RD FOP before NRJ?

Will be in Pandora on 7/24. Crowd Level 7. EMH at 8am. Have FPP for FOP at 9:40am. Will do NRJ standby. Would like to go on FOP twice to see the queue in FOP in addition to using FPP. Should I RD FOP and then head right to NRJ after or should I RD NRJ and then head to FOP? Want to minimize wait times of course.

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FOP first for sure! NRJ wait times don’t seem to be growing as quickly or as long.

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Thanks AuntB. Just what I needed to hear.

One thing to keep in mind is that the FoP queue is very long, but completely indoors, and has lots of things to see. The NRJ queue is largely outdoors and is mostly switchbacks.

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Call me crazy, but if I was there to be first for rope drop, I would do NRJ first. It takes way less time, and if you are among the first on, you can be out and in line for FOP still before most of the crowd. I would also much prefer standing in line for 30 minutes at FOP rather than NRJ. Something to consider would be what rides are open for EMH… I’m not sure, since I have not experienced the EMH at AK.

I asked the other day on chat if it was possible to ride FoP twice. People have been getting onto FoP early and off by 8:00 or 9:00 (depending on opening) but they reported after that first ride the line was already over an hour.

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Thanks, cjandres. Our customized TP indicates that we should do NRJ first and then head right to FOP. Estimated 26min wait for FOP after doing NRJ at EMH RD. I’ll optimize the TP just before we head to WDW just to see if it will still be recommending that touring strategy.

I would be cautious at putting a lot of trust in the TP wait times right now. I think they are still lacking the data points on FOP to make accurate wait time predictions. Based on the on-the-ground reports from other liners 26 minutes does not sound accurate if riding NRJ first–underestimated in my opinion.

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THIS!

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Hence the dilemma…I want to get both FOP and NRJ at RD. Which is better to go to first? Where’s Len to impart his wisdom when I need him! Oh wise Len, knower of all things TPs, we beg you, please weigh in.

I thought Len posted on chat that they were still gathering data on this? I would depend on the reports. If you are not getting onto FoP in that 1st group you will be waiting 1-2 hours. Reports are the NRJ will be 30 minutes. I trust liner reports for now.

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Great news! We have the definitive answer to the dilemma. I tweeted the question to the one and only Len Testa. He replied that I should do FOP first (assuming no FPs.) Someone else replied that they did not know whether to be proud or afraid that they completely understood my question (with my liner codes) Ha! Len saves the day and his legend grows.

I have the same dilemma. will do rope drop.Normal hours. Have fp for KS at 9.40-10.40. Do I try for standby FOP THEN NRJ before my KS FP? my plan says navi at 9.10 then tough to be a bug then KS FP. I have FP for FoP at 3.20pm. complete first timer. Is it doable to do both pandora rides? Don’t want to be stressed or rushed. I am someone who loves details. I have a morning free of our last day to rope drop fop again if everyone wants.

Howdy,

On our trip a few weeks ago we had a 1:30 FoP FPP but from all the hype I knew we’d probably want to ride it twice. We had a Safari FPP at 9:15AM.

Our day was EMH open at 8AM so there’s an obvious difference between your start and mine, but I think if you want to go for the RD FoP you can still make it all work, especially since you have until 10:40 to get to KS.

First, when creating my TP it wanted to put Tough to Be a Bug in there early too, but looking at the historic wait times for that I just moved it to a later time where I thought it fit in the day for us and was no issue at all.

When we RD EMH, we got to security about 7:20AM and were off the ride at 9AM (you can see my full play by play timeline here).

However even though we had started fairly close to the front of the security line, we lost a lot of ground in our trek into Pandora by getting stuck in the middle of the pack - people on the right and left sides really got in there more quickly. I’d bet I could cut at least 15 minutes off of that wait if I had another chance at staying on the side of the line.

This morning, someone else on another EMH day reported they were on line at 7:38 and off the ride at 8:12, which was terrific.

So, barring any ride down or crazy conditions, I’d bet the worst case scenario for a 9AM open if you RD and are at the security lines at least an hour before open is that you would step off of FoP with at least a half an hour to get to KS. But, if all goes well you also have a decent chance of having time to jump on NRJ and also explore a little.

On our day the NRJ posted wait was a bit high when we got off FoP, so we decided to try later since it was our first time at AK and we had a whole park to see. We then wandered around Pandora to take things in before we explored some more and went to KS. (We never got back to NRJ because we had to much to do.)

While it was certainly crowded at RD, everything went fairly smoothly, just had to keep swimming once you got past the tapstiles and into the flow. Really wasn’t that stressful once there.

Of course, another option might be to RD NRJ, which first thing should be really fast - and not worry about FoP until your FPP. Then you’d have a lot of time after to explore Pandora and add other rides in before KS. Waits at non-Pandora rides were pretty low all morning.

However- I’m not that much a fan of this latter option since even if you choose to go for NRJ, you’ll still have to endure that same crowded trek into Pandora, and why not just keep going into FoP?

(Personally, I’d go for FoP first thing again.)

thanks. that was my original plan but I was worried about missing NrJ or having a big wait later. it is our first time too. so I know I will want to look at everything. I do have a big gap in the afternoon. I am happy to ditch its tough to be a bug. I have 10 days so will keep my eyes on wait times for NrJ between now and then. So maybe fop is the smart move and do nrj later. we are doing rd to close at ak. Thanks for the info