anyone like to help me plan my AK day?

[HerMajesty]

My family will be taking our 2nd tip to Disney World this June. On our last trip we were there in Jan with small crowds and no heat to consider.

I have most of my days and fast passes mapped out but an unsure of how to structure our AK day. Last visit we crisscrossed the park several times unnecessarily.

Tops on our list of things to do are:
Everest (fast pass, rider swap, single line are all options for us)
Kali River R - as not open on last trip
Dinosaur - totally missed in on our last trip
K Safari
Festival of the Lion King -didn't see last time.

We also have a late breakfast reservation for Tusker House at 1030.

It will be our first park day so fresh legs and up bright an early for opening (9).

Should we - do the safari first thing then use fast passes to reserve other rides after breakfast. Go straight to Everest and ride that and Kali before breakfast then use fast pass for later? Book 3 fast passes all for early morning then get additional ones for dinosaur, lion king later in the day?

I'm just not as familiar with the layout and distances on this park.

And advice appreciated!

 

[DISNEYD14]

My family will be taking our 2nd tip to Disney World this June. On our last trip we were there in Jan with small crowds and no heat to consider.

I have most of my days and fast passes mapped out but an unsure of how to structure our AK day. Last visit we crisscrossed the park several times unnecessarily.

Tops on our list of things to do are:
Everest (fast pass, rider swap, single line are all options for us)
Kali River R - as not open on last trip
Dinosaur - totally missed in on our last trip
K Safari
Festival of the Lion King -didn't see last time.

We also have a late breakfast reservation for Tusker House at 1030.

It will be our first park day so fresh legs and up bright an early for opening (9).

Should we - do the safari first thing then use fast passes to reserve other rides after breakfast. Go straight to Everest and ride that and Kali before breakfast then use fast pass for later? Book 3 fast passes all for early morning then get additional ones for dinosaur, lion king later in the day?

I'm just not as familiar with the layout and distances on this park.

And advice appreciated!

We always start our day at the Safari with a Tusker House breakfast prior. My family loves the animals so we spend all morning on the Safari, walking the trails and then take the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch.

When we return from the train we usually try to hit the 12noon FOLK show, then head to Asia for lunch - Yak & Yeti QS with Everest and Rapids either before or after lunch with FP+

We end our day in DinoLand since my kids like the Boneyard and the Dinosaur ride.

 

[Alesia]

I do AK in 2 loops. The first time we ride rides (starting with the safari) without fastpasses, and then on the second one we do the shows, trails, and fastpass attractions.

So it looks something like this:

Kilimanjaro Safari
Expedition Everest x 3
Dinosaur
Primeval Whirl

(end of loop one)

Oasis Exhibits
Festival of the lion King
Kilimanjaro Safari (FP)
Pangani Forest Trail
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Kali River Rapids (FP)
Flights of Wonder
Expedition Everest (FP)

 

[kmoore7]

I'm not an expert on AK, but, Safari ride should be done early, before the heat makes the animals lazy. Lol. Everest, Festival of the Lion King are must dos IMHO. Save Kali River Rapids for last because you WILL GET WET.

 

[shaneray]

definitely save Kali for when you think you'd like a good cooling off.

 

[Cando86]

Here's what we did last trip:

-EE multiple times in the morning (waits were low for quite awhile in the morning - we probably could have rode it for an hour with barely a wait)
-Kilimanjaro Safaris FP for 10:20-11:20 and used it at 10:20
-Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl; also met Donald outside of Dinosaur
-EE FP at 11:50
-lunch
-FOTLK
-Pangani Forest Trail
-It's Tough to be a Bug
-Finding Nemo
-Maharajah Jungle Trek
-Everest (waits go down after 3, we rode at 4:40 and waited 5 minutes to ride with a posted 20 minute wait)

We didn't do Kali since it was kind of chilly and we didn't want to be wet but I agree with other about saving it for before you leave the park (unless you bring a change of clothes).

When I was planning, I tried my hardest to minimize walking as I know how big AK is. Even with the planning, though, we walked more in AK (I think we logged close to 11 miles total!) than any other park. We still had a GREAT day and AK became our second favorite park this trip so I must've done something right !

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Tusker House is right next to KS. If you do KS first, you will probably be doing some backtracking on a day when the park opens at 9. If it were me, I would schedule a FP for KS from 10 -11 am. I would head to Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl first thing. If you have time, explore the Discovery Trails and/or see It's Tough to Be a Bug. Then head to the back of the park for your FP on KS. Ride it, then it will be time for your breakfast. After breakfast, I would take the train and check out Conservation Station. I really like it, but some folks don't care for it at all. Then walk the Pangani Exploration Trail. Should be around 1 now. Try to catch the 1 pm FOTLK. Walk to the Maharajah Jungle Trek and do it, then grab a snack. Catch the 2:45 Flights of Wonder Show. Head to Expedition Everest for your 3-4 pm FP, then to Kali River Rapids for your 4-5 pm FP ride.

This assumes no or few character greets. There are some awesome character greets at AK, so you might want to consider that.

This plan also does not include viewing the parade, but you did not list it as a priority. It is a fun parade, thought small.

It is hard not to backtrack around this park when you are trying to keep a FP and a dining schedule AND fit in everything you want to do. But this plan could work.

By the way, we found FOTLK fastpasses worthless. Might be different in the new location, but we thought we would get better seats with a FP. We did not.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

The park really empties out by late afternoon. Last June, my kids were able to ride Everest 6 times in about 45 minutes at 4 pm. I stopped after 3 trips.

We had a jeep to ourselves a couple of times around 5.

Kali keeps a longer line late as folks do like to wait until later in the day to get wet.

One drawback was the Safari, where we had to wait several minutes for enough guest to arrive to fill the truck. They don't like to send those out partially full.