Since the addition of EMH for AK for all of June occurred, I’ve considered changing our AK day. But I’m struggling with the choice. The only two options we have for AK is either 6/8 or 6/11. When looking at the crowd calendar and heatmap, 6/8 seems to be the better option. 6/8 is a CL 6 and 6/11 is a CL 7. But when I look at wait time graphs and do a stare & compare, it looks like 6/11 is the better option. Most wait times are comparable (within 10 min), with the exception of FoP which looks LARGELY better on 6/11.
Since we are staying offsite, our main goal was going to be to RD FoP, but now that EMH are starting at 8 am for every day of our trip, I’m not even sure that is possible anymore.
I’m just not sure what to trust more…the crowd calendar or the wait times? What would you do, 6/8 or 6/11?
I am no expert …I still have to go on my first trip but the historical data would be reflective of the opening of Pandora last year. It is going to be busy what ever day you go. Can you go just before closing. …or resign yourself to a 2-3 hour wait
I’m really no expert either, but I thought this site might help you plan when (or whether) to do standby for FoP.
…the trends that we’ve seen since the middle of June continue with the longest wait times of the day occurring between 9:30am and 11:15am. As I mentioned in Part 1, waits are actually lower in the afternoon when virtually every other ride sees its highest wait times of the day. But now that Disney doesn’t close the ride to capacity in the evening, and hasn’t in months, the second best time to get in line is a few minutes before official Park close when the actual wait should be 60ish minutes. That way you wait less and aren’t wasting precious touring time since the rest of the Park is closed. The third best time of day to ride is either as late in the day as possible or around 11:30am when people are probably interested in lunch.
But if you look at wait times after 5pm, it’s basically a wash from there on out, making a late arrival equally viable on either [the am EMH or the non-EMH] date.
Agree that there little real difference between CL 6 or 7.
Since you are off site, I think the wait time at the regular park opening for you would be significant. RD seems crazy at AK these days and wait times build quickly. I think getting in line at the end of the day just before park closing is a great idea–you don’t waste touring time and the actual wait tends to be less than the posted time.
Anytime I do a custom plan for my upcoming June visit to AK, the touring plan software places FoP in the afternoon. However, the wait time is still around 2 hours at this time. I know I would be waiting around that amount of time total if I showed up to AK 90 minutes before RD by combining those 90 minutes with my queue time, but it seems like a better deal since I won’t be in line during actual park hours. So bummed out with these EMH at AK everyday on our trip.
