Should my son waste his time standby for FOP? (Updated!!!!)

[mommyboys3]

My son has his senior trip to Disney coming up soon. He will be in AK on Fri 4/5 with a 9 am open. The shuttle to take them to AK (staying at AS Sports) doesn't pick them up until 8:30 so they'll be way behind the rope drop crowd. He couldn't get a FP for FOP. They're only doing a 1/2 day in AK so he can't try to ride at closing and that is his only visit there during this trip.

The plan right now is to just not ride it & concentrate on the rest of the park but he's never been on FOP so if there's a chance then he'd like to try. He just doesn't want to waste what little time he has in the park waiting in line. If everything goes well with transportation I'm estimating he could get to the gate right around 9:00. How long do you think the stand by line will be by the time he gets back to FOP? Would you bother if it were you?

 

[mom2rtk]

Given those circumstances I'd probably choose not to ride, but keep refreshing the app to see if anything pops up.

 

[StacyStrong]

If he thinks it's a waste of time to wait, then I think you already have the answer because there absolutely will be a long wait. Especially with only a half day.

The ride, in my opinion, is phenomenal though.

 

[KenHutch]

Do not be surprised if the Stand By time is 120 to 180 minutes long. We managed fast pass"s but the 10 year old loved it so much she made me go back after dinner at Boma to get in the Stand By an hour before closing.

 

[TinkerPan]

That's a tough one. Under the circumstances you've outlined and given they will only have a 1/2 day I would advise to skip it. However, if it is feasible for them to take a Lyft or Uber instead of the shuttle, then I'd opt to do that and get there in well before rope drop and ride FOP.

 

[Nancyg56]

If your son thinks it is a waste of time, I would support that. If I only had 1/2 day in DAK I would not spend upwards of 2 hours waiting in a line unless I had already been on all the attractions I was interested in.

 

[PanamaMike]

Here is my recent experience.
3 of my days I arrived at AK around 7:45.
Park opening is 0900 but they open the gates at 0800 and the crowd heads to Pandora.
We were held at the bridge until 0815-0820 and then headed to the FOP.
Two mornings I was off the ride before 0900 and the third morning it was 0905.
The line of people waiting to ride as I came out over the three days was 90, 110, 135 mins long.
And again, that was right around 0900, so all those people had arrived after me but before the park had officially opened for the day.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Here is my recent experience.
3 of my days I arrived at AK around 7:45.
Park opening is 0900 but they open the gates at 0800 and the crowd heads to Pandora.
We were held at the bridge until 0815-0820 and then headed to the FOP.
Two mornings I was off the ride before 0900 and the third morning it was 0905.
The line of people waiting to ride as I came out over the three days was 90, 110, 135 mins long.
And again, that was right around 0900, so all those people had arrived after me but before the park had officially opened for the day.

To the OP, please remember, sometimes they inflate wait times in the AM too. I watched a few rope drop videos on YouTube over the last couple of days and one wait said 45 minutes, they were through and off the ride in 20 if I'm remembering correctly. Another said 40 minutes...they were on the ride within 15. With that said, Pandora is whole other can of beans. If your son is only going to be there for a 1/2 day, then no, I wouldn't do the standby, unless he's ridden everything else he's wanted to.

 

[Scar1199]

I would wait and make the call as I'm standing in front of the standby time. You never know what's going to go on that morning, so no sense making the call now. He can have a time in his head and if he gets there and it's less, then hop in line, if it's more, then move along.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

Given those circumstances I'd probably choose not to ride, but keep refreshing the app to see if anything pops up.

Just curious...have you been on the ride?

 

[mom2rtk]

Just curious...have you been on the ride?

Not yet. Hoping to go on our trip in January. But with only half a day in the park, and arriving right after the rope drop crowd, I would not choose to wait.

 

[sponica]

Will he be crushed if he doesn't go on it? I would probably wait 90-120 minutes for FOP....but not if it kept me from doing the other things i want to do in animal kingdom

 

[2rad4u]

I just left WDW last week and did FOP for the first time.

IMO, it would be worth his time to wait. It's that good.

At his age I would think FOP would be the ONE ride to wait on and the ONE must do ride for the trip to AK.

 

[DLgal]

Well, how badly does he want to ride it? Let him decide. He is a high school senior. Let him make that decision. I'm sure he and his friends will come to a consensus.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

I just left WDW last week and did FOP for the first time.

IMO, it would be worth his time to wait. It's that good.

At his age I would think FOP would be the ONE ride to wait on and the ONE must do ride for the trip to AK.

Ditto this. A fantastic ride and well worth the wait IF it 120 mins or less. The queue is excellent also.

I got on line at around 10am last summer and the sign said 120 mins. I waited exactly 60 and it didn't feel long because the queue is well themed and moves around a lot.

 

[Kelly014]

Has he been to AK regularly/will he be back again in a year or two? If he's been on other AK rides and really wants to ride FOP I'd say wait. It's an incredible ride. If he hasn't been to AK in a long time/won't be back soon and is also interested in the other rides I'd say don't wait. There are plenty of other fun parts of AK and he can still go check out Pandora.

 

[Fcarder]

Best ride ever. I would get there as early as I could and wait.

 

[JETSDAD]

For a high school aged guy? I'd guess there really are only a few other rides he would even be very interested in at AK so (and I can't believe I'm about to say this) yes, it would be worth standing in line for...that is of course unless he can get a FP for it (which I would think is quite possible night before or day of). Now if he is going to be back soon or has been on it before that could change. Then just use FP's for EE, Safari, and probably Dinosaur.

 

[mommyboys3]

Thanks for your replies! I'll give him the information & he can decide once he's there. My guess is he'd probably be OK with a 1 hr wait but not much more. We've been to Disney 5 times as a family so he's ridden everything else in AK a bunch of times. We probably won't be back for at least a year so it'll be a while before he gets another chance. He's fine missing it this time though. He's already doing a bunch of new stuff (water park & Universal). It'll probably come down to whether his friends are willing to wait. Thanks again!

 

[Skippyboo]

Does he have to take the shuttle or can he use Disney transportation to get there earlier?