You must do this and will love it.In the past we have done this and it is usually done on Sun. and Thurs. It is the best experience. Everyone loved it. It has been a few years but would love to do it again. The safari is the same as the ride except they truck stops to allow for pictures. We were even allowed to stand abit to get the shot. The CM gave tons more information as well. The food was great, a little better than Boma we thought. Food was all brought to the table. We were seated at a table of 8 with our grand gathering name cards on the table. The kids we invited up to play with African insturments and dance along with the music.They brought some little animals in cages (spiders and such) for the kids to see and touch just outside the dining area. The characters meet with everyone for photos and such at the end. You do get to exit the park as it is empty and we were allowed to take pictures and CM's were along the path that offered to take many pictures of us with our camera. I would do this again in a heart beat just have a problem with getting 8 people as there are only 4 of us.