Need ideas for evening activities after Animal Kingdon day....

[shari2shop]

I have changed most of my PSs and my park days because of the extra hours at the parks and the expected crowds for our March 13 - 19 trip.

We are going to go to Animal Kigndom on our first day, Monday. It shouldn't be too crowded, I hope. I'm sure we will end up staying the entire day because my kids LOVE aminlas and things.

In my first plan we were doing AK in the middle of the week and using the early park close as a little down time. Now it is the first park day and I'm not sure if we will need the down time.

My question is... after Ak closes (at 6:00pm, I think) should we just head back to OKW??? Maybe relax and swim at the new pool slide there?
Should we wait until AK closes and do dinner somewhere else? Where?
Maybe we could head to downtown disney and shop around?
Thought about going to AKL but I think that the kids would want to stay there and we are DVC.
Or should we just go back to the room and sleep.

Any ideas would be GREAT and appreciated!

Thanks!

Shari

 

[cleo]

Downtown Disney is always a good choice. You could also take the boat ride (round trip) to Port Orleans, just for fun.

Disney's Boardwalk Resort is another good choice in the evening. With jugglers, surrey bikes, magicians, live entertainment (sometimes), midway games, etc, it makes for a nice evening when you're not quite ready to go back to your resort.

 

[skuttle]

What about mini golf? The Fantasia Gardens course by the Swan/Dolphin is lots of fun!

You could walk around the boardwalk. Rent surrey (sp?) bikes or just walk around. Check out the entertainment. Maybe get some ice cream at Beaches N Cream.

 

[kilee]

We usually use our AK day to hit up DTD at night and do some serious shopping. Sometimes in March the evenings can still get pretty chilly. So you may not want to count on swimming. Possibly book a later character meal for dinner. Or cap the day off w/ dinner at Boma at the AKL.

 

[MickeyLovas]

We are doing the dining plan this year and had the same dilema. What I decided is to do the Boardwalk and eat at ESPN and then hit DownTown Disney that night, we can shop around and enjoy the night (as long as it doesn't rain on that June night)
Lesley

 

[LSUDis]

Are you driving in? Will you get there early Monday morning? How tired will you be? Also, are you doing an early morning the next day?

If you are going to be tired, I would go back and swim and have an early night. It just seems if you start off tired, you crash sooner. But, with that said, if your kids are like mine, it's not Disney until they see the castle. So, how about Chef Mickey's to get a character fix and then ride the monorail around and around (and around) ; get off at a monorail resort's beach and watch the Electrical Pageant and/or Wishes.

Hope this helps!

 

[shari2shop]

Those are all great idas.

They lead me to two more questions....

1) Would we have to go straight from AK to Boardwalk? I was thinking going back to OKW and picking up jackets. Is there a way to get to the boardwalk area (from OKW) without going to a park and switching busses?

2) If we ride to boat to DTD would it be a nightmare trying to get back? When we went in 2001 we waited for over an hour for a boat to get back to PORS. If there is a long line for the boats can we hope a bus back to OKW?

Okay... so that was more than 2 questions!

Thanks!

Shari

 

[shari2shop]

Are you driving in? Will you get there early Monday morning? How tired will you be? Also, are you doing an early morning the next day?
QUOTE]

We are actually driving in and arriving on Sunday, early afternoon (around 2:00 - 3:00).

I have nothing planed for this day but hanging out at the resort. Now, I'm thinking we might head to DTD on Sunday afternoon and pick up a few Dsiney things like autograph books and a few trading pins.

Then, maybe do the boardwalk or the monorail on Monday after AK.

I LOVE hearing all the different options! I want to be flexiable in our plans but I'd like to have some ideas of what to do so that we don't spend all of our time trying to decide what to do next. So, I go with a plan A in mind but also have plans B, C and D ready at any moment!

Thanks!

Shari

 

[areno79]

I was going to vote for mini-golf too, it's a great way to unwind, and it's not entirely weather dependent

 

[Laura's Dad]

We like to go either to the Magic Kingdom or Epcot's World Showcae. We always plan an AK morning with a park that is opened late. This used to be the MK when they had e-ride nights. But we love sticking in a couple of hours at Epcot's World Showcase countries before Illuminations. After Illuminations, we wander over to the Boarwalk and then catch a bus from the Boarwalk to Downtown Disney. If we are really tired, we take a bus or boat from Downtown Disney to our hotel (we usually stay at PO-FQ or PO-Riverside). Or we skip another theme park all together and go to Bob Jackson's show at the River Roost lounge at PO-Riverside. To us, his show is the essence of a WDW vacation. We have a cold beverage (draft beer in my case) and act like what we would not normally act at home. Even my stoic, inhibited wife will loosen up and have fun after a margarita and Bob's piano tunes.

 

[Leota]

For non-Park options, I'd recommend Fantasia Gardens also. If you are Hopping, I'd definately head to another Park til closing. I like to squeeze in as much Park time as possible.....

If you have a car, I'd drive to DTD the buses & boats there & back are a nightmare. I'll probably use a Taxi this year as we have some PI nights planned.(I don't drive on vacation) Normally, I wind up avoiding DTD cuz the transpo is such a hassle.

 

[bigbabyblues]

After our AK day we had dinner with Cinderella at 1900 Park Fare then went to play mini-golf. After that, we went to Downtown Disney, and it was a great day!

 

[colleen costello]

You could also follow up with some time at the beautiful Animal Kingdom Lodge. We love visiting this resort. There are some great hidden Mickeys and a fabulous gift shop. Also, BOMA is one of our favorites. We always have a meal there. There is storytelling by the fire outside in the evening, and some evenings they bring out night vision goggles for peeking at the savannahs. My kids LOVED this. There is a lot to do at this resort in the evening.

 

[luv2nascar]

there is alot of walking unless kids are in strollers so the kids may be tired
I would go to a character dinner at chef mickeys, 1900 park fare or another resort and then head back to OKW.
The kids may be too tired to play in lego land, etc after all day at AK.
By the way my dd loves DTD. I wouldn't skip it just maybe another time when they have more rest. We spend hours DTD.

 

[disneyfreakjackie]

On our "AK" day we are going to have a late dinner in EPCOT and enjoy Illuminations . . . AGAIN!! My girls will be 16, 14, 10 and 8, so they can handle a long day. We can always put the "little ones" in a stroller if need be!!!

 

[Tinkerbellfan144]

I would head over to the Cont. for dinner with mickey

 

[scottsod]

were goin down march 26 1st day AK arived driving the day before so were getting there early to do the safari as recomended we figured it would take the day there do the wet ride last back to the AS movies to clean up then over for the 8pm ohana show at the poly we doing the dining plan so it takes 2 coupons but i hope its worth it revues have benn 50/50 since we drove down i guess we will drive to the poly but take the bus to and from ak since its closest to the AS movies have fun

scott

 

[MickeyFlirt]

We usually go to AK on our first day also and since it really doesn't take all day we will usually go to downtown disney for shopping and go to DQ.

 

[msudawgs30]

On my upcoming trip I have us eating at Rainforest cafe about 15 minutes after AK closes and then hopping over to MGM Studios for a late night there (they close at 11:30pm). I just can't stand to miss out on anything that might go on without me at the parks. I like to be there when they roll up the streets

msudawgs30