STRATEGY QUESTION: Animal Kingdom Visit/Jiko Dinner Reservations

[greeneave]

i know i'm overthinking, but...

we have 3 days' worth of park hoppers and are staying at the polynesian the first week of may.

i booked 7:20pm dinner reservations at jiko for a day that animal kingdom is open until 7pm.

i have fp+ choices scheduled to occur between 2:30pm and 6:00pm.

i'll be with my husband and 8 year old son. none of us have ever been to animal kingdom before (and this is my husband and son's first ever dw visit).

i think my son will LOVE animal kingdom, so i want to give us enough time to really explore. at the same time i don't want us to be burnt out before our dinner reservation. but since we'll be traveling from the polynesian, it just seems to make sense to hit the park around noon or 1 and hope we can make it through 6 or 7 hours of roaming the park and then have a nice dinner at jiko. i figure i could pack us a spare change of clothes in case we need to tidy up a bit.

does that sound like a reasonable game plan or absolute foolishness?

i could always cancel the reservation and we could try our luck with winging dinner plans...

 

[minnie mum]

I think its doable, but you might not see everything. IIRC, they close Pangani and Maharajah trails earlier than park closing. And if you will be riding KRR, bring an extra set of clothes ( or ride it early so you have time to dry off). The nice thing about AK is that the park tends to empty out by late afternoon, so you can do a lot in the last few hours.

 

[LaurenT]

1 to 7 will not burn you out ... It wouldn't be enough time for me!
There are three shows that I love, that alone will take you two hours. Then there are the animal trails and the rides.
If it were me - I would actually go earlier, stay until I had enough and then I'd go to Jambo House. The resort is gorgeous, there is a beautiful lobby where you can rest, you can go outside and see the animals wandering around the Savannah, chat with the African CMs, have a drink at Victoria Falls and generally rest up until your fabulous meal at Jiko.
BTW, the filet Mignon on Mac and cheese is no longer on the menu because too many people were ordering it and they weren't selling enough of the rest of the menu, but they will still make it for you on request!!

 

[Elleshoodat]

i know i'm overthinking, but...

we have 3 days' worth of park hoppers and are staying at the polynesian the first week of may.

i booked 7:20pm dinner reservations at jiko for a day that animal kingdom is open until 7pm.

i have fp+ choices scheduled to occur between 2:30pm and 6:00pm.

i'll be with my husband and 8 year old son. none of us have ever been to animal kingdom before (and this is my husband and son's first ever dw visit).

i think my son will LOVE animal kingdom, so i want to give us enough time to really explore. at the same time i don't want us to be burnt out before our dinner reservation. but since we'll be traveling from the polynesian, it just seems to make sense to hit the park around noon or 1 and hope we can make it through 6 or 7 hours of roaming the park and then have a nice dinner at jiko. i figure i could pack us a spare change of clothes in case we need to tidy up a bit.

does that sound like a reasonable game plan or absolute foolishness?

i could always cancel the reservation and we could try our luck with winging dinner plans...

We love exploring Animal Kingdom, too -- but you know Jiko is at Animal Kingdom Lodge and not the park itself, right?

 

[greeneave]

yep, i know we'll have to take the bus to get to the lodge- that's another factor that had me running to disboards.

i'm hoping that if we get to dinosaur for our 6pm fp+ reservation we can get to jiko in time for our 7:20 reservation.

or we could try to do dinosaur earlier, if the lines aren't too long.

 

[LaurenT]

It's a very quick ride on the bus to Jambo. You'll have plenty of time. But Dinosaur often has a short line, so check you app and you might be able to head over and ride with little wait before the FP... Oh, and after dinner, go to the other side of the pool, past the movie and check out the night vision goggles for viewing the Savannah animals!