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

[mommyboys3]

I should have probably added that the 2nd half of their day is MK & that's where they made their FP for. So, no FP possibility for day of at AK.

 

[cruisin5]

I should have probably added that the 2nd half of their day is MK & that's where they made their FP for. So, no FP possibility for day of at AK.

Given that FP for AK is not an option, would he prefer to wait 60/90 minutes for EE or 120/180 for FOP? FOP in a heartbeat. Without any FPs, he'd probably only get two "big" rides (EE, KS, Dino, Kali) and then some smaller ones (ITTBAB, PW). I'd trade those for FOP.

I'm assuming by half day he will be leaving about 2?

 

[gharter]

It really depends how badly he wants to ride.
Arriving that late, best case is the line is 90-120 minutes. With only a 1/2 day there, if he wants to spend most of it in line for one ride, thats his choice.
The ride is really good, but I wouldn't spend most of my one day in line for just that ride. By the time he gets off the ride, the other lines will be long as well.
I would skip FoP, go do EE, Dinosaur, Safari and whtever else he can do in that amount of time.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm in the camp of just manage expectations.

You aren't going to actually know what the wait time will be until he gets there at AK in the morning and throughout the time he is there before he goes to MK.

I wouldn't rule it out NOW, I'd just consider it may have a long wait which would reduce his ability to do other things.

I'm going to guess that since he's been before with the ability to ride other rides before that may help in deciding but being with his friends may be the bigger deciding factor. If his friends really want to ride it, he really wants to ride it, then it may not matter the time (up to a point though since he still needs to get to MK). If his friends don't really want to ride it and he's ok with that, then it may not matter all the concern over the wait time.

 

[DLgal]

Given that FP for AK is not an option, would he prefer to wait 60/90 minutes for EE or 120/180 for FOP? FOP in a heartbeat. Without any FPs, he'd probably only get two "big" rides (EE, KS, Dino, Kali) and then some smaller ones (ITTBAB, PW). I'd trade those for FOP.

I'm assuming by half day he will be leaving about 2?

He can single rider Everest and Kali.

 

[cruisin5]

Does he know how to use the app to check wait times?

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I'm confused about the timing...
If he is staying at AS Sports then why isn't he using Disney transportation to arrive before RD?

If he wants to go on the ride then he's not "wasting his time". Its all about opportunity costs.

 

[skippytx]

Depends. If he's visited AK before and done all the rides except FOP, it could be worth it.

I went to AK in Sept 2017 for a single day with some folks from work, we were all at an IT conference and played hooky the last day to go see Pandora. I hadn't been to WDW since Pandora opened, but I had experienced everything else at AK.

We waited over 3 hours to ride FOP, and it was worth it for the first experience. I would never wait that long to ride it again, I'm pretty sure I've been on it like a dozen times now so I only ride it if I can get a FP+ it now.

 

[hello starshine]

Given that you guys have been to AK before and you said he's rode all the other rides, I would probably wait for FOP unless the wait was already at 3+ hours by the time they get there. The reason is I'm not sure what else he'd do in AK if he's fine with skipping the rides he's already been on. FOP is a gorgeous ride and I didn't realize it until I got there, but you can actually see a lot of Pandora from the outside portion of the queue. I never got to see the interior rooms of it but I have heard those are interesting too. If everybody else in his group is fine with skipping the rest of AK than I think it's worth the wait.

 

[Toolulu22]

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!

I just rode FOP for the first time. We had FP. The standby line was way longer than I would have waited. I know that I am in the minority here, but though I enjoyed the ride and would do it again- to me it is over rated. If you all are going again in a year, do it then- when everyone is over in HS.

Good advice though- to let he and his friends decide. Maybe they will end up getting there a bit earlier, and can closer to the front of the line. You never know.

 

[cmwade77]

Also, check the wait time, it may be so long that he can't do it anyway.

 

[ktlm]

Hands down most impressive ride I have ever been on- but the decision for him is likely is it so important that I want to ride FOP and do nothing else or do I want to see AK. It is a shame their FPs are for later because he might have been able to refresh modify and pick up a single. We were there on a moderate crowd day in October and the line ranged from 120 to 180 minutes for most of the day. We had a FP for it, but we also were able to pick up FPs for it using modify and refresh to ride it again

 

[mom2rtk]

Also, check the wait time, it may be so long that he can't do it anyway.

I had that same concern. Given that it's spring break season, waits might be higher than average. The worst thing would be to spend a bunch of time waiting then end up having to bail because of a required time to leave the park.

I'm confused about the timing...
If he is staying at AS Sports then why isn't he using Disney transportation to arrive before RD?

If he wants to go on the ride then he's not "wasting his time". Its all about opportunity costs.

If it's a school trip, then he might have limits on what he's allowed to do for transportation.

 

[North of Mouse]

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?

Only if that is the ONLY ride he wants to ride while there, as it will take most of his time in the park. No ride is worth that!

 

[twodogs]

I’d say wait for FOP. Since he’s already ridden all the other rides (and there are just a few anyway), and has never experienced FOP (one of the best, if not the best, rides in Disney World IMO), then wait for it. He could do Single Rider for EE. The only other ride I can imagine an 18 year boy wanting to ride is Dinosaur, which often has decent stand by waits or could just be skipped. He would miss shows or walking around the park, but for an 18 yo boy, I would think FOP would be preferred over that anyway. Since I have ridden FOP (with FP) many times, I personally would not wait SB for it, but his circumstances are much different. Hope he has a blast either way!

 

[Disneypro1]

Sound like he needs to decide......for himself.
when i was that age.....No i would not wait..id do other stuff.

 

[AngiTN]

Because he has ridden everything else at AK and because he hasn't ridden FoP I think he should stand in the line and ride it. I'd go straight there.

I mean, if he's not going to stand in line for FoP what is he going to do? Does he have an agenda for what he does want to do there that day?

But first, I'd see if there's any option for him to take an earlier bus to AK. If they will give them the option to go earlier, and he wants to, then that's what I'd try.

 

[fractalpotato]

I'm going to go against the grain a bit here. It's not that good.

It's not.

It's very, very, very cool. It's very well done and extremely enjoyable. It's not four hour wait good. It's not even two hour wait good. It's especially not two-hour-wait when it's your only chance to do other rides good. I'm a little frustrated at the posters dismissing completely reasonable suggestions to not burn what is effectively their entire park day with "you mustn't have ridden it" because it really just isn't that good.

@mommyboys3, unless you're just never going back to Disney World again, I would advise your son skip it. If I, on a school trip, spent most of my day at a park waiting for FoP instead of being with my friends, I would be disappointed and it would sour the ride for me forever.

EDIT TO ADD: Due to FoP absorbing the near entirety of the rope drop crowd, you can blast through the other popular attractions in AK during the first 90 minutes to 120 minutes of park open time. You could hit literally every other major ride in the park before going to another park for more fun. I think the idea of passing that up to ride one ride once that isn't going anywhere anytime soon would be foolish.

Matt

 

[Mome Rath]

If I were his age and in his circumstances, I'd wait in line for FoP. It's hands down the best ride in any theme park at the moment. However, that's me. He's old enough to make the decision and will probably just do whatever him and his friends decide, which is perfectly ok.

 

[CAS239]

He can single rider Everest and Kali.

There's no single rider line for Kali River rapids.

The only Disney rides with single rider is Expedition Everest, Test Track, and Rockin Rollercoaster