Rides at AK for an 18m old

[Dax]

We are taking my 18m DD to AK and HS on Friday just for the day as these are the only 2 parks she has not done. I am mainly wondering about AK....How does the Safari work? Will she be allowed to ride? She loves animals, I know she will enjoy it...But I was curious...

 

[Crystal824]

Yes, she can ride the Safari with you. At that age with my DD, I let my husband sit next to the window (if you will) and I sat next to him and held DD. I had a fear that she would try to jump out of the vehicle, but she didn't.

 

[lorenni]

We are taking my 18m DD to AK and HS on Friday just for the day as these are the only 2 parks she has not done. I am mainly wondering about AK....How does the Safari work? Will she be allowed to ride? She loves animals, I know she will enjoy it...But I was curious...

There's not a whole lot she'll be able to do at AK aside from the safari. There is a playground in dinoland, and also the lion king and Nemo shows. Tough to be a bug has no height restrictions but may be scary for her (dark, and some bad bugs).

 

[Happyjen27]

I think she would have an amazing time for hours in the Boneyard, which is a play area. I understand doing AK because she hasn't done it yet, but, I would still think a day would be better spent in the MK for the 100th time than AK for the first time at 18M.

 

[MandiC]

She can ride the safari, I believe the triceratops spin didn't have a height restriction.
If she loves animals, she will love Animal Kingdom. There is also a train ride out to Rafikis and that has a petting zoo and some animal demonstrations. There are lots of walk through areas where you can see animals. Our favorite character meal was located in AK (Tusker House). We really enjoyed AK.

 

[msmama]

I think AK is the best park for finding random out of the way spots where little ones can explore. Usually there are parts of AK that are virtually empty (unlike other parks where there aren't as many places for littlest to be free).

For some reason I think that kids can't sit next to the window on the safar, but they can sit on laps (if I remember correctly) in the middle. My son has been going on it since he was a baby with no problems. There are lots of paths to walk around. The train to rafiki's is great for littlr ones. There is a dinosaur ride like dumbo.

There aren't a ton of rides but there is plenty to do. Have fun!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Animal Kingdom is our least favorite park. The only good thing about Animal Kingdom is their Safari and their 2 shows. Honestly we don't even go there anymore. There is really nothing there for little kids to do. Its a lot of walking and hardly any rides. We are skipping Animal Kingdom this trip because none of my family was really impressed and we are all huge animal lovers lol. If we had park hoppers it might be different. We might go to Animal Kingdom in the morning to do the Safari and then hop over to another park for the rest of the day. Anyways have fun! The safari is a lot of fun but very bouncy, lol

 

[SmallWorld71]

When DS15 was a toddler, AK was his favorite park and the Safari was his favorite ride in all of WDW. (Well, that and the buses that took us to the parks each day. LOL) It's such a great park for toddlers who love animals.
I do know that when we were on it last month, they gave specific instructions to those traveling with small children. Pretty sure they can't be on the end like PP mentioned, though that is true of many rides.
Have fun!

 

[Princess Melody]

When DS15 was a toddler, AK was his favorite park and the Safari was his favorite ride in all of WDW. (Well, that and the buses that took us to the parks each day. LOL) It's such a great park for toddlers who love animals.
I do know that when we were on it last month, they gave specific instructions to those traveling with small children. Pretty sure they can't be on the end like PP mentioned, though that is true of many rides.
Have fun!

This. We live locally & AK was my daughter's favorite park by far until about age 2 1/2. So many more places here she could get out of the stroller vs the other parks due to smaller crowds. She loved the safari, train ride, planet watch, the boneyard (the huge "sand" pit is perfect as long as they are past the throwing/eating sand phase), and triceratops spin. She also enjoyed the Lion King & Nemo shows & just wandering the trails around the tree of life. MK didn't become her favorite park until she was about 3 years old & better about waiting in lines & either staying in a stroller or walking long distances holding my hand. I personally am not a fan of AK but it was perfect at the toddler stage and I learned to like it a lot because there was so much for her to do there & she enjoyed it so much. They also have the best baby care center if you need a break. Hollywood Studios, on the other hand, even at age 3 1/2 there is very little for her to do other than watch shows & meet characters & it is a lot more congested so she is confined to the stroller a lot more. The boneyard is also a much better playground for toddlers than the one at Hollywood Studios. The safari can be very bumpy so I'd have her sit on my lap at that age or hold on to her tightly with an arm behind her neck so she didn't smack it on the seat when we hit a bump.

 

[ABCastillo]

We loved planet watch when we took DD (2) and my nephew (9 months). They loved getting to interact with the animals and the train ride. We also just enjoyed walking around the park, talking to CMs and eating snacks. It was nice because it was a slower pace than our usual MK days.

 

[Dax]

I am no where near a rookie when it comes to AK, just a rookie with a 18m old...LOL...I know there is not a lot of rides, and to be honest, the reason we are not going back to MK is because a lot of the rides have lines, and she will not sit still long enough for the lines. Plus mom and dad havent been to AK in a long time so we looking forward to see it. I like the fact that I can let her run around and there be fewer people so she can explore. I know that HS won't have much, we are mainly going just so mommy and daddy can get some rides in too. I figure we will spending a lot of time just allowing her to look and explore. Thanks for the input all

 

[Thing 1]

I think you can have a fantastic day at AK. There is a lot of area to just explore as you mentioned. The safari will be a highlight and since it's never the same, we sometimes do it more than once if lines are not long. I find the FOTLK a bit more toddler friendly than Nemo, but both are toddler friendly and fun. The trip out to Rafiki is fun and the whole island is filled with fun things to explore. My guys loved the meal with Donald when they were little and the parade there was a huge hit.
They enjoyed DS too. We took them on the Great Movie Ride and Back Lot tours really young and they like the Indian Jones show as long as they are up close enough to see well. We avoided the Cars stunt show as it was loud and just not a favorite.
There are playgrounds but be aware that 18mo is pretty little to be in there with all the bigger kids. Shadow her closely watch her like a hawk.

 

[Feberin]

I found the boneyard playground difficult with my then nearly two year old. She is behind with her gross motor skills but not by that much. She wasn't interested in the small area for little ones and climbing around the rest was difficult for her and I felt like she was a roadblock for the kids that were the right age for it. We also did have to wait in lines even with FP+ the line for the Safari took a little while to actually get on it.

 

[Dax]

Thanks for all the input from everyone....We did OK....AK was very crowded thanks to the hordes of cheerleaders, and moving around was tough with all the walls up. The weather also was a factor. Because it was only a high of about 65...and breezy, a LOT of the animals were no where to be seen, making the safari OK, but not great, though DD loved it. We took her through the 2 trails, and she enjoyed the freedom to walk, but again...a lot of people in large groups made it tough. She did ride Triceretops Spin. and loved that. We skipped the boneyard though as it was getting busier, and she was getting more tired. We ended up skipping a few things including going to HS just because of the amount of people. All in all, we had fun though, and DD loved looking at all the animals and plants