Talk to me about AK at night...

karasmom

Mouseketeer
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
276
we are not huge AK people - it’s usually like a half day park for us. (Not because AK isn’t great - we just prefer Other things).
I would like to see ROL. I know the reviews are mixed but we want to see it.
So I am thinking of doing it in the later half of the day instead of early like we usually do.
Before all the new nighttime stuff at AK I’m used to it closing early so I suppose it feels weird to be there in the evening.
So tell me... do you like it?
Suggestions? Advice? :)
 
I’m wondering this as well as, though we have done AK many times, we’ve never been there past mid-afternoon. We’re going this summer and our plan is to hop to AK one afternoon and stay through the evening. Wondering what to expect, what is good to do in the evening, and what crowds are like later in the day.
 
Pandora is gorgeous in the dark. Our favorite attraction is Expedition Everest at dusk/twilight. Seeing AK from above lit up is beautiful.

We go in late August and really prefer AK later in the day. It's not nearly as disgustingly hot and certain attractions are walk on or very short wait times. We've ridden EE 10 times back to back in 2 hours after 7pm
 

Yes, we had always been used to AK closing before dinner. I will say that we find AK thoroughly enjoyable in the evening. AK is normally a very hot park, and we are summer WDW visitors. At night, it's much cooler there and easier to walk around. They have a family friendly "street party" vibe going and it's fun. The performers are really good. A sunset/dusk safari is beautiful. The Tree of Life is cool. Pandora at night is neat to see. Lines for attractions go WAY down. It's definitely worth the visit in the evening.

ROL on the other hand....yeah, one and done for us.
 
I’m wondering this as well as, though we have done AK many times, we’ve never been there past mid-afternoon. We’re going this summer and our plan is to hop to AK one afternoon and stay through the evening. Wondering what to expect, what is good to do in the evening, and what crowds are like later in the day.

This is our plan too in Oct. Been to AK numerous times but never past mid afternoon. This trip we have a dinner @ Tusker House booked and we want to watch ROL. Cant wait!
 
The Tree of Life Awakenings are amazing. If I had a choice between watching the nighttime Tree of Life show and ROI, I'd choose the Tree of Life.

As a PP said, Pandora is really beautiful at night. In fact, the entire park is wonderful at night. It's great just to walk around. Even the Dino area has some kind of extra interest at night.

A safari at dusk can be the best one of the day. After dark, though, I don't advise it, although I have had a couple of excellent after-dark safaris. But it can just be--dark.

And--don't tell anyone :)--but the wait times for both FoP and NRJ are exaggerated near park closing. If the official standby time for FoP says 130 minutes, the reality might be closer to 30 or 40 minutes. It's a great time to do standby at either (or both--if you can swing it) attraction. And then you get to leave the ride and walk out into nighttime Pandora. Awesome.
 
I am using my arrival day and going to AK in evening to catch a couple of rides and see the night lighting. I did that on another trip and caught RoL but didn't get to see much of the tree or Pandora as the park was closed when RoL ended
 
You can find the shortest line of the day at FoP later in the evening. On our last visit, the posted wait was 110 minutes close to closing time but we were in the first pre-show in 17.

It had exceeded 4 hours earlier in the day.
 
STAY away from AK, so hot, nothing to do, all of the BUGS............................DONT GO........................






Ok I am lying as we love AK and can and do spend a day there, now with Pandora and they have more night activities, and this summer, Circle of Flavors: Harambe at Night it is a wonderful park at night, Disney has really stepped it up in this park...........
 
The best part of taking the younger girl to FOP at closing was we goy to walk thru a virtually empty Pandora. Incredible experience.
 
Pandora is gorgeous. I would check some of the crowd calendars to find a good/optimal day to go. FoP standby line can still be long FYI - we had that experience last August and waited like 1.5 hours, but still better than midday lines that were 2-3 hours. But like others have said, you walk out into a gorgeous Pandora with not as many people milling about.

It rained on our late afternoon/drizzled in the evening, so that threw a damper on some things, but also thinned out the park some. We just grabbed some dinner at Pizzafari and then headed back into the park. We didn't stay to watch RoL.
 


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