How long will AK take?

[curlyque]

we want to go to AK but have limited time to spend. We want to arrive in the morning and do the safari and EE. Then we will hop to HS and have to be in line for A&E sing along FP by 2:30. How much time might it take to do AK and then travel to HS? Thanks in advance!

We usually do everything we want to do in the morning, eat lunch and then leave by 1pm. (2 adults and 2 kids)

 

[joannamet]

If that's all the time you have then I say go and make the most of it. The park isn't huge and you can do alot before noon and then make it to MK in time for A&E.

AK is one of our favorite parks because its lush and beautiful and we enjoy walking and seeing the animals. We could spend an hour at the Tree of Life and the kids love the Carnival games. For us, its not just about the rides so its an all day park for us. Make a plan so you use the time you have effectively. Maybe next time stay longer.

 

[HockeyIsLife]

Three hours TOPS. I am excited for the new changes, not because I care about Avatar, but because this park has a potential for fun, and it just isnt there yet.....

 

[Vernie822]

We love Animal Kingdom! I think with a 9 AM start, some lunch, rides, and exploring, by 2 PM I am usually spent. To me it is especially hot there so I don't usually mind leaving at 2. We do love to explore and see everything though, and my fiance loves animals so he likes to take the time to see everything.

 

[csjordan]

My wife and I usually only spend 3 hours at AK and see everything that we want to see and ride everything we want to ride. We hit the Safari first, walk through and see the gorillas (her favorite) and ride EE in the first hour and a half. The rest of the time is leisurely spent walking around. Not much going on at AK for us. Epcot on the other hand... We spend days there with the shops, food, few rides, etc..

As for the bus to HS... I would recommend taking the bus to Yacht/Beach club and walking to HS. It is a pretty quick process. If that is a burden, take a bus to the AKL and pick up a bus to HS there as the ride from AK to AKL isn't that long. The only problem is if you get to AKL and a bus has just left you may be waiting an extra 20 minutes or so.

There are park to park buses, so you do not need to take a bus to a resort and then to HS.

 

[bwang123]

we want to go to AK but have limited time to spend. We want to arrive in the morning and do the safari and EE. Then we will hop to HS and have to be in line for A&E sing along FP by 2:30. How much time might it take to do AK and then travel to HS? Thanks in advance!

we rope dropped AK (9am posted opening) at the beginning of this month and were off the ride at 8:59AM. if you walk over to the safari, you will be in line and off in around 30min. so, you can basically do everything you wanted and be out of the park well before 10am if you wanted to.

 

[Dano13]

It sounds like both of you think that the only things worth doing at AK are the rides, when there's so much more to the park than that.

To me the other things are zoo like and I have the Bronx Zoo for that. If I want to melt and have no opportunity to sit in AC for 10 minutes this would be the place for me.

 

[pigletgirl]

If that's all you are planning on doing, sure that would work. We love the little nuances that the park has to offer. I really didn't understand Animal Kingdom until I listened to the podcast about the park itself. When we went this past fall, it was amazing to see those. We spent a good 6 hours in the park taking it all in. That does include multiple rides on EE.

 

[Baptist]

Sorry all you AK enthusiasts. Last trip we went to AK only to ride EE. It's my daughter's favorite ride. We planned on a 1/2 day at the park, but had to change our plans at the last minute. It was an easy drive in, ride stand by 15 minutes, drive out! We had park hoppers, so it did not cost extra.

For the OP, I would not be surprised if you can get in and get out in about 60 minutes. The only tricky part is I don't know what day you are going. If you are arriving at 9:30 when it's already been morning EMH, maybe 90-100 minutes.

Hopefully, you are driving. AK is easy to drive in and out quickly.

 

[spiderann]

It sounds like both of you think that the only things worth doing at AK are the rides, when there's so much more to the park than that.

we did watch Flights of Wonder which was great! if we had kids we would've stayed longer i'm sure! i should mention that we went in early September that year and crowd levels were like 2 so we didn't have to wait in lines for more than 5 minutes most of the time!

 

[Capang]

Thank you everyone for the input!! We would love to spend more time at AK but we only have 4 day hoppers. MK is a 2 day park for DD. We have only been to WDW one other time amd we never made it to AK. We figure this time we will spend half a day then head to HS for the sing a long and late lunch. I would love to leisurely stroll AK however that just won't work for us this time. Happy to hear we should make it to our FP at HS.

 

[ArmyVet80]

There are park to park buses, so you do not need to take a bus to a resort and then to HS.

When did they start the park to park buses? There weren't any in Sept 2014 (my last trip there).

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I know different strokes for different folks BUT... How do you leave AK without seeing Festival of the Lion King AND Finding Nemo the Musical? Aghghghg! Two of the best shows on Disney property! Lol! Seriously though, you'll have plenty of time to do both your desired attractions more than once.

Some strong truth in this post - both were HIGLY enjoyable.