Can you really spend a whole day at Animal Kingdom?

[jenseib]

Our last day of our trip will be the AK. I've been there about a year after ti opened. I liked it, and we ahd fun, but it seems like a full day really is more than what is needed. We wil ljsut have 2 year old this time, and I knwo she can't ride on some of the stuff, so we will be limited to what we can do. So if we get there bright and early we can proably get thtough alot pretty fast? I am jsut thinking that if it warm enough. maybe we can spend the afternoon/early evening at the pool or something if weather permits!

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

We spend a full day at AK each trip and go back if time permits. It's a fun place to poke around. You can easily do it in half a day though, especially if you aren't going on things like EE and Dinosaur. Go ahead and plan to hang at the pool.

 

[serendipity]

While we've never made it from park opening to park closing there are plenty of things to do and see. There's 4 main shows...Nemo, Lion King, Flights of Wonder...and for the little ones Pocahontas. That alone takes plenty of time. Then there's the safari, going on all the treks, and dinoland is geared towards younger children. Have a great time.

 

[Joe'sgirl]

We went to AK on a day where it opened an hour early for Disney hotel guests with our daughter who was 17 months at the time. She did all the rides she was big enough to do, we saw 1 show, the Parade in the AM, dh did some rides and we ate and we were done around 1pm, giving us time to go back to the hotel and swim.

 

[Kitty-chan]

I spent a full day at AK last November. Of course, I'm sure it helped that I never get tired of riding Expedition Everest! But also it was nice to be able to just relax and take the place in, explore the walking trails, and stop to watch DeVine for a while.

 

[Spine_DR]

We usually do alot of park hopping but as already stated I could see how you could turn it into a whole day, all the shows the safari and hitting EE couple times atleast.

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

When we went in September we only planned for one day at AK. We picked the day that had evening EH so it was open until 8:00. We still didn't get through everything. I don't know what we did wrong. Samething happened to us at MGM. Next time we are going to spend 1 1/2 days at each of those parks.

 

[Aidensmom]

We usually get there at opening time, and are done with the park by about 3. We have a 5 year old who is afraid of Dinosaur, and isn't big enough for EE, so we aren't spending any time waiting for those. We also do the Safari first thing before a line forms.

 

[aurorasleeping]

I've never had a problem spending an entire day there (but never been to an EMH at DAK), since the park usually closes around 5pm, I'm often sad, because I would have been happy to spend a few more hours there.
I love EE and the Safari and will usually do both more than once, but I also like just spending time watching the animals especially on the Mahjara Jungle Trek. And I have to admit I've never even been to *any* of the shows there...I'm really not sure what happens to my time when I'm there....

 

[deekaypee]

Yes, you can spend the whole day pretty easily. But you can also spend less time if you so choose, especially given your circumstances. And remember that you will want to get there early to avoid the lines and to catch some of the animals out and about. I say your vacation is about what you and your family enjoys, so don't feel pressured to see everything at AK at the expense of doing something else you'll enjoy.

 

[boomhauer]

Before I ever really gave it a chance, I would have said no. Now, I say absolutely yes. In fact, I go back for a 2nd day.

That's not to say you can't do it in a day, but you can see several attractions twice and just really explore all of it over 2 days.

 

[ransom]

Yes, I can spend a full day at AK!

The key for me is to avoid looking at each park as a series of rides to experience. There's so much more to every one of them!

I feel that I could spend a week at any of the four parks without getting bored.

 

[Poohbear67]

Our last day of our trip will be the AK. I've been there about a year after ti opened. I liked it, and we ahd fun, but it seems like a full day really is more than what is needed. We wil ljsut have 2 year old this time, and I knwo she can't ride on some of the stuff, so we will be limited to what we can do. So if we get there bright and early we can proably get thtough alot pretty fast? I am jsut thinking that if it warm enough. maybe we can spend the afternoon/early evening at the pool or something if weather permits!

We went to AK and had it all done in about half the day but went back over different areas to make sure we didn't miss anything. We rode the safari so many times I bet the drivers knew us by name. LOL!:

Stayed at the All-Star Sports Sept. 2006
Stayed at the Animal Kingdom Resort Sept. 2006

 

[bytheblood]

Easily - and then some. This is usually a 2-day park for us.

 

[byoung]

No problem staying all day there.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We never stay past 3 hour. We hit the safari ride, tough to be a bug, EE and the dinosaur ride and thats it for us...

 

[ReneeA]

We love the AK, and try to see/do everything there. I try and schedule it for a EMH morning and then we stay until close, or close to it.

There is so much to see there...it's not all about the rides at AK.

 

[MomPOM]

From what I'm gathering from my trip planning, I can see how you could do it in less than a full day if you've been there before. I mean, how many times do you need to see a giraffe (especially if you have a good zoo near your home, as we do)?

But, I'd say if you've never been there, you couldn't do the park justice without a full day.

 

[jenseib]

I have been there before, but DH hasn't (nor the 2 year old). When I went the last time, I didn't spend a whole day then either. My older two got bored, so we didn't even see all of it, but I wasn't going to drag bratty kids to something they didn't want to see. (they were obsessed with the Magic Kingdom) We are going to skip MGM altogetehr this trip, as I have never stayed a full day there. I don't care for most of it. A few things are fun, but I really don't think there is a full days worth to see there. So I'll jsut paly it by ear and see how it goes. I would like to do the Safari, but I'm not going to wait for hours with a two year old either. I did that first thing last time, and it was neat, but not something that I would die without seeing again. We do have a membership to our local zoo, and it's a pretty nice zoo too.
Thanks for all your opinions!

 

[Lesley]

Last week we spent a full day at AK (9am to 4:30pm or so) and didn't do everything. We covered most of the major headliners, but missed some too. We were a group of 7 ranging in age from 2 to 54, but we only had to use the rider switch for Dinosaur and Everest.

We didn't do ITTBAB, the Boneyard, FOTLK, or any of the animal trails (among other things). We didn't spend any time meeting characters and the only show we saw was the new Nemo musical. We did each get to ride Everest at least twice.

There isn't much a 2yo can't do. Our 2yo was even tall enough to ride Kali River Rapids (38"). The only height restrictions are on the coasters, Dinosaur and Kali. There are plenty of good shows and you can spend plenty of time in the Boneyard. A big part of AK is just walking around and taking it all in. If you rush from attraction to attraction you're missing out on the best of the park. That said, what we did last week was pretty much rushing from attraction to attraction.