Our experience of AK rope drop and fop today

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Bellasmummy

Though I'd post this as it may help others.

We weren't planning on doing rope drop or even fop today but as we were up and ready early we thought we'd give it a go.

We're staying at Contemporary and got the bus at 7:45am. We were the only ones on the bus.

Arrived at AK just after 8am and were straight through security check with no queue.

We joined the queue for park entry and it was back to the ticket windows.

At 8:15am the let everyone through to 'enjoy the oasis' aka queue for pandora 😉

We made our way through with the crowds and we were then held on the bridge to Pandora until 8:40am.

Walked through straight to fop, by the time we got there the standby time showed as 60 minutes.

We passed under the ride entrance at 8:55am and were done and off the ride into the shop by 9:25am. Standby showed as 180 minutes when we exited.

Dd got a banshee that we had sent to the front of the park so that we didn't have to carry it.

We had a fp for navi river 9:05-10:05 which we made by 9:55am.

Really pleased we did it, fop was amazing, easily the best ride on property at the moment imo. We have a fp for it later in our trip which we're really looking forward to now.

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Sounds great, this is our plan for early next week or wondering if we should try it Friday, our first morning as we will be up early but have BOG lunch booked at 11.20 decisions decisions !

[amy56]

So today we decided to get to the park early so that we could ride FOP via the standby queue, so that we could see the Avatar in the tank etc.

Word of warning for anyone else that wants to do this - there is such a thing as being too early for the ride!

We arrived at the park at 7.30, were at security for 7.35pm. Bag check/security opened at 7.45 and we were the second family waiting at the Magic Band readers when they opened at 8.10am. I have a nasty blister on the bottom of one foot, so we weren't the quickest walking to the Pandora bridge (where they hold you again), but we were still in the first 100 guests to get there. We then were walked to the ride entrance and started through the standby line by around 8.35-8.40am.

Now this is where things differed than I'd expected - because we were some of the first riders, we didn't go through the Avatar tank room and in effect had the same experience as the Fastpass queue riders. Absolutely perfect if you aren't bothered about seeing the main queue, as we were done riding by 8.55am!

However, we had already ridden via FP+ so had wanted the full experience. In our case Disney Magic came to the rescue again, and the CM we spoke to at the end (we weren't complaining - just asking what time we should of arrived to go through the 'proper' queue) let us go through the Fastpass entrance, then walk 'backwards' through the queue to see the tank, and then ride the ride again! Score!

So in our case we were very, very lucky to ride FOP twice within an hour and get to see the tank etc, but for those who are getting there early another time to experience the standby line, then I reckon if we'd of been quarter of an hour later getting to the park (so 8am ish) then we'd of joined the regular queue rather than being in the first batch of riders who get to skip it.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by amy56

So today we decided to get to the park early so that we could ride FOP via the standby queue, so that we could see the Avatar in the tank etc.

Word of warning for anyone else that wants to do this - there is such a thing as being too early for the ride!

We arrived at the park at 7.30, were at security for 7.35pm. Bag check/security opened at 7.45 and we were the second family waiting at the Magic Band readers when they opened at 8.10am. I have a nasty blister on the bottom of one foot, so we weren't the quickest walking to the Pandora bridge (where they hold you again), but we were still in the first 100 guests to get there. We then were walked to the ride entrance and started through the standby line by around 8.35-8.40am.

Now this is where things differed than I'd expected - because we were some of the first riders, we didn't go through the Avatar tank room and in effect had the same experience as the Fastpass queue riders. Absolutely perfect if you aren't bothered about seeing the main queue, as we were done riding by 8.55am!

However, we had already ridden via FP+ so had wanted the full experience. In our case Disney Magic came to the rescue again, and the CM we spoke to at the end (we weren't complaining - just asking what time we should of arrived to go through the 'proper' queue) let us go through the Fastpass entrance, then walk 'backwards' through the queue to see the tank, and then ride the ride again! Score!

So in our case we were very, very lucky to ride FOP twice within an hour and get to see the tank etc, but for those who are getting there early another time to experience the standby line, then I reckon if we'd of been quarter of an hour later getting to the park (so 8am ish) then we'd of joined the regular queue rather than being in the first batch of riders who get to skip it.

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We are aiming to arrive for 7.30 on Friday, our first morning there so we maybe even earlier

[DisneyNikki]

this is great info. We are going on our first morning. Plan is to 'check in' the campsite at 6am. Get our Magic Bands and go straight to AK for EMA. Should be there for 6.45am.

[amy56]

Originally Posted by ah1975

We are aiming to arrive for 7.30 on Friday, our first morning there so we maybe even earlier

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That is perfect if you are wanting to get to the ride as quickly as possible and aren't worried about seeing the avatar in the tank - I reckon you might even get off the ride in time to do Navi without a walt too if you hurry!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by amy56

That is perfect if you are wanting to get to the ride as quickly as possible and aren't worried about seeing the avatar in the tank - I reckon you might even get off the ride in time to do Navi without a walt too if you hurry!

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Let's hope so, we have BOG booked for 11.20 so navi may have to wait for our fast pass later in the week :-)

[sigur]

Originally Posted by DisneyNikki

this is great info. We are going on our first morning. Plan is to 'check in' the campsite at 6am. Get our Magic Bands and go straight to AK for EMA. Should be there for 6.45am.

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Exactly the same thinking as us.

[Gelatoni]

Originally Posted by amy56

So today we decided to get to the park early so that we could ride FOP via the standby queue, so that we could see the Avatar in the tank etc.

Word of warning for anyone else that wants to do this - there is such a thing as being too early for the ride!

We arrived at the park at 7.30, were at security for 7.35pm. Bag check/security opened at 7.45 and we were the second family waiting at the Magic Band readers when they opened at 8.10am. I have a nasty blister on the bottom of one foot, so we weren't the quickest walking to the Pandora bridge (where they hold you again), but we were still in the first 100 guests to get there. We then were walked to the ride entrance and started through the standby line by around 8.35-8.40am.

Now this is where things differed than I'd expected - because we were some of the first riders, we didn't go through the Avatar tank room and in effect had the same experience as the Fastpass queue riders. Absolutely perfect if you aren't bothered about seeing the main queue, as we were done riding by 8.55am!

However, we had already ridden via FP+ so had wanted the full experience. In our case Disney Magic came to the rescue again, and the CM we spoke to at the end (we weren't complaining - just asking what time we should of arrived to go through the 'proper' queue) let us go through the Fastpass entrance, then walk 'backwards' through the queue to see the tank, and then ride the ride again! Score!

So in our case we were very, very lucky to ride FOP twice within an hour and get to see the tank etc, but for those who are getting there early another time to experience the standby line, then I reckon if we'd of been quarter of an hour later getting to the park (so 8am ish) then we'd of joined the regular queue rather than being in the first batch of riders who get to skip it.

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Thats awesome! This is why I also wanted to do FoP at rope drop to see the 'proper queue'. I hope I get a chance to see it all.

[amy56]

Originally Posted by Gelatoni

Thats awesome! This is why I also wanted to do FoP at rope drop to see the 'proper queue'. I hope I get a chance to see it all.

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I think you will be fine, and actually as you want to have the full queue experience you can actually afford to be a bit more leisurely after you get through the turnstile - it's easy to get caught up in the rush to be in the first few through the door, but I reckon if you get there at 8am and then walk to pandora at a normal pace, then whilst you will probably have 200-300 people in front of you, they will more likely of opened the regular queue by then and you can get the 'whole experience' I reckon you will still be done riding before 9.30am and you'll have done it 'properly ' too

[Gelatoni]

Originally Posted by amy56

I think you will be fine, and actually as you want to have the full queue experience you can actually afford to be a bit more leisurely after you get through the turnstile - it's easy to get caught up in the rush to be in the first few through the door, but I reckon if you get there at 8am and then walk to pandora at a normal pace, then whilst you will probably have 200-300 people in front of you, they will more likely of opened the regular queue by then and you can get the 'whole experience' I reckon you will still be done riding before 9.30am and you'll have done it 'properly ' too

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Well this is just as well as a fee in our group have mobility issues and tend to walk pretty slowly! Hopefully we will find a balance between 'proper queue' and a short wait time at rope drop