Critique my AK touring plan please :)

[Jennytoon]

What's funny is I was playing around with my plan some more this morning, and it looks pretty similar to this suggestion of yours. You're right, I think we're going to skip Rafiki only because of the time commitment. If we want to add it I'm thinking we'd have to remove something in its place? This is the plan I came up with this morning;

RD - Safari
Pangani
Discovery Trails
Snack at Tamu Tamu
FoLK - 10:00 FP #1
Safari FP #2
Meet Pocahontas
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Flights of Wonder @ 11:45

Lunch

Fossil Fun Games
TriceraTop Spin
Boneyard
Dance-a-palooza
Finding Nemo
EE (child swap)
Tough to be a bug (which we might not even do, depending on if DD will be scared)
Kali FP #3
Oasis

After comparing your suggestion to the list I had, I took your advice and moved Discovery Trail and TBBAB to PM. I'm very happy with this plan. As you said, it gives us some AM time for a snack, and to meet Pocahontas, and also gives us a bit of freedom in the PM in Dinoland depending on how long things take us there.

Thanks so much for your suggestions, I feel much better about our plan now! And won't be rushed to make FoW After FoLK in the morning either.

Great, glad to be helpful.

One more note -- I had FP#1 at the second safari, don't know if you noticed that. I really doubt you will need a FP for FOLK @ 10AM, even on an EMH day. I would so hate for those to be famous last words, but maybe other people would weigh in with their actual experiences or you could check on some of the sites -- I really think you could do this standby, especially since you won't be rushing there from something else. That would give you your third FP to use on EE with the rider swap. Just set it up so that if you head over after Nemo, you will catch the back end of your EE FP and the front end of the Kali one.

ETA: Also, remember that you can swap Jungle Trek & FoW in your plan above if you find you're running tight on time -- they are pretty close.

Have a great trip!

 

[collcass]

What's funny is I was playing around with my plan some more this morning, and it looks pretty similar to this suggestion of yours. You're right, I think we're going to skip Rafiki only because of the time commitment. If we want to add it I'm thinking we'd have to remove something in its place? This is the plan I came up with this morning;

RD - Safari
Pangani
Discovery Trails
Snack at Tamu Tamu
FoLK - 10:00 FP #1
Safari FP #2
Meet Pocahontas
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Flights of Wonder @ 11:45

Lunch

Fossil Fun Games
TriceraTop Spin
Boneyard
Dance-a-palooza
Finding Nemo
EE (child swap)
Tough to be a bug (which we might not even do, depending on if DD will be scared)
Kali FP #3
Oasis

After comparing your suggestion to the list I had, I took your advice and moved Discovery Trail and TBBAB to PM. I'm very happy with this plan. As you said, it gives us some AM time for a snack, and to meet Pocahontas, and also gives us a bit of freedom in the PM in Dinoland depending on how long things take us there.

Thanks so much for your suggestions, I feel much better about our plan now! And won't be rushed to make FoW After FoLK in the morning either.

This plan looks great. FWIW, my kids never had an issue with ITTBAB. It isn't our favorite, but I think I had in my mind it would be really scary and it wasn't. we would do safari three times if we could. lol

 

[lily2521]

Great, glad to be helpful.

One more note -- I had FP#1 at the second safari, don't know if you noticed that. I really doubt you will need a FP for FOLK @ 10AM, even on an EMH day. I would so hate for those to be famous last words, but maybe other people would weigh in with their actual experiences or you could check on some of the sites -- I really think you could do this standby, especially since you won't be rushing there from something else. That would give you your third FP to use on EE with the rider swap. Just set it up so that if you head over after Nemo, you will catch the back end of your EE FP and the front end of the Kali one.

ETA: Also, remember that you can swap Jungle Trek & FoW in your plan above if you find you're running tight on time -- they are pretty close.

Have a great trip!

Good to know. I might end up doing EE single rider alone instead of using child swap anyway, since DH doesn't seem too interested. But we'll see what he decides Since we won't be rushing to get to FOLK, maybe we should consider saving our FP, good suggestion!

This plan looks great. FWIW, my kids never had an issue with ITTBAB. It isn't our favorite, but I think I had in my mind it would be really scary and it wasn't. we would do safari three times if we could. lol

Yeah I don't know what to expect here as far as DD goes for ITTBAB, I'm going to show her the YouTube clip before we travel and let her decide. She's terrified of bees, that's my biggest concern.

 

[tink9702]

You could use that FP+ for the Adventures outpost to meet Mickey/Minnie if you wanted. Line is usually 15-20 minutes so would save you that time. I might keep the FP+ for FOTLK and then make a last minute change to Adventures if FOTLK doesn't look busy and you're on time.

You may find you have to move the Discovery Trails later because the Panjani trail takes longer than you think if you want to watch the gorillas a lot or if you don't get on Safari quickly enough. I'd move it to where you are seeing Pocahontas since that's the same area. Just so you have a backup plan.

 

[moran66]

first I am going to say i have a six year old daughter and what you have set so far is for sure doable just seems like alot of work for vacation but I can understand wanting to maximize your fun in the day but I can almost guarantee your schedule wont work out perfectly something will always happen.. but with that being said Ill try to give you as much help as I can. I dont think anyone mentioned this but EVERYONE goes to Safari at RD I would go staright to everest. I like your plan to do safari 2x but later in the day I have had the best views of the animals when it starts to cool off(if you are going to be at AK all day u can use your 3 fast passes and add a 4th 5th etc one at the keyosk later in the day).. finding nemo isnt that great but if your daughter likes nemo go for it. My daughter likes its tough to be a bug I would much prefer that to nemo also plus its not as crowded and u can check out the tree on your way in. the boneyard(dino dig(over the bridge in the sand) is one of my 6 year old's fav places in AK so that is a good place to sit down for a while and take a break. flame tree(if its open) and yak and yet qs are the best places to eat good luck !

 

[lily2521]

first I am going to say i have a six year old daughter and what you have set so far is for sure doable just seems like alot of work for vacation but I can understand wanting to maximize your fun in the day but I can almost guarantee your schedule wont work out perfectly something will always happen.. but with that being said Ill try to give you as much help as I can. I dont think anyone mentioned this but EVERYONE goes to Safari at RD I would go staright to everest. I like your plan to do safari 2x but later in the day I have had the best views of the animals when it starts to cool off(if you are going to be at AK all day u can use your 3 fast passes and add a 4th 5th etc one at the keyosk later in the day).. finding nemo isnt that great but if your daughter likes nemo go for it. My daughter likes its tough to be a bug I would much prefer that to nemo also plus its not as crowded and u can check out the tree on your way in. the boneyard(dino dig(over the bridge in the sand) is one of my 6 year old's fav places in AK so that is a good place to sit down for a while and take a break. flame tree(if its open) and yak and yet qs are the best places to eat good luck !

Thanks for the input! I do expect that we might not stick to this 100% - I want to have a plan going into the day and if it gets off track, oh well we'll deal with it.

My only thought with doing Safari at RD is we'll be utilizing EMH's, so it won't be as busy as a regular park opening day at RD, will that make a difference in how many people are at Safari?

I'll have to look up Finding Nemo, I haven't looked into it yet, DD liked nemo when she was younger but it's not such a big deal now. And I noticed it seems pretty long (40 minutes I think?) Is it just a 40 minute live musical version of the movie?

 

[tink9702]

Yes more than half the people at rope drop head to Safari, but it's still not that busy and won't be much of a wait since they have tons of jeeps ready for the RD people especially with EMH that day.

I agree with moran66 about Flametree BBQ & the Boneyard being a favorite of kids that age.

Finding Nemo was okay. My 4 and 5 year old liked it okay but wasn't a favorite. It's still better than the Little Mermaid show at HS. that's horrible IMHO!!! They still mention FOTLK all the time though - that was a big hit for both them and the adults!

 

[lily2521]

I agree with moran66 about Flametree BBQ & the Boneyard being a favorite of kids that age.

Finding Nemo was okay. My 4 and 5 year old liked it okay but wasn't a favorite. It's still better than the Little Mermaid show at HS. that's horrible IMHO!!! They still mention FOTLK all the time though - that was a big hit for both them and the adults!

We were thinking of either Pizzafari or Restaurantosaurus but now you have me wondering if we should reconsider for Flametree BBQ

Good to know about Nemo show, I'll keep it in our plans, but might be a good one to scratch off the list if DD is having fun doing other things in Dinoland. We did a quick 1/2 day at HS a few years ago, and I agree, Little Mermaid show is awful.

 

[Jennytoon]

Flame Tree is closed for refurb right now (not sure how soon your trip is). I believe a bunch of the food is available elsewhere (check disneyfoodblog, I think they have the info).

I have only ever eaten at Tamu Tamu (which we liked), but I find general agreement among friends who have that Pizzafari is only meh. If you are just looking to eat something, it will be fine. If you are looking to have the food be a yummy part of the experience, then you might look for the Flame Tree stuff.

I agree with Tink that safari at RD works well, I have done it on level 5 days several times -- lots of people are going there, no question, but it still takes quite a while for the line to build up. If you head straight there you will be fine.

 

[lily2521]

Flame Tree is closed for refurb right now (not sure how soon your trip is). I believe a bunch of the food is available elsewhere (check disneyfoodblog, I think they have the info).

I have only ever eaten at Tamu Tamu (which we liked), but I find general agreement among friends who have that Pizzafari is only meh. If you are just looking to eat something, it will be fine. If you are looking to have the food be a yummy part of the experience, then you might look for the Flame Tree stuff.

I agree with Tink that safari at RD works well, I have done it on level 5 days several times -- lots of people are going there, no question, but it still takes quite a while for the line to build up. If you head straight there you will be fine.

We're going in May - I'll look into the Flame Tree closing, thanks! We're not big foodies, so just eating something to get us through the day is usually sufficient Otherwise we'll look at Restaurantosaurus too, the menu I saw online looked like it would suit our family well.

 

[Jennytoon]

We're going in May - I'll look into the Flame Tree closing, thanks! We're not big foodies, so just eating something to get us through the day is usually sufficient Otherwise we'll look at Restaurantosaurus too, the menu I saw online looked like it would suit our family well.

When will you be there in May? We'll be there then too -- last week of Flower & Garden + first weekend of SWW.