FOP - Best Case Scenario

[SqrlMnkey]

so, I didn’t get Flight of Passage fast passes. My plan now is to try to go first thing in the morning, and go directly there. I don’t care about being the first person on the ride, but I’d like to try to keep the wait time under 45 minutes. Realistically, how early should I be at the park? Assume a normal 9am opening with no EMH. (Resort crowd levels are a 5 according to Touring Plans, if that matters). Thanks!

 

[Mome Rath]

IMO;

To be sure? 8am... for a probably? 8:15. I say that mainly because it varies how quickly the ride loads and runs. So, you do want to be early as that decreases the chances of a delay.

 

[Alesia]

Get there an hour before the park opens

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

If you want an alternate strategy, there were reports from earlier this summer of waits as low as 17 minutes during the last hour of operation. Just keep in mind that the posted wait times are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders.

 

[SqrlMnkey]

Thanks for the insight everyone. I’m intrigued by the idea of trying before closing, as I had planned on an AK night trip. If the park closes at 9, what time do they stop letting riders get in line?

 

[summerskye]

Thanks for the insight everyone. I’m intrigued by the idea of trying before closing, as I had planned on an AK night trip. If the park closes at 9, what time do they stop letting riders get in line?

9pm close = 8:59pm to get into line.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Thanks for the insight everyone. I’m intrigued by the idea of trying before closing, as I had planned on an AK night trip. If the park closes at 9, what time do they stop letting riders get in line?

8:59:59

 

[EdmondD]

Just keep in mind that the posted wait times are intentionally exaggerated at night to discourage late riders.

For real?

 

[FCDub]

For real?

Yes. For years they've been doing this.

 

[MrConbon]

Yeah I highly recommend just getting in line a minute before park close. I’ve done that a couple of times and never wait more than a half hour. Much better than waking up early and camping out before park opens.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

For real?

Yes. We read about this practice in the 1999 Unofficial Guide so it's nothing new.

Disney uses a process called "Line Stacking" late at night to intentionally make the lines appear to be longer than they really are. It works best on a ride where you can't see the entire queue area and only have the posted wait to go by.

A good example is Toy Story Mania. They can close off the interior portion of the waiting area and let the short line spill out into the courtyard then post an 80-90 minute wait time. In reality, the line goes directly to where you pick up the glasses then straight on to the ride. We like this one because we can ride it 4-5 times during the last hour of operation before we head over to Fantasmic.

In general, we expect the posted wait to be about 4x the actual wait for the headliners during the last hour or so of the evening.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Yeah I highly recommend just getting in line a minute before park close. I’ve done that a couple of times and never wait more than a half hour. Much better than waking up early and camping out before park opens.

I agree. I've seen a lot of reports here from guests who devise elaborate plans just to hopefully beat the early morning chaos. I'd rather just wait until later when the line gets short.

Why do something hard when you can do something easy.

 

[Luv Daisy]

I'm so glad I found this thread. I am going in December and I was worried about FoP if I didn't get a FP. I'm nowhere near the 60 day mark yet but it is something you think about. I'm gonna try the last hour method for TSMM.

 

[Nick6300]

only time we tried the last ride, racing from RoL, we still waited about 45min-1 hour. But it was last Aug when crowds are fairly high and it was nearly new; and we wanted to see it at night and the rest of the queue that you miss via FP. While the 1st 48 are on the 1st ride, we aim to be the very first ppl in so a bit earlier than the 1 hour before. Think we arrived around 7:30, let in 8:15-8:20 for 9 opening, held until 845, off ride and to NRJ or Safari 9:10, w/ nearly no waiting on the other am attractions with the rest of the ppl in Pandora. If it's really as low as 20min wait now or even an hr. for last ride, that's obviously less waiting. Think we've prioritized MK/HS for night time though because of TSL/late hours for Aug.

 

[Mome Rath]

The end of night rides have produced various results; there always seems to be some inflation for the posted times, but different people have had different experiences with it. That's just FYI. I'm a morning person, so it's rope drop all the way for me (8am opening road both FoP and NRJ and were done by just after 9), but if you are more of a nightowl and want to see the standby line, then going right before park close would be fun as long as you know there will be a wait of some sort.

 

[Christine]

I was just there last week and the only time we could get on was at night, before park closing. My one tip would be that go on the earlier closing nights of Animal Kingdom. We did it three times. Two of the nights AK was closed at 9PM and one night it closed at 10PM.

First night (closed at 9). Got to the park around 8PM and made our way over to the ride. Entered ride about 8:20. Posted wait time was 85 minutes. From entry of line until completion of ride it was 50 minutes (so about a 40 minute wait).

Second night (closed at 10). Got to park around 9PM, got to line about 9:20. Posted wait time was 135 minutes. Wait time was 100 minutes.

Third night (closed at 9). Entered line at about 8:40, posted wait time was 85 minutes again. We waited about 45-50 minutes before getting on the ride.

I think in order to get the really short wait, you need to be entering that ride JUST before park closing (so something like 8:55 for a 9PM closing).

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

It's worth any wait time posted to experience once..

 

[gharter]

We have ridden at rope drop. Get there at least 45 minutes before the posted opening time.
We have also gotten in line about 15 minutes before the park closes. Usually about a 20 minute wait.
Both are good. The evening one gives you time to walk around Pandora at night and its amazing and not to be missed.

 

[SqrlMnkey]

This was all really helpful. Of course, I checked touring plans tonight, and three minutes before closing it said posted was 205 minutes/ 154 minutes expected !!! (No idea how accurate their predictions are). But I’m a night owl, so I still think I’m better off aiming to ride right before closing. Even if it was posted at 205 minutes, using Babe the Blue Ox’s “4x” rule of thumb from a few posts earlier, that’s still “only” 50 minutes. And if I’m going to wait fifty minutes, I’d much rather it be at 8:30 pm than 8:30 am.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

This was all really helpful. Of course, I checked touring plans tonight, and three minutes before closing it said posted was 205 minutes/ 154 minutes expected !!! (No idea how accurate their predictions are). But I’m a night owl, so I still think I’m better off aiming to ride right before closing. Even if it was posted at 205 minutes, using Babe the Blue Ox’s “4x” rule of thumb from a few posts earlier, that’s still “only” 50 minutes. And if I’m going to wait fifty minutes, I’d much rather it be at 8:30 pm than 8:30 am.

According to TouringPlans, the posted wait at FoP close to closing time last night was 80 minutes. The odds are pretty good that that actual wait was around 20 minutes.