Avatar without a FP+ and not much time??

[OhhBother]

We went on a last-minute trip a couple of weeks ago. Went to evening EMH at Hollywood Studios and kept trying for FOP FPs for the next morning while standing in line. Finally, around midnight, I grabbed two for 10-11 the next morning. They are available. It just takes persistence. We get day-of FOP FPs on every trip without fail. You just have to work at it.

 

[wildekatza]

Last Tuesday we got to park gates just before 9am and wait time was already 120 by the time we got to AFOP. After our afternoon ROL FP posted wait down to 95 so we joined, and it was pretty accurate... as luck would have it a heavy shower arrived just as we got to the indoor part of the line, and had stopped by the time we got off the ride

Holy Cannoli! 120 minutes at open? I know, no matter how awesome the ride is, DH will never wait for it that long.

I think we may just try the last minute/end of the day scenario on a different day so we can see the RoL show, too. Worst comes to worst, we will be in THAT line for 120 minutes. I have to say, you have better luck than we do. We stand in line for rides over an hour and it never fails, it either breaks down or rain cancels the ride until all threats have passed.

 

[wildekatza]

We went on a last-minute trip a couple of weeks ago. Went to evening EMH at Hollywood Studios and kept trying for FOP FPs for the next morning while standing in line. Finally, around midnight, I grabbed two for 10-11 the next morning. They are available. It just takes persistence. We get day-of FOP FPs on every trip without fail. You just have to work at it.

Okay, so I will just keep trying to work that pass system. This is the entire reason we quit WDW over 2 years ago and switched to DL because of this FP+ system. Regular rides we could just walk onto are now wait lines and we spend half our trip attempting to get fast passes for stuff we would never have ridden before or don't even care for, but are now forced to because everything else is jammed.

 

[AJT607]

I think FOP opens every day with a "posted" wait of 90 minutes or so. The strategy about arriving ~1 hour before park open is the best one. Last year, we visited on a morning with extra magic hours starting at 8AM and got to the ticket booths at 6:55AM. My wife told me 'I think we overshot this a little bit' - but 10 minutes later, they opened the gates and started letting the crowd in to the park. The folks showing up at 8AM then showed up to find the 120 minute line previously mentioned, while we were on and off the ride before 8AM when the park was expected to open.

If you rope drop and are there early, don't be alarmed at the crowds and line outside of the show building in Pandora. Nearly everyone stops in the queue to take a photo just outside of the show building and it slows everyone behind them down. In the morning, once you reach the building, you are usually going to be able to ride within 10-15 minutes.

 

[Magical2017]

We were at AK today. We slept in and arrived at opening at 9am. Walked onto FOP. Went to Navi. It said a 10 min. standdby. Walked on. Went to Everest. It also said standby 10 min. Walked on. Then we used our EE FP. Went to eat at TH and then used FOP FP. Standby line was 150 min at this point. Used our third FP for Kali, then used refresh. Scored a FOP FP for this evening. The longest line was a third and fourth EE ride in between. 25 min. and 30 min. wait. It was a lot of criss-crossing but worth it.

We also rode Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur. We left at 2:30.

 

[wildekatza]

We were at AK today. We slept in and arrived at opening at 9am. Walked onto FOP. Went to Navi. It said a 10 min. standdby. Walked on. Went to Everest. It also said standby 10 min. Walked on. Then we used our EE FP. Went to eat at TH and then used FOP FP. Standby line was 150 min at this point. Used our third FP for Kali, then used refresh. Scored a FOP FP for this evening. The longest line was a third and fourth EE ride in between. 25 min. and 30 min. wait. It was a lot of criss-crossing but worth it.

We also rode Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur. We left at 2:30.

Oh, Man, Magical2017...you give me hope. I was looking at the crowd calendars for next week and it is supposed to be relatively light Wed-Friday so that is what I am banking on. I am going to do the rope drop the day after we arrive then probably hit HS and see if we can get on SDD and if not, no big deal, at least we did our main thing which was FoP!!! Especially since AK is our least favorite park. We usually go, spend about 2 hours there riding Everest and then bail for another park. Pitiful but it is just too hot and the smell of the animals wigs me out when it is hot.

 

[wildekatza]

I think FOP opens every day with a "posted" wait of 90 minutes or so. The strategy about arriving ~1 hour before park open is the best one. Last year, we visited on a morning with extra magic hours starting at 8AM and got to the ticket booths at 6:55AM. My wife told me 'I think we overshot this a little bit' - but 10 minutes later, they opened the gates and started letting the crowd in to the park. The folks showing up at 8AM then showed up to find the 120 minute line previously mentioned, while we were on and off the ride before 8AM when the park was expected to open.

If you rope drop and are there early, don't be alarmed at the crowds and line outside of the show building in Pandora. Nearly everyone stops in the queue to take a photo just outside of the show building and it slows everyone behind them down. In the morning, once you reach the building, you are usually going to be able to ride within 10-15 minutes.

So are you saying that I can bypass those photo shoots? Thanks for letting me know this. I think we have done the before park opens once before at AK under the guise that they let people in earlier than the posted open times if there is a crowd. Can't remember exactly why we did that, but I remember it only being a 30 minute wait prior to RD. I am planning on toting DH's coffee and breakfast!