Does anyone have advice for afternoon/evening touring at Animal Kingdom?

[Nutmeg2016]

Hello,

We're planning to arrive at AK around 1-2 pm during our trip next week (our only AK day). I'm grateful for any tips on starting our day in the afternoon (vs. rope drop, which we normally do).

For example, I understand that genie+ is generally considered the least useful at AK, but should we consider it in this case? I've been casually monitoring wait times for the key attractions we'd like to hit (e.g. kali river rapids, kilimanjaro, na'vi river. . ) and they've been pretty high well into the evening. So my sense is that genie+ might be worth the $$, if I can figure out how it works. . (I cannot get my head around "stacking" for the life of me!!!).

Thank you!!

 

[holyrita]

Just a data point from my trip last week. The park closed at 8:30pm and the last safari was at 7pm. At 6pm the safari wait time was 30 minutes but it was a walk on. Safaris at that time can be hit or miss depending on temperature and when the animals are fed, but that particular safari was amazing! Sometimes that late the giraffes haven't been feed yet so they're all very far away at the fence waiting for food. If it cools off by 6pm we notice a lot more active animals.

Walked to Pandora after the safari and did standby for Navi River Journey. Posted wait was 50 minutes, actual wait was just under 30.

 

[Nutmeg2016]

Just a data point from my trip last week. The park closed at 8:30pm and the last safari was at 7pm. At 6pm the safari wait time was 30 minutes but it was a walk on. Safaris at that time can be hit or miss depending on temperature and when the animals are fed, but that particular safari was amazing! Sometimes that late the giraffes haven't been feed yet so they're all very far away at the fence waiting for food. If it cools off by 6pm we notice a lot more active animals.

Walked to Pandora after the safari and did standby for Navi River Journey. Posted wait was 50 minutes, actual wait was just under 30.

Thanks so much, this is really helpful! Good to know that wait times weren't as bad as posted and that you had a wonderful safari! I"m looking forward to the evening atmosphere

 

[scrappinginontario]

We did this in January. It went well but I messed up on Safari as I didn’t realize how early it closed. My biggest recommendation is to watch times of attractions and shows then plan from there.

 

[g-dad66]

I think G+ could work for you. At 7:00 am, the return times are all prior to 1:00, but by 8:00 today, Safari was showing return time of 1:30 to 2:30. If you booked Safari LL at 8:00, then you would be eligible again at 10:00.

Today Navi was available for about 6:30 at 10:00. You would next be eligible at 12:00, and at that time Kali was availalbe for about 6:00. At 2:00, Dinosaur was available for about 6:00. And at 4:00, Everest was available for about 7:00.

So you could stack:
Safari
Navi
Kali
Dinosaur
Everest

And if you paid for Flight of Passage ILL and scheduled sometime between 2:30 and 6:00, you'd be looking at almost no wait times in line at all. MIght give you time to do Lion King and Feathered Friends shows, and Tough to be a Bug 3D, as well as eat a meal between 2:30 and 6:00.

 

[Nutmeg2016]

We did this in January. It went well but I messed up on Safari as I didn’t realize how early it closed. My biggest recommendation is to watch times of attractions and shows then plan from there.

Many thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely study the day's schedule to make sure we don't miss any "must-dos"!

 

[Nutmeg2016]

I think G+ could work for you. At 7:00 am, the return times are all prior to 1:00, but by 8:00 today, Safari was showing return time of 1:30 to 2:30. If you booked Safari LL at 8:00, then you would be eligible again at 10:00.

Today Navi was available for about 6:30 at 10:00. You would next be eligible at 12:00, and at that time Kali was availalbe for about 6:00. At 2:00, Dinosaur was available for about 6:00. And at 4:00, Everest was available for about 7:00.

So you could stack:
Safari
Navi
Kali
Dinosaur
Everest

And if you paid for Flight of Passage ILL and scheduled sometime between 2:30 and 6:00, you'd be looking at almost no wait times in line at all. MIght give you time to do Lion King and Feathered Friends shows, and Tough to be a Bug 3D, as well as eat a meal between 2:30 and 6:00.

This is extremely helpful! I *think* I finally understand the crux of stacking, in that the 120 min window refers to the actual process of booking a selection, not the return time of the attraction.

So, I could start monitoring G+ return times around 7am and book as soon as I see one that works for us, and then jump back on the app 2 hours later to book the next attraction (and so on. . . ).

Am I understanding this right?

But one thing I'm still not clear on: If I followed your hypothetical scenario verbatim, I'd have Navi, Dinosaur and Kali all booked for around 6-6.30pm . . is it possible to have multiple attractions booked for overlapping time periods? Or am I taking your scenario too literally?!

 

[DisneySyd]

This is extremely helpful! I *think* I finally understand the crux of stacking, in that the 120 min window refers to the actual process of booking a selection, not the return time of the attraction.

So, I could start monitoring G+ return times around 7am and book as soon as I see one that works for us, and then jump back on the app 2 hours later to book the next attraction (and so on. . . ).

Am I understanding this right?

But one thing I'm still not clear on: If I followed your hypothetical scenario verbatim, I'd have Navi, Dinosaur and Kali all booked for around 6-6.30pm . . is it possible to have multiple attractions booked for overlapping time periods? Or am I taking your scenario too literally?!

You’re understanding correctly, except that your 2nd booking would be 2hrs after park open (not 2hrs after 1st booking). ETA: assuming your 1st booking is before park open.
Every other booking is 2hrs after the last (when stacking)

You can have overlapping bookings. That’s actually my favourite change from FP+!

 

[g-dad66]

What DisneySyd said.

 

[Nutmeg2016]

You’re understanding correctly, except that your 2nd booking would be 2hrs after park open (not 2hrs after 1st booking). Every other booking is 2hrs after the last (when stacking)

You can have overlapping bookings. That’s actually my favourite change from FP+!

Okay, thank you! So in our case, our 2nd booking can happen at 9.30 am (given the 7.30 am opening time on our AK day). To confirm, it doesn't matter what time we make our 1st booking, e.g. let's say it's at 9.15 am. . our 2nd booking could still be at 9.30 am?

And yay re: overlapping bookings, that makes things a lot easier .

 

[scrappinginontario]

Okay, thank you! So in our case, our 2nd booking can happen at 9.30 am (given the 7.30 am opening time on our AK day). To confirm, it doesn't matter what time we make our 1st booking, e.g. let's say it's at 9.15 am. . our 2nd booking could still be at 9.30 am?

And yay re: overlapping bookings, that makes things a lot easier .

Unfortunately, no. If you don’t make your first booking until 9:15 then you are not eligible to book a second LL until 11:15 unless you use your first booking. If you use it then you can make another booking after tapping in.

 

[Nutmeg2016]

Unfortunately, no. If you don’t make your first booking until 9:15 then you are not eligible to book a second LL until 11:15 unless you use your first booking. If you use it then you can make another booking after tapping in.

Ah, okay, thank you for the clarification! Yikes, these "rules" are convoluted, but I think I'm getting the gist (and I'll learn more as I go.

 

[FunnyLady1966]

Great thread. I had really not even considered doing AK because I've done it before and not interested in going back...or so I thought. It's bee 6 years and that was before Pandora!! We will DEF be going now.