What time to arrive for a 8am opening of AK to do FOP Rope Drop

[ClapYourHands]

Thanks. I just dont want to show up super early with the kids and then loose all hope of riding early because we get stuck at bag check. Our only other option would be to try to use our Seven Dwarfs FP at MK on Monday afternoon and then try to hop over to AK for park close to ride this quickly at 8:30-9pm and then maybe hop back over to MK for fireworks by 10 pm.

You wouldn't be able to do FOP at 8:30-9, and then get back to MK for 10. Even at closing, the line will be close to an hour (or more), then you have to do the pre-show rooms, and the ride itself, and then get back to MK. You will probably have to wait for a bus, and if you take an uber/taxi, go to the Contemporary and walk, or cough up the price of a Minnie Van, if you can even get one right away. And even if you do make it back by 10, there's no way you're going to get close enough to the castle to see the projections.

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

Just out of curiosity, how early should one arrive for a 7AM AK EMH Opening? 5:45!?

 

[DisFam4]

Nope.
Red circle is bag check.
Yellow circle is ticket booths.
Green circles is turnstiles.
View attachment 365450

^^^THIS
Bag check/mags are first, then ticket booths then tapstiles. I do not recall at any of the 4 parks where bag check was at the turnstiles. Every park has their bag check first, correct?

 

[MinnieMom85]

Refresh has saved us! I got a single rider fast pass tonight! We will try to sign up for Rider Swap for the others!

 

[soniam]

Just out of curiosity, how early should one arrive for a 7AM AK EMH Opening? 5:45!?

I would definitely get there by 6am at the latest. It's not as bad an 8am or 9am opening. Not that many people are willing to be up that early, especially when it's dark. 5:45am definitely wouldn't hurt though. It would probably make you some of the first if not the first 10 people, depends upon day though. Xmas you need to get there at 5:45pm, the night before

 

[gharter]

Just out of curiosity, how early should one arrive for a 7AM AK EMH Opening? 5:45!?

I have not been there on an EMH morning, but would stick with the 1 hour before opening time. That means through security and in line for the turnstiles by 60 minutes before.
Usually they will let you in the park about 30 minutes before official opening and you can walk almost into Pandora. About 15 minutes before opening, the CMs will walk you into Pandora and into Fop or navi lines.

 

[CouponGirl]

I have not been there on an EMH morning, but would stick with the 1 hour before opening time. That means through security and in line for the turnstiles by 60 minutes before.
Usually they will let you in the park about 30 minutes before official opening and you can walk almost into Pandora. About 15 minutes before opening, the CMs will walk you into Pandora and into Fop or navi lines.

I think this answers what I’ve been trying to figure out ... I noticed on the app that it will sometimes show wait times prior to the park even opening. I was wondering if the app just wasn’t reliable or if they were letting people on early. I am now assuming it’s due to people being allowed to get into line prior to official open?

 

[hlm2007]

Yes they open FOP before official park opening. We were there the week of Thanksgiving last year and it was around 7:30 (8am was the official opening time of AK that day). We were parking at 6:45(VIP parking with a little pixie dust from a CM that morning) and while we didn't' have strollers, we did have to do bag check still. The crowds were INSANE but we somehow ended up near the first 1/3 of the crowd after getting through the turnstiles (some of the turnstiles had issues that morning or maybe it was user error). FOP was pretty much a walk on for us.

 

[Laura's Dad]

Ok, so it sounds like this should be our schedule:

Park 6:30
Get to bag check 6:45
Hopefully by 6:45 they let us through the ticket booths and up to the tapstiles
7:15 enter through tapstiles, line up at Pandora Bridge
7:30 hopefully they open the Pandora Bridge and enter line for FOP
Hopefully get to ride by 8 or 8:30

That was our almost exact experience this past May except they let us in the park around 7:30. We walked fairly quickly for 55 year olds, but did not run. Some sprinted past us but they got held up at the bridge and we caught up to them easily. From there we were walked all the way to the entrance to FOP. I had heard horror stories of mass chaos, but that was not the case. We did drive rather than take the bus and we were about 5th in line at the tapstiles. Besides waking up early (which is not my problem at WDW) the entire experience was very smooth.

 

[Mome Rath]

Yes, just be there 60+ min before official park opening. It's just like any other rope drop procedure, and they check your bags at the normal location, not at the tapstiles. One other point I've not seen mentioned; don't believe the "wait time" they will put up when Pandora opens, it's inflated and I've seen people walk off. Just get there early, and get in line. Yes, the line will appear longer than it actually is (when at FoP) because they feed you through the FP line, not the standby when the park first opens.

 

[NickDubs34]

My family of three rope dropped AK in June. We were in line at the tapstiles at 7:30. They actually opened the park within the 10 minutes after we arrived (we were behind probably 20 people in our tap line) and we went straight back to FOP. There were probably a couple hundred people in front of us but we were literally moving through the line the whole time. On and off the ride by 8:05 and then did the safari and EE three times before the park seemed to even get busy. I suppose it's different based on the day of the week and the time of the year but I was worried we were late when we got there at 7:30 and it couldn't have worked out any better.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Refresh has saved us! I got a single rider fast pass tonight! We will try to sign up for Rider Swap for the others!

You only need one fast pass and then you can “sign up others for rider swap”?
I didn’t know that’s how rider swap worked?

 

[Micca]

Did this just a couple of weeks ago, arrived at 7:15 and waited no more than about 10 minutes for FOP (essentially a walk-on for that attraction.) But this was the first week of November, it considerably busier there this week. Please let us know how it comes out for you!