Cherrymadison33
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2019
My DH and I will be going to AK for the first time in January. We will have two toddlers and an 8 year old with us.
So I know the conventional wisdom is that we are supposed to go straight to FOP at rope drop to join the rest of the herd. But because it will be our first time, and we have toddlers, we really don't want a stressful day either standing in long lines or running back and forth between "lands" trying to ride all the big rides. This is what nearly every itinerary on the net focuses on.
We couldn't snag an FOP fastpass (of course), so we are opting to just ignore the ride altogether and pretend it doesn't exist. We do have FP+ for Kilimanjaro, Navi River, and Expedition Everest. But it seems fairly easy to get FP+ for just about any ride but FOP anyway.
What would be a good strategy to rope drop the park if we are not focused on FOP? We are early morning people anyway, so rope dropping to a nearly empty park would be easy and really enjoyable for us.
Specifically, it would be nice to just enjoy each land of the park and soak it all in without running back and forth between lands. I'm thinking the best route is to go straight to Dinoland (where it should be pretty empty, and it seems best to start with what is said to be the weakest part of the park), ride Dinosaur and the other little rides, then head to Asia to Expedition Everest for the first FP and explore the other rides, then Africa to do Kilimanjaro for 2nd FP and Rafiki's Planet, then end at Na'vi River Journey for 3rd FP and explore the rest of Pandora.
The only ride that seems time dependent is Kilimanjaro. I keep reading that the animals are out early, in which case we should head there first and explore Africa before moving onto the first FP (and therefore forego it as a FP and rope drop it instead). But since we are going in January, when its cool all day, does it matter the time of day the animals are out? Is it too cool in Orlando for many of them to be out in the mornings/evenings?
So I know the conventional wisdom is that we are supposed to go straight to FOP at rope drop to join the rest of the herd. But because it will be our first time, and we have toddlers, we really don't want a stressful day either standing in long lines or running back and forth between "lands" trying to ride all the big rides. This is what nearly every itinerary on the net focuses on.
We couldn't snag an FOP fastpass (of course), so we are opting to just ignore the ride altogether and pretend it doesn't exist. We do have FP+ for Kilimanjaro, Navi River, and Expedition Everest. But it seems fairly easy to get FP+ for just about any ride but FOP anyway.
What would be a good strategy to rope drop the park if we are not focused on FOP? We are early morning people anyway, so rope dropping to a nearly empty park would be easy and really enjoyable for us.
Specifically, it would be nice to just enjoy each land of the park and soak it all in without running back and forth between lands. I'm thinking the best route is to go straight to Dinoland (where it should be pretty empty, and it seems best to start with what is said to be the weakest part of the park), ride Dinosaur and the other little rides, then head to Asia to Expedition Everest for the first FP and explore the other rides, then Africa to do Kilimanjaro for 2nd FP and Rafiki's Planet, then end at Na'vi River Journey for 3rd FP and explore the rest of Pandora.
The only ride that seems time dependent is Kilimanjaro. I keep reading that the animals are out early, in which case we should head there first and explore Africa before moving onto the first FP (and therefore forego it as a FP and rope drop it instead). But since we are going in January, when its cool all day, does it matter the time of day the animals are out? Is it too cool in Orlando for many of them to be out in the mornings/evenings?