Park Planning Help Please -- Na'vi and SW Fireworks

[lark]

I've got a pretty good plan, but I could use some help with two questions. Two of us, one with mobility issues.

1) We want to do Na'vi first without fastpasses. AK opens early, at 8 .m., on our AK day. But we generally try to avoid rope drop and park opening surge congestion, given that we tend to get in the way and it's stressful. So, we're thinking about getting to the gates around 8:00, or maybe a few minutes after. If we go straight to Na'vi, can anyone give me an estimate of when we likely will be done for fastpass planning? Touringplans rates the park as a 7 on our visit day.

2) On our DHS day, Fantasmic is scheduled at 7:00 and SW fireworks at 8:00. I'm hopeful that we can get somewhere to watch the fireworks after Fantasmic lets out, but touringplans rates DHS as a 9 that day so it will be very crowded. We don't need a perfect spot. I'm just wondering what is possible for a wheelchair user and companion in the 30 minutes between the two, and where we should go, what direction, where we are likely to find a decent -- if not perfect -- spot, and whether it's even worth trying? Many thanks!

 

[scidawg]

We were there recently on a crowd level 4 day and the wait at 9:30 (9:00 was official opening) was posted 90 minutes, 2:15 actual wait.

 

[lark]

We were there recently on a crowd level 4 day and the wait at 9:30 (9:00 was official opening) was posted 90 minutes, 2:15 actual wait.

Holy cow! Two hours for Na'vi, or was that FOP?

 

[scidawg]

Holy cow! Two hours for Na'vi, or was that FOP?

Na'vi, FOP was about 45 minutes including preshow and ride, we then went straight to Na'vi.

 

[jaysmom4285]

Try for a same day FP+ for Na'vi. I was able to get one this past week by persistently refreshing the screen on the MDE app even though it kept saying there were no more FP+ available. In fact, I got a FP+ for FoP that way (refreshed a lot while we were eating lunch and got FP+ for 2:55), and when we got off FoP, I refreshed a bunch more times and got one very shortly after that for Na'vi. Wait time for Na'vi that afternoon was nearly two hours, and FoP was of course higher.

 

[lark]

Thanks all. Wow -- touringplans has the wait for Na'vi at 25-30 minutes between 8 and 9. Obviously, those predictions are very wrong and are kind of shaking my faith in touringplans generally. I may need to revise everything.

 

[scidawg]

A couple of things, I think touringplans is still trying to get a handle on the data for Pandora, as it's still relatively new, it seemed much more accurate on the other stuff. As far as rope drop, if you were willing to do it and stayed to the left, I think you would be ok. There were many strollers, wheelchairs and ECV's in the rope drop crowd so you would not be alone, but you know what you are comfortable with.

 

[lark]

Thanks. So, how does the rope drop work for early entry days? It looks as though they start as early as 7:30.

 

[scidawg]

Thanks. So, how does the rope drop work for early entry days? It looks as though they start as early as 7:30.

Well, the day we were there was regular entry, not EMH but the outer gates were open by at least 45 minutes before official opening, we then headed for Pandora, where there was a rope across the bridge. That was dropped at about 8:45 or 15 minutes before official park opening. I would estimate there were probably 1000 people at the rope and maybe 75% headed for FOP

 

[lentesta]

I've got a pretty good plan, but I could use some help with two questions. Two of us, one with mobility issues.

1) We want to do Na'vi first without fastpasses. AK opens early, at 8 .m., on our AK day. But we generally try to avoid rope drop and park opening surge congestion, given that we tend to get in the way and it's stressful. So, we're thinking about getting to the gates around 8:00, or maybe a few minutes after. If we go straight to Na'vi, can anyone give me an estimate of when we likely will be done for fastpass planning? Touringplans rates the park as a 7 on our visit day.

Last Saturday was a 6 at the Animal Kingdom w/ park open at 8. Three TP users recorded their actual waits at Na'vi between 8:41 a.m. and 9:03 a.m. Those waits were 16, 20, and 28 minutes. Here's the graph.

December 4 was a 5 at the Animal Kingdom w/ park open at 8. 6 families submitted actual wait times between 8:11 a.m. and 8:50 a.m. Those waits were 9, 19, 22, 37, 39, and 39 minutes. Here's the graph.

December 2 was a 6 w/park open at 8. We had 1 actual wait time of 18 minutes at 8:55 a.m. Here's the graph.

AK was an 8 on 11/24. 1 actual wait of 18 minutes at 8:31 a.m. Here's the graph.

I think an estimate of 25-30 minutes is reasonable at this point, assuming you get in just after 8 a.m. and go straight to Na'vi.

Whatever you do, I suggest re-optimizing your touring plan after your first ride. By the time you're done with that first ride, the intraday wait-time models will have updated based on whatever's going on in the park. The touring plan will reflect that.

 

[lark]

Ok, great, Len -- that's good to hear. I'll give it a go.