Best touring plan for AK?

[PolyAddict]

On our last trip we went to AK for the 1st time on an EE day and got there before the park opening. Getting through the turnstiles was a nightmare crowd of people!! My family DH, DD11 and DD13 do NOT want to go back to this park. However, I would like to give it one more try. On our next trip it will be me DH DD4 DD12 and DD13. We are not interested in the safari again,saw bug's life and tree of life. What other things should we do? How much time do we need? and should we attempt EE again? Or go later in the day?

Thanks

Michele

 

[kirbsam]

If you go early in the day, the whole crowd goes to the safari. You will literally have the park to yourself for the first hour if you skip the safari. I would hit dinosaur, and the two shows. Get a fast pass if necessary for Kali river Rapids. And go on the walking tours while waiting for your fast pass time. You can do these things and be done by noon. Then you can have the rest of the day to do whatever you want.

 

[PolyAddict]

If you go early in the day, the whole crowd goes to the safari. You will literally have the park to yourself for the first hour if you skip the safari. I would hit dinosaur, and the two shows. Get a fast pass if necessary for Kali river Rapids. And go on the walking tours while waiting for your fast pass time. You can do these things and be done by noon. Then you can have the rest of the day to do whatever you want.

Thanks kirbsam- I guess the shows you are referring to are Tarzan Rocks and Festival of the lion king?

Michele

 

[Pig Pen]

I agree. If you do not want to do Safari again, do not go to AK on an early entry morning. I find if I arrive about 15 minutes AFTER opening (whether its EE morning or not), I miss the initial stampede.

I would do the following:

Festival of the Lion King
Dinosaur (your older kids will love this ride)
Tarzan Rocks
Flights of Wonder
Kali River Rapids

If your kids are anything like mine were, they would just assume skip all the walking trails. I don't know when you are going but unless you are there first thing in the a.m. they are so crowded you cannot see anything anyway.

The only other I problem I had with AK is the timing of the shows. This takes careful planning. Try to get a show schedule beforehand and plan accordingly.

Do Kali last so if you are drenched, at least you can leave!

 

[kirbsam]

Doing Kali last is great advice, Pig Pen.

 

[InstImpres]

I am also thinking with people having "non hopping" tickets now, EE parks may be the most crowded all day. I am considering trying to avoid them all together or not go until 2ish when some people have left for a break.

JMHO

 

[PolyAddict]

I agree. If you do not want to do Safari again, do not go to AK on an early entry morning. I find if I arrive about 15 minutes AFTER opening (whether its EE morning or not), I miss the initial stampede.

I would do the following:

Festival of the Lion King
Dinosaur (your older kids will love this ride)
Tarzan Rocks
Flights of Wonder
Kali River Rapids

If your kids are anything like mine were, they would just assume skip all the walking trails. I don't know when you are going but unless you are there first thing in the a.m. they are so crowded you cannot see anything anyway.

The only other I problem I had with AK is the timing of the shows. This takes careful planning. Try to get a show schedule beforehand and plan accordingly.

Do Kali last so if you are drenched, at least you can leave!

Thanks for the advice. Yes, we will be skipping the trails. So I should go 15 minutes after opening on a nonEE day? I want to make sure I get this right because it may be my last chance to get them to go again.

Thanks

Michele

 

[debkorb1]

Thanks for the advice. Yes, we will be skipping the trails. So I should go 15 minutes after opening on a nonEE day? I want to make sure I get this right because it may be my last chance to get them to go again.

Thanks

Michele

I would go earlier than that - we got to the parks 30-40 minutes before opening on a nonEE day.

 

[luvsTink]

We have had success with sending one member of our party to get FP as soon as we enter (as close to opening on non ee day). THe rest of us headed over to dinorsaur and went on with our plan from there. Are you going during a very busy time or a less busy time of the year?

Anne

 

[huskies90]

We went twice to AK on our trip and both times did EE. The first day was Monday and it was a pretty empty day. We had no plan and just went from one attraction to the next. We repeated some. We went again on a very crowded day-after-Veteran's-day Friday and EE worked out great for us 'cause we wanted to be done by early afternoon and be able head over to MK to close out our trip. Here was our plan: We got to AK about 10 minutes after the opening to let the intial crowd go through. Everyone goes directly to the safari. I left my fam at the tree and went ahead and got a fastpass for the safari. In the meantime they walked around some of the discovery trails. I met up with them and we did ITTBAG with no wait. Then walked over to dinoland. It opened about 15 minutes early and there was nobody there. We did primeval and dinosaur with no wait and we were done just a little after the actual park was opening. We walked back to do the Safari and got a Kali fastpass along the way. Did the Safari, then the African trail. Went over to Asia and saw Flights of Wonder (great show) and then did Kali and the Asia trail. We then headed over to to the Lion King. We had a little time before the show so we saw most of Pocahontas before getting on line for the Lion King show. We left checking out some more of the Oasis and Dicovery trails on the way out. We were done before 1PM and really the only thing we missed was Tarzan. Just one too many shows for one day...