I have been reading about the obscene wait times for FOP and NRJ. We are headed to WDW in mid June and will be staying off property, so I expect FPs for the both Pandora rides will be gone. Our group is 20 people and all want to ride FOP and NRJ. What is the best strategy here, is my only option to head to FOP at RD with the masses and then to NRJ? Touring Plans states that every day in June at AK is EMM, will the lines already be huge by the time we arrive.
I don’t see why WDW would keep XMH for every morning in AK in June 2019. As a matter of fact, the XMH schedule for the first week of June 2019 is now shown on the official site and there’s no morning XMH on each day.
On a non-XMH day, I do believe RD FoP is the best plan, as it normally is with the most popular attaction in each park when you don’t secure a FP+ for it. However, it may not be as unpleasant as it was last 2 summers, as the hype is starting to fade as time goes by. An arrival of 45-60 minutes prior to park opening could be enough.
Another option would be to go as the last thing of the day, like 15 minutes before park closure. As you could end up waiting something in the 40-60 minutes range, you’ll have the chance to discover the queue and you won’t miss any park hours.
I would also add that I wouldn’t rule out the possibility to get a FP+ for NRJ. As of today, there’s still availability for FP+ in the afternoon in 30 days.
Option #1 (non-XMH day)
RD - FoP
NRJ afterwards if wait is short
Explore rest of park
NRJ FP+ later in the day
FoP as the park closes (but it makes massive day in term of park hours in summer heat)
Option #2
Late arrival
Explore rest of park
NRJ FP+ later in the day
FoP as the park closes
Have a nice trip !
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I guess TP expected them to have EMH everyday at AK because they did last year. I don’t know if there’s a way to look back and see when those EMH were added. It does seem a bit extreme, which may mean they were added pretty close to the date. Good of you to offer up two options!
We’re going in May and it was that way for our dates last year, too. I was disappointed when TP removed the EMHs after the official hours came out, so I’m hoping Disney adds them back- but it is a really nasty surprise for someone staying off-site, for sure.
The only other thing I could think of would be to try and grab day-of FP if/when Disney does a drop. The current time I have in my notes for that is 3:01 pm. That might cause more trouble than it’s worth, though, if some folks got FP for FOP and others didn’t. Also, you’d need several people ready to pounce, and if you’re handling all the FP that obviously is not possible.
I also don’t know how many FP are in a drop, there might not even be 20. So this is probably a bad idea, but it’s an idea nonetheless 
Thanks guys, OncleBoum is correct the official site does not show everyday in the first week of June to be XMH, so hoping that the 15th on will be the same. I think I will try the RD with a quick step to FOP then NRJ. I think that is the best bet for this size group. Thanks for the input.
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