AK vs HS on arrival day

[GWhitten98]

We had planned to go to HS on arrival day. Our flight lands at 1235 and we are taking ME to AKL. What do you think is the earliest we could hope to get to HS? Would we be able to make to Animal Kingdom faster? I am starting to wonder if it would be more worthwhile to go there instead since they are now going to be open later. Either way this will be the only day at the park we choose.

 

[cvjpirate]

I don't have any idea about time to get to one park vs the other. If I know I am able to go to the park I don't choose, I would do HS on arrival day. Feel like I could do most if not everything in short amount of time. AK offers more and is open later, but for me if I stay that late I wouldn't be any good the next morning and I'm more of a RD person. Now if I can only do one and not the other I would do AK b/c it has more to offer.

 

[BrianL]

You likely wouldn't get into a park until about 4 PM and I doubt AK vs. HS would make much of a difference. I would go to HS as it currently has fewer attractions than AK, though some of the shows don't run too late. Still, it has Fantasmic! and Star Wars Fireworks too.

 

[Lynzer4]

I am doing AK when I arrive on June 8th. My flight arrives at 1pm. I figure we will be on the bus to the park by 3:30ish. I have my first FP+ at 4:15pm. I am doing AK because it's open late.

I believe DME says 90 minutes. In the past I have gotten off the plane and been at my hotel in an hour (depending on if you are the 1st or last stop). To be safe I would plan 2 hours from when your flight arrives to be at the hotel. Then depending if you want to spend time in the room (if ready), eat or anything else determine what time you can be at the bus stop.

AK is going to be a little closer but not that much of a difference that you should go to one over the other. I would consider what time you have to be up that morning and determine if you can handle a late night.AK is open later but will you last until closing? Next consider which night time entertainment is most important and decide if you think arrival day is the better day to see it or skip depending on how you family handles late nights.

I think both work great for a 1/2 park. AK is always a 1/2 for me but I don't do all the animals. So if animal attracts are important to you I might consider DHS because AK with animals is more a full day park.

 

[maryj11]

We are going to HS on our arrival day. I just figure 3 hours from getting off the plane to getting in line for a bus to the park.

 

[BethR9]

We're planning on arriving around the same time you're thinking and we're doing HS. I figured we can get everything done there in a half day and get that park "out of the way". My only concern is where we will eat our quick service dinner at in HS since the quick service meals are so terrible.

 

[Lvsdisney]

In January, our plane landed at 2:00pm and we walked into HS by 5:00pm. We also stayed at AKL. We waited until we were assigned our room so we could have arrived sooner than that. Just to give you an idea.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

We had planned to go to HS on arrival day. Our flight lands at 1235 and we are taking ME to AKL. What do you think is the earliest we could hope to get to HS? Would we be able to make to Animal Kingdom faster? I am starting to wonder if it would be more worthwhile to go there instead since they are now going to be open later. Either way this will be the only day at the park we choose.

I would do HS unless AK happens to be open late. If you want to cut down your travel time, instead of taking ME, take a free shuttle to nearby hotel and then request UberX to take you direct to AKL. This will save you incredible time and only cost you about $10-15.