Best time for dinner at Sanaa

[StirlingSilver83]

So my ADR date is rapidly approaching and I am wondering what the best time to eat at Sanaa is to see the most animals. We are planning on eating here March 17. I should also mention that this is our arrival day. We are staying at AKL and we are driving down. We are driving in from Florence, SC and I am expecting to be into Orlando area by around 1-2PM as long as we don't hit any traffic. I am also planning on heading over to Animal Kingdom that afternoon to request my sons DAS so we have it the rest of the week. Does anyone know if we can get to guest services outside the park or if we need to go into the park (doesn't really matter bc we will have a park ticket, but I am not sure if we will have the time to go in the park and if we do go into the park if I will be able to get my kids out of the park). Also if I do end up needing to go into the park and my kids want to stay for a little before we have to head over for dinner I have already looked on the map and it looks like the closest area is dinoland. Do the rides over in Dinoland usually have long waits or are they pretty much walk on rides? We haven't been to Animal Kingdom in a few years so I just want to know what to expect. Also how long should I give myself (if we have our own car) to leave from Animal Kingdom to make it back to Sanaa for dinner.

 

[Barbydoll8]

I can answer some of these but not all. In March the sun should be setting around 7-ish here so you probably want to have some light left to view the savanna. It is not lit well for viewing at night. I would probably do a 5-5:30 ressie. This of course, is no promise of animal viewing.
It literally is a 10 min drive from AK to AKL.
Why not call GS in advance to try to arrange the DAS? Could save some time.
The few times I've been in Dinoland, the only ride I've seen with a wait is Dinosar.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

I can answer some of these but not all. In March the sun should be setting around 7-ish here so you probably want to have some light left to view the savanna. It is not lit well for viewing at night. I would probably do a 5-5:30 ressie. This of course, is no promise of animal viewing.
It literally is a 10 min drive from AK to AKL.
Why not call GS in advance to try to arrange the DAS? Could save some time.
The few times I've been in Dinoland, the only ride I've seen with a wait is Dinosar.

Thanks so much for your help! Yeah I don't want to schedule too much stuff into my arrival day but it would be nice to get the DAS before our first full day in the parks so we don't have to worry about it. My only concern is once I get there if we have to go into the parks if I am going to be able to get my kids out when we need to leave bc they don't do transitions well. I figure if we get to Animal Kingdom by 2-3, usually at least in past experiences, guest services hasn't been busy at that time of day, lol. We did this last year at Magic Kingdom. We went over around 3 walked right in was taken right away no one else was even there and we were out of guest services in 5 minutes. When we went in 2014 I waited to get our DAS until the next morning and guest services was crazy busy everyone was flustered and it was just not a pleasant experience, lol. Anyways then I was hoping to just leave and head back to our resort to explore a bit before dinner, but I know my kids will want to explore the theme park. Well it can go 1 of 2 ways I can bait them with our hotel has giraffes and we can go explore our hotel and see all the cool animals or they are going to want to stay in the park and if thats the case then we are just going to hang out in dinoland since its the closest to the entrance and has some kid friendly rides/stuff to do. So if I make my ADR for Sanaa around 5:30 then we should plan on leaving AK around 4:45. I am obsessive about wanting to always allow myself plenty of time to get some place, lol. I also see that Sanaa is in Kidani...we are staying in Jambo so should we plan on just taking our car and parking at Kidani or is their a bus that takes us from Jambo to Kidani?

 

[Barbydoll8]

I make my ADR for Sanaa around 5:30 then we should plan on leaving AK around 4:45. I am obsessive about wanting to always allow myself plenty of time to get some place, lol. I also see that Sanaa is in Kidani...we are staying in Jambo so should we plan on just taking our car and parking at Kidani or is their a bus that takes us from Jambo to Kidani?

4:45 at the latest. I have found even with an ADR at Sanaa, it's better to arrive 15 min early. Driving will get you in there a little after 5 ish. You can take the bus if you like. It stops at Kidani Village first. The park busses pick up and drop off at Kidani first so if you get a bus from the park to Kidani, you can jump on any park bus at Kidani and ride over to Jambo. Just don't take the Disney Springs bus. That's in reverse order. There is a shuttle that you can ask for to take you to and from Jambo/Kidani. It's a van and runs about every 20 min or so. But if you are at Jambo, it is about a 10 min walk to Kidani from Jambo. Probably take just as long to drive from Jambo to Kidani as it would be to walk.

 

[madalex]

If you are staying at AKL, there will be many opportunities to see the animals from the various savannah overlooks located all around the resort. Thus, it seems redundant to plan the timing of your visit to Sanaa around seeing animals.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

If you are staying at AKL, there will be many opportunities to see the animals from the various savannah overlooks located all around the resort. Thus, it seems redundant to plan the timing of your visit to Sanaa around seeing animals.

We are staying at AKL, but we want the whole experience of dining at Sanaa since we have never dined there before I know we will have LOADS of chances to see the animals around the resort, but only 1 chance to see them while we dine at Sanaa on our first night there, lol.