Rope drop FOP on EMH morning or not?

[Jchoma]

During our upcoming trip, we will spend Tuesday, 11/28 at AK all day. The park is open 9-8 that day.

The last day of our trip, Saturday 12/2, Animal Kingdom has morning EMH starting at 8:00. Our plan is to visit AK in the morning for EMH, and hop to MK at lunchtime and end the day there.

I'm assuming we won't get Flight of Passage FPs for Tuesday (which is Day 3 for us), and I don't want to make any FPs for AK on Saturday; I'd rather use them all at MK.

Which day should we plan to rope drop FOP? Tuesday (non EMH) or Saturday (EMH)? I'm leaning towards Tuesday, because I think by Saturday, we'll be exhausted. The thought of arriving wayyyy earlier than 8:00 (6:45-ish) just to hit FOP feels like a bad idea. But will we face crazy long waits if we rope drop on Tuesday? Should we jump in line just before close on Tuesday?

Any wait longer than 30 mins isn't worth it to us, so I can't figure out the best strategy here!

On a related note- if we rope drop Everest on the EMH Saturday, what time should we arrive? I'm assuming most of the crowds go to Pandora first. Could we arrive at 7:30 and not deal with crazy lines at Everest?

 

[Stephy811]

Would love some opinions...facing same dilemma mid-December

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

We just did the morning EMH at Ak last Saturday. It is the perfect time to do Navi and Everest both were walk ons. We did Navi first and headed to Everest after. We did not reach the front gate till 8:00 am. Everyone heads for FOP so the rest of the park is great. I heard the CM holding the sign when we were leaving Pandora say that it was a 90 minute wait for FOP, so I think Tuesday will be just as good to rope drop for it.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Rope drop can be the busiest time of the day for this attraction. I checked one day last week and the wait times were up to 210 within 10 minutes of park opening. The waits were down to 30 within 10 minutes of park closing on the same day.

Just keep in mind that posted wait times are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders.

 

[mbcary]

We did AK rope drop this morning on early entry day. We were at the bus stop at 6:40 and the bus was there when we got there. So we were at the park and the gate by 7am. At 7:15am they started letting us in and we were stopped at the bridge for about 10 minutes. They then began leading us back to Pandora. We were among the first 30 people on the ride and were off it before 8am. We then went straight to Na’vi with less than a 10 minute wait.

Hope that helps! I say EMH is worth it if you’re willing to get up early and be among the first at the gate.

 

[Stephy811]

We did AK rope drop this morning on early entry day. We were at the bus stop at 6:40 and the bus was there when we got there. So we were at the park and the gate by 7am. At 7:15am they started letting us in and we were stopped at the bridge for about 10 minutes. They then began leading us back to Pandora. We were among the first 30 people on the ride and were off it before 8am. We then went straight to Na’vi with less than a 10 minute wait.

Hope that helps! I say EMH is worth it if you’re willing to get up early and be among the first at the gate.

Was it crazy? There's another thread going on right now about pushing, shoving, and other undesirable behavior that kind of has me scared to rd now...

 

[mbcary]

I’ve seen that thread and i would say light pushing and shoving but it wasn’t in a malicious way at all. It was mainly because we kept getting into smaller queues/lines the further we got to the actual entrance of the ride. Everyone around us was very friendly and excited.