at 8am, and wanted to do other attractions as walk ons, my guess would be you'd get hopefully two.

It's avoiding the lines of the other attractions that are steady growing that is the payoff of arriving early. If there is no interest in doing other things, then it wouldn't matter too much to wait an hour for FOP. But if you are waiting an hour for FOP while the line for KS grows to 30 minutes, while you're waiting in line for KS for 30 minutes, then the line for Everest will grow to 30 minutes, and so on, and so on.

Depends on what you want to accomplish. Unless it's a weird day, I'd assume that if I was in line for entry at 7am, I could do FOP, Navi, then high tail it to Everest for 3 x front row, then hit Dinosaur for 3x, then start my fastpasses, and have scored another FOP FP for sometime right around lunch. Then, having knocked out what I wanted, I could chill and hunt fastpasses while doing lesser tier stuff like shows, or trails while the lines for the high priority attractions are the longest and ppl are waiting in these lines during the hottest part of the day.

(If you haven't guessed it yet, we are early risers. If WDW opened the parks at 6am, we'd be there bright eyed and bushy tailed.) I totally understand that plenty of ppl DREAD getting up early, especially on vacation. The downside of that is, we are in bed early, but we're ok with that. We're up early, done early, and in the pool or chilling during the hottest part of the day.

 

[Pigletpal40]

I don't think you'd have a problem on DAK AM EMH days if you get there 45 minutes ahead of RD.
If you're early risers and super ambitious, you can do SDD and FOP on a DHS AM EMH day.
We got to DHS about 45 minutes ahead of EMH RD, rode SDD and headed right out to a Lyft that we called when exiting the ride. They took us to DAK normal RD and we got in mid line for the "Slow Walk" to FOP. We got on in about 20 minutes and after Navi was about a 10 minute wait.
We were having trouble securing SDD FP's so we figured this would have been our best bet. Of course, rain set in later that day, so we put on the ponchos after dinner and rode SDD three more times with practically no wait.
Last hour of the park being open is also another good time for FOP. We went after dinner one evening, got in line
about 8pm and were walking out of the park at 9:15pm.

 

[CastAStone]

I'd bet that if you wanted to do anything besides FOP, that if you got in line at 7am for an 8am emh, I'd be confident in doing a decent amount of other attractions as walk ons. If you showed up at 8am, and wanted to do other attractions as walk ons, my guess would be you'd get hopefully two.

It's avoiding the lines of the other attractions that are steady growing that is the payoff of arriving early. If there is no interest in doing other things, then it wouldn't matter too much to wait an hour for FOP. But if you are waiting an hour for FOP while the line for KS grows to 30 minutes, while you're waiting in line for KS for 30 minutes, then the line for Everest will grow to 30 minutes, and so on, and so on.

Depends on what you want to accomplish. Unless it's a weird day, I'd assume that if I was in line for entry at 7am, I could do FOP, Navi, then high tail it to Everest for 3 x front row, then hit Dinosaur for 3x, then start my fastpasses, and have scored another FOP FP for sometime right around lunch. Then, having knocked out what I wanted, I could chill and hunt fastpasses while doing lesser tier stuff like shows, or trails while the lines for the high priority attractions are the longest and ppl are waiting in these lines during the hottest part of the day.

(If you haven't guessed it yet, we are early risers. If WDW opened the parks at 6am, we'd be there bright eyed and bushy tailed.) I totally understand that plenty of ppl DREAD getting up early, especially on vacation. The downside of that is, we are in bed early, but we're ok with that. We're up early, done early, and in the pool or chilling during the hottest part of the day.

Like I said, both are good options. I am there for EEMH and I plan to take full advantage.

That said, if someone were to arrive at 7:45 for an 8AM EMH, if they skip FOP having already done it another day, they could get even more done than you list.

The nice thing about hopping in line at 7:56 PM is that the park is closed before you even get to the people standing in line, so you’re not missing out on a chance to do anything else.

 

[dreynolds1982]

The nice thing about hopping in line at 7:56 PM is that the park is closed before you even get to the people standing in line, so you’re not missing out on a chance to do anything else.

Think I'm leaning towards this option. Actually, if we're able to score a late-in-the-day FP for FoP on our MK day, then we could theoretically double-up on FoP by doing the FP and then get in line right before park close.

The main reason I'm leaning towards that vs the extra early EMH is also like you said, if we get there for morning EMH at like 7:55, then we can hit up a number of other non Avatar things. I did the morning EMH deal with my family two years ago and we got to the park at 7 a.m., let into the actual line at 8 a.m., on the ride by 8:45 a.m. That sounds good, but in reality we still waited nearly two hours. Also, that Friday night before the park day, we're doing a nice dinner, some drinks, etc, which doesn't lend itself to getting up at 6 am for a 7 am park arrival. Whereas the day after our MK day (Sunday) is a non-park day for us, so being up late isn't a big deal. So if we're in line at 7:50 pm, theoretically off the rid by 9-9:15 p.m., it's a late dinner for sure but we have no wake up call the next day.

 

[dreynolds1982]

For those that have done the "get in line right before close" plan, what was the posted wait time vs actual wait time (if you recall)?

Also, what do you think the odds are of finding a FoP FP in the late afternoon/early evening that day, given that our final MK FP scan-in will be 1:15 p.m. (unless we're able to move it up some, tho it's SDMT so not sure)?

 

[gharter]

We have done the get in line before close several times. The posted time is usually 45 minutes or longer.
We have waited 15-30 minutes, never longer. Waiting in the line outside FoP at night, you really appreciate the lighting of the park.

 

[princesspeaony]

So, what are your thoughts with the scenario? We must be back at POR before 10am on a Sat EMH day. If we left our resort at 7am via Lyft, could we fit in FoP or possibly +1? In early December? (I'm looking at wait times this morning for comparison, and at 8:30, FoP is already at 120m)
Our other option with her Dance schedule is the paid after hours event, but its SO pricey...