Flight of Passage - Best Stand By Times?

[VIPguide_2030]

I am helping some family friends plan a trip and I have not been down for Pandora yet. They are staying off grounds so I was not able to get FP for FOP 30 days out. Is it best to get there early and be one of the first ones on or should they wait until later on? What are people on here hearing for wait times if you get there early for park opening? Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Cameron1529]

I am helping some family friends plan a trip and I have not been down for Pandora yet. They are staying off grounds so I was not able to get FP for FOP 30 days out. Is it best to get there early and be one of the first ones on or should they wait until later on? What are people on here hearing for wait times if you get there early for park opening? Any advice would be appreciated!

Generally speaking I would hold off until later in the day or even evening. The wait times are always going to be enormous for the attractions especially FOP, but that is just the nature of Pandora. It seems going straight there at rope drop is everyones plan, so I would stay away from doing that.

 

[Greg H]

When we were there over the last couple of weeks it seemed to be really long in the morning and early afternoon. We did personally observe the line getting a little shorter later afternoon. It seemed like a lot of people jumped in toward the end of the night before park close. We did find that was a good strategy for riding the river journey. We did not have that one fast passed so we jumped in the line about 30 minutes before close one weekday night and it ended up being only a 5 minute wait. We actually turned around and rode it again as the wait was still only 5 minutes. FOP is a really excellent ride though and IMO worth a wait especially if you have not done it...

 

[MickeyMomV]

Even being there first thing in the morning they could be waiting 2-3 hours. We had about a 2.5 hour wait getting in right after the start of EMH's. You can track wait times on the MDE app and see the best time to go. It they are going in the next 30 days I would anticipate long waits even at night. I don't see it slowing until after 01/09 (the Tuesday after marathon weekend). If you tell them that they will only have a 15-30 minute wait if they go at close during the holidays I think you will be setting them up for disappointment.

 

[Courtney6682]

Just curious...what's the wait WITH a FP like now? We rode it in late August and the FP wait was normal, prob 10 mins or less. We have 2 FP's for it Dec 26th and Dec 28. I know this week won't be exactly like Christmas, but I just wanted to get a roundabout idea to prepare my troops lol...

 

[21stamps]

Friends of mine arrived @ 45 minutes before rope drop and headed straight there, they were able to pretty much walk on.

I’m not a rope drop gal, imo you’re still waiting either way.. but if you really want to ride it then that’s probably your best bet.

 

[Greg H]

Just curious...what's the wait WITH a FP like now? We rode it in late August and the FP wait was normal, prob 10 mins or less. We have 2 FP's for it Dec 26th and Dec 28. I know this week won't be exactly like Christmas, but I just wanted to get a roundabout idea to prepare my troops lol...

Not long at all in our experiences. Maybe 10 minutes.

 

[Courtney6682]

Not long at all in our experiences. Maybe 10 minutes.

Wow, that's great! Thank you!!!

 

[Wngo905]

We have 2 FP's for it Dec 26th

We also have a FP for FOP on the 26th (and 24th). Any chance yours on the 24th are 8:50-9:50 am? That's when ours are

 

[Courtney6682]

We also have a FP for FOP on the 26th (and 24th). Any chance yours on the 24th are 8:50-9:50 am? That's when ours are

Dec 24th is the day we arrive, and we will be at HS around noon. Dec 26th, our FoP FP isn't until 6:35 that night. Dec 28th ours is earlier in the day! Maybe we'll see ya around somewhere else!

 

[Wngo905]

Dec 24th is the day we arrive, and we will be at HS around noon. Dec 26th, our FoP FP isn't until 6:35 that night. Dec 28th ours is earlier in the day! Maybe we'll see ya around somewhere else!

We leave sometime on the 27th to come back to the house (home is Disney I don't think we will be going to a park that day but certainly will be in the parks 21st - 26th (and maybe 20th depending on traffic). Hope to see your gang around the parks sometime 24th - 26th. We will be at AK 24th. However, Christmas we are MK in AM and probably Epcot in early PM, and back to AK on 26th (but when you are on FOP we should be heading for our 8pm ressie at HoopDeDoo.)

If you see a bald guy with a handlebar mustache, along with his wife and two early teens (boy and girl) just yell "HEY AL!!!"

 

[Courtney6682]

We leave sometime on the 27th to come back to the house (home is Disney I don't think we will be going to a park that day but certainly will be in the parks 21st - 26th (and maybe 20th depending on traffic). Hope to see your gang around the parks sometime 24th - 26th. We will be at AK 24th. However, Christmas we are MK in AM and probably Epcot in early PM, and back to AK on 26th (but when you are on FOP we should be heading for our 8pm ressie at HoopDeDoo.)

If you see a bald guy with a handlebar mustache, along with his wife and two early teens (boy and girl) just yell "HEY AL!!!"

Will do!! We are at MK Christmas Day as well!! We have FP's starting at 920...and then lunch at LTT at 1:05pm! Hope to see u all!

 

[Driver]

I have been on FOP many times. Don't be fooled by the long line in the am at rope drop. That's actually when it moves the fastest. On 12/13/17 the line snaked from the bridge to Africa all the way out to Tiffins. That's thousands of people, it turned out to be the shortest wait. A total of 70 min. What I see is fast passes are somewhat limited in the am so the standby line moves very well. In contrast I saw a very short line on Black Friday, the end of the line was well within the garden/jungle area. I thought I struck gold, the wait was 4 hrs! However what I observed was a huge amount of people walking up the FP line. That particular day I got in line around 3:00 pm. The moral of the story- morning lines move fast. Will people argue my observation of course! But I live down here and go often I have the opportunity to see how this thing ticks.

 

[DfromATX]

My plan for our trip in June is to rope drop FOP then immediately afterwards head to Navi River with minimal wait. That's what I'm shooting for anyway... I am also hoping to have an evening fast pass for FOP in case my rope drop plan doesn't work out. Best case we get to ride it twice! But, I can't do fast passes until April so we'll see how it goes. Just this morning I made our dining reservations and got everything we wanted at perfect times, so I'm hopeful.

 

[Driver]

My plan for our trip in June is to rope drop FOP then immediately afterwards head to Navi River with minimal wait. That's what I'm shooting for anyway... I am also hoping to have an evening fast pass for FOP in case my rope drop plan doesn't work out. Best case we get to ride it twice! But, I can't do fast passes until April so we'll see how it goes. Just this morning I made our dining reservations and got everything we wanted at perfect times, so I'm hopeful.

Good plan all the way, if you get to ride twice bonus!!

 

[VIPguide_2030]

Friends of mine arrived @ 45 minutes before rope drop and headed straight there, they were able to pretty much walk on.

I’m not a rope drop gal, imo you’re still waiting either way.. but if you really want to ride it then that’s probably your best bet.

I have been on FOP many times. Don't be fooled by the long line in the am at rope drop. That's actually when it moves the fastest. On 12/13/17 the line snaked from the bridge to Africa all the way out to Tiffins. That's thousands of people, it turned out to be the shortest wait. A total of 70 min. What I see is fast passes are somewhat limited in the am so the standby line moves very well. In contrast I saw a very short line on Black Friday, the end of the line was well within the garden/jungle area. I thought I struck gold, the wait was 4 hrs! However what I observed was a huge amount of people walking up the FP line. That particular day I got in line around 3:00 pm. The moral of the story- morning lines move fast. Will people argue my observation of course! But I live down here and go often I have the opportunity to see how this thing ticks.

This is what I am thinking, they are going to AK on 1/9/18 so I am going to tell them to get their rear ends in gear and get there an hour before opening and just follow the crowds to Pandora. Even if they have to wait 2-3 hours their first FP is NRJ at Noon-1 so this should give them ample time I would imagine unless it goes down. It is a few days after marathon weekend and there are no EMH at AK that day so that is best case scenario in my mind. I appreciate the advice thus far and if anyone else wants to chime in my ears are open!

 

[floridagirl57]

Does anyone have actual experience getting in line right before the park closes? I've read that potentially the wait could be an hour (or more depending on theater downtime). I really want to take a family member on it this Saturday but we weren't able to get FP (which I've been lucky enough to snag the past two times I was able to ride FOP).

 

[CoreNovawarAMM]

I am helping some family friends plan a trip and I have not been down for Pandora yet. They are staying off grounds so I was not able to get FP for FOP 30 days out. Is it best to get there early and be one of the first ones on or should they wait until later on? What are people on here hearing for wait times if you get there early for park opening? Any advice would be appreciated!

My suggestion would be to wait until evening and get in line around 15-30 min before park closing. After the park closes, there will be very few FP+ users going through. My family and I have gotten in line (right at park closing) when the stand-by time was around 140 min; we were done with the ride in under half that time.

 

[CoreNovawarAMM]

Does anyone have actual experience getting in line right before the park closes? I've read that potentially the wait could be an hour (or more depending on theater downtime). I really want to take a family member on it this Saturday but we weren't able to get FP (which I've been lucky enough to snag the past two times I was able to ride FOP).

Right before park closing is one of the best times to go on FoP, in my opinion. It usually takes around 60-90 min to get all the way through the line and the ride. My family and I have done it several times that way, and have timed it out.