Wait times for flight of passage?

wdwluver

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 5, 2003
I'm planning a trip to Disney around thanksgiving time with my 2 DD's. We will be hitting AK with a desire to ride FoP. We went around the same time last year and had no such luck. When the park opened we ran to the ride, but wait times were already at 3 hours, 5 minutes after park opening. Is that just how it is during the holiday? Do we have any hope of being able to ride without extensive wait times? We'll be staying at the all stars and plan to take the first bus out to AK. I've also told DDs no bags as that's what held us up last year. Any other tips?

TIA.
 
be in line at AK 1 hour before the park opens, you will be walked in to the bridge, a bit of a wait then walked to FOP. probly be in the que line before the park officialy opens
 
Yes, the key is to be at the VERY front of the rope drop crowd. That means arriving 60-75 minutes before park opening. It's a long wait, but it doesn't cut into your actual park time at least.
 
Even when you get there that early (which you should be there around an hour early) they will rapidly inflate the posted wait time, don't believe it, just stay in line. (We saw a lot of people think that the posted time was accurate and it was not, they left when they shouldn't have.)

The other option is to get in line right before park close, when they also post inflated wait times. The only problem is you don't know exactly how long you'll be waiting.
 


I agree - don't believe the wait time. It's a lie. I got there 45 minutes before park opening back in July I was on the bridge waiting for it to open. It opened and in the short time it took me to get to the queue, it said 60 minutes. Horse hockey!! it took maybe 10. Don't believe it, but also be there for the rope drop at least 45 minutes before.
 
My experience is that you need to be at the park 90 minutes before opening in order to be at or near the front of the crowd that will head to FoP. When I have done that I have been on the first or second flight of the day and back out in the park minutes after official park opening. After FoP it is possible to head over to Navi River and ride with little or no wait. Then you have finished Pandora in less than 20 minutes after opening and ready to go after other attractions.

And yes the wait time grows very quickly because there are so many people trying to rope drop FoP. I have seen the line back almost to Tiffins 10 minutes after opening. Is that 180 minutes? I don't know... it is was too long for me. I would rather wait 90 minute before the park opens and then go off and do lots of other attractions. Last August I rope dropped FoP, then Navi, ITTBAB, Dinosaur, FP'd the Safari, and was waiting for an early lunch at Flametree BBQ at 10:50am.

If you are planning on getting the first bus then I suspect you will be in a good position to rope drop FoP.
 
Do you think getting to AK around 7:15AM for an 8:00AM opening time good enough?
 


Do you think getting to AK around 7:15AM for an 8:00AM opening time good enough?

No, unless you want to have a long wait. As others have said, at least 60-90 before opening, and it is going to get more and more busy as we get towards the holidays. It was over a 3 hour wait all day when we were just there for Columbus Day weekend this past weekend.
 
At a busier time it is definitely worth it to get there an hour early. Fifteen minutes makes more of a difference than you'd think, but if you imagine how many bus loads that could be, it's easier to picture. As a side note; if you get there pre park opening you are herded through the FP return line, not the standby line, if that matters to anyone.
 
question.. when you get to the park early, like some are suggesting, 60-90 minutes. do they let you through the turnstiles? to a rope drop line ? or do you just get backed up into the parking lot. I recall we got to AK early once,, but they would not let anyone scan their tickets till time of opening.
 
question.. when you get to the park early, like some are suggesting, 60-90 minutes. do they let you through the turnstiles? to a rope drop line ? or do you just get backed up into the parking lot. I recall we got to AK early once,, but they would not let anyone scan their tickets till time of opening.

My experience is that they start letting people through the security check around 7:30am, 90 minutes before opening. Last time I was there they blocked off the area in front of the tapstiles until around 8am. They started letting people through the tapstiles sometime around 8:30am. For the crowd headed towards Pandora there is a rope just before the bridge into Pandora.
 
Even when you get there that early (which you should be there around an hour early) they will rapidly inflate the posted wait time, don't believe it, just stay in line. (We saw a lot of people think that the posted time was accurate and it was not, they left when they shouldn’t have)

Thanks. Good to know.
 
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That’s good to know. Thanks!:goodvibes We definitely were discouraged last year and gave up.
 

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