Non FOP Rides at Rope Drop

[TammyLynn33]

if we are lucky enough to secure FOP fast passes later in the week of our trip while everyone goes to FOP what are the other wait times like at RD?

 

[JETSDAD]

if we are lucky enough to secure FOP fast passes later in the week of our trip while everyone goes to FOP what are the other wait times like at RD?

Very short. We did Everest 3 times in a row before heading over to FOP for a 9-10 FP with little to no wait. Could have ridden more but I threw in the towel. The pack heads towards FOP.

 

[Elle23]

We were there the week after Thanksgiving and Expedition Everest was down during one rope drop (which was a bummer because I had planned to RD it and didn’t make FPs for it).

The next AK day it was open and it was a walk on for quite a while after opening.

It was a lot of fun standing at the exit and watching all of the happy people leave the exit and get right back in line for another ride!

The nice thing about FOP is that it makes the rest of the park pretty empty for a good while after RD!

 

[Ensusieasm]

if we are lucky enough to secure FOP fast passes later in the week of our trip while everyone goes to FOP what are the other wait times like at RD?

The only thing better than a ride on FoP is two rides on FoP. I would rope drop FoP in addition to a FoP fast pass for later.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

The rest of the park outside Pandora is a virtual ghost town for upwards of an hour after opening time and it’s amazing.

We took great joy in getting to the park right at open and heading in the complete opposite direction of the Pandora crowd.

There’s no amount of money that would get me in that FOP crush first thing in the morning, even after my caffeine fix. Folks rushing and pushing and no personal space - hard pass. We still managed to ride FOP many times during our stay between 60 day FP, day of FP (only booking for 2 so take that for what it’s worth) and getting in line 15ish minutes before the park close.

 

[JFox]

We were there for RD Thanksgiving week. Never again. I was not able to secure FP. Although I have been on FOP before I had never been through the queue. My kidlet entourage LOVED Pandora. We spent a lot of time that week in AK. The Avatar movie has been playing non stop since our return.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Since you have FP for FOP, it means you don't have them for Navi River Journey. Since the masses are going to FOP, you'll be able to walk onto NRJ. It's not in the same league as FOP, but it's a pretty little ride that kind of gives a taste of the world of Avatar for later. You don't have to be at the front of the pack to RD NRJ, but you should be able to get on and off and over to whatever other attraction you want and ride that other attraction with no wait.

Last month, we were at the front of the RD pack, did FOP, then NRJ with minimal wait, then rode EE twice with no wait, then went to Dinosaur with minimal wait. Your experience might be different, depending on the day, but you should have little to no wait anywhere else for at least the first half hour or so (though NRJ will build faster than the others, so you'll want to ride that first).

This assumes you don't want to deal with the RD crush to ride FoP twice. We got FP for it, but also rode at RD on one day and park closing on another day. It's by far our favorite ride, so if you're up for an "energetic" RD experience, I'd still recommend FoP.

 

[Lisa F]

I like to get dinoland knocked out at RD and then head up to everest after, there is still no wait. I find if you don't plan well you do a LOT of extra walking at AK so I try to plan to minimize extra walking.

A friend tried to do this recently and discovered dinosaur was opening a half hour later than everything else though so I'd check that first - I haven't had that experience myself. But you can knock out most of the dinoland/asia side of the park this way then focus on africa/pandora with fastpasses later.

 

[gharter]

The first hour, most of the other rides are nearly walkon.
We have ridden EE multiple times, and had 1 morning where we just moved seats, didn't even go back through the queue as there was nobody in line.

 

[DavidNYC]

Definitely do Na'vi at ropedrop as that one will build quicker than every other non-FoP ride. If you're there when they start running the rides (which is earlier than opening usually), you can likely do Na'vi twice and be OFF the 2nd time around 9am (we got off our 2nd ride at 9:01 Veteran's Day weekend).

Then you should be able to get 1-2 more non-Pandora rides with very minimal wait before any meaningful lines start building.

 

[kiramay]

My kids rode Everest 6 times at RD one morning. I had to stop after 3 or so. Lol Then we did Primeval Whirl, Dinosaur, and the boneyard before doing FoP and safari with FP.