We started our trip at Animal Kingdom on Saturday March 20. The hours were 8 to 8. We’re staying at Pop Century, but drove straight to the park without checking in to the resort.
We arrived around 6:50, but the gates weren’t opened yet. We went to a gas station and came back around 7:20 and parked. There we’re 10 of us, and we had just arrived from a long overnight drive. So it took us some time to unload and get our stuff together.
The temperature check and security was quick and easy. There was no bag check, which made it much faster. However we got stopped at the ticket gate because our tickets wouldn’t work. We were sent over to guest service, because we hadn’t checked into our hotel yet. I still don’t really understand why it was a problem, but apparently the tickets need to be “activated” by the hotel before we could use them. I had to force myself to stay positive, since we wasted about 20-25 minutes waiting in line.
By the time we made it through the gate, it was around 8:20. By that point FOP was a 60 minute wait, so we headed to Navi River instead. We were on the ride by 9:00. Then we went to Asia to ride Everest and it was pretty much a walk on. After that we walked over to Dinosaur with a posted wait time of 35 minutes. But it actually only took us 20 minutes. When that was finished, we went to It’s Tough To Be a Bug. That was a 15 minute wait, even though
MDE said 25 minutes.
At this point it was 11:00, and everyone was hungry. We found a spot to eat, and took a break. Afterwards we headed over to Safari, but most of our group was uninterested in waiting the 35 minutes. So we bypassed that line and went to FOP. The wait time was listed at 75 minutes. We got in line at 11:34 and got on the ride 12:27. So we really only waited for 53 minutes. And the line was constantly moving.
We left the park at 1:00 having done everything we wanted to do. There was plenty of time to do more rides or repeat our favorites, but we were tired and it was quite chilly. So we decided to leave. This is a recap:
Navi River: 30-35 minute wait
Everest: 5 minute wait
Dinosaur: 20 minute wait
Tough To Be A Bug: 15 minute wait
FOP: 53 minute wait
Even though we got a later start than we intended, it still worked out fine. We had no sense of urgency and stopped to take photos as we walked around. The crowds seemed normal...not overly crowded or especially low. There were some busier areas than others, but totally manageable. Nothing stood out to me as far mask issues or personal space. We had a good first day at the parks.