Animal Kingdom

[Dulcee]

Alright, I finally got around to listening to the most recent podcast and it really amazed me how they all agreed that Animal Kingdom was a "half day" park.

Personally I love Animal Kingdom. The nemo stage show is amazing. I never get tired of the lion king show. I love watching the animals on the safari and dinosaur never fails to make me giggle. We easily spend half a day just back on the Tiger and Gorilla walk through and conservation station is a must stop for us. We usually spend a solid two days there in a week long trip. Am I all alone on this??

[WDWdriver]

It's a "half day" park only if you want it to be. You must be willing to give up many of the things that give the park it's unique flavor. Things like the Pangani Forest trail, the Maharajah Jungle Trek, Rafiki's Planet Watch with its petting area and views of actual veterinary procedures, the winding "hidden" trails under the branches of the Tree of Life, Flights of Wonder, Nemo, and perhaps even the Lion King show. You can do all the rides in half a day if that is all that interests you.

[Stu29573]

My wife loves this park (she love all kind of plants and animals). In fact, on our last trip we spent two full days there, just taking our time wandering through the exhibits. I must say, if you slow down, there ARE a lot of things to see there. I, presonally, would view it as a half to three quarters day park, but it can be a full day (or more) depending on your attitude and interests...

[Patricia]

Your not alone. It's a full day park for me but I don't go there just for the rides. I get lost in all the little details of that park and could meander around all day doing nothing.. but I love to walk, take in my surroundings and relax.

[JPL]

I wasn't on the last episode of the podcast and haven't had a chance to listen yet but I would have disagreed with the half day park assessment. I cna spend the entire day at the park and often visit on multiple days during a visit. I really enjoy the relaxing pace of the park and taking time to watch the animals and wlak the trails at different times during the day. In will ofen ride the Safari more than once to see different animals active at the different times of day as well. If you are going with the same mentality as you go to the other parks then yeah I can see how people look at it as a 1/2 day park. If you relax and take your time it's without a doubt a full day park.

[Stickey]

Any park can be a half-day park for those with limited plans, or interests. I consider the AK to be a two day park. Multiple safaris are essential to maximize animal viewing opportunities.

[Joannelet]

You are not alone! I too view it as a full day park! There is so much to just enjoy there. All the hidden paths, plants, animals etc. Then the shows, the meet and greets, and of course the rides. Ah, I love the slowness and the relaxed feeling of that park. I may be biased because I was a cast member there it's opening year but still. All the details in that park are amazing!

[DizneyRox]

I refer to it as a 1/2 day park because that's how most people feel. We spend days there during a trip, usually 50% of our time is at AK, the other 50% is spread out over the others (mostly Epcot).

More fun for me if people leave early!

[btharvey]

Were it just my wife and I, we would easily spend two to three days there. My wife is a 'reader' (she reads ALL signs at museums, and as such, she never sees the whole thing), and I'm a wanderer/watcher who likes to sit somewhere and watch the people and sights.

However, we travel with DD of 13 years and (now that it seems to have shrunk to nothing) no brain, who needs to be "doing." Reading and watching are, evidently, not doing. So for now, we're a 'half-day' family. In the future, however, we will become a 2-3 day couple.

[Darbylew]

We love AK and spend at least a whole day there. We love it when they have the extra magic hours in the evenings. It is great. If you
have never been there in the evening then you must try it if they have extra magic hours while you are there.
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT AND GOING BACK IN
DECEMBER!!! :mickey::D

[Scar]

I consider it a 1/2 day park... at least two 1/2 days, sometimes three.

[brivers222]

well it does close almost half as early as some of the other parks ;)


IDK, Its a great park but I have actually written it out of our upcoming trip. We are going to eat at Boma to check out the animals at the lodge, but neither of us are 'geeked' at going to the actual park this trip.

[McLiberal8]

It's less than a 1/2 day park, for me. I would call it a 2 hour park, at the most. I want to explain my 'position' on AK, though.
I know I am spoiled with one of the best zoos in the country, in my hometown. This might be a major reason why the 'wow' factor of AK is kind of lost, for me.
I also find that it lacks imagination. It looks like it was rushed, and instead of focusing on really transporting you to another World, they put tropical plants and dirty-looking huts and benches. You can go on a safari ride, or walk around an environmental camp (with a petting zoo!?). They trapped themselves when opening with a limiting 'animal' theme, and I think it shows. Instead of being able to create something totally different, that guests have never experienced before, they are forced to try to make a 'fancier' version of a zoo, which almost every person has been to at some point in their life.
And where are the varieties of restaurants? I am a vegetarian, and there is VERY little beyond meat (in an animal park?) to eat (for CS options).
I also think Dinoland USA is an ugly, cheap looking area. (I get it, it's supposed to look cheap. Theming something as cheap-looking is almost insulting, coming from the same people who created a place like MK or Epcot.) The Avatar World will be a welcome addition, for me. I just can't wait for a little more imagination to touch down in that park. For now, I walk in and ride Everest, maybe catch Finding Nemo, and then I am out.
I hope I don't get flamed for posting this, and I know a lot of people are huge fans of AK. I just... don't get it, and thought i'd explain why.

[Gator]

You're not alone. I spend two days there, like I spend at the other parks. Get there early, leave when they kick me out. There's a lot of cool attractions there, and the BEST shows. Nemo is just increidble. Between Epcot and AK, it makes me take my entire family across the country instead of driving 300 miles south to DL.

[Mousemates]

To us its pretty much a half day affair...with part of the reason being that we seldom stay in the parks during the hottest part of the day (say 3-5 PM). And this is even more true at AK which for reasons unknown to me always seems to "feel hotter" than the other parks. Given its limited operating hours going back in the afternoon doesn't make a whole lot of sense timewise.

By the way, the limited operating hours are actually rather disappointing to me , for in my view they actually tend to keep guests out of the park when its truly most magical to be there. For when its dusk to early night, the park has a completely different feel (even dinoland looks cool at night) and the ride experience of expedition everest is greatly enhanced.

[crltkcagle]

We used to feel the same way until three weeks ago. We were at AK before rope drop and had breakfast with Donald. We kept saying we are going to go back to the room and take a nap but it never happened. We were having way too much fun. The park was empty so we would get off of EE and get right back on. Same with Kali. Towards the end of the day we didn't even have to get off! We just kept through the ride! We were sad when the park closed and we realized we missed the parade and the lion king show. As we look back on our vacation we all decided that this was our best day during our entire stay. So we are going to look forward to AK from now on!

[Joannelet]

And this is even more true at AK which for reasons unknown to me always seems to "feel hotter" than the other parks.

It is about 10 degrees hotter than the other parks due to the foliage.

[Joannelet]

We love it when they have the extra magic hours in the evenings. It is great. If you
have never been there in the evening then you must try it if they have extra magic hours while you are there.


They have stopped extra magic evening hours at this park for some reason. I agree though it was GREAT! I hope they bring it back someday!

[darthmacho]

Next time we go to WDW, I plan on setting aside two days for AK, so that we can take our time and explore it more thoroughly. I'm looking forward to riding things more than once and not walking back and forth so much from land to land. :mickey:

[HoosierDisneyFan]

If you want to catch the Flights of Wonder show, the Finding Nemo show and the Lion King show and ride the Safari, Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids and Dinosaur, not sure how you can do that all in 1/2 day.

Those are just the headliner shows / attractions.

If you are only there for 1/2 day you are missing some of these items and many more of the smaller attractions.

I understand if you don't like these attractions but clearly not a 1/2 park unless you elect to skip much of the park.

[Scott C]

This is an opinion held by many of the park visitors as they rush from E Ticket to E Ticket and missing out on what makes the Disney parks truly special. They never take the time to slow down and enjoy the details............

Scott C

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

For us it isn't a big a day because my family isn't big on the dinosaur area (can't stand the dinosaur ride, and no longer travel with small children). The past few times we've been it has been to cold to ride the Kali River Rapids. And since only SOME of my family like the big rollercoasters, EE was usually skipped.

The Safari ride is interesting, but the issue with the animals is that we have previous lived where we had season passes to a local zoo with similar animals. You can take your children to the zoo only so often without them rebelling on you. Same with an aquarium.

So, that leaves the shows and parade. We look forward to these, but in small doses.

[Tink#64]

I will admit, of all 4 parks, AK is at the bottom of our list. That said, it's always on our list and there are many attractions we wouldn't want to miss & I enjoy all the really neat details of that park! But by lunchtime we generally are hurrying to get done in AK just because of the heat & humidity that always seem worse there than any of the other parks. We arrive at park opening & even hurrying along in the heat of the afternoon, we don't usually leave there before 2 or 3 & there are several things in the park that we've still not experienced! Alas, never enough time in WDW to do everything that we want! Even with 8/9 day trips! :pout:

[Melanie]

Did I say it was a 1/2 day?

I think being a local adds another perspective to it. If we were yearly vacationers, AK would definitely be a full day park for us. There is so much to do, and yes, it's all pretty unique.

That said, I honestly can't recall the last time we were there. During the summer, it's pretty much off limits. The heat is unbearable. And yes, it IS that much noticeably more hot there than the other parks. It's finally cooling down, and I'm looking forward to heading back and spending some quality time.

Flame Tree Barbeque - here we come! :tasty:

[AmandaChan]

Yeah when we finally took our whole family we pretty much gave AK about 3/4 of a day and we didn't get to do Lion King, wings of wonder, rafiki... i was very disappointed!

[Terra]

Before I had children, it was totally a 1/2 day park. I didn't "get it" and thought it was boring. Now, looking at it through my children's eyes have opened 'a whole new world' to me [Pun intended ;)]

It's a full day of fun for us!

[dnickels]

Some folks also consider 2 days to be plenty of time to see everything in Yellowstone Nat'l Park. If you only want to hit the major highlights at each then sure, AK is a 1/2 day park and Yellowstone can be seen in 2 days. Not the way I want to travel, but some people are more interested in checking off that they did A, B, C, D, E, F.... during a trip than taking the time to really get immersed in the place and take in all it has to offer.

[johnO]

This is an opinion held by many of the park visitors as they rush from E Ticket to E Ticket and missing out on what makes the Disney parks truly special. They never take the time to slow down and enjoy the details............

Scott C

My thoughts exactly! This is why we no longer park hop. Not only do we save on money, but it reallt allows you to slow down and explore the whole park and all it has to offer. I feel people really miss out on alot when the rush through the parks, just to hop on a bus and head to another park, that they have to rush through...

So much missed and so much time wasted 'in transit'

[paragon]

We usually go there twice during our trips, but we call it a half day park, SIMPLY BECAUSE IT CLOSES AT 5, so we usually always head to another park in the evening. The other parks are open later, and we usually spend more time in those park because of the longer hours.
DAK is always our last day park, because of the much more relaxed pace.

[TheHD]

Last trip was our 4th to WDW and the first time we visited Rafiki's Planet Watch. We really enjoyed going to RPW and surprised we had never done it before. As others have said, if you don't slow down and enjoy the park, you can miss several interesting and fun details within the park. We've always enjoyed the animal trails and I'm sure many people just skip this section.

[Cassieblanca]

As a former Animal Kingdom cast member I can honestly say, I haven't done half of everything in that park. Most of it just doesn't interest me. It doesn't just feel hotter at AK the temperature usually is actually a good 5-10 degrees higher due to the layouts of the paths and the foliage. For the people who complain the park closes too early, the animal handlers need daylight to retrieve any of the animals that don't respond to the signals to return to the barns.

[BrerGnat]

I think what makes it a "1/2 day park" for me is that it just gets so darn crowded and unenjoyable (not to mention HOT). After a few hours, I just don't want to be there anymore.

That, combined with the fact that I just don't love animals that much (it's really not exciting watching animals sleep, and that's mostly what I've seen there). Plus, although I thought the Lion King show was great, once was enough. Ditto for Finding Nemo. Not that huge into stage shows. So, in my opinion, it's only a "full day park" the first time you ever visit it. Then, there just isn't enough, attraction wise, to sustain it as a place where I want to spend 8+ hours there in a day.

[Wolf]

Animal kingdom is totally a 2-day park for us! Mom is really into plants and flowers and we both love animals, the Safari is a twice-ride (AM and PM) and Yeti as much as possbible, I love Dinosaur and DinoLand is so much fun! I love to shop there and its just a huge highlight of the trip for me, we don't even do the shows, Nemo doesn't appeal to either of us and as much as we both love Lion King (I have Simba tattooed on my leg) the show just takes too long. I love the characters in AK they seem to have more magic for some reason and I love to just stare at the tree and we try to pick out the most obscure animals we can find from a different side every trip. I like Rafiki's planet watch cause its a nice rest on the train ride over. :mickey: