AK evening safari-worth it?

[samsonjs]

Is an evening safari, after 5pm, worth the FP? We will have an early flight in and want to spend the afternoon and evening at Animal Kingdom. In the past I have only done morning safari. I'm worried the animals won't be out.

If not, what would be an alternate fp usage? I will be trying to get FOP and Everest, just not sure what to use for my third if not safari.

 

[SinCityMMAFan]

What time of the year are you going? The animals are most active in the morning and around dusk.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Hmmmm typically less animals from our experience. If I couldn’t get that, we enjoy
Dinosaur and always get a kick out of Bugs Life.
I don’t like to miss the Safari ... but we ve skipped and took advantage of the walking trail to see animals etc
Maybe you ll get lucky and an opening will pop open. Book something else and keep trying. Have you seen Lion King.. also fabulous!
Enjoy!!!

 

[samsonjs]

It would be May. It looks like the sun sets just after 8pm.

 

[SinCityMMAFan]

It would be May. It looks like the sun sets just after 8pm.

It might be iffy especially if it's really hot out. I was on a mid day safari once and was actually surprised to see a lot of activity although it wasn't as good as the morning safari rides I've been on.

 

[samsonjs]

Oh Lion King would be a good alternate...or maybe Rivers of Light? I haven't seen either show yet.

We have a second AK day planned. This half day will be just with my mom and sister, my husband and kids. But the second day they will be gone and we will plan to just do safari then and do an AM.

 

[annemce118]

I went after 8 pm last year and it was too dark and you couldn’t see the animals very well. They had lights, but I hated it. Stick to the daylight hours!

 

[Klayfish]

It's purely random what you'll see. We've been on the safari a ton of times, at all different times. We've had wonderful trips during all times of the day, and not so good ones too. To say you'd see more in the morning, afternoon or night is just a wild guess with no real accuracy value.

So yes, I'd very much recommend a late afternoon, early evening safari. Can't say what animals you'll see, nobody can. However, as the sun is setting, the views are beautiful. I agree that doing it in the dark isn't as much fun simply because you can't see.

The line goes way down around dinner time, so you may not need a FP+ anyway.

 

[tinkerjo]

Usually we feel confident in the early morning safaris but last trip we were on the first one out and missed most of the animals. Our late kids (had to get Starbucks) were maybe 15 buses back and had a great safari!! I think they were just putting the animals out. I have wanted to try an evening one but after 2pm DH is done for the day. Did get back for ROL one night with the kids and had mixed reviews. Me and DD24 loved it DS19 and DS10 hated it, thought it was boring

 

[FSU Girl]

The animals will be out, but there is very little lighting so if the sun has set you will have a very hard time seeing the animals. I did it once and will never do again, it wasn't worth it. Try and go a little earlier in the day.

 

[Dis703]

The one thing that made the evening safari worth it to me was that the lions are much more active at night. We had a really cool experience seeing them up and about and hearing the male lion giving a rather unusual call (not your typical roar) and you could hear it long before and after you passed them. That was pretty cool and not something we ever encountered during the day.

 

[Jack15129]

We also had the same experience with the lions at night. Male lion being up and very vocal! We have ridden many times during the day and they are usually sleeping.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I’ve done the night safari once. All the lions were awake and vocal. It was great!

We took an evening one a couple weeks ago and the giraffes decided they were done and all gathered by their exit

 

[revdon64]

If it's certain to be daylight then it's good. If there's a chance it'll be a night safari - skip it. The night safari is basically a bumpy ride through the woods with a wall of distant Christmas lights. One. And. Done.

 

[kaybird]

We loved the night safari! Dark and kind of spooky like a hayride. The cheetahs were very active as were the lions, and we loved the sunset lighting effect. (DH didn't know about it, and was totally taken in, until I reminded him it was totally dark when we got on.) We had a great guide, we were stopped by a large bird trying to eat a rock, and the driver's narrative was hysterical.

 

[CAQDaddy]

We've done a few at dusk and loved them. Lots of activity especially with the lions. I would figure out exact sunset time and try to start the ride just after that. I'm sure everyone has had different experiences, but our dusk Safaris were fantastic and I would definitely utilize a FP for it if I were spending a later day in AK.

 

[ars0525]

It would be May. It looks like the sun sets just after 8pm.

Obviously every ride is a different experience, but it's not like it's gonna be pitch black can't see your hand dark outside. Try it. I did & we had a great experience! And that was in November when the sun sets much earlier. We went to the Safari ride after the night light show (which THAT was a total 1 & done for us) so maybe about 7:30ish? My mom told me later she was very skeptical of the ride "at night" & expected to see nothing, but ended up having a great time. We saw a bunch of animals & it was different from our normal ride experience (usually early am) so we really enjoyed it. We didn't have a FP, but it wasn't much of a wait cause we booked out of the night show & over there.

 

[TotallyTink]

I did a dusk safari last August and it was the first time I've ever seen the lions active. You said that you've never seen the Festival of the Lion King show. That is one of my favorite shows! Definitely make time to see it. It is a really fun show.

 

[ClapYourHands]

If you’re there by 5 or 6 in May, you have plenty of time to see the safari in daylight. If you love the ride, there’s no reason not to do it.

Even in the heat of midafternoon, we’ve seen some great animals. One of the things I love about this ride is it’s different every time. Yes, everyone says go early, and we’ve enjoyed our early morning safaris, too. But going later just means that sometimes you’ll see different things.