Animal Kingdom-- How long do you stay?

[HRHPrincessAriel]

Typically just 3/4 of the day and then on to somewhere else. That's with a bunch of HS kiddos though.
This time around I'll be with the kiddo for the 1st time...The zoo is her absolute favorite place in the whole world so I'm sure we will spend much longer!

 

[Skippy's Pal]

OK, in the real minority here, but: we take 3 days to do AK. We go slow. Enjoy the animals a lot. Spread out the time with a combination of rides, shows, and backstage tours, including the Wild Africa Trek. Feel far less pressured here than any other park. Savor the theming. Do both walking trails in a very leisurely manner. The naked mole rats alone are good for 15 minutes. We usually split our stay between the Beach Club and AKL, and move to the Lodge at the end of our stay and do AK from there. Found it hard to go back to the crowds and hassle of the other parks after being in AK. And for all of these reasons we're dreading the arrival of Avatar as we see it changing what we find special about AK's atmosphere.

 

[KCheatle]

We are normally out before the parade starts. We used to stay longer when we did the character breakfast, but now we skip that. It might even be a shorter day this next time with Camp Minnie and Mickey gone. We used to wait for that to open at 10 am so that my kids could escort Chip and Dale to the their spot and meet all the characters sans-lines.

This time, I bet we do the safari, kali river rapids, EE, the Nemo show, It's a bugs life, maybe the triceratops spin, and then we'll leave.

It all honestly, we aren't too interested in the trails because we live in Omaha and have an amazing zoo that we go to very frequently (especially in the summer when we'll be traveling to Disney), so I don't see my kids having a strong interest in seeing the animals.

 

[WDWVolFan]

I won't have any children with me and I don't think ill be going to the dino Part, except maybe dinosaur. I only have the safari, exp. everest, and kali rapids in mind to go on. A couple shows, but that's it. Maybe some of the trails. I'm feeling like this might be a half day park? Am I underestimating here? How long do you usually stay? I know there are restaurants but I am a picky eater so I wasn't planning on eating there.

We went early morning, rode what we wanted and then ate at Yak and Yeti's and we left...it was pretty good...not a huge fan of AK...but stayed long enough to do what we wanted.

 

[Graham9]

We usually mark it for a whole day, from 'rope drop' to 'kick out', bearing in mind that AK has shorter hours than the other parks. On our last trip, we even found enough time to make a few extra visits to catch stuff we missed earlier.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

I guess if you don't appreciate it and soak it up it isn't a full day park. But I can't see how you can't spend at least a 9-6pm day in there. It is the most relaxing of all the parks, no doubt. The scenery is beautiful. You could spend an hour just looking at the detail of the Tree of Life. It is truly amazing. Try finding that at another park.

 

[Fletch]

AK is a 1 day park for us. Granted on a 7 day visit we only go once, typically in the middle of the trip. The park to me is not as hectic as the others so I look at this park as a day of rest believe it or not. When we have gone the park closed at 6 so we get there at the open, eat lunch at Flame Tree, go multiple times on certain rides, pretty much see everything. At the close we would head over to Sanna for dinner and call it a early night - well as compared to the other parks.

 

[Disvillain63]

We usually go at opening and stay until closing, when its 5:00 or so. Sometimes we hop to another park, but most of the time we use this as an early evening and enjoy the resort a bit...or go to DTD to shop. I'm hoping that it will stay open until 8 pm; I'd like to spend an evening here. There are many shows and shops to visit. You can get lost in time just looking at the animals on the Tree of Life or taking in the sights along one of the trails. On our last visit, we scheduled Tusker House for about 15 minutes before park closing time. It was really pleasant leaving the park with it almost empty...around an hour after closing. One of the shops was still open and we stopped and shopped without crowds...no one was hurrying us out.

 

[scoobygirl39541]

We spend 1.5 days at AK It's usual designated full day and the day we leave for the airport. Once on the safari, dinosaur, Everest and FOTLK is just not enough for us. Sure they have the least things to do, but what they have is also the highest in repeatability imo.

 

[The Magical Genie 123]

We usually do Everest, KRR, KS, Dinosaur, and sometimes Primeval Whirl (even though I dislike it). We also either see Finding Nemo the Musical or FOLK, and meet a few characters. We get all this done in about 3 hours, plus lunch. We then usually go to MK or Epcot at night. AK is still not a full day park, at least until Avatar Land opens and the new nighttime entertainment begins.

 

[acishere]

This is the one place where I really think FP+ can be helpful. The worst thing you can do here is run back and forth between the 3 attraction areas. It wastes a lot of time and wears you down. When they added EE we wound up having to do that to hit the 2 big attractions with a minimal wait.

Starting in Africa and focusing on each area one at a time we were able to be done by around 4-5pm.

Get there at opening and head directly to the safari (Best time to see the most animals). Walk through the animal exhibits. Take the train to the Planet Watch.

Then head to whatever land you would rather eat lunch in (Ride Dinosaur and have lunch on Discovery Island or Ride EE/Kali/animal trail and have lunch at Yak and Yeti). Reserve a FP time for those 3 rides. When done with one land you stop at Tough to be a Bug and one of the shows if they are playing, then head to the other land. When you are done with that one you look at the Discovery Island animal exhibits if you didn't yet. Then look around the Oasis as you head for the exit.

 

[LucyK]

Only for a few hours and one day only.

Wow, I could never stay for such a small period of time at AK! We do 2 1/2 days every trip and I still feell I could do more!

 

[steamboatjosh]

I'd definitely recommend doing a whole day, especially if you love animals and details. I planned it out to where we had a whole day and a half day there because my fiance is a huge animal lover.

 

[olinecoach61]

For me it's the definition of a half day park. But we do enjoy the half day!