Rope drop, hard to get FP, especially Pandora

[agamble]

I did some searching on here but did not find a post on rope dropping Pandora for Flight of Passage.

I found some information on some Disney sites and I just read a recent post where another DIS member asked about rope drop among other things. It seems to me that the parks "open" well before rope drop. Disneyland typically opens only 15 mins early, but someone said Magic kingdom opens an hour early and I read Animal Kingdom opens about 45 mins early. Is this true and common for all 4 parks? Does this mean we should arrive even earlier?

We are not staying onsite as we're planning 2 weeks in a timeshare. So getting FP for the most popular rides is out of the question. We may try an early morning breakfast for Mine train or even an after dark event. New rides are opening at EPCOT and Studios, so I figure strategies will change for Slinky (definitely) and Frozen (maybe).

What works for Pandora? Is arriving an hour early good enough for rope dropping Flight of Passage? We will have a stroller as our youngest will be 4.5. Should we leave It in the car until later or park it somewhere near the front? Does Disney do a good job of organizing crowds here, or is it a free for all until people are actually in the queue? Is it true they often open the ride 30 minutes before opening? Are there special tricks for FOP like staying to the right for Carsland at DCA? I am hopeful if we rope drop FOP and arrive early enough we could get on and off in 30 to 45 mins (summer). Is that reasonable?

 

[Magical2017]

Arrive very early. What time does the park open on the day you plan to visit? There were posts awhile back about unruly guests jostling and people getting separated from their party, but I am not sure how it has been lately. It is sometimes a mad dash--it depends on the CMs and how they handle the RD. You probably already know to avoid any EMH days where the resort guests get in early, as the line will be long for FoP when you arrive.

We did have a FP, but also had good luck last August using the refresh strategy and got another FP for late afternoon. For our third ride, we walked on right before closing. If you plan to go back to your room to rest and return later that evening, you could try this. If you are going early and not staying all day, I would stick with RD and also try refresh.

 

[wareagle57]

An hour is enough for Pandora usually, though you could shoot for a little earlier. If you get there and the line is backed up a bit already, head over to the far right and see if they have uncovered touchpoints. They almost always open those up eventually. Stand in the far right land and watch for CMs to walk over there and get ready to pounce. Of course you will be at a slight disadvantage as you need to get over to the far left to get into Pandora, but being the first in on the far right is still good enough to get on one of the first rides of the day for FoP. They'll generally hold you at a couple of places once they let you in. First at the Tree of Life and then just outside the entrance to Pandora. About 15 minutes before the park opens they'll walk you through to the ride and you can usually get off before the park officially opens.

 

[Nuclear Monkey]

I was there on Aug. 25 for EMH and at 8 am the Stand by was at 1 hour. They let people in at around 730.

 

[sharonabe]

It seems to me that the parks "open" well before rope drop. Disneyland typically opens only 15 mins early, but someone said Magic kingdom opens an hour early and I read Animal Kingdom opens about 45 mins early. Is this true and common for all 4 parks? Does this mean we should arrive even earlier?

Let me clarify this first. AK and HS typically start letting people into Pandora and heading towards TSL anywhere from 15 to 30 min before scheduled opening. For AK, they usually start loading FoP not long after they get the crowd to Pandora. Not sure if HS does the same with Slinky, but your definitely in the park before scheduled opening and held somewhere inside. MK lets everyone onto Main St around 8:00 when the park is opening at 9:00, but you're held at the castle and not let into any lands or attractions until 9:00. If the park opens before 9:00, there is no early opening onto Main St.

What works for Pandora? Is arriving an hour early good enough for rope dropping Flight of Passage?

It sounds like you're going to WDW after GE opens at HS. If your trip is in Sept/Oct, then AK will be opening every day at 7:00 for EMH which you will NOT be able to participate in with your offsite stay. You'll need to keep an eye out here to see how this changes things for FoP and what time you'll need to be at AK. You won't be let into the park until official open, but you may still want to get there early to be in the front of the crowd waiting to get in and hoping for a shorter wait at FoP. Your other option is to plan an evening in AK and ride FoP at closing time instead of at rope drop. Just get in line 5-15 min before closing and you'll be able to ride and the wait SHOULD be well less than an hour.

 

[Remy is Up]

They are letting people in AK about 15-30 minutes prior to scheduled opening time. Since you are staying off property then obviously avoid Saturday or Monday ( EMH Days). On other days, due to the latest trend ( and noone knows if it will continue) You need to be in line an hour prior to scheduled rope drop. 75-90 minutes is likely overkill but, again, the earlier the better. The line for FoP will be well over 90 Minutes within the first 30 minutes of park opening so 60 minutes prior to opening standing in line and not losing park time for other things is a valuable investment. We rarely make FPs anymore and use refresh but for FoP its a crapshoot and it is the ONLY attraction at WDW we ever Rope Drop anymore. We are usually on property so its easier on EMH, but, we just did a non emh morning in March and it worked out fine getting there an hour prior. We were actually on FoP and off prior to scheduled Rope Drop and then used refresh to wipe out everything else.

 

[midnight star]

I did some searching on here but did not find a post on rope dropping Pandora for Flight of Passage.

I found some information on some Disney sites and I just read a recent post where another DIS member asked about rope drop among other things. It seems to me that the parks "open" well before rope drop. Disneyland typically opens only 15 mins early, but someone said Magic kingdom opens an hour early and I read Animal Kingdom opens about 45 mins early. Is this true and common for all 4 parks? Does this mean we should arrive even earlier?

We are not staying onsite as we're planning 2 weeks in a timeshare. So getting FP for the most popular rides is out of the question. We may try an early morning breakfast for Mine train or even an after dark event. New rides are opening at EPCOT and Studios, so I figure strategies will change for Slinky (definitely) and Frozen (maybe).

What works for Pandora? Is arriving an hour early good enough for rope dropping Flight of Passage? We will have a stroller as our youngest will be 4.5. Should we leave It in the car until later or park it somewhere near the front? Does Disney do a good job of organizing crowds here, or is it a free for all until people are actually in the queue? Is it true they often open the ride 30 minutes before opening? Are there special tricks for FOP like staying to the right for Carsland at DCA? I am hopeful if we rope drop FOP and arrive early enough we could get on and off in 30 to 45 mins (summer). Is that reasonable?

Nice to see another Disneyland person on the WDW boards.

 

[jess20k]

We went two weeks ago. We had fps for FOP, but I wanted to see if we could get on in a good amount of time at rope drop. It was an EMH though. We got there about 50 min before park opened. I believe it was around 30 min or so that they let people in. We were able to get on in about 30 min if that. The line was moving, it is just a long line and then waiting inside queue.

 

[snowwhite84]

I know it’s been said before, but in case OP doesn’t realize, I have never had a problem picking up a FOP FP day of. Just keep refreshing the MDE app.

 

[rwalker1304]

Check the new details about the changes to EMH for the first two months of Galaxy's Edge.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/extra-extra-magic-hours/

"The extra, Extra Magic Hours benefit will be offered every day from September 1 to November 2, 2019 at the following theme parks and times:

• Disney’s Hollywood Studios—including Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land attractions and more—from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM daily (please note that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and its experiences are subject to capacity)
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park—including Pandora – The World of Avatar and other attractions throughout the park—from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM daily
• Magic Kingdom park—including favorites in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland—from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM daily

The Extra Magic Hour benefit is also available to Guests of Walt Disney World Swan Hotel, Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Shades of Green® Resort, Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels, Four Seasons Resort Orlando, Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek and Waldorf Astoria Orlando."

For that reason, we are seriously considering a short stay "on property" to ensure we get to see and do what we want.

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

I did some searching on here but did not find a post on rope dropping Pandora for Flight of Passage.

I found some information on some Disney sites and I just read a recent post where another DIS member asked about rope drop among other things. It seems to me that the parks "open" well before rope drop. Disneyland typically opens only 15 mins early, but someone said Magic kingdom opens an hour early and I read Animal Kingdom opens about 45 mins early. Is this true and common for all 4 parks? Does this mean we should arrive even earlier?

We are not staying onsite as we're planning 2 weeks in a timeshare. So getting FP for the most popular rides is out of the question. We may try an early morning breakfast for Mine train or even an after dark event. New rides are opening at EPCOT and Studios, so I figure strategies will change for Slinky (definitely) and Frozen (maybe).

What works for Pandora? Is arriving an hour early good enough for rope dropping Flight of Passage? We will have a stroller as our youngest will be 4.5. Should we leave It in the car until later or park it somewhere near the front? Does Disney do a good job of organizing crowds here, or is it a free for all until people are actually in the queue? Is it true they often open the ride 30 minutes before opening? Are there special tricks for FOP like staying to the right for Carsland at DCA? I am hopeful if we rope drop FOP and arrive early enough we could get on and off in 30 to 45 mins (summer). Is that reasonable?

Magic Kingdom's Main Street opens an hour early, rest of the park opens at official time. Animal Kingdom will typically open/drop the rope an hour to 30 minutes earlier than posted time. Not sure about Epcot or Hollywood Studios.

Since you're staying offsite you won't be eligible for EMH. I need to emphasize this - there is no way that you'll be able to ride FOP with relatively short waits if you're ineligible for EMH and it's an EMH day. Go on a non-EMH day and arrive as early as you possibly can. Then you MIGHT have a chance to ride FOP with short-ish waits. Good luck!

 

[tinkerjo]

We ride FOP last year. We got to the park about 1 hr before the scheduled opening. They started letting people in about 1/2 hour before park opening and we were on and off FOP before park open. We had a larger group (6) so refresh didn’t work for us.

 

[agamble]

Wow. Thanks for the abundant information everyone. It seems I may have gotten some misleading information elsewhere about just how early the gates open. It does seem like we can make this work for our family. We have 3 kids so I'm not sure refreshing to get day of FP will work for our family of 5, but I'll try that for an extra ride.

It sounds like you're going to WDW after GE opens at HS.

Just get in line 5-15 min before closing and you'll be able to ride and the wait SHOULD be well less than an hour.

We are not going until summer 2020, which is why I'm not worrying too much about EPCOT or DHS strategies as they both have new rides coming. I kept seeing that FOP was the hardest to get FP and that there wasn't a good breakfast trick for it either. And I saw videos of crazy rope drop on YouTube, so I was a bit stressed about AK. But it seems like this could work. A night ride may be in our cards depending on how my kids adjust their schedules as we're in CA.

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

Wow. Thanks for the abundant information everyone. It seems I may have gotten some misleading information elsewhere about just how early the gates open. It does seem like we can make this work for our family. We have 3 kids so I'm not sure refreshing to get day of FP will work for our family of 5, but I'll try that for an extra ride.



We are not going until summer 2020, which is why I'm not worrying too much about EPCOT or DHS strategies as they both have new rides coming. I kept seeing that FOP was the hardest to get FP and that there wasn't a good breakfast trick for it either. And I saw videos of crazy rope drop on YouTube, so I was a bit stressed about AK. But it seems like this could work. A night ride may be in our cards depending on how my kids adjust their schedules as we're in CA.

Don't stress too much! Just arrive super early or hop on a minute or two before opening.

 

[sharonabe]

A night ride may be in our cards depending on how my kids adjust their schedules as we're in CA.

By next summer, who knows what will be the hard-to-get FP and which park may have the longest lines. You'll need to come check out the boards at least weekly, if not daily, as all the new stuff comes on line. Things will change quickly and Disney will adjust as they go. All of the tricks, park hours, etc will be different by then, so hold on and come along for the ride.

If I were you, I'd probably try to stay on CA time. Summer generally has later hours and you'll be ready for them. Trying to get your family up at 0 dark thirty is hard even on east coast families. A 6:00 wake up time for us will be a 3:00 to your bodies. It'll be much easier to close down the parks than open them.

 

[agamble]

By next summer, who knows what will be the hard-to-get FP and which park may have the longest lines. You'll need to come check out the boards at least weekly, if not daily, as all the new stuff comes on line. Things will change quickly and Disney will adjust as they go. All of the tricks, park hours, etc will be different by then, so hold on and come along for the ride.

If I were you, I'd probably try to stay on CA time. Summer generally has later hours and you'll be ready for them. Trying to get your family up at 0 dark thirty is hard even on east coast families. A 6:00 wake up time for us will be a 3:00 to your bodies. It'll be much easier to close down the parks than open them.

The last (and only) time I went to WDW was in 2008. DH and I were there for 6 nights on property. We were up for morning EMH, napped and pool in the afternoons, and were out for night EMH too as they had both back then. I will see how the kids do, but with 2 weeks and lots of sun I think we'll probably all adjust. But I am considering an after hour party at Magic Kingdom when we arrive if they're offered with similar dates to this year. I figure staying for a midnight close won't be hard on a first day, after napping, when it still feels like 9 PM to us.

 

[SarahD112]

Question: do the parks open early even when they have EMH? Or just regular opening days?

 

[Magical2017]

Wow. Thanks for the abundant information everyone. It seems I may have gotten some misleading information elsewhere about just how early the gates open. It does seem like we can make this work for our family. We have 3 kids so I'm not sure refreshing to get day of FP will work for our family of 5, but I'll try that for an extra ride.



We are not going until summer 2020, which is why I'm not worrying too much about EPCOT or DHS strategies as they both have new rides coming. I kept seeing that FOP was the hardest to get FP and that there wasn't a good breakfast trick for it either. And I saw videos of crazy rope drop on YouTube, so I was a bit stressed about AK. But it seems like this could work. A night ride may be in our cards depending on how my kids adjust their schedules as we're in CA.

You can try breaking your party up into 3 and 2. I know that sounds like a pain, but FoP and SDD seem to be the ones that are the toughest to get. I feel FoP is worth trying for.

 

[sharonabe]

Question: do the parks open early even when they have EMH? Or just regular opening days?

AK definitely does. HS sort of does because they still usually let everyone into the park and hold them just outside TSL. MK still allows offsite guests onto Main St around 8:00 and checks wristbands to let onsite guests through the ropes and into FL and TL.

 

[ChadsGirl]

We attempted rope drop for FOP on May 9. They had already started letting people into the park before we got to the tapstiles around 8:20 AM. We beelined right for FOP, got in a HUGE line and waited 90 minutes. I knew we had gotten there a little later than was ideal, but I was not expecting a wait like that.

So, definitely agree with others about being at the tapstiles an hour before the posted park opening time.