Need help with Animal Kingdom strategy

[BelleinPA]

My family of 5 is headed to WDW in May. We are planning to spend 1 day at the Animal Kingdom. My question is, now that Expedition Everest is now officially open, what is the best touring strategy for this park. I am assuming most people are going to head staight to EE once they get in the park. (We are planning to do this) How will this affect other attractions? Will it make them have much longer lines in the afternoon since park crowds were at EE in the morning??? Should I plan to just get a fast pass for EE and go to some other attraction that may have a shorter line???

Has anyone been to AK recently and did not experience long lines at EE?

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

Can't answer....but I will BUMP you................

 

[Karnak]

You can tell that I'm fairly new at this site by the following question.

What's a "BUMP?"

Thanks.

 

[debkorb1]

The Unofficial Guide to Disney by Bob Sehlinger has touring plans which are created using a very advanced computer programme i.e. they will almost definintely give you the quickest order in which to do the rides in AK or any of the Disney parks. The book is also fantastic giving you loads of tips and advice on just about everything Disney (and to a lesser extent Universal + Sea World) including the parks, restaurants, hotels, shopping, travel routes, doing WDW with kids and of course lots of touring plans. Well worth a purchase (even just as a fun read!). Also have a look at www.touringplans.com.

 

[debkorb1]

You can tell that I'm fairly new at this site by the following question.

What's a "BUMP?"

Thanks.

When you write a response to a thread such as this it goes back to the top of the list on the main page i.e. the Theme park attractions and strategies main page. When at the top of the list people are more likely to see it and respond to it. So wdwgoofeeee was 'bumping' it back to the top by posting a response so others could see this post.

You usually bump when you can't actually answer the question yourself but you want the post to get a response or it's your own post and no-one has responded. Generally, if someone has bumped a post up the main page list then someone else will feel the need to respond if they can! Not nice to leave a question unanswered

 

[Alice Sr.]

I don't have all the answers but this is what I would do. Be at AKL before the rope drop, give all your passes to 2 members in your party. Once the rope drops head to EE as fast as the CM's will let you using the path through Dinoland (past the old Tarzan Rocks pavillion). The 2 pass holders gets the FP and the rest get in line. After riding EE stand by head over to KS, I think you will be able to get another FP go to Bugs Life, KR then head over and do Dinoland, cirlcle back to use FP on EE and KS. Then just enjoy the park, try to do the two walking trails and LK if time and energy permits.

 

[Robo]

Be at AKL before the rope drop,

I think that if you are at AKL at rope-drop, you are gonna be LATE!

(I know, you meant "AK" or "DAK". "AKL" is the lodge).

Once the rope drops head to EE as fast as the CM's will let you using the path through Dinoland (past the old Tarzan Rocks pavillion).

I've not been to DAK since EE has now "officially opened", but (like they did/do with Safari) I'm sure the CM's now LEAD everyone (walking) from rope-drop over to EE, so you don't have much CHOICE (at that time), which path you take to the attraction.

Under "normal" conditions the path through Asia is actually closer to the ENTRANCE/FP Distribution to EE (the mountain itself is closer to Dinoland).

 

[lookingforward]

We just went and got to ride Everest four times before a line built up. We got to AKL before it opened and went immediately to Everest. Got fast passes for a 9:40 return (it was about 8 am) There was no wait so we rode Everest (it was FANTASTIC). We rode it two more times without waiting, then proceeded to dinasour land. AFter that we returned to Everest about 10:15 and the line was about forty minutes long. Used our fast passes, then went to see the rest of the park. Did safari after that, while we waited for our tough to be a bug fast passes. It all went great. We did not go on an early entry day, though, just a regular day.

 

[missymagic]

When we went 2 weeks ago on a Monday. We woke up late and arrived at 9:30. We went directly to Everest got a FP and then realized the standby line only said 20 minutes. So we got in line (there is also a single rider line) alot of cool things to see in line and to our surprise it only took us 10 minutes to get on.

I purposely didn't read anything about the ride so I didn't have any idea what to expect...it was AWESOME!!!

 

[ciera321]

I don't have all the answers but this is what I would do. Be at AKL before the rope drop, give all your passes to 2 members in your party. Once the rope drops head to EE as fast as the CM's will let you using the path through Dinoland (past the old Tarzan Rocks pavillion). The 2 pass holders gets the FP and the rest get in line. After riding EE stand by head over to KS, I think you will be able to get another FP go to Bugs Life, KR then head over and do Dinoland, cirlcle back to use FP on EE and KS. Then just enjoy the park, try to do the two walking trails and LK if time and energy permits.

My thoughts exactly!!!

 

[frankenpooh]

We were there at opening March 30 and here's how it went: At rope drop, it seemed that about 1/2 the people still headed to the Safari (either that or they were going the wrong way ). The rest made a beeline for Everest. My DH and kids got in the stand by line while I got fastpasses. The regular line moves fast, so they had to hold up and wait for me. There were so many people at the FP machines, it took me 10 minutes to get them! I did join my family in line, and we rode. Then the kids and I went through the standby line again (still only 20 min. wait) while DH trucked up to get Safari fastpasses. By this time, we could use our Everest FP, so we all 4 rode it yet again.

It's an awesome ride! You will want to go more than once. Have fun!

 

[dbal]

O.k. - I'm sure this is gonna be redundant but could someone please explain how you get 2 different fastpasses at the same time.
Thanks.

 

[cdpa4d]

There was a podcast released last week that discusses a touring plan for Animal Kingdom from Len Testa. The URL is www.wdwtoday.com. It's episode 84. It should help you greatly. You will need your Windows Media Player to listen. It lasts about 20 minutes. These podcasts are great!

Enjoy!

 

[mom2isaac&ella]

The Unofficial Guide to Disney by Bob Sehlinger has touring plans which are created using a very advanced computer programme i.e. they will almost definintely give you the quickest order in which to do the rides in AK or any of the Disney parks. The book is also fantastic giving you loads of tips and advice on just about everything Disney (and to a lesser extent Universal + Sea World) including the parks, restaurants, hotels, shopping, travel routes, doing WDW with kids and of course lots of touring plans. Well worth a purchase (even just as a fun read!). Also have a look at www.touringplans.com.

They just made new touring plans with EE open that were tested during spring break crowds. They look better than the ones in the 2006 book. You have to join their website for $7 to access all the plans, but some are free. I'm a member so I'm not sure if the new AK plans are free or not.

 

[Robo]

O.k. - I'm sure this is gonna be redundant but could someone please explain how you get 2 different fastpasses at the same time.
Thanks.

Any FP when issued has a time stamped at the bottom which tells you when you are allowed to get another FP.

The FP system never "knows" whether you ever even USE an issued pass (they don't "scan" them when you use them), so it simply will issue another FP to you after a specific period of time.

Its also generally possible to "save up" several FP -within the SAME DAY- and ride various attractions via the FP line even after the "ride window" printed on the FP has expired.

I would not suggest you rely on that with a VERY popular ride like EE (or Soarin' in Epcot).

 

[drogerstn]

Any FP when issued has a time stamped at the bottom which tells you when you are allowed to get another FP.

dbal,
In addition to Robo's comments, this time will never be later than the beginning of the return time (maybe 5 minutes later?) and also no later than 2 hours after you obtain the original FP regardless of the return time.

If you get a FP 1st thing at park opening, the return time for that ride will likely be around 9:40am. If this is the case, your FP will have a "next available FP time" stamp of 9:45am but the time to use the pass will be from 9:40am to 10:40am. You should (if its not too much running around) get another FP right at 9:45am BEFORE you use the 1st pass; this will give you a "head start" on your 2nd FP.

 

[rockin_rep]

Has anyone gone to AK late in the afternoon, or evening?

When AK first opened, it was usually busy until midday, then desolate by evening.

If we did another park in the morning, then hopped to AK late afternoon / early evening, think we'd have a chance to ride EE, or think it'll be jammed all day?

 

[rockin_rep]

Has anyone gone to AK late in the afternoon, or evening?

When AK first opened, it was usually busy until midday, then desolate by evening.

If we did another park in the morning, then hopped to AK late afternoon / early evening, think we'd have a chance to ride EE, or think it'll be jammed all day?

Anyone have any ideas about AK in the late afternoon / early evening? Please?

 

[MEW]

My wife and I went to AK on 4/3/06 for EM hours. We went straight to EE and got fastpasses and then went through the regular line. Went straight from there to Dinoland and rode the whirl twice then back to EE for our 8:49 fastpass time. At that time the standby wait was 40 minutes and the fastpass return times at 9am (when the park opened to the public) were from 12:30 to 1:30pm. Since we had already done EE, we were able to walk straight in to Bug's Life and the Safari with no wait times. We then watched Wonders of Flight and were done with the park by 11am.

 

[drogerstn]

...When AK first opened, it was usually busy until midday, then desolate by evening....

This was our experience, but as you mentioned, it was back when AK first opened. In the last hour, we did Dinosaur, Safari, and caught the last showing of It's Tough to Be a Bug. I'm curious if its still this way; we plan to make our 1st visit to AK on our next trip an afternoon visit. I don't think there has been that much more added to make this any different.

Even if all the FP's are distributed, there will probably be a lot of folks leaving the park early and never using the late FP's. This is all a guess on my part...

Anyone have some recent experiences with AK in the afternoon?