Reluctantly joining the "I hate Animal Kingdom" club...

[PennyLane1084]

I'm so glad other people have the same feeling about AK as I do. Granted I've only been there once when it first opened but all the problems everyone is discussing were right on. We went in mid-June and it felt like walking through the rain forest. I'd never felt humidity like it in my life.
My family headed straight for the Safari and we were very disappointed. The animals were very far away and the ride went so fast and was so bumpy, we could hardly enjoy anything.
We have one memorable picture from AK that pretty much sums up the park, one of those pictures in the folder with the park logo in it. My family and I are taking a picture with Pooh Bear and everyone is very sweaty. My brother was about 8 or 9 just looks like he's going to stab Pooh in the eye.

 

[srwarden1928]

I'm sorry some had such a bad experience at AK. We went on Palm Sunday and had no problem with crowds thanks to the UG plan. Some great experiences, but my wife didnt like Dinosaur.

 

[Wendybird55]

Im ust admit AK is not as easy to get your bearings in. It took a few trips to the park before I began to feel somewhat comfortable with knowing where I was going. It can be very confusing. Many times I felt like I was just walking in circles alwasy taking the long route. Plus all the lush foliage adds to the FL humidity and it does get hot and sticky quickly there.

That being said - AK was designed first and foremost for the animals. I'm sure (and hope) Disney took great care in making sure the space and environment was designed so the animals could thrive and not get sick. And I think that's why it's not as easy to get around as the other parks. All the other parks could be designed specifically for crowd flow and ease of getting from one place to the other. With AK, I'm thinking that people flow had to be compromised for animal safety and health.

There are certain attractions I like at AK and usually I go early (when it opens) and by lunch time am getting ready to head out because of the heat.
I find 2 half days are better for AK than one full day. Plus it's not a park to go rushing around in..you need to move a bit slower in this one.

 

[dimimi]

Our day started with a woman (in her 40's) spitting her gum out of her mouth into the middle of the sidewalk! It took all I could to just ignore her , but I did announce to my family not to step in the gum that was just spit on the sidewalk! I too feel the park "felt" more crowded and we had a hard time finding things...and we've been there before! Keep in mind it was 90% humidity and we were a bit edgy! All those things in mind, we LOVE Everest, Dinosaur, It's Tough to be Bug, Kali River Rapids and Lion King. We were lucky, we used our fast passes and used passes we received from visiting the Disney Vacation Club and we were finished by 1.

 

[pepe of ohio]

I agree that it's the same people = same behavior but it is absolutely more crowded. The paths are too narrow and winding and they let too many people in so the bad behavior stands out more.

WE have done Disney 40 times and hardly go to AK, we like some of the attractions but aren't going to wade into the hordes to do them. Designed badly, walkways are too narrow and it doesn't take too many guests to jam them up, plus the heat factor, built in a bowl so no air flow. We go just to see the afternoon parade, its great and then exit. We also don't see any rhyme or reason to a travel plan, too much back tracking and guessing. Disney's other parks are huge expanses of open walkways and general areas but on occasion, MK's Fantasyland does get a bit hard to maneuver but easily by passed. I know they wanted to have that deep jungle feeling, putting in alot of vegetation, trees and rocks but wider passages would not have ruined the image of the African jungle but kinda late now. To avoid the heat and crowd stress, no viable plan will help us enjoy AK at all so we skip it and prefer to spend the extra day in the MK or an evening at EPCOT, EPCOT in the evening around WS is usually empty when we do WDW, easy walking, easy to see everything and a clockwise plan gets you everything from start to finish.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We have not gone back to AK since Dec 06. DH thinks it is the hottest park in WDW too. We are staying at the AKL in Oct and will do the club level sunrise safari tour but I dont think we will stay in the park when it is over.

 

[DisFlan]

AK is a lovely park. The detailing is amazing. It's just a shame we can't usually enjoy great deal of it.

My complaints are similar to those of other folks. I think the logistical layout for handling how crowds move and interact was not well planned. IMO, the inadequate planning exacerbates the problems to the point that tempers flare more easily than in the other parks. People seem to act a bit differently at AK. Weird things happen all over WDW, but it seems worse at AK.

DisFlan

 

[mickeymousemom]

We like AK. There are parts of it that I thoroughly enjoy, such as the visuals of the park and how you really feel as if you're in an African Village, etc. We love EE. We love FoTLK. But EVERY single time we head over there, the crowds are unmanageable and you have to walk all around Johnson's Barn 3 times to get to something that's right over there. A little exaggeration maybe, but I hate the layout of this park. There are also several parts of it I don't like. Too many to even mention and too many to make it worth staying there any longer than it takes to ride/see a couple of attractions, eat at Flame Tree, and head to somewhere a bit more fun.

 

[Abharmagic]

Not a fan- Dh enjoyed it- if it were up to me we'd skip it this next trip. My kids weren't too interested in it either- but we have an excellent zoo in my city and I guess since we already get a great zoo at home, we go looking for different kinds of magic while at WDW.

 

[fires_grumpy]

Hi I have been reading The Imagineering Field Guide To Disney`s Animal Kingdom. I liked AK before reading this book. But this book will open your eyes on this park. It tells what the Imagineers wanted us to really see. Untill I started to read it I did not see half of the stuff.It is a very interesting book and can be bought at most book stores. No I`m not getting a penny for telling you to buy or read it Also DW and I where talking to a CM last Oct about EE and she said attendance of the part had jumped up by 30% since EE. IF YOU BUILD THEY WILL COME Just want to put my 2 cents in about AK. I love the park and it`s beauty and nature. I`m sorry some hate it, but you can not please everyone. Oh there are other Imagineers Field Guide books 1 on MK & EPCOT. I have read the MK one and it opened my eyes on the MK on stuff I never seen there either.Going to buy the one on Epcot and see what I am missing there.


I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse.
~Walt Disney

If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.
~Walt Disney

 

[hildarumpole]

Whenever I see AK on a travel show, it looks amazing. Unfortunately, I don't feel that way in the park. There are beautiful details, but it's hard to enjoy them when you're shoulder to shoulder with thousands of other sweaty people.

 

[ChrisFL]

I do wonder...if the park does get a few more large attractions and attendance goes up, if they'll feel the need to re-design the walkways and add some more transportation methods.

Also, regarding the parade, it is nearly impossible to get through the safari area to the rest of the park if you end up there at that time.

I have a lot of respect for Joe Rhode as an imagineer but there are several things I don't like about the layout of the park.

 

[NancyIL]

I agree that when AK is crowded, it feels very crowded. But if you just got back from a trip to WDW, ALL of the parks would've been terribly crowded because it's SPRING BREAK!

While AK is my least favorite park, I think it is very well themed. I love the Lion King and the Nemo shows. I did the Backstage Safari tour in late January, and it was very interesting - as was the Wild By Design tour I've done in the past.

 

[tinkerbell34]

We have always done AK in September and have had no problems with crowds. I can't keep my two sons (9 & 3) away from this park. I am genuinely shocked that they pick AK over MK over and over. We don't rush around, just take our time. We pick one thing we really want to do, do that first, and then figure out where we want to go from there. I will say I still haven't found a place I really like to eat in this park and it is much hotter than the others. However, after riding Kali 7 times in a row, you really don't notice it that much. This year my youngest son asked to go to AK for his 4th birthday which is the end of May. Perhaps I'll experience the crowds you speak of then.
I will give you a funny, embarassing, story of myself the last time we were here. I was walking over a bridge and pointing out to my son that you could see a great view of Everest(instead of watching where I was walking).....I then ran right smack into a post they had put up for the parade. I hit that thing hard enough to make people turn around and look at me. SO embarassing! All I could was laugh and tell my son I hope that didn't end up on utube.

 

[Tinkerchele]

i think you misunderstand...i LOVE the park itself but the experince was horrible. we always get there at rope drop and head out by 11:00. we try to do it in 2 days. but there really isn't a good place for lunch. i don't mean to be rude about rainforest but we have them here in chicago and the food is not that great. we ate one time at the flame tree barbeque and it was awful! so we usually head over to epcot for lunch... but this past trip was just beyound belief crowd wise. i can't even think how it would be at capacity...

Yikes! Flame Tree is our favorite place for lunch! We love it and this is where we like to relax. We do like AK, but it is 3rd on our list (our least favorite is MGM). I think the way you're doing it is probably the best though - do it in 2 days, plan out what you want to see/do ahead of time, get there as early as possible and out as early as possible!

 

[suzimar57]

put us on the "anti-AK" list, too.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

That park is extremely hot and humid. I couldn't deal with it. Developed a migraine within 2 hours and felt like I was going to vomit from the migraine. I liked it for the most part. The animals are beautiful but it's too hot for us! We went last month and the weather wasn't bad at all but the park was extremely hot! Not even very crowded.

I think we will pass the next time we go unless it's an extremely cool day.

 

[Cherta]

OP-why not try going at night just before the park closes?

My family and I were there last week (during Spring Break) and I originally planned to go early Thursday morning. While having dinner at Boma's on Wednesday night, my daughter suggested that we head over to Animal Kingdom since we were so close. I originally resisted (since we wouldn't arrive at the park until 6:30ish), but finally thought "what the heck"....

Well, it turned out to be the best move of the trip! We were able to ride all the major rides and the park was practically empty (people were pouring out as we were entering)! I also have to agree with a PP that the park is beautiful at night...

I know we missed the parades (and it was too cold to ride the water ride), but since this is our "take it or leave it park", this strategy worked for us!

 

[OB1]

Sorry - can't join your club. Its our favorite. We are there late May and have never been bothered by the heat. I do agree that when it gets moderately busy, it really feels jammed. Hard to navigate around the place. Of course, MK mainstreet, frontier land, fantasy land, Toon town, also feels that way a lot of the time at MK.

As another said, if they add another hot attraction, then how will AK handle the traffic?? It has always been our slower park because we will stop & sit to watch the animals. We are never in a rush at that park.

 

[wdwllamadancer]

i actually enjoy ak becuase i like a lot of the rides.