FP for Avatar

[Demeter Tess]

As an update, I was at Animal Kingdom last Friday. EMH began at 8am, so we arrived at the park around 7:30am. Immediately we were shuffled into a queue for Flight of Passage that stretched down to Africa. Once EMH started, the queue moved quickly and we were off the ride by 8:30am or thereabouts. They were not using all of the interior queue, which was a bit of a bummer since I love the laboratory scene. By the time the park opened, the queue was already up to 180 minutes. So my best advice would be to utilize EMH if you are staying on property, otherwise plan to rope drop on a non-EMH day. In either case arrive 30-60 minutes early to account for the queue.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Im going to assume fast passes for the two new Avatar rides are booking months in advance? I'll be purchasing a one or two day ticket today and was wondering how far ahead they were booked!

Somehow I was able to snag two FP+s for me and my friend for Flight of Passage a week before our vacation! However, I will say we tried CONSTANTLY to change the time throughout the week because it was at like. 8:30 pm. There were never any other times available.

So I don't want to say it's impossible per say... But you could be lucky like we were and snag a couple!

 

[GoofGoof]

Somehow I was able to snag two FP+s for me and my friend for Flight of Passage a week before our vacation! However, I will say we tried CONSTANTLY to change the time throughout the week because it was at like. 8:30 pm. There were never any other times available.

So I don't want to say it's impossible per say... But you could be lucky like we were and snag a couple!

I assume someone probably cancelled or changed their reservation and it freed up. It’s always worth continuing to check.

During the rollout of FP+ there was some speculation that they could possibly hold back a small number of FP reservations until the same day for day guests who didn’t book ahead but I don’t think that ever happened.

 

[twebber55]

So you still wait at least 90 minutes. What is the point of rope dropping? 90 minutes at the front of the park sweltering in the sun or 120 minutes or so in a A/C que?

the difference is that when you get off FOP the rest of the park will be a walk on for the next hour or two

 

[dennis-in-ct]

I tried for Flight Of Passage for our two-day stay the second our 60 day window opened and none were available.
What happened to a relaxing vacation that does not make me need an excel spreadsheet to “plan”.
The aggressive planning and “RULES” kind of sucks the joy out of a vacation. And learning all the RULES and ways around the rules sets the terms in Disney’s favor and not me - the money spending customer ... hmmmm
I think this is a set-up for a paid Fastpass system. Would you like a FoP fastpass? That will be 25.00 pp
I must say my last visit to universal was a breath of fresh air. We showed up at the park and wandered and randomly decided to ride an attraction when we happened to be in that area and it worked out just fine. No stress. It was actually very nice.

 

[larryz]

I think this is a set-up for a paid Fastpass system. Would you like a FoP fastpass? That will be 25.00 pp

They've already monetized it -- the "Ultimate Nights of Adventure" VIP tour, $249 per person (theme park admission required). FP line admission to all the E tickets at AK...

 

[danheaton]

I tried for Flight Of Passage for our two-day stay the second our 60 day window opened and none were available.
What happened to a relaxing vacation that does not make me need an excel spreadsheet to “plan”.
The aggressive planning and “RULES” kind of sucks the joy out of a vacation. And learning all the RULES and ways around the rules sets the terms in Disney’s favor and not me - the money spending customer ... hmmmm
I think this is a set-up for a paid Fastpass system. Would you like a FoP fastpass? That will be 25.00 pp
I must say my last visit to universal was a breath of fresh air. We showed up at the park and wandered and randomly decided to ride an attraction when we happened to be in that area and it worked out just fine. No stress. It was actually very nice.

Disney messed up with the capacity for the new Pandora attractions. These needed to be at least over 2,000 riders per hour, more in line with Forbidden Journey when it opened. I do wonder if Disney is purposefully not going over board with capacity. This increases the need for FPs, makes people need to stay on site, etc.

 

[beachlover4444]

I went on at 7am at the 60 day mark and couldn’t get FP for FoP for the first half of my week long trip in November. I’m going Saturday to Saturday and was able to get one for Friday. Navi River was available all 8 days.

I usually try at midnight to book my fastpasses. Are they making you wait til 7 am now?

 

[beachlover4444]

Disney messed up with the capacity for the new Pandora attractions. These needed to be at least over 2,000 riders per hour, more in line with Forbidden Journey when it opened. I do wonder if Disney is purposefully not going over board with capacity. This increases the need for FPs, makes people need to stay on site, etc.

When you build the queue to handle a 3 to 4 hour wait they knew exactly what they were doing and expecting the lines to be that long. that's horrible.

 

[Tuvalu]

I usually try at midnight to book my fastpasses. Are they making you wait til 7 am now?

Fastpass window is 7 am not midnight anymore.

 

[beachlover4444]

Fastpass window is 7 am not midnight anymore.

good to know

 

[danheaton]

When you build the queue to handle a 3 to 4 hour wait they knew exactly what they were doing and expecting the lines to be that long. that's horrible.

Right. I've read some convincing arguments that Disney wants people to rely on FP+, which encourages them to stay at their on-site resorts and get the 60-day window. Therefore, they feel less pressure to work on high capacities. It's going to be interesting (and possibly painful) to see what happens when Galaxy's Edge opens.

 

[GoofGoof]

I usually try at midnight to book my fastpasses. Are they making you wait til 7 am now?

If midnight works that’s news to me. I logged in right before 7am est and it wasn’t available yet. I refreshed at 7am and it popped up. Disney IT is incredibly bad so it wouldn’t surprise me if some people could randomly get in earlier.

 

[neoshinok]

Today was my first time seeing availability for FoP at the 30 day mark! Our silver pass blackout ends Jan 2nd, checked around 3pm today on a whim, and there was crazy openings for morning/afternoon spots for both Avatar rides, as well as the Mine Train and Frozen. Guess it'll be a slow week?

 

[GoofGoof]

Today was my first time seeing availability for FoP at the 30 day mark! Our silver pass blackout ends Jan 2nd, checked around 3pm today on a whim, and there was crazy openings for morning/afternoon spots for both Avatar rides, as well as the Mine Train and Frozen. Guess it'll be a slow week?

Before I had kids the week after New Years was my go to time at WDW. Very low crowds since kids all go back to school and they kept the Christmas lights up for at least part of the week. The marathon weekend draws a big crowd now in Jan but I guess there’s still some down time. Good to know.

 

[MickeyMomV]

We actually did FoP 3 times and the NRJ 2 times on our trip last week. We booked the first FP at the 60 mark and got them for day 4 (FoP) and Day 6 (NRJ) of our trip. We received open fast passes shortly after check in when we found out they accidently downgraded our room at POR. After they put us in the room we paid for they gave us extra FP's to make up for the time and trouble (and no we didn't stomp our feet and scream give us free stuff. The Cast member felt so bad because We decided to wait in the line for another ride on FoP and we wanted to see the line queue. We got there at 8:10 am during the 8:00 am EMH and the line at 8:15 started right over the bridge to Pandora went down one side of a access path to the bathrooms behind Festival of the Lion King and back up the other side then is wrapped around outside a bit before going inside. I would say only 1/3 of the line queue was being used inside. In the end I think it was about 2-2.5 hours. The line seemed to go pretty fast as we were always moving. If we had been stuck in the same area inside walking up and down a queue I think it would have seemed a lot longer.

 

[Kristamouse]

Did you get them for the first day of your trip or one of the later days?

Is your name based on the Best Christmas Pagent Ever? My son was Ralphie in the play last month

 

[Herdman]

Is your name based on the Best Christmas Pagent Ever? My son was Ralphie in the play last month

Haha, no it's not, but my daughter was once in the chorus for that play. I am a proud graduate of Marshall University, the home of the Thundering Herd, hence my name here.

 

[clarabellej]

Im going to assume fast passes for the two new Avatar rides are booking months in advance? I'll be purchasing a one or two day ticket today and was wondering how far ahead they were booked!

Read where during Christmas vacation someone was able to get a few “day of” by checking on MDE app and constantly refreshing. They were party of 2, so maybe that helped.

I am almost to my FP selection window (Jan 10th!!!!!) and not having park hopper ticket is becoming a big concern.

I have a few BOG lunches peppered here and there. Knowing that where the elusive FOP FP turns up will very much determine our park of the day plans.

Concerned with how hard it is to switch parks while in the FP selection process, never having done it before.

I know that having AK as a first park in our 6 day touring plan is not a good idea. So I plan on doing it all from back to front in hopes of getting our FOP FPs. Hoping my strategy works.

Kind of bugs me though, bc we like to have a repeat trip to MK as our last park.

A few new things for us this March. HEA & FOP very excited. Not sure which I am more bothered by: no more Ellen Dinosaurs or “Orange Man” (my grandson’s term) in Hall of the President’s.

What a mixed bag!!!