View attachment 291282 There is a razor thin margin for FOP rope drop between walking off the ride happy by 915am or being stuck in a 2+ hour line. Getting to the park at 830am will likely put you in the latter.
We did it the week before Christmas without a Fastpass, following some advice we'd read for a typical 9am opening, with a moderate crowd level. Arriving at the park's front at 8am, the lines were already stacked from the turnstiles almost to the ticket sale booths. At 820, when the lines were well past the ticket booths, they started scanning magicbands/tickets and letting people enter the park. With a six year old, we walked at a moderate pace, but people were running and dashing.
No lie: we saw a 30-something woman racing an 80-something woman in a wheelchair past us. The elderly lady was clearly hanging on for dear life. Most people were respectful, tho. Actually saw more rude people trying to buck into the parade lines at
MVMCP.
Anyhow, they immediately queued everyone up on the bridge leading into Pandora by Tiffins, which took about five minutes to walk to. At this point, we were not quite on the bridge, with a sea of people arriving behind us over the next 20 minutes (see the photo!). We stayed to the right side of the bridge, per the directions we'd read before.
At 845-ish, the let everyone across the bridge. We stayed to the right and were naturally herded into a line that already extended well past the FOP Fastpass/Standby clocks. The line moved steadily, and by 915 we had finished the ride and exited the gift shop. At this point, the line for FOP was already across the Pandora bridge, almost at Tiffins, with a near 3-hr wait. If we had shown up at the park at 830, or even 815, we'd be stuck somewhere in that mass of people.
Logistically, our bus left Wilderness Lodge at 730, stopped at Contemporary, and we were in line at Animal Kingdom's gate a few minutes before 8am. Definitely allow extra time to get to the park no later than 8am, or you'll miss that narrow window to avoid the long line.
And, for heaven's sake, be patient. It's just a ride (albeit freakin' awesome)!
