I did both ends. Arrived 7:30am for a 9am opening - I actually found the wait to be thoroughly enjoyable. Once the turnstiles opened, it was a brisk walk to the bridge - having said that, we were at the front of the pack. I wouldn’t have liked to be in the middle of the mob. While they held us at the bridge, we had a lovely chat with the cast members and other people waiting - and it was a very orderly walk to Pandora from there. We were the first ones on the ride for the day, and I was off the ride by 8:55ish, so probably only really “waited” for an hour.
At the end of the night, we got into line at 7:45 (8pm close) with a projected wait time of 150 minutes. It was 72 minutes from joining the line to first pre-ride show.
I preferred the morning wait - but I think being at the front of it made it a pleasant experience.