My family will be in WDW during Mardi Gras, February 2020, and I’ve been loving the personalized touring plans function here to plan it.
My question is about the Avatar section of Animal Kingdom. We will be there on an Extra Magic Hours day in which we can enter the park an hour early. I plan to make my fastpass for Flight of Passage as soon as the window opens, but I know it can still be a hard one to get. So I’ve created two touring plans, one that does Valley of Mo’ara first thing (8-10am), and one that does it in the afternoon (3-5pm).
Now that I have both plans, I like things about each. So if we assumed I could get a fastpass for either time period, which should I choose? Would the EMH make for the best time, or will everyone staying in a WDW resort flock to that area and crowd it up? And if I don’t spend the morning there, I would instead make an early fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safari, which I heard was an amazing time to see the animals active.
I’m definitely planning to go back after the nighttime show to see the bioluminescence! I saw it both ways on our trip 2 years ago, but wasn’t able to ride Flight of Passage at all. So that fastpass is definitely my #1 priority!
They are both great plans! I didn’t see much difference between Pandora at 7am (EEMH), 1pm (back for FP) and 6pm (another FP), crowds kind of disappear there. If both morning and afternoon FPs are available I would go for morning, because SDFP for NRJ and EE are not that hard to get and same day drops might still be working, so you would have plenty of options.
In February 3-5 shouldn’t be too hot, but at other times of the year it can be unbearable. During those hours I try to do shows, attractions with air conditioned queues, or meals in order to stay out of the sun.
Personally, I would go to the Safari in the morning and go back later for FOP just because I would be around fewer people - but that might mess up your ability to get more FP+ later in the day. If that’s a very important factor then you should go first thing. Also, if you are into re-riding rides that you love, then you should go first thing in order to try to get a SDFP again later in the date.