No flight of passage fast passes

[Hisgirl]

We were there last week and the wait times for Flight of Passage were five hours (FIVE HOURS!) when we left one day. We did have a FP and rode it and yes, it is worth a wait in line but nothing is worth five hours. I checked the wait times later that night and they were considerably less. I would watch wait times now, while you are home, and find out what times are doable for you. Then plan accordingly.

Hour long wait times were common throughout our stay and you had to work strategy for sure. But getting there at rope drop is the key.

 

[KimBean]

Talked to someone who got their FP's this morning and FOP was available every day of their trip. Weird.

 

[KimBean]

We were there last week and the wait times for Flight of Passage were five hours (FIVE HOURS!) when we left one day. We did have a FP and rode it and yes, it is worth a wait in line but nothing is worth five hours. I checked the wait times later that night and they were considerably less. I would watch wait times now, while you are home, and find out what times are doable for you. Then plan accordingly.

Hour long wait times were common throughout our stay and you had to work strategy for sure. But getting there at rope drop is the key.

If this is true then Disney is lying on their app. I've been checking MDE a few times a day and never seen it over 150 minutes.

 

[KimBean]

We were there last week and the wait times for Flight of Passage were five hours (FIVE HOURS!) when we left one day. We did have a FP and rode it and yes, it is worth a wait in line but nothing is worth five hours. I checked the wait times later that night and they were considerably less. I would watch wait times now, while you are home, and find out what times are doable for you. Then plan accordingly.

Hour long wait times were common throughout our stay and you had to work strategy for sure. But getting there at rope drop is the key.

Ok, went on TP to get more intel. You had to have been there on June 27th... The average wait time was 4 hours. I don't know why that day was so bad but here was the rest of the week:

6/25 - 97 minutes
6/26 - 140 minutes
6/28 - 116 minutes
6/29 - 115 minutes
6/30 - 114 minutes
7/1 - 104 minutes

This is average so much longer then if you rope drop it. I post this only to encourage non panicking about FOP wait times and FP's. This will settle to 7DMT wait times in no time I believe.

 

[wdhinn89]

We planned on going to AK 1 night (our first day at Disney) and 1 day. At 60 days out, there were no FP for FOP on our first night so I got NRJ. We were able to get a FP for FOP on our 63rd day.

 

[tlmadden73]

Between having to persistently check for ADR cancellations and FP cancellations, these issues are taking up too much real life time. We are forced to become obsessed "stalkers" and, say what you want, Disney vacations are becoming super tedious to plan. My SIL just pointed this out the other day. At the price we all pay for admission, how normal is it that we can't experience everything we want without waiting in line for hours and pre-planning our park visits down to the minute months in advance? And can you imagine how much busier things are going to get when Star Wars land is going to open? Talk about a planning nightmare!

There are other options:
1) Set expectations .. KNOW you are going to wait in long lines for THE most popular ride (or restaurant) in the parks currently and know you may not get a Fast pass for it.
I didn't go on Toy Story for YEARS because the lines were too long and I never wanted to "rush" to get an old paper fast pass.

2) Don't obsess .. make a loose plan and go with it. I bet you'll still have a good time. You don't have to persistently check for ADR cancellations and FP cancellations.

3) There is a way to experience everything you want .. it just costs more money (like everything in life). Stay for a super long vacation -- get a private tour, get a vacation planner to do all that obsessing for you.

A lot of people like the ability to spend an hour or so days in advance to plan a few things and then sit back and relax when the vacation day actually comes. I know I do. I enjoy knowing that I can skip the line of 7DMT without worrying what the wait will be that day. And all it took me was getting up early one morning.

That being said .. YES .. DHS will be an insane park once both Star Wars and Toy Story Land are done .. but think about how many new attractions and restaurants that park will have? That (in theory) should make getting Fast Passes easier.

 

[Skippyboo]

Name a place where you can do everything you want to do and don't have to wait in line. Disney doesn't charge for the fast pass system unlike Universal and even at Universal the Express pass does not work for the two Harry Potter rides which means you still have to stand in line.

 

[flortlebap]

Name a place where you can do everything you want to do and don't have to wait in line. Disney doesn't charge for the fast pass system unlike Universal and even at Universal the Express pass does not work for the two Harry Potter rides which means you still have to stand in line.

EP is accepted at the HP rides at Universal right now.

 

[Dsny4fun]

I booked my fast passes today 60 days in advance and there were no fop fast passes at 7am. I should've known better and checked each day of my vacation but I was trying to get into work and I only checked the days we are going to AK. I'm so disappointed. What's the likelihood that I can be there close to park opening and not have to wait forever. If park is scheduled to open at 8. Does it actually open at 8 or earlier?

I booked mine today and got FOP for fri 9/8 & Sun 9/10 and there were a lot of times to choose from

 

[MrInfinity]

You can still go to Disney and not plan anything and still do every rides you want. Only a handful of rides always have an hour wait, and are usually doable in the morning or late at night.

There are other options:
2) Don't obsess .. make a loose plan and go with it. I bet you'll still have a good time. You don't have to persistently check for ADR cancellations and FP cancellations.
A lot of people like the ability to spend an hour or so days in advance to plan a few things and then sit back and relax when the vacation day actually comes.

Agree, Disney World is not that complicated. With a little theme park sense and planning you can avoid most lines.

What's the likelihood that I can be there close to park opening and not have to wait forever. If park is scheduled to open at 8. Does it actually open at 8 or earlier?

When we went they let people in 15 min early and held them at the entrance to Pandora, then just before open moved up to holding at the entrance to AFP but if you aren't doing a ride you can go walk around. There is absolutely no need to get there 90 min before park opening. We've never gone to a park 90 min early -- half-hour tops. Wouldn't that be waiting in line when you don't have to? We got there 15 min before park opened, saw they had just let the guests in so we thought we were hosed, but we just went in, caught up to the 2nd hold point, waited for the park to open, and got on the ride in around 30 min. Remember at this early time the ride is doing 100% standby so the initial wave moves thru fast. This was on an EMH morning, so utilize those if you can and you'll get on fine. We then went to the Rivers ride and got on that in 30 min too. Once EMH passes the line quickly built to 3 hours so be anywhere in that first wave and you're good. Have fun!

 

[scard192]

I booked my fast passes today 60 days in advance and there were no fop fast passes at 7am. I should've known better and checked each day of my vacation but I was trying to get into work and I only checked the days we are going to AK. I'm so disappointed. What's the likelihood that I can be there close to park opening and not have to wait forever. If park is scheduled to open at 8. Does it actually open at 8 or earlier]
oops, your dates are September, not August

 

[WantToGoNow]

I booked my FP yesterday and there were several choices of time. We checked for 9-5 and there were still 3 afternoon slits when I looked today (trying to move earlier in the day).

 

[fractalpotato]

I just booked our 60 day FPs and had no problem getting anything we wanted, including FoP. Same with ADRs, we've been shuffling them a few times for our trip well past the six month mark, the only thing not available so far has been BoG. I am not saying those that experienced pain points are having false experiences but I do believe that's the exception and not the rule.

However, and I think this is important, even if the rule was that FoP is nearly incapable of being booked and wait times were never less than five hours, I'm not sure what to tell you. I mean, the folks at Disney are pretty smart, they've probably thought about this, it's the most popular thing in the entirety of Walt Disney World right now. What would you have them do? Make less interesting rides? It's a mathematical certainty that not everyone can have a FastPass for it, it's a mathematical certainty that there is some absolute maximum number of daily riders that can flow through any one ride. Disney offers FP+ for free, at varying levels depending on whether you stay with them. What else would you have them do? People complain, but nobody ever suggests a fleshed out solution.

Disney wants happy guests, if there was a way to accommodate more people on their popular rides and get more bodies in the parks and gift shops, they'd do it. I wish I could walk on to every ride and walk in to every restaurant in the World without having to wait ever, but the reality is there are more people that want to do that than can physically do so and that's not an error on Disney's part. I am glad they give me the opportunity to try and lock in a spot now so I don't have to worry about it later. I'd have been frustrated if I wasn't able to, but I certainly wouldn't hold them in contempt for it. It's all about personal value, if the cost and effort for what you consider a satisfactory Disney trip is too high, that's completely fair, but it's not their fault. Could they charge less? Sure, but that would only make your ability to get on these rides worse, would you'd prefer that? A discount in exchange for not riding the most popular ride in the whole place easily? That's about the only thing they could offer, and their shareholders would get pretty cranky

Please don't take this as me dismissing your feelings, they're valid frustrations and concerns, and I sympathize. I've missed out on some favorites before because I had to trade off the ride I really wanted for the one I had time for, it's a lousy feeling and can hurt some of the magic. I am merely hoping some perspective may help you feel better about it and be able to enjoy your trip more. There are so many wonderful experiences to be had in WDW, I would hope missing out on the newest one won't sour the rest for you! The good news about the whole thing is with everybody and their brother flocking to DAK, the other wait times all seem to be dropping. Less than a month ago I was at the World and I practically walked on to several favorites that would been non-starters without a FastPass even a year ago.

Matt

 

[JungleCruiseFan]

My brother in law is going July 18-28 and I helped set up fast passes for him. It was a last minute decision so a little late to make fastpasses. 2 days ago there were no FOP fastpasses for any day of his trip, then yesterday there were open times on July 22nd for every half hour for the entire day!!!
It is a pain to go back and check but it often works out.
I didn't get a chance to read the whole thread so not sure if you got any but hope you do!

 

[KristyBox]

Keep trying. We got a FP+ for River on one day and FOP another. But my kiddo gets a DAS and we do rope drop, so we might DAS (disability pass) FOP, use our River pass, then go to FOP. If we do that, we'll definitely cancel our next day FOP FP+ because we don't want to spend two days in Animal Kingdom. My kid CANNOT wait in lines for long, so we are only doing it if the line is under an hour, but should be right at rope drop! That means someone else will be able to pick up that FP.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I booked my fast passes today 60 days in advance and there were no fop fast passes at 7am. I should've known better and checked each day of my vacation but I was trying to get into work and I only checked the days we are going to AK. I'm so disappointed. What's the likelihood that I can be there close to park opening and not have to wait forever. If park is scheduled to open at 8. Does it actually open at 8 or earlier?

The day we went to AK (June 29), the park was due to open at 8:00. We took the first bus from our resort and arrived at the gate at 6:58 (yes, I wanted to be in the first rush). We arrived at the gate just as they opened (7:12 am). We were allowed into the bridge to Pandora and held there until 7:21. Then we were allowed to cross the bridge and held at the entrance to the land itself until 7:38. From there we walked directly to FoP and through the standby line (basically straight walking, no stops). Arrived at the Lab area (in the queue, where we merge with FP line) 7:55. Still moving, however.

We were sorted into our levels at 7:57, and into the room where we actually stand on the numbers at 7:59. We were off the ride by 8:15.

 

[fla4fun]

Keep checking even as it gets close! People may change plans.

I agree. Of course, it depends on your party size, but I was looking at availability for next week, just on a whim, and I could have booked a FoP FP+ for myself if I wanted to. It was an evening one (I want to say around 6pm), but I was a little surprised to see it pop up.

 

[fractalpotato]

For what it's worth, I'm seeing a lot of availability during the first weeks of September right now, which just opened for us yesterday, you should definitely check again!

EDIT: Specifically I see several afternoon slots for 9/6, 9/7 and 9/8.

Matt

 

[SG131]

I had problems with the last week of August too (hopefully that doesn't mean it will be more crowded than usual....). Our arrival date is 8/25. When I made 60 day fastpasses I could not get it on our original planned day (day 64, also an emh day which I think was part of the problem). I was able to switch to day 65 and get a fp but for our group of 4 the time slots were in afternoon and very very limited already.

 

[wdhinn89]

For what it's worth, I'm seeing a lot of availability during the first weeks of September right now, which just opened for us yesterday, you should definitely check again!

EDIT: Specifically I see several afternoon slots for 9/6, 9/7 and 9/8.

Matt

School has started then. There is going to be much more availability showing for September then there was for July and August. Most people could not get FOP on their day 60 for the summer months, they were more successful days 62 and on.