Suggestions to ride Avatar's Flights of Passage at AK?

People refer to taps for tapstiles, or turnstiles for the gate entrance where you scan your ticket/magic band to enter the park.

You’re lucky to have such early hrs. We’ve always either had a 9am regular open or 8am emh and have not had a 7am open at AK but for comparison, when we’re off our first ride on FoP and it’s about park open time, posted times are typically 60-90min. Actual wait times likely less near park opening time. The line is to the bridge to Africa, a lot of people, but it’s moving. We’re sometimes tempted to go back in standby when it’s 60, guessing it to be less and before it hits 2-3 hrs. But we never do because we have a FP to go a second time that day. I haven't been there for 7am, maybe someone else can chime in. Not sure if the 7am openings have been going on or not yet. I would like to know how early they let you in for a 7am.

I'm not sure if someone mentioned staying right at the taps on this thread.... you'd simply choose the shortest line to enter. If you're instead referring to staying to the right at rope drop... this only applies if you're among the 1st group of people, the crowd at rope drop is probably like a dozen people wide to start. They veer FoP people to the right at a road split and straight for people going to River Journey. But they also wrap you around - a right to left loop - near the queue entrance and the right side of the line has the 1st access to the queue entrance. The people on the far left, at the front of the herd, can find themselves scrambling to get to the right side behind dozens of people pouring through.

This is a great example of why we prefer late nights for the headliners. It’s much simpler to just hop in a shorter line vs. working through all of these morning complications just for a longer wait.
 
that's crazy. Given your style, you must always pre book FPs for am and then be willing to hop anywhere. If we're going to EP 1st (usually once per trip) and MK 2nd, we have trouble not picking 3 for afternoon at MK in advance rather than 3 (or one tier1) at EP.

I def always try to line up my 3 pre-booked FP's for the morning, usually starting around 9 or 9:30. Once I tap into my 1st FP I will immediately refresh in the app to move my 2nd FP earlier. Same routine for the 3rd FP once I tap into the 2nd, so usually I can get through the 1st 3 fairly quickly. And once I've tapped into the 3rd I'm right back in the app refreshing to find my next FP. Wash, rinse, repeat for remainder of the day, lol. Sometimes I hop, sometimes I don't (normally I don't have a hopper, but right now I actually have an AP). MK in particular is so easy to book same-day FP's b/c they have so many rides. You just need to keep that finger tapping to refresh, different things pop up every time. And if there's a ride I really want but only a really late return time shows up I'll still book it, since it's then much easier to refresh it to an earlier time since it will be at the top of your screen.
 
This is a great example of why we prefer late nights for the headliners. It’s much simpler to just hop in a shorter line vs. working through all of these morning complications just for a longer wait.
I'm glad to help reinforce your aversion to rope drop. :) We enjoy both rope dropping and last rides late, usually at a different park. Guess we're kind of greedy like that... we sleep after vacation.
 
I def always try to line up my 3 pre-booked FP's for the morning, usually starting around 9 or 9:30. Once I tap into my 1st FP I will immediately refresh in the app to move my 2nd FP earlier. Same routine for the 3rd FP once I tap into the 2nd, so usually I can get through the 1st 3 fairly quickly. And once I've tapped into the 3rd I'm right back in the app refreshing to find my next FP. Wash, rinse, repeat for remainder of the day, lol. Sometimes I hop, sometimes I don't (normally I don't have a hopper, but right now I actually have an AP). MK in particular is so easy to book same-day FP's b/c they have so many rides. You just need to keep that finger tapping to refresh, different things pop up every time. And if there's a ride I really want but only a really late return time shows up I'll still book it, since it's then much easier to refresh it to an earlier time since it will be at the top of your screen.
Thanks for sharing. We typically pre book early FPs and we try to move up 2nd and 3rd, but admit that we don't always try. We sometimes try to order the 3 FPs geographically, to help limit the back and forth walking. And obviously selecting your FP order for something like 7DMT, if it's your 3rd FP, is going to be tougher to move up to get your 4th quicker.

I avoid the late SDFPs for premium attractions, like many...instead, going for something right then... that's interesting that you'll grab them just so it's easier to refresh.
 


I'm glad to help reinforce your aversion to rope drop. :) We enjoy both rope dropping and last rides late, usually at a different park. Guess we're kind of greedy like that... we sleep after vacation.

Thanks, and I'm more than happy to be out of your way while fighting through the early morning madness. As mentioned earlier in the thread, we casually strolled up to FoP just prior to closing time on a recent visit and waited in line for 17 minutes. To me, that seems much simpler than showing up an hour before the park opens, waiting with a large crowd and hoping that everything else goes right.

We've also got pretty good at FP refresh and can easily get 10-12 per day for a family of 5. We prebook the first 3 starting at 9:30 which means we don't have to be to our first attraction until 10:45 then it's "game on" from there. We also very rarely wait in a standby line, until it's later at night when FPs don't add much value.
 
Thanks, and I'm more than happy to be out of your way while fighting through the early morning madness. As mentioned earlier in the thread, we casually strolled up to FoP just prior to closing time on a recent visit and waited in line for 17 minutes. To me, that seems much simpler than showing up an hour before the park opens, waiting with a large crowd and hoping that everything else goes right.

We've also got pretty good at FP refresh and can easily get 10-12 per day for a family of 5. We prebook the first 3 starting at 9:30 which means we don't have to be to our first attraction until 10:45 then it's "game on" from there. We also very rarely wait in a standby line, until it's later at night when FPs don't add much value.

17 min sounds really nice for FoP. Given it's usually just 2 of us, and we're instead adding much slower people to our group for the next GE trip, we might have to alter some of our game planning, or at least temper expectations.
 
We had the same issue for our current trip! Make sure to keep checking, and even check the day of as well.

We ended up booking an After Hours event so that we are guaranteed to ride it! It's my all time favorite ride, so I feel like the AH event is well worth it for us!
 


I'm torn between just enjoying the moment and enjoying the atmosphere of the park and its attractions vs availing of SDFP by spending my day with my face in my phone but with obviously much shorter lines. Plus, unlike my teenagers, I cannot walk and work a phone at the same time.:oops:
 
I'm torn between just enjoying the moment and enjoying the atmosphere of the park and its attractions vs availing of SDFP by spending my day with my face in my phone but with obviously much shorter lines. Plus, unlike my teenagers, I cannot walk and work a phone at the same time.:oops:
I think I could make more of an effort to check for SDFP while in a longer line, but I don't know that I'd be willing to try while just walking from place to place. We have 2 new adults in our party for the upcoming trip, I think they could log in under my acct in the MDX app for all us to be able to check, and not just me right?
 
I'm torn between just enjoying the moment and enjoying the atmosphere of the park and its attractions vs availing of SDFP by spending my day with my face in my phone but with obviously much shorter lines. Plus, unlike my teenagers, I cannot walk and work a phone at the same time.:oops:

You’re really overestimating the time required to Refresh. You can start as soon as you tap in at your current attraction, and will most likely be done before you board that ride.

We find unnecessary to walk around with face in phone. Just get off one ride and head to the next one. It’s really that simple.
 
You’re really overestimating the time required to Refresh. You can start as soon as you tap in at your current attraction, and will most likely be done before you board that ride.

We find unnecessary to walk around with face in phone. Just get off one ride and head to the next one. It’s really that simple.
Sounds like a great plan. Thanks!
 
Thanks to all that have replied.

I decided to re-book my FP for the other AK rides to start after lunch and wake the kids up early to try to get to the AK Rope Drop when the park opens. I hope to just head straight to Pandora and wait in line. I budgeted about 2 hours of time in the Pandora area to wait in line and ride it. We can then try again before the park closes if they like it.

Is the ride worth it to go through all this effort?
 
Thanks to all that have replied.

I decided to re-book my FP for the other AK rides to start after lunch and wake the kids up early to try to get to the AK Rope Drop when the park opens. I hope to just head straight to Pandora and wait in line. I budgeted about 2 hours of time in the Pandora area to wait in line and ride it. We can then try again before the park closes if they like it.

Is the ride worth it to go through all this effort?
When are you going? There are FoP FP+ available right now for 8/27. When the hours get extended FP+ become available.
 

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