Recent wait times for FoP at park opening?

[ClapYourHands]

I'm not sure I'll buy that. We've been in the parks at 3 am before and found plenty of strollers still out and about.

Even when they were little, it was much easier to let mine stay up late than to make them get up early. My fondest Disney memory is chasing my then 3 year old daughter back to the entrance of Space Mountain moments before midnight with her screaming "One More Time Daddy" all the way.

And don't go by the posted wait times in the evening. Those are intentionally inflated at night to discourage late riders. We first learned about this trick in the 1999 Unofficial Guide so its nothing new.

What don't you buy? @mamaofsix was talking about her experience with young children not making it until closing time. Mine were/are the same way (as is DH, but that's another issue). It sounds like you have night owls in your family, but I'm sure it's not a stretch for you to imagine that there are families where everyone is naturally an early bird. I do not have to "make" my children get up early - they're usually up by 6 with no intervention on my part. I often wish they'd sleep in a bit more. I don't doubt you have seen strollers that late or that you have had your children enjoying late nights in the parks, but from my observations of my friends' children and my own, those little kids who can make it to 12 or 3am without crashing are a minority.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I don't know if it's that inflated. We got in line at the end of the night when the posted wait was 90 minutes, and it was 40 to the first preshow. I mean, it might be that inflated sometimes, but I wouldn't count on it.

While there's no way to tell how many people are snaking through the FOP line, on some rides like SDD and NRJ, you can see most of the line, so that can give you a better sense of how many people are waiting. SDD was posted 60 minutes at the end of the night when we were there, and the end of the line was still out of the queue area. I'm sure it was less than 60 minutes because the FP riders stopped bumping standby back after the park closed, but it was definitely not a 15 minute wait.

The closing process is called “Line Stacking”.

Per Touring Plans: "Often, would be riders are held in line outside the entrance until all those previously in line have ridden, thus emptying the attraction. The appearance from the outside is that the line is enormous when, in fact, the only people waiting are those visible. This crowd control technique, known as "stacking," discourages visitors from getting in line. Stacking is used at several Disney rides and attractions during the hour before closing to ensure that the ride will be able to close on schedule."

We’ve been playing this game for years, as it allows us to get multiple rerides on the headliners with little to no wait over the last hour or so of operation.

4x the actual wait is a good average. Sometimes the results are even better than that. When in doubt just ask the gate attendant. They do have both numbers on their monitor.

 

[maybethisyear]

We just got back. Went to the 8 am park opening. We knew the line for FoP would be awful, so went to the river ride. As soon as we got out the standy line was already over 240 minutes (at 8:20).

 

[Miffy]

I'm here now and a couple of nights ago I did standby at FoP about an hour and a half before park closing. Posted wait time was 95 minutes. Actual wait time was 60 minutes.

Also, OP, don't discount FP+. Since I've been here I've been able to get FoP FP+s day-of several times, often as my 4th FP+ of the day. Just takes a little refreshing in the app. It doesn't always work, but it does sometimes.

 

[emmabelle]

we went to AK on December 16th and at 9:15am it was listed at 180 minutes, 9am opening. We had a FP for it so we didn't rush to get to the park prior to opening. The traffic trying to get into the AK parking lot was the worst I have ever seen at any park. All the lines were 20 cars deep at 8:45am, we thought we would save time by using the rental, wrong.

 

[LaurenT]

I have had a walk on to 15 minute wait several times by arriving an hour before park open. And you most likely won’t wait an hour - they’ve been letting people in to pandora 30 minutes early.