What time to arrive at the AK?

[SL6827]

I am planning for a fp for FOP, but still want to get to the AK super early on my AK day. Right now, I am planning on going on a EMH morning, so the park is "supposed" to open at 8. Should I arrive at the park at say 6:30? Going to use Uber, not a Disney bus, so call for an Uber at 6?

 

[DWillowBay]

Do you already HAVE a FP for FOP? When are you going? From your signature, it looks like March / April. I'm trying to understand why you would need to be there 90 mins before opening.

 

[SL6827]

Do you already HAVE a FP for FOP? When are you going? From your signature, it looks like March / April. I'm trying to understand why you would need to be there 90 mins before opening.

Ya, in April. I was thinking that might be too early as well but wasn't sure. So maybe arrive at 7?

 

[mamamelody2]

I would think 7 would be plenty early. Should have you right at the front of the pack.

 

[siren0119]

If you want to rope drop FoP or Navi, you would want to get there about an hour and change before park opening. Even with EMH, there will be a lot of people since EMH is open to ALL onsite PLUS good neighbor hotels in Disney Springs. If you're just looking to maximize your time, most people who come early for rope drop make a beeline to Pandora, so you could arrive closer to opening and hit up other areas of the park and just wait for your FP time to go to Pandora. It really depends on what your goals are.

 

[Mome Rath]

If doing FoP at rope drop, an hour early is good. If not doing FoP at rope drop, then around 30 is good if you are wanting like NRJ, Everest, Safari, etc...

 

[starri]

I have a last-minute trip coming up in a week. My AK day is scheduled for 1/29, and of course it was much too late to snag an FOP FastPass. I do have a fairly early one for Everest. What's the best time to get there if I want to try and rope-drop FOP?

 

[Mome Rath]

I have a last-minute trip coming up in a week. My AK day is scheduled for 1/29, and of course it was much too late to snag an FOP FastPass. I do have a fairly early one for Everest. What's the best time to get there if I want to try and rope-drop FOP?

It looks like it opens at 9am that day, so if you can get there by 8 am it'll be good. Just FYI, with the refresh strategy many of us have gotten night before FP's for FoP, or same day FP's for FoP. I understand if you don't want to risk it though, but you could try the night before.

 

[starri]

It looks like it opens at 9am that day, so if you can get there by 8 am it'll be good. Just FYI, with the refresh strategy many of us have gotten night before FP's for FoP, or same day FP's for FoP. I understand if you don't want to risk it though, but you could try the night before.

Hey, it's worth a try.

I've actually never been to AK (it's been 25 years since I've been at all), and this is just a fast, solo trip. I'm going back with my husband in December, so it's not like it's a huge loss if I miss it.

Hey, even rope-drop is a new experience for me.

Thanks for your advice. I'm an early riser anyway.

 

[DWillowBay]

Yep. If you already have a FP for FOP, an hour is PLENTY of time. They'll open the rope a bit earlier than posted time, but an hour should suffice.

 

[Mome Rath]

Hey, it's worth a try.

I've actually never been to AK (it's been 25 years since I've been at all), and this is just a fast, solo trip. I'm going back with my husband in December, so it's not like it's a huge loss if I miss it.

Hey, even rope-drop is a new experience for me.

Thanks for your advice. I'm an early riser anyway.

If you are solo-ing, your chance of getting a same day FP is greater than a group. I was there in December and could get a same day FP for FoP to pop up by refreshing in about 3 min... meaning it took 3 min of refreshing for FoP to pop up for me.

Regardless, I hope you have a great trip! AK is different from the other parks, but definitely worth seeing and experiencing. I'm biased because I get up before the crack of dawn, but I think early morning there is fantastic.

 

[bdiddy]

We’ll be at AK on an EMH day as well in late March. Hopefully I’ll have a FP for FOP (getting those in the morning) and were planning on still going for rope drop to go on Navi first. But we were planning on getting there maybe 30 min early.

 

[gharter]

If you have a FP for FoP, then you only need to arrive about 30 minutes before unless you want to do FoP at RD, then your FP later, I would arrive 60 mintes early.
Most of the crowd at RD will head to FoP, s oif thats not your plan, you don't have to arrive as early.

 

[chris1212]

We were there this week, 9am open, we arrived at 8am and was lined up back to the ticket booths already. Let us in at 8.20am, lined up on bridge towards pandora. Let us in at 8.30, we were on the ride by 9.10am.

 

[wrestler72]

To be honest, I think there is absolutely no reason to arrive that early if you have FP for Avatar. If you are in the park at the time of opening, everything will be a walk on (apart from Avatar obviously). This is based on my experience (last visit - October 2018)

 

[wrestler72]

To give more detailed example. We arrived about 7:40. Some of us did Na'vi and 4 times Everest (could probably do one more) without any queues and others 2 times Na'vi (and I do not remember what they did next).
EMH at AK is really great (if you do not plan to ride Avatar)
It was Saturday in October