Extended Evening Hours at Animal Kingdom in high crowds?

[havoc315]

Will be at WDW Christmas week and trying to decide whether extended evening hours will be worthwhile at Animal Kingdom that week.

I’m concerned that there are so few attractions open at night. No safari, no shows. Assume no river rapids, but even if open, wouldn’t want to do it at night in December.

That leaves FOP as the only true E-ticket… Navi and Expedition Everest secondary… then stuff like Dinosaur and Tough to be a Bug which are really easy to do in regular hours, even in high crowds.

So I’m concerned that every single guest essentially lines up for FOP.. so you spend half the night in line for FOP, and then just add in Navi and/or EE.

Am I wrong? I’d see it worthwhile if FOP is under 30 minutes…
Anybody at the Thanksgiving week extended evening?

 

[aspen10]

I have the same question. I originally scheduled our Animal Kingdom day to take advantage of the Extended Evening Hours, but am worried the waits will be higher than with Genie+ or Lightning Lanes.

 

[Upatnoon]

Are you trying to decide whether or not to book a deluxe resort just to have access to extended hours?

There is no extra charge for Extended Evening Hours if staying deluxe and it is a chance to walk around the park with a lot less people, which I find enjoyable without going on any attractions at all.

Genie+ or Lighting Lanes are an additional charge. Would I stay moderate so I could afford to buy those instead of plowing money into a deluxe for access to Extending Hours? Yes. Extended Hours are a nice bonus but certainly not worth thousands more.

In the end, if you are staying deluxe you get a nice bonus of extra time at a park. Why not take advantage?

 

[coasternut22]

The Youtube channel Earscouts just did a review on deluxe extended evening hours at AK. He was able to get on everything, no problem. Check out the video.

 

[DPgrlz]

I've been to WDW in mid December for the past 2 years. IMO, nothing that anyone reports leading up to those weeks will reflect the crowd level the week before Christmas. The parks including AK are manageable with planning. And I loved AK in the later hours. But 30 minutes for FOP is unlikely. As an example, 2 years ago I got in line as the park closed and still waited over an hour for FOP. There weren't scheduled busses running anymore. A lone bus took pity on us stragglers and delivered a few of us to our resorts. Also, Dinosaur was easily over an hour wait once Genie + was sold out for the day. My pro tip is to buy FOP as an ILL, and rope drop Dinosaur. No one does this. I had the entire pre show for our party of 2. Then walk on to Expedition Everest.

 

[havoc315]

Are you trying to decide whether or not to book a deluxe resort just to have access to extended hours?

There is no extra charge for Extended Evening Hours if staying deluxe and it is a chance to walk around the park with a lot less people, which I find enjoyable without going on any attractions at all.

Genie+ or Lighting Lanes are an additional charge. Would I stay moderate so I could afford to buy those instead of plowing money into a deluxe for access to Extending Hours? Yes. Extended Hours are a nice bonus but certainly not worth thousands more.

In the end, if you are staying deluxe you get a nice bonus of extra time at a park. Why not take advantage?

Already booked deluxe. Trying to decide whether it’s worth going to extended evening hours at AK during Christmas week.

With so few open attractions and every guest wanting to do FOP… I have concerns.

 

[havoc315]

The Youtube channel Earscouts just did a review on deluxe extended evening hours at AK. He was able to get on everything, no problem. Check out the video.

Thank you, somewhat helpful. But he did it during low crowds. I’m looking at Christmas week.