Talk to me about Rope Dropping Flight of Passage

[Clojel]

Okay, so we're going to AK for ONE day in November and it happens to be a Saturday. At our 60 day mark, I wasn't able to get a FP for Flight of Passage. What are my chances of getting on the ride at Rope Drop? Any strategies? How early should we get to the park. It opens at 8 am that day with EMH...which we can go to since we'll be staying on site. Thanks!

 

[CAS239]

I'd aim to be there by 6:45-7am. Walk briskly straight there and you won't wait very long. The key is to be there early. If you arrive close to 8am then you'll be behind hundreds of people. Earlier the better.

I'd always opt for waiting at the gate prior to park opening rather than waiting in a long line during key park hours in the morning

 

[SandyinMonterey]

We were there several months ago. People were in line by 7 am for 9 a.m. park opening. Once they open, everybody goes toward FOP but then they stop you again at the bridge. You wait there until they let you in again.

 

[GeneralTso]

I'm no help on this other than I remember a really detailed thread about this specific thing. Search for it, it might help.

 

[toonaspie]

Even on an EMH morning I'd recommend getting there an hour early. We didn't arrive until shortly after EMH began and the lines were already terrible stretching back to Africa. My dad went back the next day on a non-EMH morning but this time got there an hour early. Before the park even opened he was already being led into the queue. I'd say if you really want to play it safe, go on a non-EMH day and arrive one hour early. You will still wait of course, but it will be less strenuous a wait because you won't be competing against thousands of Disney resort guests with the same plan.

 

[DWillowBay]

Think 'Thundering Herd of Water Buffalo to the Watering Hole'. It's like that. Which totally fits with the Theming! So, it works.

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

Touring Plans has a video on this very thing. Definateyly watch!!! We tried it in May. Worked PERFECTLY. For 8am opening, you MUST BE at gate by 6:45. 7am at the latest.

 

[jerseygal]

Touring Plans has a video on this very thing. Definateyly watch!!! We tried it in May. Worked PERFECTLY. For 8am opening, you MUST BE at gate by 6:45. 7am at the latest.

If you are not "early bird park people" and not thrilled about being at a gate by 6:45 or 7am, many have suggested to try FOP very late evening, almost at park close. Some have said that the posted times are usually less at that hour. I read on other threads that as long as you are in line by park close, it is ok and the wait will most probably less than posted time, hope so! We also could not get FOP 60 days in advance either. I plan to do FOP late in the evening rather than at RD. SO EXCITED to experience FOP; have read such fabulous reviews!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

If you’re interested in an alternate strategy, there have been several recent reports of 20 minute waits near the end of the evening. Just keep in mind that posted times are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders.

We find this to be a more efficient use of time than trying to fight through those early morning crowds.

 

[gharter]

Be at the gate by 7. They will usually let you in early and the CM often walk the crowd to Pandora. If you show up 15 minutes before the park opens, you could have a 60-90 minute already.
We also missed out on a FP for FoP, so that is our plan as well.

 

[Clojel]

Thanks everybody....since we’re only there the one day, I think we’ll just suck it up and get there for 6:45 am.

 

[85glht]

Not for nothing, but even if there were 100 people in front of you, what would the wait time be 20 minutes.... it’s better than 2 hours.

 

[Tinkerbellmom43]

Good luck we're hoping to get a FP or go at park close. We tried the park opening thing, no luck. The wait went to over an hour immediately. The mad dash was annoying. Everyone is going there with the same plan. It's pretty amusing watching adults in a frenzy and bumping past you to get there lol. We rode Everest 3 times in a row instead

 

[ellbell]

I went last September at rope drop because I couldn't get fastpasses. Showed up an hour early and were led in to the bridge about 15 minutes before park open. When the park opened we were walked to FOP. We did not run and there were a ton of people but we walked on. It was totally worth not wasting park time on the wait.

 

[ClapYourHands]

If you’re interested in an alternate strategy, there have been several recent reports of 20 minute waits near the end of the evening. Just keep in mind that posted times are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders.

We find this to be a more efficient use of time than trying to fight through those early morning crowds.

I've heard Pandora is amazing at night! Even if we get on earlier in the day, I'm hoping to go see it after dark at least one night.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Thanks everybody....since we’re only there the one day, I think we’ll just suck it up and get there for 6:45 am.

This is a good plan, and you should be exiting FoP right around the time AK had been scheduled to open. I did this 3 times last January despite having two FoP fast passes already lined up. Because the only thing better than a ride on FoP is 5 rides on FoP.
One other thing to watch for during the few weeks leading up to your visit is for the park opening time to change to an hour earlier as happens many times. Within a day or two of the opening time changing, they will then add more fast pass availability to that new park hour. Enjoy!

 

[Narnia_girl]

If you’re interested in an alternate strategy, there have been several recent reports of 20 minute waits near the end of the evening. Just keep in mind that posted times are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders.

We find this to be a more efficient use of time than trying to fight through those early morning crowds.

Is this strategy do-able if we watch the Rivers of Light show?

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Is this strategy do-able if we watch the Rivers of Light show?

It depends on the timing of the show in relation to park closing time.

It’s a 16 minute show, and you’ll have just enough time to trek over to Pandora and get in line if RoL starts a half hour before closing time.

 

[jerseygal]

It depends on the timing of the show in relation to park closing time.

It’s a 16 minute show, and you’ll have just enough time to trek over to Pandora and get in line if RoL starts a half hour before closing time.

Thanks, this is the strategy we will be using. We are not RD folks. So excited for FOP!

 

[mckennarose]

If you’re interested in an alternate strategy, there have been several recent reports of 20 minute waits near the end of the evening. Just keep in mind that posted times are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders.

We find this to be a more efficient use of time than trying to fight through those early morning crowds.

We did the end of the evening strategy and it worked very well! Ill repost my experience from two weeks ago that I wrote on another thread:

I’m in WDW now and today was our Animal Kingdom day. We did not have FOP fp+ and were all set to rope drop this morning. We got up at 6 AM and on a whim I decided to check MDE, refreshed twice, and was able to get two FOP for 9 AM! This was after stalking MDE for days, including last night since I figured people would giving them up to change their plans.

When we got to Pandora at 8:40 AM the wait time was already 90 minutes and park opening was 9AM. We had to wait until right at 9 to tap in and they would not let anyone with a fp for FOP tap in 5 minutes early. They were strict about waiting until park open at 9.

During the day I was also able to get a fast pass for Navi, which we rode, then we decided to ride FOP again at the end of the evening. We got in line at 8:10 PM and our wait was 40 minutes to get to the hallway before loading and another 10-15 to be in and loaded. Posted wait time when we got in line was 85 minutes.

While we were in line I kept refreshing to see when they stopped fp distribution since the park close time was 9PM. They kept distributing until 8:30. None for the headliners by then, but it was interesting to see what the cut off time was. After FOP there were only a handful of people around in Pandora and it was like having it all to ourselves. That is, until it rained! But it was a great day. I HIGHLY recommend evening SB for FOP over morning. It was faster than if we had rope dropped at 7:30-8 AM.

On another note, we had previously only ridden FOP with fastpasses and this was the first time we saw the whole SB queue. It was pretty cool and I’m glad we got to see it.

I hope our experience helps someone who, like us, had not been able to get fp for FOP at 60 or 30 days.


Oh yeah... this glitchy MDE is a real pain! I spoke to others in the parks over the past few days who are also frustrated with it. It is taking forever to load and plans are appearing and disappearing. Screen shot everything!

I've heard Pandora is amazing at night! Even if we get on earlier in the day, I'm hoping to go see it after dark at least one night.

If you ride FOP at park close you get Pandora almost all to yourself after getting off! We were not rushed out and the park was technically closed, but we got to look around at the beautiful lights with hardly anyone around. It was lovely!