Hunting FOP - Losing EMH vs Massive Park Hopping

[Wendie]

Okay folks, help me out here because I'm sick of obsessing about this.

AK is a half day park for us. If it were up to my husband, we wouldn't go there at all. I really want to go mainly so my son can see the monkeys (he slept through them three years ago and has complained ever since) and to try FOP. There's a few rides there we'd like to do as well since we're already there. Currently, a Tuesday morning is our AK day.

I could only get a FP for FOP 6 pm on Wednesday. We'd planned on being at MK that afternoon and evening for EMH. Right now, the plan is to leave MK, go over to AK for our Fast Pass, then go back to MK to enjoy the evening EMH. We have park hoppers and a car, so in theory, the travel is no big deal. It's just a big chunk of time and a lot of running and also screws our fast passes for the day.

Here are my options as I see it:

1) Keep the plans the way they are and not really have fast passes for Wednesday.
2) Drop the FP entirely and just make FOP our very first priority when we arrive at AK Tuesday morning.
3) Move our AK day to Wednesday afternoon and give up the MK evening magic hours.
4) Something else I haven't thought of.

I'm continuing to stalk FOP FP in the meantime. I've thought so much about this that I'm annoying even myself so help me out here.

 

[Magpie]

Okay folks, help me out here because I'm sick of obsessing about this.

AK is a half day park for us. If it were up to my husband, we wouldn't go there at all. I really want to go mainly so my son can see the monkeys (he slept through them three years ago and has complained ever since) and to try FOP. There's a few rides there we'd like to do as well since we're already there. Currently, a Tuesday morning is our AK day.

I could only get a FP for FOP for early Wednesday evening. Right now, the plan is to leave MK, go over to AK for our Fast Pass, then go back to MK to enjoy the evening EMH. We have park hoppers and a car, so in theory, the travel is no big deal. It's just a big chunk of time and a lot of running and also screws our fast passes for the day.

Here are my options as I see it:

1) Keep the plans the way they are and not really have fast passes for Wednesday.
2) Drop the FP entirely and just make FOP our very first priority when we arrive at AK Tuesday morning.
3) Move our AK day to Wednesday afternoon and give up the MK evening magic hours.
4) Something else I haven't thought of.

I'm continuing to stalk FOP FP in the meantime. I've thought so much about this that I'm annoying even myself so help me out here.

How about planning an Animal Kingdom evening?

Like this...

Morning at Magic Kingdom.

Break at the hotel, rest up, pool time, have a nap.

Head over to Animal Kingdom and enjoy Avatar land in the dark. Ride FoP. Take a Sunset Safari. Watch the Tree Awakening. Maybe even book a River of Light Dining Package and have dinner! Plan to hop into line for Navi River Journey just before park close.

If you still have energy left when Animal Kingdom closes, return to Magic Kingdom for the last hour or two (EMH).

Animal Kingdom is the prettiest park in the dark. You may find it gives you a whole new perspective on the place!

 

[SaintsManiac]

How about planning an Animal Kingdom evening?

Like this...

Morning at Magic Kingdom.

Break at the hotel, rest up, pool time, have a nap.

Head over to Animal Kingdom and enjoy Avatar land in the dark. Ride FoP. Take a Sunset Safari. Watch the Tree Awakening. Maybe even book a River of Light Dining Package and have dinner! Plan to hop into line for Navi River Journey just before park close.

If you still have energy left when Animal Kingdom closes, return to Magic Kingdom for the last hour or two (EMH).

Animal Kingdom is the prettiest park in the dark. You may find it gives you a whole new perspective on the place!

This is what we did minus the ROL viewing and it was perfect. Sunset Safaris was one of the highlights of our trip.

 

[OB1]

Since you really want to be a MK for EMH, I would try to be at AK very early, enjoy FOP and the area, do a few other rides, then go back to your hotel for a bit of a rest after lunch. Then you can make your trek to MK. You can probably remove your FOP FP, and just use all of your FP for the MK. I agree that to spend 2 hours or more to travel to AK & back is just too much. Any other park maybe, but not with the MK.

I love the AK at dusk & evening, but that is not what you are wanting. Just note that it will be a long day, so you really do need to consider a good break mid day.

 

[Wendie]

It's an hour each way for AK to MK? Yikes!! Google was telling me 9 minutes, which I figured would be more like 20 with parking and such. I take it I'm way off base??

 

[Magpie]

It's an hour each way for AK to MK? Yikes!! Google was telling me 9 minutes, which I figured would be more like 20 with parking and such. I take it I'm way off base??

Well, part of the problem is MK. To get from the parking lot to the actual park, you need to...

1. Park
2. Get on a trolley.
3. Arrive at the TTC and decide whether you're taking a boat or a monorail.
4. Get in line for your chosen mode of transportation.
5. Disembark at Magic Kingdom.
6. Go through bag check.

When you want to leave, you go through that process (minus the bag check) in reverse.

Then you arrive at the AK parking lot. Fortunately, there's no boat or monorail, so it's much easier to get from the parking lot to the park! But it still takes time. Figure at least 15 minutes, plus any walking, bathroom stops, etc.

Getting from AK to MK and vice versa shouldn't take an hour, and probably wouldn't on most days. But, there's the always the chance that something could go wrong. Maybe you'll get trapped on the monorail for 20 minutes. Maybe you'll get stuck in traffic. Maybe the boat will be full, and you'll end up waiting for the next one. Maybe the crowds will be insane.

On a good day, I don't think you could do it in less than half an hour, when you factor in the whole boat/monorail thing.

 

[No.1000]

It's an hour each way for AK to MK? Yikes!! Google was telling me 9 minutes, which I figured would be more like 20 with parking and such. I take it I'm way off base??

The drive itself is short, but you are talking about leaving MK-going to the TTC either by monorail or boat-tram to car-car to AK and then reversing the whole thing to get back to MK. You can catch a bus at MK to AK and back which might actually work better.

 

[Indio]

You could actually take the park to park bus to leave MK, go to AK, then back. That would be much easier than driving yourself. It's always a hassle to drive to MK.

 

[sharonabe]

I could only get a FP for FOP 6 pm on Wednesday. We'd planned on being at MK that afternoon and evening for EMH.

2) Drop the FP entirely and just make FOP our very first priority when we arrive at AK Tuesday morning.

I'm going to suggest something you haven't thought of. Why not do AK on Wed morning and then go to MK for the afternoon and evening EMH? Is there a reason you would do AK on Tuesday instead of Wed?

Just know that to do FOP at rope drop, you need to be AT the AK gates an hour before actual opening. You want to be near the front of that very long line and heavy crowd of people heading to FOP. If you do this, you should be off FOP no later than 30 min (and probably sooner) after opening time and you can do the other few things you want to do there. Then either head to MK or go back to resort for rest or pool before MK.

 

[mumumouse]

Okay folks, help me out here because I'm sick of obsessing about this.

AK is a half day park for us. If it were up to my husband, we wouldn't go there at all. I really want to go mainly so my son can see the monkeys (he slept through them three years ago and has complained ever since) and to try FOP. There's a few rides there we'd like to do as well since we're already there. Currently, a Tuesday morning is our AK day.

I could only get a FP for FOP 6 pm on Wednesday. We'd planned on being at MK that afternoon and evening for EMH. Right now, the plan is to leave MK, go over to AK for our Fast Pass, then go back to MK to enjoy the evening EMH. We have park hoppers and a car, so in theory, the travel is no big deal. It's just a big chunk of time and a lot of running and also screws our fast passes for the day.

Here are my options as I see it:

1) Keep the plans the way they are and not really have fast passes for Wednesday.
2) Drop the FP entirely and just make FOP our very first priority when we arrive at AK Tuesday morning.
3) Move our AK day to Wednesday afternoon and give up the MK evening magic hours.
4) Something else I haven't thought of.

I'm continuing to stalk FOP FP in the meantime. I've thought so much about this that I'm annoying even myself so help me out here.

Wendie, I am freaking out over FOP too!!

So much so that I caved last night and purchased Park Hopper. Something I’ve never felt the need for before.

We only hopped many years ago as a comp on a four day ticket. This was all pre FP+, so I am scared, lol!

First of all, big kudos to you for scoring that FOP FP. Yay!!!!

I have to tell you, we are guilty as charged of AK being a half day for us for years. Usually on our departure day.

I also want you to know that even prior to Pandora, this totally changed for us once AK stayed open in the evenings.

We did a Tusker House ROL package on our last trip. I can’t really rave over ROL, but it was so cool being in AK at night. So much better than in the daytime sweltering heat.

So if you have FOP in the evening of a day you’d planned for MK, you will not have FPs at MK. That is not a good idea.

I think I’d switch and make AK my first park that day.

Then if you are up for it, move back over to MK and spend the evening there.

Of all the parks, MK might still have some FPs available. Also, we used to have decent luck with MK during extra evening hours. Less crowded.

Would you want to head over and grab a spot for HEA?

So, I am freaking out right along with you. My FP selection window opens up on Jan 10th.

Did you already go??

I just have to add, we really have developed a new appreciation for AK. Granted, when we visited last March, Pandora had not opened.

I may change my mind with the Pandora crowds.

Another factor for us is because of my back, we will skip many rides. Hence, the park hopping!!!

 

[eeyoresmom]

I don't think an hour transportation between MK and AK is an overestimation at all, even with nothing going "wrong".

 

[jaysmom4285]

I have a #4 suggestion for something you haven't thought of - keep refreshing the MDE app in an effort to move your FoP FP+ to a better time. It takes a good deal of persistence and often many, many refreshes, but I, and many others, are proof that it can happen. I had been unable to get a FoP FP+ at all for our early December trip. On our AK day, while we were relaxing over lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, I kept poking at the MDE app to refresh the available FP+ selections, and suddenly there was a FP+ for FoP for a half hour from then. And right after that, I got a FP+ for Navi. It seems to work better the closer you are to your AK day, or the day of. I'm not sure if it's because that's when there's more changing of plans or if it's just the FP+ gods working in mysterious ways. But it does work.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Is there an option to do AK on a different evening of your trip? I realize you have the FP for Wed evening, but if you really don't want to miss MK EMH, my suggestion would be to hop over to AK on a different evening and get in the stand by line right before the park closes. The posted wait time will be much higher than you'll actually wait.

 

[mumumouse]

I have a #4 suggestion for something you haven't thought of - keep refreshing the MDE app in an effort to move your FoP FP+ to a better time. It takes a good deal of persistence and often many, many refreshes, but I, and many others, are proof that it can happen. I had been unable to get a FoP FP+ at all for our early December trip. On our AK day, while we were relaxing over lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, I kept poking at the MDE app to refresh the available FP+ selections, and suddenly there was a FP+ for FoP for a half hour from then. And right after that, I got a FP+ for Navi. It seems to work better the closer you are to your AK day, or the day of. I'm not sure if it's because that's when there's more changing of plans or if it's just the FP+ gods working in mysterious ways. But it does work.

I have heard the same on another site.
The party was just 2 persons, so I don’t know if that helped, but they were able to score various FOP FPs by checking and checking day of.

 

[Delirium]

I would not let a single FP blow up my entire plan, no matter what the ride. If you can't switch it from Wednesday night, I would likely dump the FP and get in line on Tuesday night right before close (and, I mean 5 minutes before close), even if it is a 2 hour wait.

One thing I would NOT do, is continue to think of AK as a half-day park. And, if your schedule only allows for a half day, make it a night, not a morning. The park is totally amazing at night, and if you've never done it, and don't give it a try, you're cheating yourself.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I maybe be dropping a fastpass or two on Wednesday, Jan 24.

They are for 10:15.

I won't know until a day or so before.

Basically, I have two sets of fast passes. One each for our AK days. But I am very afraid of heights. So, my husband is going to ride without me, and let me know what to expect. If he doesn't feel good about me going on it, we will be changing our passes to something else.

I will let you know if I drop them. But I will be two passes.