New Animal Kingdom strategy..safari first??

[tearawayface]

The most overused Disney tip I have ever heard was if your going to Animal Kingdom first thing to always head to the Safari first...and when I have went into that park at rope drop if you take a look 99% of the people are walking straight to the back of the park, now that it looks like Expedition Everest will be the big attraction at AK will the new tip be to head straight to EE? Maybe the new best tip is to head to EE get a fast pass and then head to the Safari!

Does anyone else have a tip they think has been repeated too often??

 

[allisonswonderland]

I agree last summer we would FP Dinosaur (though the line was never bad for that)
Jump on Prime Evil Whirl a few times then ride Kali and then the Safari, the Safari was a 20 min wait and that was it! I love AK I think that park is beautiful wonder what it will be like with EE, packed and crazy?

 

[tjmouse]

We go to Dinoland first. Ride Dinosaur, dd plays some games, ride Triceratops and visit the character landing exiting Dinoland. Then we do Camp Minnie Mickey, lunch, then the safari. We've never had a long wait and I assume it will be less becuase of EE now.

 

[QT Pooh]

Yes, they do all head over to the Safari. I head over with them, but only to get a FastPass while the rest of my family goes toward DinoLand. Then I go off to do whatever else the kids want to do (usually Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur - which are EMPTY).

 

[Sylvester McBean]

I think the main reason the tip to go to KS first is because the animals are more active in the morning. but that's primarily summertime. this time of year, they're active most of the day, depending on the species. plus, it's fun to go on KS during the summer and have an afternoon cloudburst. it's an overused tip, but it can be a good one. EE will definately change the park's crowd flow, but we'll see how.

 

[challada]

See, I was thinking this spring we would have family head to EE first to get in line to ride at rope drop, and I would go grab the FP for safari in that ime.

 

[runmom]

We are headed to our first family Disney vaca this Saturday - yeah! And I was assuming that we had to go to AK first thing in the am b/c of the Safari lines and to get the best of the animals - do you think that is true for this time of year? I would love to do this park on the day we arrive - which would be around 1:30 on Saturday and get it out of the way since I've heard it can be done in 1/2 a day - my original plan was to do MGM when we arrived, which I think might be too much (and stay for Fantasmic), and then do AK on Sunday first thing. Do you think arriving at 1:30 would be ok?

Thanks, Nicole

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I will be heading for EE at rope drop, grab a FP, ride it and then head for Dinoland to wait out the FP time for EE. Then we will do safari later (prob snag another FP), I have found that although the safari is wonderful in the morning we personally end up seeing more animals in the afternoon, but only during spring and winter, in the dead of a summer afternoon not a mouse is stirring on the safari.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

The most overused Disney tip I have ever heard was if your going to Animal Kingdom first thing to always head to the Safari first...and when I have went into that park at rope drop if you take a look 99% of the people are walking straight to the back of the park,

Completely off topic...

One of the most frightening things I have seen at Animal Kingdom is the rope drop mob thundering towards me.

Last trip I went on the Sunrise Safari, a special tour where you get to take an extended safari ride before park opening and then have breakfast at Tusker House. We finished our ride at about rope drop time. As we walked around the corner to Tusker House there was this wall of people rushing towards us. I was towards the back of our tour group and didn't make it across in time and had to fight my way across the now crowded street to Tusker House - just like trying to swim upstream in rapids!!!

Andrew

 

[MouseWorshipin]

Completely off topic...

One of the most frightening things I have seen at Animal Kingdom is the rope drop mob thundering towards me.

Last trip I went on the Sunrise Safari, a special tour where you get to take an extended safari ride before park opening and then have breakfast at Tusker House. We finished our ride at about rope drop time. As we walked around the corner to Tusker House there was this wall of people rushing towards us. I was towards the back of our tour group and didn't make it across in time and had to fight my way across the now crowded street to Tusker House - just like trying to swim upstream in rapids!!!

Andrew

That is very funny! Although I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time.

I have to admit that I avoid the Safari ride as much as possible. But...

I don't get how the animals could be LESS active than first thing in the morning. They never do anything when we ride (always first thing). One time the lion stood up, but usually they are all doing nothing. You might see some Zebra (or is it zebras?) or giraffes eating, but no closer (and usually further) than at the zoo.

Do other people just have better luck than I?

 

[runmom]

PirateGirl007- you find the animals this time of year to be more active in the afternoon safari than the am? Can we still get a FastPass if we don't arrive into the park until around 1:30?

Nicole

 

[Teresa Pitman]

The Safari is my family's favourite ride. We usually try to go early in the morning, but we also try to go right at the end of the day. There is usually a sign telling you what time the last Safari goes out, and we try to be on it (or close to that time). The animals tend to be quite active because they know they are going to their "homes for the night" soon - where they will be fed. I think the ones who stay out all night probably get some food at this time too. Anyway, they do tend to be up and walking around a lot.

Our plan is usually to send one person for Safari fastpasses and the rest of us go to the "Gorilla trail" (sorry, just had a mental block on the name of that one). Usually by the time we emerge from that, it is time for the fastpass.

Teresa

 

[patsal]

That is very funny! Although I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time.

I have to admit that I avoid the Safari ride as much as possible. But...

I don't get how the animals could be LESS active than first thing in the morning. They never do anything when we ride (always first thing). One time the lion stood up, but usually they are all doing nothing. You might see some Zebra (or is it zebras?) or giraffes eating, but no closer (and usually further) than at the zoo.

Do other people just have better luck than I?

Usually that is the norm for us as well, but in December we were very close up to the giraffe. Came right over to the safari vehicle and the driver kept reminding everyone to not touch the animal and such. It was amazing to see it up so very close.

 

[BAST]

We have usually done the Dino area first since the Safari crowd is so large. Dino area is nice when there are no crowds. Then, after 45 minutes or so, we head to the safari, get a fast pass and have a nice breakfast at Tusker House. This has worked well several times.

Last trip we actually went on the safari first - our family was asked to lead the crowd into Africa area (they don't let the crowd run in) and (for our reward) got on the first safari tour. The animals were quite active in the morning (this was in August) and the driver went very slow. Great tour.

This trip (August), I think most everyone will head to EE. My plan will be to split up - I will go get FP for EE while everyone else in my party goes to KS (and I will meet them there after grabbing 4 FP).

 

[DebIreland]

One time the lion stood up

Sorry, but that sounded so funny - like you were grasping at straws! I mean, you're right, the lion standing up would hardly make the cut in National Geographic

 

[crow11ad]

Now there is a new strategy....get a fp for EE then head to safari...then rapids....I think it's great that they are adding EE to AK...more things to do and plus more people will want to ride it and that will make the other parks more easier....now if they open a new attraction to off set this new attraction then we will all have to throw everything in the air and redo our stratagies...