Na'vi River Journey Planning

N

NICE8x

New Member
I just want to say that this is my first time planning a Disney vacation where I'll be staying on property and where I'll be staying for more than just a few days and everyone here has been so beyond kind and helpful so thank you!

My friend and I are going to Disney in May and I personally haven't been to Animal Kingdom since I was 5 years old (I'm 20 now lol). We are doing Animal Kingdom for one day and I'm trying to squeeze in every ride and show.

I have a FastPass for Avatar FOP luckily but that means no FastPass for Na'vi River Journey. I have an 8am character breakfast booked at the Tusker House in order to get better viewing for the River of Lights show and a 10am FastPass for DINOSAUR.

When would be the best time to try and do Na'vi River Journey? Originally I was thinking of doing it at 11:40 before our FOP Fastpass 12:30-1:30pm.

Now I'm wondering if it would be better to do it around 9am after breakfast and before DINOSAUR at 10am-11am. If we do Na'vi around 9am and DINOSAUR 10-11am will we have time to get to the 11am Finding Nemo Show?

How long will the wait be for Na'vi at 9am? 20 minutes or still an hour?

Any advice is appreciated!


EDIT: Park opens at 9am and our breakfast is at 8am in case that wasn't clear
 
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JillC LI

JillC LI

Well-Known Member
Do you have a FP for Nemo? If not, then you will want to use your Dinosaur FP at 10am to make sure you get into the 11am Nemo show. Breakfast probably won't end before 9-9:15am which probably doesn't give you enough time for Na'vi then. When you get out of Nemo, you can check what the standby wait is for Na'vi but I suspect you won't make it before 1:30 when your FOP FP period ends. As a result, I'd do one of the following: (1) go to Na'vi closer to closing; or (2) switch your ROL breakfast package to lunch or dinner, and then do Na'vi at rope drop.
 
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LeighM

LeighM

Well-Known Member
We were just there last week and there were long lines for Navi all week. We got there when AK opened for EMH at 7am and rode twice back to back with no wait. Later in the day the waits were consistently about 2 hours. If you can't do it at rope drop then end of day might be your best bet. I've had breakfast at Tusker House on a couple of occassions and unless you eat fast, an hour might not be enough time if you want to see the characters and have a relaxing meal. See if you can move to lunch or get a FP for Rivers of Light. More open closer to the time. Or if the show is that important, cancel FP for Dinosaur and get for Rivers of Light and do Dinosaur standby. We had FP for Flights of Passage but even with Fastpasses, we still waited 45 minutes before getting onto the ride.
 
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brifraz

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
If I was you (which I'm not, but it's certainly fun to pretend), here's what I would do...

Move Tusker House reservation to 9:30am. Move Dinosaur FP+ to 11:30am-12:30pm.

Get to AK at 8:15am and when gates open head to River Journey right away. The vast majority of the crowd will be going to FOP, so you should be able to get in with only about 10 minute wait and some mornings they even open it up before park opening. Then go to breakfast - if you got through the River quick, they will seat you early. After breakfast, head right to the 11am Nemo show (gives you time to digest). That show rarely has a huge crowd and we have snuck in right at showtime before. After Nemo, go do Dinosaur with FP+ and then FOP with FP+ (maybe Tough to Be a Bug between the two). If you are getting hungry, you exit FOP right at Situli and can grab a bite!

Granted, we are fast eaters and park commandos, so brisk walks across the park are not an issue for us! Have fun planning!
 
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W

WDWFan2018

Active Member
You might have good luck at rope drop since most people head to FOP. Near closing might also be good. TBH, I would not wait in a long line for the Na'vi ride. We rode it in February and it really isn't worth it. It's a nice, relaxing boat ride with nice colours.....but it's really short. I'd wait 20 minutes or so but no way would I wait 90 minutes for that ride.
 
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yensid67

yensid67

Well-Known Member
So the majority is saying to do FOP at rope drop, get a FP or do it at park close? I am asking so I know what plan to make for our trip!
 
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W

WDWFan2018

Active Member
yensid67 said:
So the majority is saying to do FOP at rope drop, get a FP or do it at park close? I am asking so I know what plan to make for our trip!
Click to expand...

FOP might be a different story. I think Na'vi at rope drop would be good but everyone seems to go right for FOP at rope drop. I don't know what the FOP line looks like at rope drop but we got there about a half hour later and the wait was 3 hours!! It did seem to get better throughout the day but never got below 2 hours. You might have better luck at closing but I'm not sure.
 
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DfromATX

DfromATX

Well-Known Member
yensid67 said:
So the majority is saying to do FOP at rope drop, get a FP or do it at park close? I am asking so I know what plan to make for our trip!
Click to expand...

I get to make our fast passes on Sunday!! I have thought about my strategy and I think I will *try* to get fast passes for FOP for around 9:30/10 and rope drop Navi River. I originally wanted to rope drop FOP and then do stand by for the Navi River, but as others have said, most everyone will head to FOP first. I'm crossing my fingers...
 
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yensid67

yensid67

Well-Known Member
OK Thanks guys. Here's my plan that I will have to make a note of since we are not going until May 2019! We will plan to get FP for FOP during the day and do Navi at the end of the night before or after Rivers of Light!
 
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