If we've never been to Animal Kingdom do you recommend setting aside all day?

[marriedmarylander]

All day meaning late afternoon when they close?

I know I've ask before and gotten responses that say it's really 2-4 hour park. Neither my DH or I have been though so I'm wondering should just go for the whole day until we've done it all? A couple friends who went recently said they stayed from park opening to park closing.

I'm just worried if I make my schedule AK half day and then something else (like a water park), will I miss out?

 

[civileng68]

All day meaning late afternoon when they close?

I know I've ask before and gotten responses that say it's really 2-4 hour park. Neither my DH or I have been though so I'm wondering should just go for the whole day until we've done it all? A couple friends who went recently said they stayed from park opening to park closing.

I'm just worried if I make my schedule AK half day and then something else (like a water park), will I miss out?

Well since you've never been you may want to set aside a whole day, and many love the park and stay all day.

For me, I CANNOT stay all day and cannot stay more than four hours. After a couple of hours, I'm bored and ready to move on.

Be aware though, due to the layout, the park is the hottest park in Disney World so you may want to go early in the day.

 

[Kaylee27]

Me too... I make this one of my half day resorts. Im not too sure why, its a beautiful fun park, but I just get really hot there and lose interest.

 

[kpm76]

It is a beautiful park but we never spend more than 3-4 hours there....and we feel like we pretty much see everything.

 

[meandthree]

My DH, children and I went from 11:00 until they closed at 5:30 and didn't get to see nearly everything. We loved it and would definitely go back for most of a day. Get there early for the Safari, we didn't get a chance to do that. We did do Lion King and Bugs Life and loved both of those. My son rode Dinosaur and thought it was pretty scary and he is 16.

 

[HappyLawyer]

we normally do it a half day between a split with mgm but the last day we were there, it was almost the entire day,w e did shows they were great, it was so fun

 

[eeyore45]

It takes us TWO DAYS, and we never got to Dino land!!

So to each their own!! IF you just schedule the Shows, Lion King, Pocohantas, Tarzan, Flights of Wonder, that takes a good chunk of time! Then Its Tough to be a Bug - we did do it twice, Safari, ok, 3 times (2 days!!) and the River Rapid Ride... We did Rafiki, but we'll probably skip it, very educational, but the schools around here, and it has a petting zoo, goats, we get that here, unless you want to see and get Pocohantas' autograph (check schedule to be sure tho!)

We also loved the music(ok, I mean that the CM's that are from Africa do a marvelous job, very talented and they are located ) near Safari, it's definately not a park for everyone, the trails near the exit of Safari, and then in Asia, are terrific too (again, if you like bats, tigers etc...) We also ate at Rainforest Cafe, taking our sweet time!! (air conditioned!!)

 

[ktink]

We stayed almost all day, we got there just a couple of hours after they opened and left right after the parade. We were very tired after leaving this park and it was very hot. We loved it but I think we will do a half day this trip.

 

[tjmw2727]

I love this park but don't spend an entire day, love the mornings so I plan for at least two mornings.

For us AK and MK are our morning parks and Epcot and MGM are the evening parks. I would plan at least opening until 1-2pm for your first day at AK and leave open another morning if you can. This way if you love it you can return and you don't want to return substitue the park of choice for that free morning.

AK is a great park, relaxed and different each time we go. We love all the different lands and have had the best CM interactions here.

Don't miss would be the safari, FOTLK and the two walking trails, Africa and Aisa - sorry I can't remember the names.

TJ

 

[luvdisney999]

Try to go one day that they have either morning or evening EMH hours.

Get to the park AT OPENING.

Accomplish as much as you can by 1:00.

Move to the water park for most of the afternoon.

Even if the park closes at 6, you can still return if you feel that there's something you still wanted to see. If not, make dinner plans.

You will lose some time in travel, but overall, this would work best for you.

 

[crazyj4488]

My opinion - HECK NO!!! Get there at opening time, tour the park efficiently at a semi-leisurely pace and you will find yourself ready to leave no later than Noon or 1PM.

-J

 

[rt2dz]

We had never been to AK before this last trip. I kept hearing how it really just a half day park, so we didn't plan much for it. How wrong that is!! DH and I were commenting that anyone who can do AK in a half day isn't doing it right. It is a much more slower paced park. So much to see and take in, but you have to be willing to soak it in. It was ds3.5 favorite park and he kept asking to go back. All in all, I think we did 2 half days and one full day and we still didn't do everything. If you like Epcot, you should like AK. None of us are Epcot fans--enjoy it, will always do it, but one day per trip is enough.

 

[meandthree]

rt2dz I have to agree with you. Everyone told us that we wouldn't like it and it wouldn't take that much time. We all loved it! You are right that the pace does seem a lot slower than the other parks which was a welcome change from our hectic pace the rest of the time.

 

[crazyj4488]

That is my absolute favorite thing about AK....it's a slower paced park...I always arrive relaxed and leave even more relaxed...It is also the most beautiful park in my opinion (doesn't have the magic factor the MK does though). I've just never found any reason to stay past 1PM when arriving at opening.

 

[Cinderella822]

I think a lot of it has to do with the time of year you go too. The first time I went, it was in November and the weather was cool. We really enjoyed it and stayed all day. When I went last time in August, it was very HOT and crowded and I couldn't make it past 1:00. It is a very hot park in the summer. I think the shows take up a lot of time if you want to see them all. For a first time, I would plan a whole day though.

 

[marriedmarylander]

Why is the park so hot? I mean is it because it's hot outside or is this park just hot? It's outdoors right so how can they make it any hotter?

Well the suggestion about going to a park at EMH morning then leaving to the water park and coming back was a great idea until my DH says that's too much trouble to go hopping around like that. And the fact I can barely wake up by 9AM on a regular day. I am wondering how I can get up early to get to the parks by 9...

 

[luvdisney999]

It's hot b/c of its design. There is very little covered or indoor attractions. Also, the "lands" are so spread out that you have to walk really far to get to each one in the hot sun.

It looks as though AK is open until 6 most days in June, some days until 7.

Go ahead and TRY to get there by 9. You won't want to miss the safari - and you should go early. The animals are most active in the early morning and the lines for this attraction get really long early.

If you can get everything done before moving to the water parks - GREAT! If there's something you still wanted to do - head back to Animal Kingdom. Like I said before, you will lose some travel time, but Disney transportation makes it SO easy.

I have a bad knee and can't get around well. But we've done this plan before NO PROBLEM!

Good luck planning - if you want some more help P.M. me!

 

[lilsonicfan]

I agree that it is baking hot. I think part of it is the desert-like conditions in the Africa "land"....

But I must say that I really loved Animal Kingdom. I think it's my favourite park. In many ways it's not really very Disney, but that's something I enjoyed. I like Magic Kingdom, but it's so crowded and almost too Disney sometimes, if you know what I mean. I absolutely loved the Lion King show - see Tarzan first, it's not as good and like someone said, if you just take it easy, you can really see a lot.

Not sure if you have kids, but they can have fun in the little stops along the way as well (I think they can get a passport and get stamps or something like that.)

The safari is amazing. Animals definitely more active in the daytime. I saw some safari pictures my friend brought back from Kenya and my first thought was like, hey, that's just like Disney World

 

[disneylifer]

This last trip we just returned from, we had planned on only spending half a day and getting out by 1:00 or so. We were just going to do the few attractions that we like and move on. We did Dinosaur, the Safari, It's Tough to be a Bug, Primeval Whirl, Festival of the Lion King (first time), and Flights of wonder (first time). We left around 3:00. If you haven't been before, I would set aside a day. Those that say you can do it in a half a day are just doing the few things that they enjoy. In addition to what we did there is a river rapids ride, the Tarzan Rocks show, a nature trail walk that leads to a petting zoo, and other things.

It would be impossible to do the park in less than a day if you really wanted to check most of it out.

I agree with the posters that comment on the heat... it always is the park where we seem to get the most tired and hot.

 

[DONALD38]

This all depends on you, everyone has thier own plan on how to spend their vacation. Go and if you like the park stay the whole day. If you don't like it you always can jump to another park.

For us we actually enjoy AK, the animal exibits there are nothing like zoo's or other parks we ever been to. It's nice to see animals in nice habitats.

We stay the entire day until near closing and either go to DTD or Epcot for dinner.

Just do what you want to do, and enjoy every majical minute of it.