Guilt about not planning to visit AK

travelbuffnj

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
92
Have been before and I've just felt kind of "meh" about it. We have done the Safari, Nemo and Lion King shows, eaten at Yak and Yeti. Am I missing something? What is it that people love about this park? Thank you!!
 
I love the architecture and the people who work there. It has a totally different feel to it than the rest of the park, which is hard to deal with at first when you're a do dumbo or die type person. Going ito it, I just try to relax and go with the flow. It's rather like a treasure hunt, you never know what you'll find.
 
Safari (which you've done), EE, Kali River Rapids, Dinosaur. Honestly we go for a day each time we go to Disney simply for those rides. Everything else just adds to it. It's a day to relax in my opinion, slower pace, get our rides in, and be able to leave early, grab dinner at DTD, and maybe get to bed a little early to prepare for the next day.
 

If you have a Park Hopper, its definitely worth a trip. Get there early and go to the Safari and see the Lion King. I could do without it myself and wouldn't feel bad if I skipped it but my kids like to see the animals.

We usually get there and do Safari, Lion King, Flights of Wonder and then hang out in DinoLand a bit. We are usually done by 1-2 then take a break.
 
I love going to AK, but if you didn't really like it, it's okay not to go back. The FoLK is probably my favorite thing in all of Disney, and I love the safari and animal stuff in general, plus EE is my favorite roller coaster. I also like that each park has a different atmosphere and I enjoy all of them for different reasons. But really, if you prefer being elsewhere, I wouldn't worry about it. Or if you have hoppers, go check it out in the morning and spend the afternoon elsewhere.
 
Nemo and Lion King shows are awesome. The Tigers come right to the glass. Tusker House breakfast is the best. Wild Trek was well worth it too. I agree that Park Hopper does make it worth it. We usually hit AK then go to AKL for dinner. After we head to Epcot or MK.
 
If you don't like it don't feel guilty.

To me I think it is a great park and I can't imagine missing it. Safari is great, EE is one of my favorite coasters, the animal trails are pretty awesome, 2 really good shows, our kids really like Tough to be a Bug and the Dinoland area.

If you feel like you already gave it a full try and it's not for you than it's no big deal.

If not, maybe try again and try to see what it's all about. If you want to give it one last try use Josh's cheat sheet at Easy WDW. You can pretty much do and see everything there by early afternoon and hop to another park....
 
I'm with you, we've been twice and are not doing AK this upcoming trip. While it has some really neat stuff I'm just not excited about going again until the construction is less and new attractions are open. Opting to try something new and go to Universal (gasp!) instead.
 
My family was not into AK much until last trip when we actually changed our last day from Epcot to AK. We were doing multiple rides on EE single rider- DH and DD16 rode 9 times in 2 days. Posing for the camera each time was the most fun. And we tried for multiple rides at the end of the day on Kali...but a threatening storm messed that up.
 
When our kids were little, it was their favorite park. They loved all the animals and the shows. We wouldn't have missed it back then. Now, most of our trips are for four days, and we do MK twice and skip AK. It just hasn't changed enough over the years to keep us coming. Once Pandora is built, we'll be back for sure. Until then, it will get left off during short trip. The only thing we hate is that we miss eating at Yak & Yeti, one of our favorite restaurants on site.
 
If you've tried and and don't like it, you don't need to feel guilty!

Last trip was my first visit and we had to leave AK at 3 for an early ADR; we were kicking ourselves for not planning a longer day. It felt like we missed a lot. Darned hot day, though. Anyway. EE turned out to be my favorite coaster in the parks and the CM interactions we had were probably the best all week; they were all just lovely. It really is a place that rewards a less commando approach; next visit I've allotted more time and am planning on doing more wandering.
 
If you have never seen her before, Divine is a do not miss in my opinion. Flights of Wonder is something we have come to like more and more. Check out all of these live entertainments that you can see at AK.

http://wdwent.com/ak/ak.htm
 
AK is not our favorite park either. We like to have an early dinner at Boma and take the bus from AKL to AK just to do the safari and EE. This obviously only works if the park is open past 5pm, which it almost always is when we go in summer. We hit EE right before the park closes and get to ride it multiple times with little to no wait. Don't feel guilty about skipping something you don't like. Just enjoy what you love. :-)
 
Don't feel guilty! If you don't like a park, you don't like it. We probably will never go back to Epcot until the Frozen ride opens. We just don't enjoy ourselves there so we're done with it (for now)
 
I like the train ride to conservation station. I find it so interesting, and different stuff is going on every time we go. I think they have a petting zoo too there. We also love the little dino play area, and always eat at Flame Tree.
 
What others have said: no need to feel guilty. :)

AK is a half-day park for us, we just don't like it as much as the other parks. We go really just to see the Safari and ride EE then we have a quick walk around and leave.
 


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