Animal Kingdom in December Question

[bcinohio]

I'm glad the original post was made. I was just getting ready to ask the same thing. We are going to be at AK 12/15 and I had made 5pm dinner reservations at Rain forest so we could stay around and see the night show. Then I see today that it is ending in Sept. We don't usually stay at AK pass2-3 so not really wanting to stay around until 5 for dinner. I changed out dinner to a late lunch (2pm) so that way if they do have a night show we can stay if not we can go somewhere else. I was thinking if they don't do a night show and HS still has the Star Wars fireworks of going over there that night to see that. We want to see Fantasmic on our other HS day.

 

[Nancyg56]

My guess is that they'll plan a dessert/s'mores party for this....

LOL!

 

[HatboxHaint]

My guess is that they'll plan a dessert/s'mores party for this....

 

[HatboxHaint]

why are you having such a difficult time this go around? I'm having a hard time because this is my first trip with children and they are going to be tired in the am. Really leaning towards later arrival that am and then doing the dinner and hoping for some early evening hours.

Please Rope Drop, take a break and enjoy a little bit in the evening!!!

 

[SilSprBea]

Please Rope Drop, take a break and enjoy a little bit in the evening!!!

Is it really bad to miss rope drop at animal kingdom, especially since people clear out early? It's been a while since I've been. My dilemma is that we are going on a Thursday and the day before will be in Epcot. It's my daughters 5th birthday at Epcot so we are going to do a princess dinner at Akershus and then stay for illuminations at 9:30. I figure by the time I get them back to the hotel and into bed it wil be past 11. I also have a 3 year old who loves to sleep in, and I'm a little worried they won't be able to get up for rope drop at animal kingdom after a late night at Epcot.

 

[Nancyg56]

Is it really bad to miss rope drop at animal kingdom, especially since people clear out early? It's been a while since I've been. My dilemma is that we are going on a Thursday and the day before will be in Epcot. It's my daughters 5th birthday at Epcot so we are going to do a princess dinner at Akershus and then stay for illuminations at 9:30. I figure by the time I get them back to the hotel and into bed it wil be past 11. I also have a 3 year old who loves to sleep in, and I'm a little worried they won't be able to get up for rope drop at animal kingdom after a late night at Epcot.

When my DGD was 4 she was a night owl, later to sleep and later to rise. We kept her schedule intact when we vacationed, and Disney was no exception. With that said, we tried to get to the parks earlier rather than later when it made sense. I would not haul a child out of bed early when they never got to sleep until after 11 the night before.

I would get to the park as early as makes sense for your family, but also keep in mind that this park is a big one. It is spread out, has a lot to see for adults and children alike. If hours are not extended, you are not going to experience as much as there is offered.

If I was planning, I would plan my later park arrival for a park that I wanted to experience later entertainment, and save DAK for an arrival as close to Rope Drop as possible. AS you can see, this is why some of us are struggling with planning. We do not know if this park will have evening entertainment and late hours so firm plans are up in the air.

 

[HatboxHaint]

Is it really bad to miss rope drop at animal kingdom, especially since people clear out early? It's been a while since I've been. My dilemma is that we are going on a Thursday and the day before will be in Epcot. It's my daughters 5th birthday at Epcot so we are going to do a princess dinner at Akershus and then stay for illuminations at 9:30. I figure by the time I get them back to the hotel and into bed it wil be past 11. I also have a 3 year old who loves to sleep in, and I'm a little worried they won't be able to get up for rope drop at animal kingdom after a late night at Epcot.

Honestly at AK you are ok. But MK rope drop is priceless with little ones.

 

[SilSprBea]

Honestly at AK you are ok. But MK rope drop is priceless with little ones.

Thanks. We are definitely planning rope drop 2x at magic kingdom and Epcot. The two I'm considering a later start to is animal kingdom and Hollywood studios (kids won't do a lot of the big rides there anyway).

 

[epcotty]

At this point they seem to now be wanting to run AK more cheaply so I don't think later hours or any nighttime show ( besides the displays on Tree of Life) are likely at all after they start cutting it back. I'm skeptical of ROL ever happening at this point

 

[HatboxHaint]

Thanks. We are definitely planning rope drop 2x at magic kingdom and Epcot. The two I'm considering a later start to is animal kingdom and Hollywood studios (kids won't do a lot of the big rides there anyway).

you'll need to do RD at HS if you are signing up for Jedi or you want to do TSMM and RNRC wil reasonable waits, If you are only doing TSMM and have a FP+ locked in you are probably good for a late start there.

 

[SilSprBea]

you'll need to do RD at HS if you are signing up for Jedi or you want to do TSMM and RNRC wil reasonable waits, If you are only doing TSMM and have a FP+ locked in you are probably good for a late start there.

Thanks. I think we will just FP toy story. Our kids are too short for RNRC so if we do it it will be one of us in the single riders line. Our kids don't know about Star Wars yet (3 & 5) so probably will be skipping Jedi training.

I think the highlight for my kids at HS will be the Disney junior stuff and meeting the characters at our H&V lunch!

 

[HatboxHaint]

Thanks. I think we will just FP toy story. Our kids are too short for RNRC so if we do it it will be one of us in the single riders line. Our kids don't know about Star Wars yet (3 & 5) so probably will be skipping Jedi training.

I think the highlight for my kids at HS will be the Disney junior stuff and meeting the characters at our H&V lunch!

At their ages....OH MAN yes the Disney JR show is so fun