For Kilimanjaro Safari sunset ride, what is the best time to book FP?

[Alice777]

If sunset for November is around 6:38 pm, what is the best time to book FP for Kilimanjaro Safari?

I did day safari and is interested in doing one at sunset (read here if it's too dark, you can't see the animals) so what time would be the best time to be on the safari ride?

Thank you

 

[minnie mum]

It's not dark at sunset. Twilight follows. So any time within an hour or so of sunset should be fine.

 

[ArielSRL]

Sunset was 8:45 when we went in June. 8/8:15 was probably the ideal time.

 

[tripletmomsrock]

We went 7/4 and went on the Safari around 730 and I thought it was great. We saw a lot of animals and got great pics. I think 730-815 is perfect in the summer but you will have to back that up for your trip.

 

[maryj11]

Book it right at the real sunset, other wise it is hard to see the animals.

 

[Alice777]

Sorry.....so to clarify, according to the internet, sunset is at 6:38 pm on the day I want to go in November.

So I should try to get on the ride by 6:38pm?

Thank you

 

[IrishNYC]

I would aim for booking between 6:30 and 6:45

 

[Klayfish]

I don't think the animals have a watch on their wrist that makes them say "Well, it's 6:40pm...time to pack it in for the night". Really, as long as you're in the general vicinity of sunset, you'll be fine, and the animals you see will depend largely on random luck. In other words, someone booking at 6:30pm may not see much because the animals moved from where they were when the 6:20pm group rolled through. So anywhere from 5:30pm to 6:45pm should be fine. Truthfully, you'll probably find the line is short that time of day/evening anyway, so you can use your FP+ and jump right back in a short standby line if you want.

 

[Rivergirl2005]

Book it at sunset!!!! It's gorgeous!! If it gets too dark it looks like burning bushes lol

 

[ArielSRL]

I'd shoot for about 30 minutes prior to actually sunset. You want to go when there is still some light. After sunset is really too dark to see the animals.

 

[ArielSRL]

I don't think the animals have a watch on their wrist that makes them say "Well, it's 6:40pm...time to pack it in for the night". Really, as long as you're in the general vicinity of sunset, you'll be fine, and the animals you see will depend largely on random luck. In other words, someone booking at 6:30pm may not see much because the animals moved from where they were when the 6:20pm group rolled through. So anywhere from 5:30pm to 6:45pm should be fine. Truthfully, you'll probably find the line is short that time of day/evening anyway, so you can use your FP+ and jump right back in a short standby line if you want.

It's not that the animals go anywhere necessarily, it's that you cannot see them after a certain time. I was just there in June and we went just a tad before sunset. We could still see but any later and we would not have. And a little earlier would've been ideal.

 

[Klayfish]

Yep, we were just there in June too. We first tried a night safari, as in 9:30pm, because we thought it would be cool. It was cool to see the area at night, but view of animals was very limited. So after that, we did several at sunset. We saw tons of animals...what we saw just depended on luck.

 

[maryj11]

Sorry.....so to clarify, according to the internet, sunset is at 6:38 pm on the day I want to go in November.

So I should try to get on the ride by 6:38pm?

Thank you

I would get in line about 15 minutes early because it takes a little while to get on the ride. When we were there in June we got in line about 20 minutes before sunset and got on in about 10 minutes. it was cloudy so there was no sunset. They had just turned the fake sunset on when we were half way through so we were a bit early but it was still nice and the sunset looked so cool

 

[asbyrneva]

How have the lines been for evening safari? Is FP really needed?

 

[maryj11]

How have the lines been for evening safari? Is FP really needed?

We were there the last week in June and had a FP but when we arrived the wait time was 10 minutes so we switched our FP to Dinosaur and rode without FP.

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

I've wondered this too for late September. I thought about having a FP for around 6:30pm for the safari but was not sure if that was too early for the sunset. And also, if a FP was even needed...if I'm wasting one by having it tied up all day.