Animal Kingdom-morning strategy?

[drogerstn]

Looking for suggestions for Animal Kingdom at park opening in June.

Right now, I'm thinking of doing one of the three:
-going straight to Expedition Everest to get a FP and ride 1st in standby line and use FP for a 2nd ride on Expedition Everest
-get a FP for Kilimanjaro Safari and ride Expedition Everest 1st in standby
-get a FP for Expedition Everest and ride Kilimanjaro Safari 1st in standby

We do a lot of walking and back-tracking in AK to get FP's. I don't mind doing this, especially early in the morning. I also like to get a FP for some other attraction as soon as it is allowable and before I use one that I'm holding.

 

[thelionqueen]

Here is our strategy...a wonderful CM gave me this idea.
We are going on EMH to AK, but would work with regular hours as well.
1st we are going to go to EE to get a fastpass, then go to Kilimanjaro Safaris. You should always go early to the safari, the feed the animals and it's cool so the animals are very active.
After KS we are headed to Expedition Everest to use our FastPass. After the ride, we are going to get another FastPass for later, then off to Donald's Breakfastasaurus for bfast. Then we have the rest of the day to do the rest of the park.

I thought it was a great plan, whatever you do, have a great time!!

 

[drogerstn]

Thanks thelionqueen. I agree on riding KS early morning and I know that we will want to ride EE more than once; so, your plan looks pretty good.

I'm wondering how long the standby line gets in the morning for EE before FastPass return times become active. If we can ride EE twice using standby, then I may want to get my 1st FP at KS.

 

[Mickey76]

I have to agree with lionqueen. Get a FP for EE and do KS first and go back to EE later. SOme of my best pics from KS are the early morning shots. Have a great time!!!!!

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Here is our strategy...a wonderful CM gave me this idea.
We are going on EMH to AK, but would work with regular hours as well.
1st we are going to go to EE to get a fastpass, then go to Kilimanjaro Safaris. You should always go early to the safari, the feed the animals and it's cool so the animals are very active.
After KS we are headed to Expedition Everest to use our FastPass. After the ride, we are going to get another FastPass for later, then off to Donald's Breakfastasaurus for bfast. Then we have the rest of the day to do the rest of the park.

I thought it was a great plan, whatever you do, have a great time!!

This sounds like a good start to the day. I am also interested in getting FP's for Kali and the big dinosaur coaster. How would you recommend we work that in? Will I need FP's for Festival of the Lion King and Bug's Life? Are FP's usually available late in the day to do a second Safari ride?

Thanks

 

[Priorityonecb]

What time ADR would you have to have at Donald's to do the plan LionQueen suggested? We plan to do early morning entry and have 8:30 ADR's for Donalds. Could we get the fast pass and do KS before breakfast do you think?

 

[mickeyluv'r]

With all due respect, I think your plans are way too optimistic.

We just came back from WDW. AK was VERY crowded! I've never seen it so crowded! It did thin out some during the actual EMH hours, but the rest of that day it was absolutely MOBBED! Just walking around took a long time, and I'm a speedy walker. There were jam ups everywhere!

It would be very hard to ride EE that many times. Not unless you want to spend you ENTIRE day there. Remember, everyone else in the entire park is trying to get to EE first too. The line for EE went to 90 minutes VERY quickly. Personally, I won't wait 90 minutes for anything. You might have a hope of riding it as a single rider, but even that line looked pretty long too. It wasn't clear how long the wait was (not posted like TT)

The good thing was that the FP line did move pretty quickly, not like the FP for Soarin' say, that still takes quite a while.

Also, how many FP do you think you'll get for the AM hours? I have to chuckle a little. The FP distribution for EE was completely gone by the early afternoon! Never mind thinking you'll get multiple FP's that will all be for morning times! (As were the FP for all the other attractions!) Seriously, FP's for the safari ride were DONE for the entire day when we walked by at 1pm! We ate lunch in that area, and after lunch all the other FP rides we walked by were also done by 2pm.

Incidentally, we rode the safari at around 1pm this trip (the second day we went to AK), and it was the best safari ride I've ever been on, and I have been on it at all times of the day! We saw lots of antelope, elephants bathing in the water, great views of the hippos, lots of birds, great view of an ostrich, and lots more! Plus, we had a great ride CM! So I don't think you absolutely have to ride it in the AM to get a great ride.

In the middle of the day, the only thing to do was to take the walking tours, see the shows. Even Rafiki's train had over an hour wait, it was unbelievable! I've never seen a line that before for that attraction.

But hey, good luck in your travels! Maybe you'll see lesser crowds than we saw, I just wouldn't get my hopes up too high for that to happen.

 

[Anna114]

I may be wrong, but I don't think so. You can only get 1 FP at a time. Once the one expires you can get another. Many people, like myself are going to AK mainly for EE. Since the main opening is in April, it's going to be a big draw for a long time.

Have a magical day,
Anna

 

[challada]

I may be wrong, but I don't think so. You can only get 1 FP at a time. Once the one expires you can get another. Many people, like myself are going to AK mainly for EE. Since the main opening is in April, it's going to be a big draw for a long time.

Have a magical day,
Anna

Sometimes you can get more than 1 FP...I believe it used to be if your window was more than 2 hours away, you had a time you could get another FP in. Did that change?
THANKS
C

 

[drogerstn]

Any feel for how long EE operates in the morning before FP return times become active? I'm going with thelionqueen's suggestion for now....

 

[Karnak]

I visited the Animal Kingdom on Sunday, March 19, and it was very crowded. But I had a very nice time, and did everything I wanted to do. I arrived at opening - 9:00 am, and left the park at about 2:00 pm.

Here's how I did it.

Walked to Kilimanjaro Safaris and got a fastpass, making no effort to keep up with the fast walking crowd. (I was on vacation, and not in a hurry at all.) Took time walking through Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, timing walk to end at beginning of fastpass time. Rode Safari using fastpass. Walked to Camp Minnie-Mickey section and saw the Festival of the Lion King. Visited Pizzafari, for a cheese pizza and a beer, taking my time. Never walking fast anywhere. Saw the 3-D show about Bugs, using the standby line (perhaps a 20 minute wait). Walked to Everest Coaster, used standby line to see exhibits (wait was about 25 minutes). Rode coaster for first time and loved it, so got into single rider line (5 minute wait) and rode it again. Left park.

Total elapsed time: Apx. five hours.

After a break in my room, I got on the bus to the Magic Kingdom and had a great visit there, where it was evening Extra Magic Hours. But that's another story.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

No way! We were at AK this past Sunday as well - the standby line was much longer than 25 minutes for EE every time we were there!
There were tons of people in the park, and especially near EE! The fastpasses for the day were nearly gone by 11am. I find it very hard to believe it thinned out that much before 2pm! The only way that could've happened is if they shut it down for a while, and you happened to hit it just as it re-opened. And even then I find it amazing that the single rider line stayed that short for that long. Maybe, but it was VERY solid when we were there.

We also went on the previous Wednesday (EMH day), the crowds did thin as the EMH hours approached, but not over at EE! The fastpasses were gone at 2pm. We got there about 10 am, got FP for EE, did some other things...rode EE, did some other things, checked EE on our way out, and it was still a solid 90 minutes during the EMH.

 

[Anna114]

This is what I love about the Disboards! Pulled out my Passporter and noted the first thing to do is get FP for EE on my AK day. Thanks all for the input.

Have a magical day,
Anna

 

[Alice Sr.]

This is my strategy for new rides.
1) Be at the park at least a few minutes before it opens.
2) Go directly to the new ride and get a FP
3) Get in line immediately

The longer you wait to get the FP the later return time you will have and the longer you have tied up your FP option. Sometimes you can get another FP like at MGM for the stunt show and I think they made that exception for SoarN also. If that's the case it doesn't matter when the return time is. The only other ride we get FP for is KS the stand by line is crazy.

 

[cruislovin]

Can anyone tell me which rides in each of the 4 parks allow for a multiple fast pass situation? I will be visiting in June.

 

[Karnak]

Yes, I did it just as I wrote above. Perhaps you were looking only at the posted wait tme for the coaster, which was showing 80 minutes when I first arrived. I checked with the CM at the enterance and he advised that the wait was not nearly 80 minutes. (This seems to be the case at many WDW attractions; I tend to ignore the posted wait time, and ask before joining the line.)

My post above was NOT exaggerated in any way.

 

[BAST]

What I plan to do in August is:

(1) get to AK (on a day following evening EMH) 20 to 30 minutes before park opening.

(2) go immediately to EE with DD8

(3) get 4 FP (DD6 and DW will not ride so DD8 and I will ride twice with FP )

(4) ride EE once in standby line with DD8 if line not too bad (no FP returns yet so lines should not be too bad)

(5) meet DW and DD6 at Dinoland area and tour area

(6) go back to EE at FP times - ride EE again (twice )

(7) go to KS after that and get FP if needed

(8) tour rest of park

We typically spend the entire day at AK (really enjoy this park).

 

[drogerstn]

Can anyone tell me which rides in each of the 4 parks allow for a multiple fast pass situation? I will be visiting in June.

You may want to submit this under a new post to get more responses.

It seems that things change from time to time regarding the fastpass system. When a FP is printed, there is a time on the pass which states when the guest can get another FP. This time can be:

1. The same as the start time for the FP attraction
2. 2 hours after the FP was distributed (unless start time is before this)
3. As little as 5 minutes after the pass was distributed
4. other??

Item 3 above occured for us on Living with The Land, Jungle Cruise, and Honey I Shrunk the Audience during our last visit. I don't know what the pattern is for this and if it occurs on a regular basis or not.

Also, I've read other posts which have stated that some attractions allow the guest to get a FP before the "allowable time" printed on the FP the guest is holding. Depending on the time the FP becomes active and other factors, it is easy to have 2 or more FP's before using them.

I try to get a FP for the same or another attraction before using the FP I'm holding; this means the new FP is doing the waiting for me while I'm riding the 1st attraction.

 

[Anna114]

I checked my couple of books Birnbaums and Passporter. Neither had a comprehensive list FP parks. Sorry.

Have a magical day,
Anna

Can anyone tell me which rides in each of the 4 parks allow for a multiple fast pass situation? I will be visiting in June.

 

[jaysue]

Sometimes you can get more than 1 FP...I believe it used to be if your window was more than 2 hours away, you had a time you could get another FP in. Did that change?
THANKS
C

No still the same - you can hold more than one FP depending on return times

cheers
jaysue