Animal Kingdom at night... Yay or Nay?

[hardlabor]

We are considering doing a late arrival at AK and staying through nighttime activities. I hear mixed reviews on the idea. Some say worth it, others say it gets too crowded by afternoon. Our thoughts are to get FP for Everest, Dinosaur and Safari just before sunset and then stay for the nighttime show... Is there even a nighttime show yet?? Please advise! Also favorite counter for dinner there?

 

[bwang123]

its dead at night and the area is beautiful. got to check it out.

 

[Accident]

It's a really great park to just walk around, take it in, enjoy the atmosphere and pay more attention to the "street performers" who I think are better and more interactive in a good way at night. the tree is nice to watch and Kali/EE (did kali close for refurb yet?) I feel are better.. however kali if your in the spot that gets drenched is not comfrotable without the sun to help dry you so come prepared for that. Safari is great if you time it so your truck starts moving right at dusk so it ends right as it's completely dark but after that, waste of time to wait for it and waste of a fp.

 

[Parker Clan]

We did AK at night this summer. It was beautiful! We did the safari & Everest, which were both awesome at night. I recommend it!

 

[aviva5675]

also did it in late afternoon and evening. Enjoyed the safari right at dusk, the park lit up at night and the Tree coming to life. HIghly recommend.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Kali at night if it is warm and you're okay with the drench is lots of fun. Stop at Nomad Lounge for a drink.

All rumors of a nighttime show are a long con.

 

[hardlabor]

so I have 9 days until FP reservations. (we leave 3/5) if we plan on noon arrival should that work to fit everything in and do Safari at Dusk and then FP Everest for after dark?

 

[stinkpickle]

You probably won't even need an FP for Everest. The wait is usually pretty low during the last hour of park hours.

 

[Dr.Mickey]

We did our first night at AK last week and loved it. We didn't really plan it that way, but with the sun down by 5:20 or so, night comes on quickly.

It was a crowded day (Expedition and Safari both hit 90 min waits), but after sundown, it was a breeze. We watched a few of the light shows on the Tree of Life - we thought it was nice, but not a must see. And we wandered the paths all around, which are beautiful. And we rode Expedition about 3 or 4 times in the last thirty minutes. And then we took a really slow walk with our good DSLR camera after the rides closed. We finally hit the exit about 30 min after close, and I felt like we could have lingered even longer.

So my take is this: There is no single show-stopping must-do reason to stay late (as is anticipated if River of Expectations is ever ready for the public). But...after jostling with the Christmas crowds for four days, we felt like AK at night was a complete joy.

 

[Dis703]

It's a really great park to just walk around, take it in, enjoy the atmosphere and pay more attention to the "street performers" who I think are better and more interactive in a good way at night. the tree is nice to watch and Kali/EE (did kali close for refurb yet?) I feel are better.. however kali if your in the spot that gets drenched is not comfrotable without the sun to help dry you so come prepared for that. Safari is great if you time it so your truck starts moving right at dusk so it ends right as it's completely dark but after that, waste of time to wait for it and waste of a fp.

Kali hours are now shorter than park hours. They were 10 to 5 a little over a week ago and I think that it was announced this is the norm at least for the winter. So that won't really be open at night.

 

[kangamangus]

Definitely a Yay from our family!

 

[Ambehnke]

AK is visually beautiful at night. If for no other reason I'd do it for that reason! If you are looking to do the entire park I'd give it a full day. The shows don't run the whole night and the trails aren't open the whole night either. If you want to just do just rides and shows and not too much walking around its probably manageable.

 

[hardlabor]

Thanks all! Looks like it will be a go based on all the feedback! We plan to arrive about noon and use FP and then have counter service dinner and then just enjoy!

 

[BebopBaloo]

I really enjoyed AK at night. We were there the last week of August and it had been raining, so the park really cleared out. We had an incredible view of the Tree of Life night time projection show. The only thing that I didn't like was the nighttime safari. Kilimanjaro safari is one of my favorite attractions in any of the parks, but the faux sunset was...odd/unrealistic.. and the unpredictability of humans...made me really not enjoy it. When we got to the lion section. There were three females and the one male lion out on top of the rocks. They were running, playing, tackling each other. It was very cool to see. However, despite being told repeatedly not to use a camera flash, a few guests decided that they would do it anyway and they did so more than once. It's very disturbing to have the lions turn and look toward the vehicle when that flash goes off. So, please please please EVERYONE...when the guide says 'no' LISTEN. He has a good reason.

 

[michelleiada]

They have done a really nice job with lighting the park at night. It really looks beautiful. And the projection shows on the Tree of Life is fascinating and moving. Well done! Hopefully, if and when Rivers of Light finally opens, and Pandora, this will make it well worth visiting at night.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Loved it - especially the projection shows on the tree! I wasn't going to stay but decided to last minute and was really glad I did!

 

[loves to dive]

I agree it's worth staying later and not to do the safari in full on night time. We were there last week and my only complaint, as others have mentioned, is the trails do close early so we missed one of them since we didn't know it was going to close at 4:45.

 

[Kazi7]

Pay attention to when sunset is. Last week when we were there, sunset was at 5:30. We had FP for Safari from 4-5 which was ok but not really dark at all and the "dusk" lighting wasn't on yet. Our FP for EE was 5-6. We rode just before 6 and it still wasn't really dark. It didn't get all the way dark until about an hour after sunset. I tried to move our FP's later, but there weren't any available. The park closed at 7:30 so there was only about an hour of real darkness.

 

[gatormom2tots]

Everest in the dark is a completely different ride- incredible!

 

[Farro]

Yay.