AK Wilderness Explorers

[parismeow]

Hi all,

How long do you think the wilderness explorers activity takes to complete in the animal kingdom?

would you recommend it for first timers? we will have about two days in animal kingdom.

 

[Jenn504]

My four year old daughter and I did it last year in the beginning of December. She loved doing it. It is time consuming. We had to go all over the park. Some of the stops are difficult to find and you might have to ask a few different cm's to find them. The wilderness explorer's also closes before the park does so make sure you are aware of that time. Would not be good to hustle along and find the booth shut down.
She really did enjoy it though and we were still able to do rides along the way. Once she started she didn't want to stop. You don't have to do it all in one trip. You can bring the book back your next trip.
When you complete the book you bring it back to the front. The kids sign their names in a book and they do a little ceremony. Our cm was great. He yelled really loud and announced how the kids completed the challenge. He got everyone around to clap for her. She loved it. The highlight of the trip.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

It took my DS four, half-days at AK to finish the book. As Jenn504 pointed out, we did this over several trips. I would definitely recommend it. Even if they don't finish the book, they will get stickers along the way and it does give you a more in-depth look into the park. My DS absolutely loved it. If you are doing 2 full days in AK, you may finish it, but even if you don't, it's fun. I would definitely pick up the books on your way into the park and gauge the interest in doing the activity from there. Again, even if you don't finish it, the book makes for a nice souvenir.

 

[TeamH5]

Our 6.5 and 5 year olds did it In a day. But they weren't interested in the rides, so it was a great alternative, and, we did spend from open (EMH) until close in that park, so it took us quite a bit of time, but they had a blast! We did do the Safari ride, and had a Character lunch, but other than that the day was filled with Wilderness Explorers.

 

[REEREEG]

Our 6.5 and 5 year olds did it In a day. But they weren't interested in the rides, so it was a great alternative, and, we did spend from open (EMH) until close in that park, so it took us quite a bit of time, but they had a blast! We did do the Safari ride, and had a Character lunch, but other than that the day was filled with Wilderness Explorers.

Are the activities tied into the exhibits so besides the rides & shows, they are getting the other parts of the park through doing the wilderness explorers program?

 

[TeamH5]

Are the activities tied into the exhibits so besides the rides & shows, they are getting the other parts of the park through doing the wilderness explorers program?

From what I recall, yes. There were ones at the tree of life, there were some that had to do with the parades, a couple at Mt. Everest, etc. so they did get to see plenty of exhibits and we did take time exploring those as well, so it wasn't like we constantly had our eyes down looking for clues. Lol we did it in 2013 though, I don't know how much it's changed since then, but we plan on doing it again on our Dec trip!

 

[TreeFalls]

We did it in two partial days. The first day we got whatever we saw while we did other AK attractions, did Safari and Gorilla Trail, and ended up with about 13 or 14 badges. On the second day, the rest of the family went elsewhere while he and I (and poor baby brother) did a super-focused nothing except WE for 4-5 hours, which included the trip to Rafiki's Planet Watch, and we got the rest of them.

We were not that efficient. We didn't initially intend to get them all the second day, so we picked and chose and were about to leave, but there were only 3 left and they were all over the park, so we did some backtracking. The clapping and book signing were really special and he was quite surprised. And he is so proud of his book!

So if your kid gets into it, it is really do-able. And pretty fun for you, too. He was extremely badge-focused, but he did learn some things about conservation and wildlife. And now he wants to build a bat house for the yard. As long as it is not too close to the house!

Edited to add.. He is almost 6.

 

[ajwolfe]

I think this is going to depend on your kids and how much they are interested in the other things in the park. My boys have never really gotten into it because it is so time consuming and they don't want to just focus on that. So we've done bits and pieces here and there but never completed it.

 

[Jenn504]

The wilderness explorers is tied into all different parts of the park. The only ride your suppose to go on is the safaris and to take the train to Rafiki's planet watch. There are 31 separate badges(stickers) to earn. There are 6 alone at Rafiki's planet watch. There are several throughout the two walking trails. There is usually a little activity to complete to earn the badge. A couple examples

Find the telescope along the shoreline in Asia. Use it to confirm the posted height of the forbidden mountain. Fill in the height. Find your badge guide at the gift cart near the telescopes and show them.

Go to the boneyard in Dinoland USA, how many different dinosaurs can you find?

Go to the animal nutrients window at conservation station and match the following animals to part of their diet then sign the pledge to never feed a wild animal.

Once you completed the acidity for that badge,you find the badge guide at that stop to get that sticker. Several of the badge guides are at gift stands, others are dedicated wilderness cm's at the stop.

It kind of forces you to stop and look at the different exhibits, read some of the signage you would probably glance over, notice some of the little details of the park.

It is a free activity to do in the park. No hidden costs anywhere.

 

[BlueFairy]

My kids didn't seem to understand that there was a goal to reach. They didn't want to take the time to complete the book. So we didn't get Explorer status, but they did participate here and there. You can totally manage expectations if you don't want to commit the time it takes to do the whole thing.

I should say that being a Wilderness Explorer is way more character focused and less time consuming in California Adventure. My kids had already done that, so maybe they were over it.