Does Animal Kingdom Need More than 1 day?

[Luke P]

Hello again fellow Disney fans,

My girlfriend and I are planning our WDW vacation right now. We will be there 1/29-2/3. It is her first time there and it's been 14 years since the last time I have been to the most magical place on Earth. We have 5 days to plan out. So far, we plan on doing 2 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 1/2 days at Epcot, 1 day at Animal Kingdom, 1/2 day at Hollywood Studios.

Now Animal Kingdom has made major changes since my last trip to WDW in 2004. Back then, it only took 1/2 to 3/4 of a day to do everything you wanted there. But now with Pandora, Everest, and Rivers of Light, it seems like AK is a multi day park. Do we need to plan for more than 1 day at Animal Kingdom?

My girlfriend is very excited about Kilimanjaro Safari, the hiking trails, and all of the shows. I am interested in Pandora and riding all of the rides at least twice.

We have not been able to get a fastpass for Flight of Passage yet, so we plan on rope dropping it. Can we do everything at AK in one day while maintaining our current itinerary, or do we need to schedue at least another 1/2 day? Would like to eat at a table service restaurant there as well.

Thank you very much for any help!!​

 

[Bullseye1967]

We usually do AK in one day, but haven't been since Pandora opened. If you want to also do everything twice and have a TS meal I would say it is a really full day. It does help that you are rope dropping. Yak in Yeti is good for TS but for value and food quality, it is tough to beat Flame Tree Barbecue QS.

 

[Bullseye1967]

Touring plans has very short wait times predicted, but I am guessing a weekday would be better than the weekend.

 

[TXDisney]

AK is a one day park for us. But to each there own.

 

[Minnie Mum]

You might see and do everything on your list in one day. No one can predict. But you don't have enough time to extend it to a second day without affecting your other park days. Don't do that. You're at the bare minimums as it is. And for heaven's sake, make some dining reservations!

 

[JIMINYCR]

You could do everything in one day but it might be an issue riding everything twice depending on the crowds. Weve never had a problem getting through AK in a days time. FOP at rope drop is especially going to be valuable. If you could get a FP+ for Safari that would also help immensely. EE you could both get in the single rider line which would save you some time if you dont mind possibly being separated.

 

[I am Timmy]

Not sure which resort you're staying at, but you might consider taking an Uber on your AK day to rope drop FoP. We did, and were happy when we arrived and saw the madness already beginning. The park opened at 8am that day (EMH), we ARRIVED at 7am, there were at least 100 people already there. And then there is the mad walk to Pandora when Cm's let you loose. We were elbowed, pushed, shoved, stepped on, you name it. Once we got to the line, and people realized we were now IN LINE, they stopped trying to push past, because at that point it would just be cutting. Happy to say our wait was maybe 15 minutes, and so worth it. By the time we came out, the wait was up to 90 minutes. Then we hopped over to Na'vi River Journey for a 10 min. wait, and relaxed. That was about the time of regular park opening and a whole new mad dash was taking place (we were unaffected this time, out of the path!) That was on Monday, Dec 11th - not a particularly busy day on the crowd calendar.

 

[nickys]

If you're only talking about the rides, then possibly. I haven't been since Pandora opened so I don't know what impact that has had on the rest of the park. The Touring Plans wait times are usually pretty good, except for Pandora. Even at the time you're going, it will likely be more than the times that @Bullseye1967 posted. They simply don't have the historical data to predict them accurately

The shows can be difficult to schedule, especially if you want to do them all. You will probably find you have to do some cross crossing the park, and it's big, 580 acres.

But I have always loved AK for the rest of the park. I love sitting in Harambe and trying to get a quiet time to hear the sounds from the houses. I love walking around the Tree of Life counting the carvings. I could spend half an hour watching the gorillas (I've only been to one other place that has better viewing possibilities), and the underwater view of the hippos swimming. Or watching the vets at work, or working through the Wilderness Explorers book. To me the themeing is the best of all the parks. And I love the park after dark too.

When your GF says she wants to do all the hiking trails, does she mean the gorillas and tigers, or is she including the small animals and Rafiki's planet watch? Even the small animal trails around Discovery Island can easily take an hour or two, if you genuinely saw all of them. And you want to ride everything twice, plus see all the shows. Add Pandora in, and you're looking at more than a day. Also the animal trails will close at dusk, so don't leave them all until after everything else.

 

[ItsJustMeAgain]

I would second what nickys said, it depends on what you count as 'doing' Animal Kingdom. I have not been since Pandora has opened or ever done a rope drop so I cannot speak for that, but I imagine you could probably check everything off of the list in a day if you wanted. For my family, AK is easily a multi day park because it is about sitting down and enjoying the street shows, theming and animals. We love animals and re ride the safari lots of times, spend a good while in all of the trails and take our time around each of the animal enclosures and would even happily spend a whole day alone without any rides or shows just doing that.

It depends on how much you want that kind of relaxed vibe, and your love for animals, compared to what the other parks offer and what time you have. If you just have the 5 days then I would probably leave your plans as they stand because you would need to take away from something else where there is definitely more to 'do' in terms of rides and attractions but if you have extra time then spending it in AK is always a good shout.

 

[LeighM]

Like others, we haven't experienced Pandora yet but in the past we were able to do Animal Kingdom in one day. Although, it's one of our favorite parks and we can easily spend another day there. Depending on weather, we try to split an extra park day between AK and MK. I like AK in the morning before the crowds get too heavy (and the temperatures climb - it always feels hotter at AK to me for some reason) and I love MK at night.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

For me it would be at least 1.5 days, because Pandora is a lot to take in the first time (be sure to take a walk through after dark). I'd carve out some extra time to check out the Sumatran Tiger cubs in the Maharajah Jungle Trek, a VERY rare sight for anyone to see. I also enjoy taking my time through the Gorilla Falls trail as I find the gorillas really fun to watch.

 

[Herdman]

We're planning on going to AK on the evening of our arrival day just to look around and have a chance to see the Pandora area after dark. I figure with the touring plan on our actual day there that we might not have time to see it in as much detail that evening. I'm also going to try to get FP's for EE and the Safari on that arrival day evening also. I don't think we've ever ridden Everest at night, and on our last trip we did the Safari in both the daytime and at night. The contrast between the two was very interesting regarding animal behavior and the visual differences.

 

[graphite1326]

Does Animal Kingdom Need More than 1 day? NO

 

[jaklgreen]

I would second what nickys said, it depends on what you count as 'doing' Animal Kingdom. I have not been since Pandora has opened or ever done a rope drop so I cannot speak for that, but I imagine you could probably check everything off of the list in a day if you wanted. For my family, AK is easily a multi day park because it is about sitting down and enjoying the street shows, theming and animals. We love animals and re ride the safari lots of times, spend a good while in all of the trails and take our time around each of the animal enclosures and would even happily spend a whole day alone without any rides or shows just doing that.

It depends on how much you want that kind of relaxed vibe, and your love for animals, compared to what the other parks offer and what time you have. If you just have the 5 days then I would probably leave your plans as they stand because you would need to take away from something else where there is definitely more to 'do' in terms of rides and attractions but if you have extra time then spending it in AK is always a good shout.

Same here. AK is my relaxing park. I could spend hours just watching the birds in the 2 aviaries. That being said. It depends on what the OP wants out of their trip. If you just want to do all the rides then you might be able to get it done in 1 day. But AK is so much different then the other parks. There is more to see and explore then to ride.

 

[correcaminos]

It depends on what you like. For us AK was mostly a half day park. I don't think we spent a full day there combined our last trip even with Pandora opened.

 

[Disney Hound]

AK is my favourite and I could happily spend several days wandering around and visiting all the animals! However, if you want to do FOP, Navi, Everest, Kili, ROL, on fast pass - you will need more than one day due to the tiered FP system!

As for eating, I would highly recommend Tiffins - best meal I have had at Disney in many a year! The swordfish in particular is to die for! As is the ganache....

 

[Fox&Hound]

Not sure which resort you're staying at, but you might consider taking an Uber on your AK day to rope drop FoP. We did, and were happy when we arrived and saw the madness already beginning. The park opened at 8am that day (EMH), we ARRIVED at 7am, there were at least 100 people already there. And then there is the mad walk to Pandora when Cm's let you loose. We were elbowed, pushed, shoved, stepped on, you name it. Once we got to the line, and people realized we were now IN LINE, they stopped trying to push past, because at that point it would just be cutting. Happy to say our wait was maybe 15 minutes, and so worth it. By the time we came out, the wait was up to 90 minutes. Then we hopped over to Na'vi River Journey for a 10 min. wait, and relaxed. That was about the time of regular park opening and a whole new mad dash was taking place (we were unaffected this time, out of the path!) That was on Monday, Dec 11th - not a particularly busy day on the crowd calendar.

I agree with Timmy we did rope drop in Dec for Flight of Passage and I am soooo glad we did. The park did not open until 9:00 but we took an uber and got to the park at 7:30. We had maybe 50 people in front of us and had a fifteen minute wait to ride (basically walked on). I always felt like AK was a half day park (but to be honest we have some awesome zoos where we live, so we have never made it back to see the tigers or gorillas or their respective trails- def on my to do list but we never seem to get back there), but with the addition of pandora and the tree of life awakenings and the rivers of light show we packed the day nicely. Had a blast and I know you will too! I think you could easily fill a day and a half or cut down on your list and do it in a day. I think it is less “can we spend two days at AK?” and more “we only have so many days at WDW and where should we spend an extra day?” We always dedicate 2-3 days to MK and 1 for the rest but with its present offerings we did DHS in a morning and then headed off to Disney Springs! Have an INCREDIBLE time!!!!

 

[jimbojones]

AK is my favorite park next to MK and I plan on two days for AK and two days for MK with half day for HS and a day Epcot plus some Epcot evenings for dinner

 

[Seeshark]

I think if you rope drop for Pandora, which I would recommend if you don't have a FP, you easily could do the park in a day and hit all the big rides and a show or two. I did the rope drop, FP'd Everest, Kali and the safari, did the Jungle Trek walk and the Bug movie, met Pocohontas, and was done by 1:00pm. But then if you want to take a more relaxed pace on the Jungle Trek walks and go up to Rafiki's Planet Watch (which I did on an earlier trip and thought it was pretty cool) while also going on the rides more than once, enjoying the street acts, etc., you could fill up a day and a half. I really like AK, and would prefer to spend a day and a half there over a day and a half at Epcot. AK is also very cool after the sun goes down.
Also, if you flip flop your planning and spend less time during the day at Epcot - maybe go there for a couple dinners via a park hopper, and then catch any rides you missed before or after dinner. Also, Illuminations is very well done.