Animal Kingdom????

[investgirlmd]

We are going to Disney in April DH, I and 2 kids 11 & 5.

We are using the dining plan so I have our days somewhat planned for dinner.

My question is does Animal Kingdom take a full day? We werent planning on doing the hopper but, now I'm thinking maybe we should.


This is our First time to Disney so any suggestions would be great.

Thanks

 

[jezabel_007]

Nah I was there last weekend and it can be done in a day. We headed right to the safari first and there was no lineup. And then we ate and did exhibits and were done by 2p.

 

[investgirlmd]

We are there for 5 days......do you think we should skip Animal Kingdom??

I'm trying to plan so we utilize all our meals on the dining plan.

I dont want to waste a days ticket on Animal Kingdom if it only takes half day. We didnt get the hopper pass.

 

[goofy4dis]

In your situation it really depends on your family. Do you guys like animals? If you do then stay here for a day.

READ THIS: (I have posted this before but I'm copying it in)


Don't neglect animal kingdom as a zoo. Hence nahtazhu being the slogan. This is much more. The safari cannot be missed. Once we had a curious giraffe stick his head in the car. An expierence un imaginable!!!! Up close looks at all animals are achieved by the fun safari ride which takes you through the preserve. My advice (this only applys when its not too hot or in the offseason) is to go get fastpasses o the Kilamanjaro safari ride then go ride the Kali River rapids a few times because in the off season, especially in the morning, this line will be short. So short you can get off and back on. This is an incredible ride but u have a one in four shot in geting absolutely soaked. Like u jumped in a pool and got back out. My suggestion (and yes we tried this on our last trip) is to bring a poncho or rain coat to protect from water if you are unfortunate enough to only be in the six of eight seats only getting wet. Bring a change of clothes because your chances of really getting drenched are likely. FOR THOSE THAT HAVEN'T GONE ON THIS RIDE IN A WHILE, YOU CAN NO LONGER TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF. So I reccomend you bring water shoes with you that day. Large park+wet shoes+wet clothes=not good. So be like a boy scout, prepared, and bring a change of clothes. By the way for anyone in your group not wanting to go on the ride, a contol on the bridge gives on lookers the ability to squirt water from a elephant statues trunk at the riders. If there is time left until your fastpass or after the fast pass, Take some time to go back to the main area and watch the performances (festival of the Lion King is a real treat) Also the many trails are enjoyable. The animal kingdom, which is often regarded as a skippable park has many great relaxing things and some upbeat ones. Even if you aren't into the whole animal thing than do the above. Plus dino land offers a really neat looking playground for the little ones and "a dinosaur dig". Unfortunately its not real bones and you don't get to keep your finds. However the theme holds attention of even the oldest guests. Atleast schedule a half day at this park. The dinosaur ride is a good one if you don't mind very bumpy moments and things jumping out at you. It has really good animatronics. Also, with Expedition Everest coming soon, this may suceed in making this more than a half day park.

 

[angel's momma]

It totally depends on your family.

Many feel just like jezabel_007, and are done by early afternoon.

I read many reviews like that before our trip & planned that way for our family too. We ended up going back for another half day & I was surprised that we still didn't get to do all that DD wanted to. IMO, the way the shows are timed make it difficult to see them all in one day.

 

[wdwoldtimer]

What...you'd actually consider skipping Everest?

 

[__disneygirl]

Animal Kingdom is a must-see for anyone, even people who aren't animal lovers. People do not realize it's beauty. It's such a wonderful park. I suggest you get there early and do the whole day. You'll have a great experience. If you are doubting it - just think about this. When Disney was trying to get the idea of AK off the ground people didn't want to do it because they thought it wouldn't be exciting enough. Disney then said ok, well wait and see. They then brought a live tiger into the board room and needless to say these people changed their minds. Just a little trivia and an idea of why Animal Kingdom should not be skipped.

Plus - EVEREST!!!!!!! I'm SO excited for that. I haven't been to Disney since 2004 and one of the first things i do on my upcoming trip will be EE!!

 

[tlady]

I would not miss this park. It's lots of fun, particularly if you're an animal lover like me.

Now, with the addition of EE, I would definitely stay most of the day there. Besides EE, other "must do's" for us are: Rapids ride, Safari ride, It's Tough to Be a Bug, Festival of the Lion King, Primeval Whirl, walking the various animal trails and, of course, Dinosaur!

 

[aunt kelly]

I think you can easily spend the entire day at AK.

We've been to AK on two previous trips. Both times, we arrived at opening. Both times we left around 3pm. We love AK and we always leave feeling like we missed some of the big attractions. For example we've never ridden the rapids or seen the parade. I just don't know how everyone else squeezes everything in in a 1/2 day. (Maybe it is because we've gone at busy times or maybe we're just too darn slow). This trip, our kids are older and have more stamina and we're going to devote more than a 1/2 day to AK-we want to see the Jammin' Jungle Parade, ride the rapids and ride EE.

 

[HappyLawyer]

if you would have asked me this before my previous trip i would have told you a hlaf day is good and then just hop, however on my last trip we took in shows and did other things and when it was time for us to hop, we were not ready to go, next time we will do it in a full day then go to dtd after if the day ends early, but pace yourself and enjoy take in the shows, i am sorry i had not done it before.

 

[KatieRenee]

Well I think it is a matter of thinking out what it is that your family wants to do there. Personally I think that if it is your first time then why not take a full day to experience it. We easily took a day to spend at AK on our first visit. I am sure we will do it again in June. There are alot of things to do and I personally want to walk around the park enjoying the design and experience rather than hurrying from ride to show all day. Hope I helped!

 

[TinkGirl]

I wouldn't skip Animal Kingdom. It's one of my favorite parks to walk around. The first time my family did AK, we stayed the whole day. I would say just take your time and look at the animals in the Oasis, do the trails. It's really different from MK. About the only thing to do commando was to get a fast pass for the safari right away. Now there's EE, too, which is AWESOME! Our first visit we spent an hour in the playground area letting the kids "dig up" dinosaur fossils. It's a beautiful park even down to the "themed" sidewalks that are all beat up for Africa or decorated in leaf prints toward Dinoland.

 

[remfam5]

OK OK OK --- I did read all the other suggestions and they all say "Do NOT skip this park" and I totally agree. We just went in October for our first ever visit to WDW! However, if you only have 5 days, I would DEFINITELY upgrade to park hoppers when you get there-- because you are not going to want to "waste" a whole evening and possibly an afternoon (on the off chance that your family does see all you want to see at AK by 2pm)!
Our family (DW,DH DD9 & DS6) did the safari, rapids X2, bug's life, pocahontas, lion king, tarzan, dinosaur, whirl, etc... and had lunch, all by 2pm and we all thought that we did everything we wanted to! ---but the idea is that for your first visit to WDW, You really should take full advantage of the possibilty you may leave AK at 2pm!

 

[mom22princesses]

Hi! My DDs love AK! It is a great place to see characters too. We were on the dining plan too and used our TS that day to do an early breakfast (8:30) at Donald's Breakfastosaurus. We saw Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto, had a very nice breakfast and were out into the back part of the park by 9:15 or so. Dinoland was absolutely vacant. My girls did the Triceratops Spin over & over (well, the 4 yr old did). I went and got FP for the safari for later and then DH and DD7 did Everest with no wait. We stayed until after the afternoon parade and then left, but it was worth it. We did Lion King, the Safari, the Flights of Wonder show, Dinosaur, the exploration trails, and saw lots of characters. We saw Lilo & Stich, Baloo & King Louie & the 4 pooh characters. My DDs really enjoyed the parade, it was cute. We did a CS lunch at Tusker House and split 2 meals between the 4 of us (rot chicken and salmon) ... lots of food.

Even though we had Park Hoppers, we used that night to go to DTD marketplace. We visited the toy store and the lego store. We had a yummy, yummy, yummy CS meal at Wolfgang Puck's Express. I would recommend that. This way, we only used 1 TS for the day (breakfast).

Have fun planning!

 

[drogerstn]

Too much reading for me to see if this has been mentioned already....

The cost of your 5-day ticket over a 4-day ticket is only a few dollars, so you don't need to feel like you aren't getting your money's worth from AK (consider it your "5th day" of your 5-day ticket).

Five full days of the parks can takes its toll and you may want some rest time near the middle of your visit. You can go to AK near the middle of your trip (i.e. on the 3rd day) and PLAN to have either a late start or an early finish for that day. We visited the AK after 2pm or 3pm during one of our visits and the crowd was very thin.

You may want to consider the morning and evening Extra Magic Hour during your visit and either take advantage of it at AK or avoid that day if you don't.