Should I change my plans now that our Dec hours have changed?

[sharona]

Original plan for our AK day - pre park ADR at 8:15 at Tusker House and get in line for safari before the RD crowd arrived. Now the park opens at 8. I won't be canceling our ADR as TH is one of our favorite character meals but I'm wondering if I should change our Kali FP's to Safari FP's. I'm already stressed that we'll be stuck now in the RD crowd trying to get to our ADR on time - I'm assuming they won't be letting us in early since our ADR now starts after opening.

One of the reasons we booked the early ADR is because my nephew has Asperger's and has difficulties with crowds. No ADRs are currently available for a later time so we'll have to deal with it but... How crazy will RD crowds be for a 8am open? Are they still corralling everyone in that first area? How busy will Safari be at 9am after an 8am opening in mid December (12/13). Any guesses on the standby wait time? We're ok with anything under 30 minutes.

Am I worried for nothing? We chose our parks to minimize crowds, not maximize park time so there's no EMH on that day but closing is showing as 6:30pm. I can't recall if that was the original closing time or if that's also been extended... strangely, MK and EP still opening at 9 that day. DHS is open 8am - 10pm w/ EMH from 10-12am - here's hoping the masses head there!

TIA for your input.

 

[danny1649]

Hi think you would get great information if you posted on Transportation Board..

 

[sharona]

Hi think you would get great information if you posted on Transportation Board..

That makes no sense. My questions were not about transportation.

 

[minnie mum]

I'm not sure what advice you think the Transportation board can give her, when her questions are about ride priorities and wait times.

Josh at easyWDW discusses wait times in a blog article today. Here's what he had to say about AK:

. Moving on to wait times…

Larger: http://www.easywdw.com/reports13/ak11115.jpg

Disney had moved Animal Kingdom’s open to 8am on several dates in November. Those sorts of things can be good or bad news – the good news is that you basically get an extra hour of low waits. The bad news is having to wake up for it, in addition to ruining any advantage an 8am breakfast might have on touring. Here at Expedition Everest, you could more or less ride nonstop from 8am to 9:30am and the attraction doesn’t hit a wait north of 20 minutes until after 10am, a full two hours after Park open. Kilimanjaro Safaris is the same way. Despite briefly peaking at 60 minutes, you have plenty of opportunities to ride early or late with the ride again dropping to 10 minutes in the final hour."

Now, he was talking here about 8:00 openings in Nov., and mid Dec crowd levels might be higher but it might give you some hope!

 

[danny1649]

Oops Sorry misread your post.

 

[SmallWorld71]

The thing about Kali, is there is no way of knowing ahead of time if you will even want to ride it in December. It could very well be too cold.
Personally, I would get a FP+ for Safari. But, it's just guess work.

 

[senadler]

The list of wait times the minnie mum posted should be pretty accurate for your day. This was also a Sunday, and not too much difference in crowds. I don't know what your other FP+ are for, but based on this, I think you may want a FP+ for the Safari and to do one of your other attractions right after breakfast with a low wait.

 

[matheke]

Just stick with your plans and don't stress about things you can not change, unlike Disney with their last minute hour changes. We have travelled many times during December and have seldom waited for the Safari more than 20 minutes. If you are staying until the AK closing time you will be surprised how easy it is to do things after 4PM.

 

[sharona]

I'm not sure what advice you think the Transportation board can give her, when her questions are about ride priorities and wait times.

Josh at easyWDW discusses wait times in a blog article today. Here's what he had to say about AK:

. Moving on to wait times…

Larger: http://www.easywdw.com/reports13/ak11115.jpg

Disney had moved Animal Kingdom’s open to 8am on several dates in November. Those sorts of things can be good or bad news – the good news is that you basically get an extra hour of low waits. The bad news is having to wake up for it, in addition to ruining any advantage an 8am breakfast might have on touring. Here at Expedition Everest, you could more or less ride nonstop from 8am to 9:30am and the attraction doesn’t hit a wait north of 20 minutes until after 10am, a full two hours after Park open. Kilimanjaro Safaris is the same way. Despite briefly peaking at 60 minutes, you have plenty of opportunities to ride early or late with the ride again dropping to 10 minutes in the final hour."

Now, he was talking here about 8:00 openings in Nov., and mid Dec crowd levels might be higher but it might give you some hope!

Very helpful thanks!

The thing about Kali, is there is no way of knowing ahead of time if you will even want to ride it in December. It could very well be too cold.
Personally, I would get a FP+ for Safari. But, it's just guess work.

The kids will insist but if it's cold out we won't need the FPs... I will probably change the FP to Safari. If there's no wait when we get over there, I can change them for Kali before we enter the FP queue?

The list of wait times the minnie mum posted should be pretty accurate for your day. This was also a Sunday, and not too much difference in crowds. I don't know what your other FP+ are for, but based on this, I think you may want a FP+ for the Safari and to do one of your other attractions right after breakfast with a low wait.

Good idea, thanks!

Just stick with your plans and don't stress about things you can not change, unlike Disney with their last minute hour changes. We have travelled many times during December and have seldom waited for the Safari more than 20 minutes. If you are staying until the AK closing time you will be surprised how easy it is to do things after 4PM.

It's our MVMCP night so we're going to leave AK by 5 at the very latest, hoping more for 3 or 4 if we've hit all the highlights. The 8am start would gave been wonderful if it had been on the calendar to begin with... I would have planned a rope drop then a brunch at 1030/11

 

[jessicadisneygirl]

If it was me, I would make the change to get Safari FP because that line has he possibility to be much higher than Kali. Then if you show up for Safari and standby is short enough, modify your FP to Kali. With it being December, I honestly don't think many people will be FPing that ride until much later in the day as a possible 4th pick.

 

[cassie58]

I would change the FP, and also keep trying to get a late brft ADR - things may pop up, even the night before, as people finalize plans and cancel to avoid fees. I know it is frustrating - we had the same thing happen on our last Thanksgiving trip with CP reservation, and now again with week before Christmas this yr. I think you will still be fine jumping on Safari right after brft., as there are still many late risers even with updated hrs.

 

[JulieMarie]

I know what you mean. I worked like a crazy lady trying to get perfect early ADRs for times before every park opened the week before Christmas. Now all the parks are opening early and my ADRs are useless. Grrrrrrrr