Ok its day 60. I was up at 6am and immediately started with my Animal Kingdom day. I got FOP FP but its for 520pm. My original plan was to
Rope Drop Animal Kingdom
Hit Navi River first
Fast pass FOP around 10 am
then head to Safari, Everest, and Dino.
Eat Lunch at Flame tree and then head to DHS
With the not so ideal FP time for FOP I have to rearrange my plans So should I
Rope Drop Animal Kingdom
Stand by at park open FOP
FP Navi River
Then finish up as outlined above
OR
Flip my plans and do DHS at Rope Drop and then head to AK after lunch with the FOP FP and Navi Standby
So depending on what your plan is for the rest of your trip (is this your only half day in each of these parks or are you spending a second day at one or both?)…
I would flip the day and take the gamble on riding NRJ on SB.
I was there in June and rode both. I will say, unless you just have to ride both rides to say you’ve done them, you really are not missing too much if you end up opting not to get on NRJ. Basically it is just scenery with the impressive animatronic toward the end. The scenery is beautiful, but it is simply pandora at night. So, if you plan to be in Pandora for the second half of the day you can see Pandora at night by just walking through the land.
For your alternative, if you decide to RD FOP in the morning and get a FP for NRJ, your pro is that the line for FOP is very interesting. So even if you end up in a 30-45 minute line, the cue is mostly covered and inside, and there is lots to view. The downside of this plan for me would be missing Pandora at night if this is my only day at AK.
Yea we will miss Pandora at night but the guys want to see Star wars stuff…
And yes we only have this one day to split with these 2 parks and 1 day at MK. Its a short trip
For me, DHS could definitely be a half day. I’m a Star Wars fan too and basically spent my morning doing the following on a CL 6 day: TSMM (RD), ToT (FP), RnR (FP), Launch Bay (we did two character meets - Kylo Ren and Chewie - and skipped the movie portion. Probably spent 30 minutes. We did not spend loads of time looking around but did take a quick look around), Star Tours (FP). We were at lunch at the Brown Derby by 12.
Downfall of spending the morning at DHS and doing evening at AK is missing the Star Wars fireworks show. I did not see it because we only had one day and decided to watch F! - so can’t comment on it’s level of awesome-ness.
For AK, if you wanted to do it as a half day in the morning and your absolute priority is Pandora, you won’t have any trouble getting the rides in. I’d plan to RD FOP and FP NRJ. If you can get a FP for KS and EE, then you can definitely get all of that in even if you do end up with a 30 minute wait for FOP at RD. Downfall of doing AK first is not seeing Pandora at night.
So I guess it’s really up to what your party is prioritizing.
Not sure if it’s still happening (haven’t been on the app recently to see if people are still reporting it) but AK was opening early. Basically people (myself included) were arriving at 7AM prepared to wait for an 8AM opening but instead walking into the park getting on the Pandora rides. If that is still the case for your trip, you’re home free. I was on and off both of the Pandora rides by 8:15, and I arrived at 7:15 that day - walked straight to NRJ and rode. Then got out and walked over to FOP, waiting 20-30 minutes tops.
My 60 was yesterday and I was able to get FOP FP for 2:45 on our third day which is a Wednesday. The time is not that ideal but TP is so far predicting crowd level at a 3, so I’m hoping to rope drop Na’vi and possibly even get an earlier FP for FOP. So I guess what I’m saying is things could change and you might be able to get an earlier one. Keep checking.
Just throwing this out there… we had a similar situation happen when 7DMT was brand new. I checked back a few hours later and was able to change to a better time.
Different park, different year and dynamic, but it’s worth checking back, even a couple of times a day to see if you can do better. Then, if nothing else, change your plan then. You have time to make that decision.
So should I