Would you skip Animal Kingdom

[BudgieMama]

If I had to skip one, it'd be Hollywood Studios. I love Animal Kingdom.

For a first trip, if you can visit all the parks, do. You need to experience things yourself to know what you'll enjoy!

 

[Lisaloo]

One word...Boneyard. 3 year olds dig it. Lol

I wouldn't take AK out of the trip.

 

[merrick]

for us, AK seemed like the least like a theme park and was (almost kinda) relaxing. it is beautiful, my kids loved running around and exploring the nepal area. if they dig the amusement park thing, there is the dino land area. we went on our first trip last year and have 3/4 day reserved on our upcoming trip (have an ADR for dins so will be there 10ish-4ish). as other have said, unless your child is smitten with disney jr characters, i would skip HS first (and we really liked HS too!).

 

[Satchmo128]

AK is my favorite park. So, absolutely would not skip it.

 

[kangamangus]

We had park hoppers last trip and did two half and one full day at animal kingdom. For our family it is not to be missed!

 

[mel&me]

Love AK. Would fit it in if possible.

 

[kimieko]

DH and I will be down there in 7 weeks for our fourth trip and this will be our first time visiting AK. It was being built during our first trip and we just didn't go on the last 2 trips. I guess we just never really knew what we were missing, but after reading this thread, I am really excited for our first visit!

 

[yeheyprincex2]

If you really want to go to AK you can have a very enjoyable half day. On our last trip I got really sick the night before our AK day and spent most of the morning and early afternoon in our room. Still not feeling 100% I sucked it up and we ended up going to AK around 2-2:30 and did everything we wanted to do and had a good time. I just changed our FP's for later in the day and ended our touring with the last lion king show.

 

[Princess Mulan]

I wouldn't skip AK, but I would also probably break down and pay for the earlier flight. Getting in that late is just no fun at all, and if there are any delays could even be later.

This is the best advice! I booked a late flight once because of the price difference. A typical Florida thunderstorm rolled in and shut down MCO for a while. Some inbound flights were delayed, some were canceled, and some were diverted to other airports. We were lucky that ours was just delayed, but by the time we got to the resort we were exhausted and starving. We also felt like we had wasted a day; with an earlier flight we could've had valuable park time. I swore then that I would never schedule another late flight.

With an earlier flight, you could spend the afternoon and evening in a park, get a good night's rest and be ready for rope drop the next morning.

 

[bdiddy]

If I have to leave a park out, it would definitely be AK. I do really like the park and it has a lot of nice things/areas but in my opinion this park doesn't offer me a lot of things that I can't do/see at places near me. And the things they do offer aren't enough to convince me to chose this park over another.

I can't get the MK/HS/Epcot experience anywhere around me but between our local zoos, museums and nature gardens....I can "kind of" get the AK experience if that makes sense.

I know that it's not the same at all and many of you will disagree but it's my reasoning when I have to eliminate a park if necessary.

I don't want to give up anything at the other parks but I'm willing to give up seeing some animals, gorgeous nature and a few rides if I have to.

 

[brianap92]

Ak can be a half day park but definitely not one to miss

 

[Micca]

For us AK is park #4. That doesn't mean that it isn't wonderful, it's just that in our interests it falls below the other parks. If there's a time constraint, AK gets the axe.

 

[ArmyVet80]

I think that you would be fine if you slept in and then went to DAK. My DW and I very rarely wake up before 9 AM on our trips to WDW and haven't had any issues. That usually gets us to our park of the day around 10 AM. At DAK you will only need about 4 hours to see most of the main attractions/shows. If your plan is to go to WDW every other year then keep track of what you have done at each park and do something new the next trip. To me it keeps the trips fresh rather than the same thing over and over.

 

[sug78]

Would never ever ever skip DAK- I love it there

 

[disneyworldaddict]

I don't think it would cost much to add on an extra day and HS can be done in an evening. I went I. The spring with my mother who doesn't do rides. We completely skipped HS because she won't do RRC or ToT. AK has Festival of the Lion King which we never miss, the show amazes me everytime I see it. Finding Nemo is also great. The park is fabulous. There are something things that younger children may not be able to do, Dinaosaur is awesome but can be very scary for younger children. But there is still a lot of really cool stuff for them to see and do and the safari and be missed.

Of course a day by the pool at your resort is also nice. I've taken a few trips to Disney, stayed on property and didn't do parks at all, just to enjoy all the other things it has to offer. Whatever you do I'm sure you'll have a magical vacation!

 

[Rosebud123]

This will be our first trip to Disney world. My party includes myself, my husband, and my almost 3 year old. We are arriving on a Sunday and leaving on a Friday. Due to work commitments there is no wiggle room in our length of stay (IE we can't add any days.
My original plan was to fly in Sunday afternoon and have a nice relaxing day at the hotel enjoying the pools and the resort. A monkey wrench was thrown in my plans when I went to book our airfare last week and see that there are only 2 non-stop flights to Orlando on the Sunday we are set to arrive. One arrives in Orlando at noon (this would be ideal) and one arrives into Orlando at 8pm). The price difference is ASTRONOMICAL. The 2pm arriving flight is $257 a person. The 8pm flight is $103 a person. A $462 difference.

So now I'm thinking we will take the 8pm flight but I know realstically that means I won't be getting to my hotel until at least 10pm which means none of us (especailly my little one) will want to be up early. Monday is supposed to be our Animal Kingdom day. I am thinking of ditching it all together and instead sleeping in and then either just hanging out at the resort (Port Orleans Riverside) and using the pool or going to blizzard beach as my daughter LOVES to swim.

Is this a park that I really shouldn't miss? We do plan to come back to Disney World every other year, so I dont think it's a once in a lifetime shot, but I just wonder if that is a good park for little ones? Any opinions?

Honestly, I think your trip is too short. If you don't get in until Sunday night and have to leave on Friday, that's really only 4 days of vacation. Can you change the dates of the trip so you can go for at least a week? Airfare and tickets are so expensive, and 4 days will go by in the blink of an eye! Also, if you change the dates of your trip and buy the airfare as soon as it's released, you could probably get the earlier flight for a lot less.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Like other posters have suggested I wouldn't skip AK if this is your first WDW trip, even if you plan on coming back. AK is beautiful and also a great park to tour in the afternoon because the crowds do thin out the closer you get to closing time. Even if you just do a couple rides and one of the trails and/or a show to get a little sampler of what the park is about you won't return home from your trip with any "what if..." thoughts.

 

[PurpleKomodo]

If it wasn't for Expedition Everest, which is probably DH and I's favorite ride in all of Disney World, I think we would consider it. Especially after taking our DS (2.5) who was unimpressed. It does not help that we have never been when the weather is tolerable. It has either been oppressively hot or (last trip) raining. I enjoy the animals, but we have some pretty nice zoos near us, so I don't think that alone is a draw. We may opt to pop over one day just to ride EE and spend the extra time at MG or Epcot.

 

[Ginya]

A couple of things to keep in mind that I haven't seen mentioned -- heat and height.

1 - Heat -- There aren't many places with AC where you can escape the heat. If you're going during a cooler time of year this is much less likely to be an issue. If you're going when it's hot, a covered stroller, misting bottles, fans or other cooling strategies will be very helpful. There are threads devoted to this if you do a search.

2 - Height -- Four of the seven rides in the park have a height requirement (38 inches or more). For those you don't get FP+ for you can use Rider Swap, allowing you and your husband to take turns riding with a short wait in between.

Heat is a big factor at AK. We were there in May in 2011, chose it because those weather calendars claimed it would be just comfortable then. There was a heat wave and it was 97 F! My daughters melted, My Parents looked ready to keel over and my DH just kept asking me why we chose May again? End result is our last trip in Oct 2012 both of my DD's refused to go to AK again even though the weather was much nicer. Fast forward to planning our Dec 2015 I thought maybe their memories had mellowed. They still refuse to go to AK. It was a beautiful park but all they can think is how hot it was the entire day. Yes, it was just as hot the next day at Epcot but there were so many places you could pop inside to cool off for a film or ride or the interactivity in future world. At AK everything is naturally outdoors. And if it is hot it seems even hotter when walking all those trails all day.

 

[Princess_Ariel_5]

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but AK doesn't appeal to me and my loved ones as much as the other parks. I personally have skipped it on trips and haven't missed it so I would say take a look at everything they have to offer compared to the other parks and see if that interests your family.