We arrived at the park last week 45 minutes before rope drop and were fine, and that's with Spring Break crowds. We were finished the ride by 8:30. The only downside to that was they put us through the FP line, so we missed the amazing queue. A couple of days later, the wait time was *only* 105 minutes, so I decided to join the line. So worth it. The queue is absolutely amazing. So much to see that I don't know how you could really enjoy it in under 40 minutes. So, rope drop is your best bet for getting the ride done, but you may also want to keep watching for opportunities mid day when the crowd may thin out a bit as early morning Pandora visitors make their way into the rest of the park.