Tusker house before park open??

[NicholeB630]

I am debating doing Tusker house at 8am before a park open at 9 day. If we get lucky and get a 8am or 8:15 at latest. Would we be done by 9? Has anyone done this? I am hoping to do this so we can go straight to Safari afterwards. We are going in September right after Labor so during the lowest crowds of the year. Then I can decide if its better to go to Lion King right after since were there or go to EE to get on that. We will be using our Fast Passes at another park in the afternoon/evening.

 

[ChrisnKim913]

We are doing this in a few weeks. Got an 8:05 ressie and plan on hitting safari after breakfast. We made Fastpasses for Epcot for the afternoon

 

[NicholeB630]

We are doing this in a few weeks. Got an 8:05 ressie and plan on hitting safari after breakfast. We made Fastpasses for Epcot for the afternoon

Thats exactly our plan. Report back here after and let me know how it works for you

 

[Kimosabe]

We have had good luck with the early ADR approach to Tusker House. I would suggest getting there as early as you can -- e.g., even if your ADR isn't until 8:15, still arrive by 8:00 (or if at 8:00, then try to be there before 8:00). They tend to seat the early arrivals as they arrive, so your chances of getting in quickly are better. At that point, it's not a matter of having to wait for someone to get up from a table, as the place is empty and they are seating you as quickly as they can get you in the door.

With an 8:10 ADR, we arrived at 8:00, got seated almost immediately and had plenty of time to enjoy breakfast, get a full round of the characters and still be at Safari by 9:00 with no wait. As for Lion King or Everest immediately thereafter, that's up to you, but for that first hour or so, the lines are often still very manageable with minimal waiting. We are a "full day" Animal Kingdom family, having no trouble enjoying a whole day there, but if you have plans elsewhere later in the day, you could definitely hit the major highlights in the morning without too much waiting.

 

[NicholeB630]

We have had good luck with the early ADR approach to Tusker House. I would suggest getting there as early as you can -- e.g., even if your ADR isn't until 8:15, still arrive by 8:00 (or if at 8:00, then try to be there before 8:00). They tend to seat the early arrivals as they arrive, so your chances of getting in quickly are better. At that point, it's not a matter of having to wait for someone to get up from a table, as the place is empty and they are seating you as quickly as they can get you in the door.

With an 8:10 ADR, we arrived at 8:00, got seated almost immediately and had plenty of time to enjoy breakfast, get a full round of the characters and still be at Safari by 9:00 with no wait. As for Lion King or Everest immediately thereafter, that's up to you, but for that first hour or so, the lines are often still very manageable with minimal waiting. We are a "full day" Animal Kingdom family, having no trouble enjoying a whole day there, but if you have plans elsewhere later in the day, you could definitely hit the major highlights in the morning without too much waiting.

Do you think its better to go over to EE right after Safari or wait for the 10am lion king show first? I don't want to waste a ton of time back tracking but I also don't want to miss the chance to get on EE with a short wait? It will be Sept when we go though so not super high crowds. If we did Lion King at 10 then went straight to EE right after do you think our wait would be super long?

 

[xlsm]

You can read about our experience HERE

In all my trips, our 8am breakfast at Tusker House is one of my favorite things I've ever done at WDW!
We were the second family in the park, we were seated right away, the first table to receive characters, and out by 8:35. It was amazing to be there with no crowds - even better than MK, because you truly feel like you have the whole park to yourself!

Good luck getting your reservation, and HAVE FUN

 

[NicholeB630]

You can read about our experience HERE

In all my trips, our 8am breakfast at Tusker House is one of my favorite things I've ever done at WDW!
We were the second family in the park, we were seated right away, the first table to receive characters, and out by 8:35. It was amazing to be there with no crowds - even better than MK, because you truly feel like you have the whole park to yourself!

Good luck getting your reservation, and HAVE FUN

That sounds amazing! We did a BBB appointment last trip before park open at MK and it was so nice walking the street with my daughter with hardly anyone there. We loved it. AK sounds even more amazing. I'd imagine Tusker house 8am isn't quiet as popular as getting into MK early. I will def shoot for that 8am. And on my booking day I think that will be my first one I do as non of my other ADR have to be at certain times!

 

[Day-Day]

Do you think its better to go over to EE right after Safari or wait for the 10am lion king show first? I don't want to waste a ton of time back tracking but I also don't want to miss the chance to get on EE with a short wait? It will be Sept when we go though so not super high crowds. If we did Lion King at 10 then went straight to EE right after do you think our wait would be super long?

I vote going to EE immediately after Safari. From what I've seen, the wait at EE will continue to get longer through the late morning and early afternoon then shorten late near park closing. I don't know the schedule for Lion King but we normally do shows during the more crowded times of the day (i.e. late morning to early afternoon) and wait in lines for rides early and late.

 

[NicholeB630]

I vote going to EE immediately after Safari. From what I've seen, the wait at EE will continue to get longer through the late morning and early afternoon then shorten late near park closing. I don't know the schedule for Lion King but we normally do shows during the more crowded times of the day (i.e. late morning to early afternoon) and wait in lines for rides early and late.

Thanks I posted a new question regarding which way to go after breakfast and agreed with others that going to Safari first then EE makes the most since. Then we will do Lion King last. We will walk more but thats fine with me. The kids will be in stroller and I'll need to burn off my Mickey Waffles

 

[keepswimming76]

That's the exact way we do it. ADR, Safari, EE, then Lion King later. And previous poster was right about getting to park earlier than scheduled ADR. We always seem to get in earlier than our reservation time. Enjoy Tusker House. My DH doesn't want to do it on our next trip.

 

[ChrisnKim913]

Thats exactly our plan. Report back here after and let me know how it works for you

I sure will

 

[KT0191]

We were at AK on Labor Day this past September and we were out right at 9:10 (we had an 8:00 reservation). We went straight to Safari and it was walk on. Going 9/6-13 this year again and planning on doing the same thing. It worked out great!

 

[suswa]

Happy to see this thread! We are making the same plans but the last Sunday in August. This is a must do for DH. Last time we only did a half day at AK and we felt like that was a mistake, one we won't make again.