Disney’s Animal Kingdom is home to one of the best rides within all of Disney World – Flight of Passage. In fact, Flight of Passage, which is located within the new land of Pandora, may even be in contention as the best ride in all of Orlando. Consider this a “must-do” ride during your Disney World vacation.
With waits still exceeding 150+ minutes even several months after opening, Flight of Passage is insanely popular. And for good reason. At its heart, it’s a simulator. In reality, it’s a breathtaking ride that genuinely makes you feel like you’re flying around Pandora on the back of a banshee. It’s awesome. It’s Soarin’ on steroids.
Your best chance to ride is with a FastPass. Here’s the best advice on how to get one.
Book it ASAP
Consider this the most obvious of suggestions. Try to book a FastPass for Flight of Passage as soon as humanly possible.
If you’re staying at a Disney resort, or if you’re staying at a partner location, you can book your FastPasses 60 days before your vacation. It’s important to remember that the ability to book them opens at 60 days before the first day of your trip, not the day that you plan to actually go to Animal Kingdom.
Even if your Animal Kingdom day is the third or fourth day of your visit, immediately try to book Flight of Passage as soon as you’re able. It needs to be the very first thing you try to book.
If you just have park tickets and aren’t staying at a Disney location, book your FastPass as soon as the 30-day window opens.
Don’t visit Animal Kingdom on your first day
Given the nature of how booking FastPasses works (you can book your whole stay as soon as the first day of your trip is within the 60-day window), you’re going to have better odds if you’re trying to visit Pandora deeper into your vacation.
For example, let’s pretend you have Animal Kingdom penciled in as the fourth day of your trip. Your odds will be significantly better of finding a FastPass for Flight of Passage as a smaller pool of visitors will be able to book for that day. If you wait to try and book a FastPass after the 60-day window opens, don’t be surprised if you come up empty.
If you’re planning a very long stay (think over seven days), you’re almost guaranteed to get a FastPass for even the most popular rides past the fourth or fifth day of your stay if you’re booking as soon as you possibly can.
What if there aren’t any FastPasses available?
For our most recent trip, I was trying to book four FastPasses for Flight of Passage on the day we arrived. Yes, I ignored my own advice above, but I swear it was situational and not intentional.
When I went online to book our FastPasses, I found the dreaded message stating there weren’t any available. Defeated, I booked Na’vi River Journey. If you’ve ridden both rides, you know how deflating it was to go from Flight of Passage to Na’vi River Journey. If you haven’t, think of it as eating one of the best steaks around compared to having to eat some burnt piece of meat you forgot on a dirty grill for three hours and you have no other food in the house.
With two newcomers with us on the trip, I was determined to help them experience one of the best rides currently in Disney World.
Check back for a FastPass. Check often.
After initially missing out, I made it a point to check twice a day to see if there were FastPasses available. I checked once in the morning and once around dinner, in the hopes that either Disney would release more for the ride as our trip got closer or that visitors who didn’t fully understand how hard they are to get would change their plans.
After three to four weeks of this little routine, I finally found success. There they were – four FastPasses for Flight of Passage. In a blink of an eye, I ditched our River Journey plans for a flight around Pandora.
More times than not you’ll find what you’re looking for if you put in the time to keep checking.
What if I have to wait?
If following the above leaves you empty-handed, here’s some quick advice on if you have to wait.
Get to Animal Kingdom early. Really early. If the park opens at 9am, consider getting there by 8:30am. Maybe earlier. You, and everyone else, will be heading straight for Pandora. If you’re able to time things well, you may be able to walk continuously through the enormous queue and avoid a significant wait.
Remember that the wait almost always increases as the day goes on.
The wait isn’t too bad, relatively speaking
During our first trip to Pandora, we wanted to wait for Flight of Passage just to experience the queue. That may sound silly, but the queue is very detailed and fun to experience. It’s not the most boring line to wait in if you have to wait.
We arrived at Animal Kingdom a little after opening and joined a Flight of Passage line that already stretched out of Pandora and into Africa near the Festival of the Lion King show. Thankfully, it kept moving and we found the line to be pretty entertaining.
Before joining the line, figure out what the maximum amount of time is that you and your party are willing to wait. Keep in mind there aren’t any bathrooms along the way.
Is Flight of Passage worth a long wait in line? Opinions will vary, but it seems like almost everyone who rides it has an enjoyable experience.
