Rope drop tips for Flight of Passage?

[goofy4wdw2]

We rode it the other night and loved it. My kiddos are hoping to make it on tomorrow during emh without a fastpass. Not sure if it’s doable without a crazy long wait, but can you share any tips?

 

[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.

 

[barbliny]

Did it on Saturday ...

Didn’t work out as I would have liked because of bus problems, but it worked well enough

We were at our bus stop at 6:45 and did not get off the bus until 7:40 - allow yourself a lot of time if you are taking the bus

Everyone was already in the park by the time we got there - as we expected. We got to the end of the Pandora line at 7:50 - the CM with the sign indicating where the end of the line was, was telling anyone who asked that it was a 90-minute wait. It dissuaded many, but we pretty much were chalking it up to the usual overstating wait times.

Sure enough, we were off the ride at 8:35 - 45 minutes from start to finish.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Did it on Saturday ...

Didn’t work out as I would have liked because of bus problems, but it worked well enough

We were at our bus stop at 6:45 and did not get off the bus until 7:40 - allow yourself a lot of time if you are taking the bus

Everyone was already in the park by the time we got there - as we expected. We got to the end of the Pandora line at 7:50 - the CM with the sign indicating where the end of the line was, was telling anyone who asked that it was a 90-minute wait. It dissuaded many, but we pretty much were chalking it up to the usual overstating wait times.

Sure enough, we were off the ride at 8:35 - 45 minutes from start to finish.

Nice report. So it sounds like your total wait time was 110 minutes from start to finish, including bus delays etc.

I think we'll stick with a late night plan and hope to do it in about a fourth if that time.

 

[stampinmom]

Did it on Saturday ...

Didn’t work out as I would have liked because of bus problems, but it worked well enough

We were at our bus stop at 6:45 and did not get off the bus until 7:40 - allow yourself a lot of time if you are taking the bus

Everyone was already in the park by the time we got there - as we expected. We got to the end of the Pandora line at 7:50 - the CM with the sign indicating where the end of the line was, was telling anyone who asked that it was a 90-minute wait. It dissuaded many, but we pretty much were chalking it up to the usual overstating wait times.

Sure enough, we were off the ride at 8:35 - 45 minutes from start to finish.

Thanks for the info. We are planning to do this at rope drop because we could not get a fast pass.

 

[karen1987]

Unless you're unable to stay out late, I wouldn't recommend RD for FOP after seeing crazy crowds and wait lines at RD. Instead, use RD for Na'vi River Journey, which was a walk-on for the first 10-15-minutes around RD time during our recent trip in October.

So if you're able to, stay out late and get in line a few minutes before park closing. Shortly after park closing FP's are finished for the day and the line moved quickly for us with a posted wait time of 135-mins at 8.55 pm (DAK closing at 9.00 pm), but an actual wait time of 70-mins to the intro video rooms.

Good luck! It's absolutely worth the wait and the standby line theming is part of the attraction and anticipation IMO.

 

[Carolyn Louise]

I was there Saturday at 7:15 and was in the first group to ride. It really started getting busy about 10 min after I arrived. If you're willing to be there that early, you can probably make it with no wait.

 

[dlavender]

Nice report. So it sounds like your total wait time was 110 minutes from start to finish, including bus delays etc.

I think we'll stick with a late night plan and hope to do it in about a fourth if that time.

Using that logic, if you wait all day to ride it, isn't your wait time like 10 hours, though?

 

[Praying Colonel]

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.

Disney will often inflate wait times at the beginning and end of the day to discourage guests from entering the attraction and go elsewhere. I've been at Soarin at Rope Drop and when I came out the standby wait was listed at 300 minutes. At 9:10? I asked the CM about it and he winked and said, "Well, maybe it's not quite that long."

 

[SpaceMtnGirl]

We are taking a short-ish trip (4 park days with Ak day on day 3) over Spring Break and don't anticipate to be able to get FOP FP. We want to ride at RD, try for FP on the app throughout the day, and then also get in line at closing. It sounds like the key is to get there very early (7-7:15AM for 9:00 opening?). I'm wondering if it would be safest to take an Uber to the park that early to avoid any long waits for buses.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Using that logic, if you wait all day to ride it, isn't your wait time like 10 hours, though?

Well I never thought of it that way. There are probably a few shows or other attractions that we can hit multiple times during that 10 hour period. It's just that for the most popular ride in the park, I find it to be a more efficient use of time to get in the shortest line of the day, not the longest.

 

[iujen94]

We are taking a short-ish trip (4 park days with Ak day on day 3) over Spring Break and don't anticipate to be able to get FOP FP. We want to ride at RD, try for FP on the app throughout the day, and then also get in line at closing. It sounds like the key is to get there very early (7-7:15AM for 9:00 opening?). I'm wondering if it would be safest to take an Uber to the park that early to avoid any long waits for buses.

IMO an hour to an hour and 15 minutes before park opening is sufficient. So 6:45/7:00 for 8am opening or 7:45/8:00 for 9am opening. Depending on spring break crowds though, you may need to arrive a little earlier than that. And we always do Uber early morning - it eliminates the bus uncertainty and lets us get a few extra minutes of sleep!

 

[elaine amj]

I would do 45-75 mins before opening. It's important to be at the front of the pack, especially if you want to combo it with Na'avi River Journey.

One trick - get in line either at the right or the left of the tapstiles. I got in the line on the far right before security and kept my eyes open. Sure enough, a few mins later, they opened additional security lines on the far right and we were amongst the first to get through security. I did wave my daughter ahead to go through the no bag line and she secured a spot 2 people from the tapstile. From there, we were able to be belly up to the rope and when the rope dropped, were able to fast walk (ok it was more of a walk/jog from sheer excitement!) to the Pandora bridge where we were amongst the first 50 people. The ride was pretty much a walk on for us.

I believe that if you line up at the far left (at the tapstiles), the breakfast ADR tapstiles will open up at some point and you can jump over to that line.

 

[mmafan]

and when you enter the park......whats the quickest route into Pandora???\

 

[iujen94]

and when you enter the park......whats the quickest route into Pandora???\

You'll head to the left once through the turnstiles. Don't worry about the exact route - you can follow the crowd!