Animal Kingdom With Young Kids Late Morning Arrival

Transcription

1 Animal Kingdom With Young Kids Late Morning Arrival Affection Section Conservation Station Wildlife Express Train Rafiki s Planet Watch Habitat Habit Maharajah Jungle Trek Pangani Forest Trail Wildlife Express Train KILIMANJARO SAFARIS KALI RIVER RAPIDS Harambe Fruit Kusafari Coffee Tusker House Flights of Wonder Tamu Tamu Refresh Yak & Yeti QS TS Dawa Bar EXPEDITION EVEREST Baby Care Tree of Life Flame Tree BBQ and It s Tough to be a Bug 1. Kilimanjaro Safaris - Obtain FASTPASS Pizzafari 2. TriceraTop Spin 3. Boneyard 4. Finding Nemo the Musical - 11:30/11:45am Greeting 5. Lunch Trails 6. Kali River Rapids - Obtain FASTPASS Festival of the 7. It's Tough To Be A Bug Lion King Camp Fire 8. Flights of Wonder - 3:00pm Treats 9. Kilimanjaro Safaris - With FASTPASS 10. Pangani Forest Exploration Trail 11. Parade - 3:45pm 12. Kali River Rapids - With FASTPASS 13. Festival of the Lion King - Last Show of the Day 14. Open 15. Exit Finding Nemo Musical The Boneyard PRIMEVAL WHIRL Restaurantasaurus Oasis Tricera -Top Spin Guest Services DINOSAUR Rainforest Cafe Resort Bus Stop

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3 Animal Kingdom With Young Kids Late Morning Arrival This easyplan is designed for families with young children who plan to arrive around 11am and stay through at least 5pm. If Animal Kingdom is open past 5pm, you ll have the option/opportunity to add additional attractions at the end of the Plan. It skips Animal Kingdom s three most intense attractions Expedition Everest (44 minimum height), DINOSAUR (40 minimum height), and Primeval Whirl (48 minimum height). It does visit Kali River Rapids (38 minimum height), but this is a gentle flume ride. If you prefer not to get wet or the kids aren t tall enough to ride, simply skip it. If members of your group are interested in these attractions, see the Family Hybrid easyplan or simply have those that plan to visit the thrills rides do so with FASTPASS throughout the day when other attractions aren t of interest. Because we re arriving around 10:30am, standby lines for at least Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris will most likely be long. You may be able to do DINOSAUR and Primeval Whirl while the rest of the group visits TiceraTop Spin and the Boneyard in the morning, depending on the overall crowd level and what time you arrive. The Skipped Attractions section at the end of the easyplan offers more advice on fitting these and other attractions into the day. Finally, keep in mind that It s Tough To Be A Bug may scare some children. See the ride review for more information. Variable Show Times and Deviation From the Plan More so than Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom s shows run on a variable schedule with different show times throughout the year. For example, the late morning Finding Nemo the Musical may begin at 11:30am or 11:45am. We have a bit of variability in the morning with the Finding Nemo the Musical that could begin at 11:30am or 11:45am. Luckily, the Boneyard should occupy the kids until you re ready to head over to Festival of the Lion King, whether that means playing for 10 minutes or 30 minutes. Verify show times with the week s Times Guide and plan accordingly. Kali River Rapids in Winter and Summer Kali River Rapids, Animal Kingdom s principal flume ride, has wait times that fluctuate enormously based on weather. When it s hot, FASTPASSes may run out before Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris and standby waits may be longer than either headliner. This is due to a lower capacity and slower loading/unloading times. If you re visiting in summer, you ll want to collect FASTPASSes for it as early as possible. Keep in mind that you will likely get soaking wet without a poncho or other protection. In winter, Kali River Rapids has much shorter waits because fewer people want to get wet. You may want to skip the attraction altogether if the temperature is below 70 degrees or you don t want to get wet. Arrival: This easyplan assumes you arrive by 11am and ideally by 10:30am. Arriving earlier is always better as lines will be shorter and you ll have more time before Finding Nemo the

4 Musical at either 11:30am or 11:45am, depending on time of year. If Animal Kingdom is open until 6pm or later, you have the option of arriving a little later and moving Steps 2 and 3 to the end of the day. 1. Ideally, one person from your party should collect all theme park tickets (this person is known as the FASTPASS runner). Have the FASTPASS runner head straight to Kilimanjaro Safaris to collect FASTPASSes. By this time of day, there will be plenty of people arriving, but not an organized walk to Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest like you would see with an arrival before 9am. Continue up to the Tree of Life, where there will be one path to the left and one path to the right. Take the left path up into Africa. The Kilimanjaro Safaris FASTPASS machines are located directly to the right of the standby entrance underneath a hut-like area. Collect FASTPASSes for everyone in the group. Alternatively, everyone can stick together and collect their own FASTPASSes. The nice thing about using the FASTPASS runner is that it cuts down on the amount of walking necessary by the other members of the group. The FASTPASS runner will turn around and head back the way they came, meeting the rest of the group in DinoLand USA. 2. The rest of the group should accompany the FASTPASS runner through the entrance up to the Tree of Life, only take the path to the right over to DinoLand USA. Continue walking around the Tree of Life until you see the bridge over to DinoLand USA on the right side. This is across from the entrance to It s Tough To Be A Bug and on the same path as Flame Tree Barbecue. Ride TriceraTop Spin in DinoLand USA. It s located in the middle of DinoLand USA, near Primeval Whirl. Feel free to ride multiple times if the line is short and you have interest. 3. Let the kids run around the Boneyard Playground. This is a play area for kids, but it doesn t offer much entertainment for anyone over the age of nine or so. Along with Step 2, this would be a good time for the adults/teenagers not looking after the young children to visit Primeval Whirl and DINOSAUR. Lines will be relatively short if crowds are low and Animal Kingdom is recommended and you ll be able to ride at least one of the two before Finding Nemo. Plan to meet up outside the Boneyard at least 15 minutes before Finding Nemo the Musical begins if you do split up. 4. See Finding Nemo the Musical, which will most likely begin at 11:30am or 11:45am. We ll want to arrive at least 15 minutes early unless Animal Kingdom isn t busy, in which case you can arrive closer to the start of the show. 5. It s time for lunch. As written, we re headed to Flame Tree Barbecue, which serves some of the best barbecue in Disney World. You re also free to visit one of the other quick services if you so choose. Restaurantosaurus has plenty of indoor seating and offers a lot of your standard Disney burger/nugget/salad fare. Pizzafari also offers a lot of air-conditioned seating and serves

5 Disney pizza, salad, and a Hot Italian Sandwich. Yak & Yeti Quick Service, also known as Anandupar Local Food Cafes, serves Asian-inspired dishes, salads, and sandwiches. 6. Ideally, have one person collect everyone s tickets and head up to Kali River Rapids to collect FASTPASSes. The FASTPASS runner can do this while the rest of the group finishes up lunch or while the rest of the group waits for lunch to be ordered and delivered. Either way, Kali River Rapids is located in Asia. From Flame Tree Barbecue, walk back toward the Tree of Life in Discovery Island and take a right up to Asia. Take a right and continue walking until you pass the seating section for Yak & Yeti Quick Service. Kali River Rapids FASTPASS machines are right in front of you. Alternatively, everyone can collect their own FASTPASS. 7. See It s Tough To Be A Bug. The theater is located inside the Tree of Life and the entrance is located across from Flame Tree Barbecue in Discovery Island. 8. See Flights of Wonder, which should begin at 2pm. If you re running behind, you can skip it or reshuffle the order of attractions a bit and return for the 3pm show. The theater is located in Asia, along the path that connects it to Africa. Continue back up to Asia as you did in Step 6 around the Tree of Life, only take a left. You ll see the theater on the right side after you pass Yak & Yeti Table Service Restaurant. You may want to do Character Meet and Greets instead. There are several characters along the path that connects Africa and Asia, usually until 3pm. Check your Times Guide for characters, locations, and times. 9. Ride Kilimanjaro Safaris with the FASTPASSes collected earlier in the day. It s located back in Africa. The FASTPASS entrance is located down a path about 50 feet to the right of the standby entrance. 10. Walk the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail until around 3:35pm. At that point, we ll want to get in position for the 3:45pm Parade. If you want a guaranteed spot at the front of the rope or Animal Kingdom is extremely crowded, plan to line up for the Parade at 3:15pm. The entrance to Pangani is in the back of Africa. You should see it as you disembark Kilimanjaro Safaris. 11. See the 3:45pm Parade in Africa or along the path that connects Africa with Asia. If you see it in Africa, you ll be able to see it go by twice because the Parade begins and ends in Africa. If you see it along the path that connects Africa and Asia, you ll only see it go by once, but you ll save 10 or 15 minutes of time. If you see it along the path that connects Africa and Asia, try to get as close to Asia and the path to Kali River Rapids as possible so you can head there right after it passes. 12. Ride Kali River Rapids with the FASTPASSes collected earlier in the day. It s located back in Asia, past Yak & Yeti Quick Service on the left side. The FASTPASS return line is next to the standby line, directly to the right of the FASTPASS machines.

6 13 and 14. The end of our day depends greatly on what time Animal Kingdom closes. If it closes at 5pm, we ll want to hightail it over to Camp Minnie-Mickey to see the last Festival of the Lion King show. If Animal Kingdom closes at 6pm or later, you ll have some time to return to attractions you particularly enjoyed or previously skipped. Maharajah Jungle Trek, Rafiki s Planet Watch, and the Greeting Trails would all be good choices. See the Skipped Attractions section below to see a list of what s skipped and some ideas about how to fit them in. Check your Times Guide for Festival of the Lion King show times and head over when it s prudent. Festival of the Lion King is located in the back of Camp Minnie-Mickey. You can access Camp Minnie-Mickey via a path in Discovery Island that is right in front of Pizzafari (quick service pizza). 15. Exit Animal Kingdom. Skipped Attractions and How to Fit Them In Character Greeting Trails With a late arrival, there aren t a lot of good times to visit the characters. Luckily, most of the characters in Animal Kingdom can be found elsewhere if you re planning an early morning at Epcot, Hollywood Studios, or Magic Kingdom. If you want to visit the Greeting Trails in particular, you ll want to do so as early or as late as possible. Characters usually appear from one hour after Park opening to 20 minutes before Park close. Try to arrive by 10am to find the shortest lines or visit near the end of the day. Otherwise, lines will be long. DINOSAUR Overall, this is probably the scariest ride at Disney World. If members of your group want to ride, do so right after you arrive or with FASTPASS. FASTPASSes are plentiful and the return time is almost always 40 minutes in the future, unless Animal Kingdom is slammed. When crowds are low, DINOSAUR generally has waits of 20 minutes or less. Expedition Everest If members of your group would like to ride Expedition Everest, you ll want to do so with FASTPASS. It should be your second FASTPASS priority, behind Kilimanjaro Safaris. The only exception is in the summer when Animal Kingdom is open until 7pm or 8pm and temperatures are high. If that s the case, get Kali River Rapids FASTPASSes before Expedition Everest. With FASTPASS, the total wait/ride time should be under ten minutes, so it s a quick attraction that can be accomplished while the rest of the group grabs a snack, uses the restroom, or takes a short break. Maharajah Jungle Trek With limited time in Animal Kingdom, most people will prefer to visit the major shows and attractions over this type of zoological exhibit. If you d prefer to visit Maharajah Jungle Trek, substituting it for one of the three stage shows (probably Flights of Wonder) would be the easiest way. Tack it onto the end of the day if Animal Kingdom is open past 6pm and it s of interest.

7 Primeval Whirl While not particularly scary, Primeval Whirl does have a 48 minimum height. If members of your group would like to ride, do so right after you arrive or with FASTPASS. Rafiki s Planet Watch It takes minutes just to get to and from Rafiki s Planet Watch via the Wildlife Express Train, plus the amount of time you spend there. If you do want to visit and don t want (or are unable) to extend your day, you ll need to remove about 60 minutes worth of shows/attractions from the easyplan and substitute it there. The easiest way to do this would be to skip one of the major stage shows, the Pangani Jungle Trek, and It s Tough To Be A Bug. You might prefer to axe Kali River Rapids or one of the other attractions instead.