Offsite ILL$ question for Animal Kingdom

[djironic]

Staying offsite at Holiday Inn Disney Springs next week so I can't make the 7a ILL$ time for FoP. Will also be rope dropping at that time for our ETPE.

But since the park opens at 7:30a the day we're in attendance, does that mean the ILL$ for us plebes will be open at 7:30a as well? Seems like I *might* have a shot at booking an ILL$ for FoP if that is the case.

Can't tell if we should hope to get an ILL$ for FoP and use the rope drop to hit some of the other rides (best case scenario as I'm trying to avoid lines as best as I can) or if we should try to rope drop FoP to ensure we don't wind up waiting hours in line and forget about trying to get an ILL$. It's too bad I won't know ILL$ availability until *after* the ETPE half-hour!

I'll be using Genie+ to try to stack some rides as well. I haven't been to Animal Kingdom in something like 20 years but I do remember loving the opportunity to just wander and explore. Would love to be able to do that again rather than having to spend the day waiting in lines.

 

[holyrita]

I think staying offsite you'll have a very long wait trying to rope drop FoP with all the early entry onsite guests ahead of you. I believe offsite guests can purchase ILL$ at park open, so 7:30a would be right. Looking at thrill-data for the last 2 weeks, where AK also opened at 7:30 (and the parks have been very busy), it looks like FOP ILL$ was available at 7:30 with various earliest return times between 9am and 3pm depending on the day. Thrill data link: https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/attraction/animal-kingdom/avatarflightofpassage/

 

[djironic]

I think staying offsite you'll have a very long wait trying to rope drop FoP with all the early entry onsite guests ahead of you. I believe offsite guests can purchase ILL$ at park open, so 7:30a would be right. Looking at thrill-data for the last 2 weeks, where AK also opened at 7:30 (and the parks have been very busy), it looks like FOP ILL$ was available at 7:30 with various earliest return times between 9am and 3pm depending on the day. Thrill data link: https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/attraction/animal-kingdom/avatarflightofpassage/

We’ll actually be rope dropping ETPE as we are staying at a quasi-‘official’ WDW Resort so we’ll be facing the same lines as onsite folks.

What we don’t get compared to onsite guests is the 7a ILL$ purchase window. Sounds like we can purchase at 7:30a though.

If that is the case we’ll spend ETPE knocking out some other rides instead.

 

[Juventus]

KS will not be open during early entrance so I'm not sure it's worth ropedropping anything else. You could ropedrop FoP at 7:00 and get a $ILL at 7:30.

Parking lot should be open at 6:00 (!) I believe...

 

[djironic]

KS will not be open during early entrance so I'm not sure it's worth ropedropping anything else. You could ropedrop FoP at 7:00 and get a $ILL at 7:30.

Parking lot should be open at 6:00 (!) I believe...

Good point - thank you. It will be interesting to have to deal with the first Genie+ selection of the day while simultaneously dealing with rope drop!

And this will be the one day that I doubt we’ll make it to the parking lot when it opens. We’re going to be getting going early but 6a will be 4a our time - we won’t be operating at anything near 100% at that time. I’m sure my kiddo is going to question just *** his parents have dragged him into on this trip! lol Especially since AK will be the first park of the trip.

In 2019 we rope dropped Disneyland but there time was on our side as we were actually one hour ahead of our usual schedule. And we could walk to the gate.