Wild Africa Trek

[DisneyCrazy123]

I am thinking about booking the wild Africa trek at Animal Kingdom the second week in June. There is a morning tour and then an afternoon tour. I am thinking that we would see much more wildlife on the morning tour. But, the afternoon tour is $50 cheaper (and there has to be a reason for that). I know the afternoon tour would be much hotter. That is fine for me, but I suspect that the animals will all be hiding off in some shady spot.

I would appreciate thoughts from anyone who has done this tour and also whether it would really make that much of a difference if we did it in the afternoon.

Thanks.

 

[iScrap]

We did this 2 years ago and would happily do it again! It was money well spent for a great tour.

We did the first tour of the morning because it was worth the extra money to see the animals when they were more likely to be active. I think it would make a difference if you waited until the middle of the day when the animals would be resting and not as visible. The safari ride you take is not the same "keep on driving, don't stop" ride as the regular ride. The guide pulls over in a number of places so you can get some great shots of the animals and get closer to some of them than you would normally. Sitting and having breakfast overlooking the animals was fabulous and, again, you might not get to see as many later in the day.

To us, if we were spending that much for the experience, it was worth a little more to get the best experience we could have. JMHO.

No matter what you choose though, it's a great tour and we learned a lot and had a great time!

 

[sgfundis]

We also did it two years ago but did the latter trip. Not sure of the time but we had lunch. Agree it was worth the time. At the time our kids were in middle school/early high school. We saw plenty of animals up close and personal (giraffes with their heads right up on us). The jeeps are not on the track and can move around to where the animals are. It was great being able to ask questions and get answer about the animals. The walking portion was not strenuous but made you feel like you were doing something not just watching. They did a great job of getting pictures of everyone on the bridge. I believe the DVD of pictures was part of the deal. Lunch was great! The food was great and the view of the Savannah was perfect. It was exotic but not crazy so, and they had PBJ and for our pickier eater. We did the regular tour latter and all agreed we were glad we did the excursion.

 

[LaurenT]

I've done late morning and late afternoon. The late afternoon was actually my favorite one. Did it in late August and it was ridiculously hot, but there were plenty of animals out. And the tour wrapped up after the park closed and we walked out with the sun setting over the kingdom - it was magical.

 

[kiford]

We did it at about 11:30 in December. It was about 80 degrees (I know - somewhat unusual for that time of year) so I was glad it wasn't too much later in the afternoon. We found that there were still a lot of animals out. In fact, there was a giraffe that was delaying the regular Kilimanjaro Safari ride because she kept going over to the trams or standing in the road. We sat for quite a while watching her and got pretty close ourselves.

I'd definitely do it again. And, yes the photos are included but we just got a website to go to do download.

 

[louey]

We did this when we were there July 2013 and loved it. We also did the morning, it was such a perfect day and tour. I would recommend this to anyone, its pricey but IMO worth it!

 

[Shaden]

We did the Trek at 1:15 in May.

It was phenomenal !!! We also saw everything you could wish for and more.

The lions were fully out, the Hippos were showing off their teeth ... it was great

One of the best experiences at Disney we have had.

 

[DisneyCrazy123]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I really want to do the morning, but may end up in the afternoon because of the cost.

 

[famy27]

We did the afternoon tour in August. It was definitely hot, but they gave us water, frozen towels to wear around our necks, and most of the tour is shaded or covered.

All of the animals were out and visible on the afternoon tour. You get up close to hippos and crocs on the walking portion, and then on the safari part, we saw tons of giraffes, rhinos, gazelles, etc. The lions were even out and roaring. It rained pretty hard right when we finished lunch, but the lunch spot is covered and so it was an amazing view of a storm over the savanna.

I'd highly recommend the tour (whether morning or afternoon). It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.