Rivers of Light FP+ needed? Shoulder Banshee still selling out?

[enchantingodin]

We will be in AK on Sunday 1/28. I really want to see Rivers of Light and kiddos REALLY want a Banshee.

We missed RoL show on our annual trip last year. This year I got us a FP+. Buuut I'm kinda second guessing myself now and wondering if it's worth it and could be better used on a different attraction. I also thought about doing the dining package - but we're not huge fans of the Tusker House atmosphere. And Tiffins would be $$$. There is only one show the night we're going. Generally how far in advance do people line up for RoL these days?

Also are Banshee's still selling out? It's the only thing my kiddos have been talking about... and I want to make sure I can get them one. We have a FP+ around 10ish for FoP and I plan to go to Windtraders right after to 'adopt' one. But I will head over to there first thing if we shouldn't wait.

Thanks for any thoughts and advice!

 

[Capang]

Banshees are available at Windtraders and they appear to not be selling out. They’ve also been selling them online lately. Don’t think you need FP for ROL but not sure when you would need to be in line.

 

[Janet McDonald]

Interested as I too FP ROL. Have never saw it and dont want to stand in line for a long time for a seat, but dont want to waste a FP if its not necessary. I have a TH 8:00 breakfast that I want to change to a package but have not been able to secure a res for it yet.

 

[enchantingodin]

Banshees are available at Windtraders and they appear to not be selling out. They’ve also been selling them online lately. Don’t think you need FP for ROL but not sure when you would need to be in line.

Thanks for the info!

I saw they are selling Banshee online. But think it would be more of an experience to adopt one there for them. Especially right after the ride.

Interested as I too FP ROL. Have never saw it and dont want to stand in line for a long time for a seat, but dont want to waste a FP if its not necessary. I have a TH 8:00 breakfast that I want to change to a package but have not been able to secure a res for it yet.

Same here! I don't mind waiting a little bit. Say 20/30 minutes. But I get antsy when there's no moving while waiting. If I'm in a normal ride que we're moving forward... in a show que you're just - STUCK. Drives me nuts.

 

[hllb]

Interested as I too FP ROL. Have never saw it and dont want to stand in line for a long time for a seat, but dont want to waste a FP if its not necessary. I have a TH 8:00 breakfast that I want to change to a package but have not been able to secure a res for it yet.

Well, if you drop that reservation, you should be able to immediately rebook it as a ROL package. At least I did after reading about it on here. I did it late at night to reduce the risk someone else grabbed it in the two minutes it took to rebook it. I don’t know if they can change the reservation for you if you call them. I’m so phone averse I just risked it lol.

 

[CAS239]

Interested as I too FP ROL. Have never saw it and dont want to stand in line for a long time for a seat, but dont want to waste a FP if its not necessary. I have a TH 8:00 breakfast that I want to change to a package but have not been able to secure a res for it yet.

RoL is much like Fantasmic, you don't really wait in a line for seats. They'll open up the arena and you just go in and sit.

Crowds have lightened up since it debuted. I'd still show up 45+ min prior to showtime whether you're doing standby or FP. But it doesn't seem like standby is fully packed 60-75 min before showtime anymore

 

[Janet McDonald]

Well, if you drop that reservation, you should be able to immediately rebook it as a ROL package. At least I did after reading about it on here. I did it late at night to reduce the risk someone else grabbed it in the two minutes it took to rebook it. I don’t know if they can change the reservation for you if you call them. I’m so phone averse I just risked it lol.

I have considered this but I am petrified to try it. Its an 8:00 am and our only AK day and we have a FOP fast pass and gonna inhale our food and line up for Navi. I have planned so much my family is considering having me committed. I did call two days ago and asked them if they could just switch it and they said no. First world problems lol.

 

[Janet McDonald]

Thanks for the info!

I saw they are selling Banshee online. But think it would be more of an experience to adopt one there for them. Especially right after the ride.



Same here! I don't mind waiting a little bit. Say 20/30 minutes. But I get antsy when there's no moving while waiting. If I'm in a normal ride que we're moving forward... in a show que you're just - STUCK. Drives me nuts.

There are five of us and my husband and son despise lines like the plague. They get totally triggered lol. They are iffy with shows as it is, and when they have to stand in line for a show me and my girls will have to pay for it with their whining. Ill have to find some food or snacks to stuff their face with to occupy them. Like toddlers they are. (17 and 44)

 

[hllb]

I have considered this but I am petrified to try it. Its an 8:00 am and our only AK day and we have a FOP fast pass and gonna inhale our food and line up for Navi. I have planned so much my family is considering having me committed. I did call two days ago and asked them if they could just switch it and they said no. First world problems lol.

I understand the fear! I resigned myself to being ok losing it. And I totally thought I did! The website gave me the “paws” message when I hit submit on the rebook. When I tried again, the time slot was gone. A few days later I looked at my account and it was there! I never got a confirmation email even.

I will say though, I’ve heard a PPO at TH isn’t very helpful for Pandora (though not as much an issue with Navi). I moved ours to a 10:30 time to hit it after Pandora. We are planning on RD for Navi.

 

[Happy_2_B]

There is only one show the night we're going. Generally how far in advance do people line up for RoL these days?

I can't speak to this particular date. We saw it a few days ago- and neither side of the stand by area was anywhere near capacity- one side was almost empty. That said, there were 2 shows that night. My wife loved it- and I can't believe I lost sleep to watch it- so now I can understand the opinions being so polar opposite on this show. We are going back again the week before you arrive because the parks are so quiet during that part of the year, and I would think you could do standby- but like I said- it might be a different story on nights with one show.

We are planning on RD for Navi.

We Rd'ed Navi a few days ago- and it was walk on. Everyone goes to FoP.

 

[hllb]

I can't speak to this particular date. We saw it a few days ago- and neither side of the stand by area was anywhere near capacity- one side was almost empty. That said, there were 2 shows that night. My wife loved it- and I can't believe I lost sleep to watch it- so now I can understand the opinions being so polar opposite on this show. We are going back again the week before you arrive because the parks are so quiet during that part of the year, and I would think you could do standby- but like I said- it might be a different story on nights with one show.



We Rd'ed Navi a few days ago- and it was walk on. Everyone goes to FoP.

That’s what we’re hoping for! We have FPs for FoP on two different days so have no desire to try to RD that one.

I’ve heard about an hour for standby on ROL but that was during fairly busy times.

 

[Janet McDonald]

I understand the fear! I resigned myself to being ok losing it. And I totally thought I did! The website gave me the “paws” message when I hit submit on the rebook. When I tried again, the time slot was gone. A few days later I looked at my account and it was there! I never got a confirmation email even.

I will say though, I’ve heard a PPO at TH isn’t very helpful for Pandora (though not as much an issue with Navi). I moved ours to a 10:30 time to hit it after Pandora. We are planning on RD for Navi.

Do you by chance know the best way/strategy to go about getting to Navi after we eat? I am hoping to be done by 8:30 or 8:40. Gonna pay the check first of course and characters arent a biggie for us at all.

 

[hllb]

Do you by chance know the best way/strategy to go about getting to Navi after we eat? I am hoping to be done by 8:30 or 8:40. Gonna pay the check first of course and characters arent a biggie for us at all.

I don’t. I’ve heard you have to go all the way back to the front. There is a path from there to Pandora but I don’t believe they have it open in the morning. But, I haven’t kept tabs on it since we moved our PPO to later.

 

[enchantingodin]

RoL is much like Fantasmic, you don't really wait in a line for seats. They'll open up the arena and you just go in and sit.

Crowds have lightened up since it debuted. I'd still show up 45+ min prior to showtime whether you're doing standby or FP. But it doesn't seem like standby is fully packed 60-75 min before showtime anymore

That's great info thank you!

So if the show starts at 7:15 they open it up for seating around 6:30ish?

There are five of us and my husband and son despise lines like the plague. They get totally triggered lol. They are iffy with shows as it is, and when they have to stand in line for a show me and my girls will have to pay for it with their whining. Ill have to find some food or snacks to stuff their face with to occupy them. Like toddlers they are. (17 and 44)

Yes I've thought about seeing if I could get something from Flame Tree BBQ or Restaurantosaurus to-go and sit on the Dino side. Hoping to time it so they have opened up for seating and we can sit in the stands and eat while we wait for show to start. It's me and my oldest that the standing and waiting without moving that's the trigger. I wish it wasn't. But we all have our stuff right?

ETA: Just realized FP+ is only on the Asia side. That's kinda a bummer. Guess we'll be picking up something from Yak and Yeti instead.

I can't speak to this particular date. We saw it a few days ago- and neither side of the stand by area was anywhere near capacity- one side was almost empty. That said, there were 2 shows that night. My wife loved it- and I can't believe I lost sleep to watch it- so now I can understand the opinions being so polar opposite on this show. We are going back again the week before you arrive because the parks are so quiet during that part of the year, and I would think you could do standby- but like I said- it might be a different story on nights with one show.

Thanks for the advice! We usually go the first weekend in March for the Flower and Garden Festival but had a scheduling conflict this year. So we decided to give January and Festival of the Arts a try. I'm betting we could skip the FP+ too. But the more I think about it the more I realize I'd rather wait in line for Everest where there's movement forward instead of being stuck standing still in the stand by line for RoL

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

When we went to tusker house the day before Thanksgiving, they asked at my 10:40am reservation if I wanted to go to rivers of light. I declined, we just weren't interested, but we could have converted our reservation to a ROL package on the spot. I have no idea how common this is, but I was surprised.

 

[Happy_2_B]

Do you by chance know the best way/strategy to go about getting to Navi after we eat? I am hoping to be done by 8:30 or 8:40. Gonna pay the check first of course and characters arent a biggie for us at all.

A few days ago, they had the path open on the EMH morning we were there for resort guests only. Everyone else goes in the 'front' way across the bridge and to the left.

 

[tnolan]

I went to RoL about 6:30 pm the night I went, about an hour before the show was due to start, and I walked right in. Maybe I got lucky, but I would have been willing to wait about a half hour or so on line for it. It was a very nice show, IMHO.

 

[CAS239]

That's great info thank you!

So if the show starts at 7:15 they open it up for seating around 6:30ish?

For 7:15 show they'll open up seating around 6

 

[MinnieGi]

We were there Thanksgiving week and didn't want to wait in a long line or use a FP for ROL so we watched it as we ate dinner at Flame Tree BBQ. Just went down to the pavilion closest to the water and had great seats and got to eat! LOL! Now we couldn't see all the projections because we were facing if from the wrong side, but saw and heard everything else. We were happy to not stand in line. My 13yo would have complained away and the shows do not thrill him anyway!! LOL!

As far as banshees, we saw plenty in line just waiting to adopt. They certainly did not seem to be running out at all!!

 

[enchantingodin]

I went to RoL about 6:30 pm the night I went, about an hour before the show was due to start, and I walked right in. Maybe I got lucky, but I would have been willing to wait about a half hour or so on line for it. It was a very nice show, IMHO.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I don't mind waiting a bit either, just tend to get jittery/anxious/claustrophobic if I have to stand too long in one place surrounded by others.

For 7:15 show they'll open up seating around 6

That's awesome news - thanks!

We were there Thanksgiving week and didn't want to wait in a long line or use a FP for ROL so we watched it as we ate dinner at Flame Tree BBQ. Just went down to the pavilion closest to the water and had great seats and got to eat! LOL! Now we couldn't see all the projections because we were facing if from the wrong side, but saw and heard everything else. We were happy to not stand in line. My 13yo would have complained away and the shows do not thrill him anyway!! LOL!

As far as banshees, we saw plenty in line just waiting to adopt. They certainly did not seem to be running out at all!!

That's an awesome idea. And I think something I'd want to do on future trips. But for this 1st time I think I really wanna be 'front and center' and get the full effect.

Also YAY on lots of adoptable banshees! I remember reading posts when Pandora 1st opened about them selling out by 10am.