Animal Kingdom question! :)

[_Laurie_D]

Was hoping to get some opinions on whether Animal Kingdom is now a full day or half day park. Myself, husband and 6yr old will be visiting first week of December. We have fast passes for FOP so we don't need to worry too much about spending hours in line there. Is there enough there to spend a full day? Deciding whether I should get park hoppers

 

[kmb584]

Was hoping to get some opinions on whether Animal Kingdom is now a full day or half day park. We have fast passes for FOP so we don't need to worry too much about spending hours in line there. Is there enough there to spend a full day? Deciding whether I should get park hoppers

It's always been a full day park for us, and now with Pandora, it's easily a two-day park. So, my opinion is yes, it's a full day park. There are a good number of attractions plus shows and walking trails.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

You will get varying answers. Bottom line is it depends on your family/group. AK is still less than a full day for us. We're not waiting in a long queue for FOP, not going to do the rope drop mad dash, and don't typically qualify for 60 day FPs, so FOP is not in our plans. The rest of Pandora is just sort of 'meh' for us. It is easy to ride KS, EE, Dinosaur, ITTBAB, and hit a couple of shows in half a day or so. Sometimes we start our AK days with breakfast at the Tusker House. Pretty nice buffet and good character interaction. DHS won't take a full day either

 

[klairbear]

It was our first visit last week and we needed a day and a half at least. A beautiful park, my favourite.

 

[Monorail_Man_NJ]

Only park IMHO that is not a FULL DAY is HS.

Especially now with Great Movie Ride closed. The Star Wars stuff wont be really good until the new Star Wars part opens up.

So Yes AK is a full day.

 

[Surr]

Plan for a full day, if you decide not to stay all afternoon evening and want to hop you can always add the hoppers then. Pandora is a beautiful and unique experience and worth seeing during the day and at night. All of the shows there are excellent. I especially recommend you see Flights of Wonder if you haven't before as I am told it is ending soon. FoW is one show we skipped our first few visits and were surprised how much we enjoyed it once we finally did. Some of our favorite quick service and table service restaurants are there as well. I am not a fan of the nighttime show, but you may want to see it.

Also, if meeting characters is of interest there are several there and often in themed outfits. (Perhaps Christmas).

 

[msk]

We have always need at least one full day. With Pandora we need at least another half day.

 

[cbg1027]

It's always been a full day park for me. I don't need a day and half, as long as I have FP for FOP. I find NRJ to be completely skippable. Not worth the wait. But it is fun to wander around Pandora.

 

[CarolynFH]

I agree it’s a full-day park, especially if you take time to walk the Gorilla Trail (baby gorillas, meerkats) and the Maharajah Jungle Trek (tigers, Komodo dragon, bats), ride the train to Rafiki’s, and see the shows. I concur re Flights of Wonder and also love Lion King & Nemo. Add in Safari, Everest, Dinosaur - yep, we easily spend a day there.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I will be spending 2 full days at AK during my trip next month.

 

[srwarden1928]

I always start a trip with one full day in EACH park. Then depending on who I am with I like to hop around and do what I want, but I frequently defer to others' wishes for past day 4.

 

[KenHutch]

We spend 2 days there (we do 2 days each park each trip) and have always found stuff to do. During the last trip when everyone got tired we took the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge sat down in some chairs and watched the animals in the savannah while we recovered.

 

[djc9699]

We always spend two full days there. So much to see and do and it is relaxing to us to walk the animal trails. We love the gorilla area especially. With all the entertainment around the park, there is plenty to do.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I usually spend 1.5 days there at least. I enjoy the walking trails and can spend an hour just watching the baby gorillas cause trouble. They have baby tigers now in the Asia walking trail, so that could add some more time as well. It may be less than a full day park for me this year since my wife is pregnant as there are fewer rides that she can do.

 

[skyblue17]

I was surprised when my friends planned a full day for this but ultimately, we stayed from just after open to close, and relatively easily! We did not do a long wait for FOP (I waited 45 minutes on standby) or any other rides and we did not have a huge amount of downtime. We did do the Nemo show, which is almost 45 minutes. Around 4pm or so, after using our last FP at the rapids, we did wonder if we'd make it till 7pm for ROL, and because we wanted to catch the show, just added another FP for the safari, as we had enjoyed our morning one so much. That helped fill a bit of time, as we stopped for a Dole Whip on the way from Asia, did our trip and then had dinner on the way back toward the ROL amphitheater. So, I'd say yes, it is a full day park, especially if you plan to enjoy the animal exhibits, all of which can take up some time (up to you just how much on all but the safari). The Gorilla trail, the Tiger Exhibit and Rafiki's Planet Watch are all linger at your own pace type things and can fill as much time as you do, or don't, want them to. And this was all with basically completely ignoring DinoLand all together (my friends hit up a short wait ride there while I was FOPing, but that's it). With kids, that's probably not something you'd want to do!

 

[kniquy]

I agree with some PP that the only park that isn't a full day is HS.

If you want to see some of the shows (Nemo and Lion King) just those alone will be an hour-1.5 hrs with wait time, then you have the Jungle Trek and gorilla falls which you could coast through, but to really look and see everything you want to plan for at least a 1/2 hour each. Tree of life awakenings is something to definitly see. ROL is a one and done so you could miss if you didn't want to be at the park late. Pandora itself is a place to walk around and take in the sights - so you could go in, do your ride and leave but you would be missing a lot. It is also impressive to see at night too.

If you wanted an afternoon break you could for a little bit if you are staying onsite, or if you just wanted a break from the park a quick bus ride to animal kingdom lodge gives you 3 of the best restaurants on property. But the food reviews for the food in pandora land look great. You could also do a character meal at Tusker house for a little break (and this gets great reviews)

All in all i would plan for a full day so that you can really explore the park and not feel rushed.

 

[shellyj]

It's a huge, spread out park, but if you only want to hit the rides, you can easily have enough time to hop to another park. But there are tons of attractions and exhibits that aren't rides that can definitely make it a full day. We don't usually take advantage of all AK as to offer as we tend to focus on rides and shows and we do usually hop to another park that day. But my kids can spend a hour just in the boneyard. It drove me a little batty last time, but my daughter especially enjoyed the Wilderness Explorers passport thing and those stations can take awhile when the kids have a lot of questions. I'm planning it as a full day for our next trip.

 

[loves to dive]

AK is one of those parks that is all about the details so you can take as long or as little time as you desire. Some people walk on by some of the viewing areas, some actually stop and watch and talk to the CMs stationed there. I love the park and can spend a hour on each trail just enjoying the animals. There are all sorts of little nooks and crannies to explore if you want.

 

[Gehrig1B]

Methinks the folks that see AK and HS as half day parks are only there for the rides. Even HS has plenty to occupy a family throughout a full day in my opinion. Of course, we love all the shows, eat a sit down meal inside the park, plan for Fireworks/evening shows, and often ride our favorite rides multiple times.

AK is now a multiple day park for us. We will use hoppers and go in the morning one day and stay until mid afternoon and hop; then reverse on another day to see Pandora at night and ride Flight of Passage at closing. Looking forward to walking through Pandora at night after the crowds are gone.

 

[Idoc]

It’s always been 2 days for our family, and now we feel a little rushed with Pandora!