Help planning an evening during an AK day

[jldeahl]

We have our first family WDW trip coming up (with our 3 and 5 year olds) and I could use some help planning the evening of a day at Animal Kingdom.

Scenario 1: PPO ADR at Tusker House with the ROL dining package. Do morning at the park, take a midday break and come back in the evening to see the Tree of Life awakenings and ROL.

Scenario 2: Morning at AK, evening at Disney Springs for dinner at TRex Cafe and a visit to the Lego Store.

I figure TRex Cafe will still be in the theme of the day, and the kids *might* have more fun with the Lego Store than sitting through ROL. But would it be a mistake to miss AK at night? Thanks in advance!

 

[gharter]

Definitely #2. RoL is interesting for adults. I think young kids would be really bored. Especially if they could see dinosaurs and play with LEGOs instead.
They probably would like the tree lighting, but not so sure about RoL.
What about morning at AK. Break at resort pool. Go to DS for early supper, play with LEGOs. You could come back to AK to see the tree and walk around Pandora, then head back to your resort. It is more time on the bus, but you get to do most of the things the kids will enjoy. AK after dark is really fun and Pandora at night is totally different than during the day.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We have our first family WDW trip coming up (with our 3 and 5 year olds) and I could use some help planning the evening of a day at Animal Kingdom.

Scenario 1: PPO ADR at Tusker House with the ROL dining package. Do morning at the park, take a midday break and come back in the evening to see the Tree of Life awakenings and ROL.

Scenario 2: Morning at AK, evening at Disney Springs for dinner at TRex Cafe and a visit to the Lego Store.

I figure TRex Cafe will still be in the theme of the day, and the kids *might* have more fun with the Lego Store than sitting through ROL. But would it be a mistake to miss AK at night? Thanks in advance!

I'm tentatively voting for #1. Are you on the dining plan? If so, I would give it a shot as it won't cost you anymore to do the package over just a breakfast there and if you end up not going, you haven't lost out on any money. If you aren't on the dining plan, I would actually consider just doing the PPO ADR and playing the rest of the day by ear. I think your kids will be bored with ROL quite honestly. It isn't that visually spectacular and there is no story line. My DS9 was bored out of his skull. That being said, AK at night is beautiful. You could always try for ROL as your 4th FP+ if you don't do the package.

Personally, I would do the PPO TH ADR (with ROL if you have DDP, without if you don't), enjoy your day at AK and then decide where you want to go after you've taken your break. When my DS was that young, we would have to play afternoons/evenings by ear as we never knew if he would fall asleep, how long he would sleep, if he needed a longer break, etc. After the break, you can then decide if you want to go back to AK (even if you don't do ROL, it's beautiful at night and there are other things there you can do), or go to DS. Just a warning, TRex is quite loud. It scared my DS when he was that young. There is also a Rainforest Cafe there. If you want to make a "just-in-case" reservation at TRex and/or Rainforest Cafe in DS, I would call the restaurants and make the reservations as opposed to doing it on the WDW site so you don't have to give them a CC. You can also get a Landry's Select Card which will get you priority seating at either of those restaurants whenever you happen to show up which would give you even more flexibility that day. With either option, you could literally wait until after your mid-day break to decide what you want to do that evening.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I agree with others who say your kids are probably a little young to enjoy ROL. We are in the camp of people who enjoyed it. My DD7 and DD9 both liked it but DS5 was meh on it. I wouldn't think it would be a hit with a lot of 3 year olds (but you never know). And it's hard to know how much the kids are going to be up for the first time so unless you're on the dining plan I wouldn't do the dining package.

 

[hswillia07]

We were there last May and my kids turned 3 and 6 on the trip and they LOVED ROL. We did the dining package and it worked out great!

 

[sharonabe]

I'm going to throw in a caution about TRex. Have you been to something like that before? Depending on where you are seated, it can be REALLY loud and a little frightening for little ones when the thunder, lightening, and darkness part of the "show" happens. And it happens more than once during your dinner.

 

[glocon]

I’ve only been to a Rainforest Cafe, but I’m guessing T-Rex is similar. And Rainforest scares kids

 

[jldeahl]

Thanks to everyone for all of the helpful advice! We are not on the dining plan. On TRex Cafe, our kids tend to like things that are over the top and colorful, and don't typically scare easy. So, I wonder if maybe an ideal scenario #3 is to come back to AK in the evening for an ADR at Rainforest Cafe (seems like it has fun elements along the same lines as TRex) and then do Tree of Life awakenings and Pandora, and maybe take a crack at ROL if we can FP (and otherwise skip it).... Thoughts on that as an alternative to my two original ideas? (My real problem is that there are way too many fun things at WDW and I'm too indecisive! )

 

[glocon]

Do you need a fp for rol?

 

[jldeahl]

Do you need a fp for rol?

I've heard it's a very long standby line if you don't have a FP or a dining package. So not impossible without either of those (as far as I know) but more than we can weather I think with two littles (esp for a show that I'm not sure will hold their attention)

 

[sharonabe]

Thanks to everyone for all of the helpful advice! We are not on the dining plan. On TRex Cafe, our kids tend to like things that are over the top and colorful, and don't typically scare easy. So, I wonder if maybe an ideal scenario #3 is to come back to AK in the evening for an ADR at Rainforest Cafe (seems like it has fun elements along the same lines as TRex) and then do Tree of Life awakenings and Pandora, and maybe take a crack at ROL if we can FP (and otherwise skip it).... Thoughts on that as an alternative to my two original ideas? (My real problem is that there are way too many fun things at WDW and I'm too indecisive! )

I like this idea. If you make your reservation for TRex through Open Table and one for Rainforest through Landry's, then you could hold both of them until day of. If you can get a 4th FP for ROL when you're done with your others. You could make your final decision then.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thanks to everyone for all of the helpful advice! We are not on the dining plan. On TRex Cafe, our kids tend to like things that are over the top and colorful, and don't typically scare easy. So, I wonder if maybe an ideal scenario #3 is to come back to AK in the evening for an ADR at Rainforest Cafe (seems like it has fun elements along the same lines as TRex) and then do Tree of Life awakenings and Pandora, and maybe take a crack at ROL if we can FP (and otherwise skip it).... Thoughts on that as an alternative to my two original ideas? (My real problem is that there are way too many fun things at WDW and I'm too indecisive! )

I think that’s a really nice compromise between the two. We definitely prefer Rainforest over TRex and AK at night is beautiful. I think checking to see if you can get ROL as a 4th FP is a good strategy and if you can’t, there are a ton of other things to do there. Even strolling around, seeing the tree of life, street music shows, etc. is fun!

Edited to add: call the restaurant directly for a reservation or get the Landry’s card for more ADR flexibility!

 

[glassslippergirl]

My DS5 would prefer option 2. Just beware that you will wait a long time for your door a T-Rex ( from the time you order until the time it comes to the table).