Yesterday morning, we drove over to Animal Kingdom. We were not staying on Disney property so we were not eligible for the extra 1/2 hour.

A few minutes after we went through the turnstiles, we were allowed to advance into the park at 7:30 am. We went directly to the Safari, only to be told that the Safari would not begin tours until 8:15 in the morning. People were still entering the standby line even though their wait time would be at least 45 minutes. The gorilla trail was closed. The Maharajah Jungle trek was closed. It's Tough to Be A Bug was down. Avatar was already showing a 45 minute wait before the park opened to everyone. Strangely, Navi River showed a 5 minute standby time. We walked over to Navi passing by the Avatar line that was growing ever longer. By time we walked over there, the standby time was 10 minutes and moved quickly. The line for this ride increased quite a lot within a hour of so of the time we rode it.

After that ride, and with many things still not open, we stopped into Starbucks for breakfast which we ate at a table just outside. At this point, the line for the safari extended beyond where we were seated and back towards Pizzafari. Folks who were lining up were being told the wait time was 60 minutes but I suspect it was likely more than than.

We walked the Discovery Island Trails and then went to see the gorillas. I was surprised by the number of people walking this trail - there usually aren't so many. We went to the 10 am Festival of the Lion King show (getting on line 20-25 minutes before the start of the show) which was filled to capacity. We took the train over to Rafiki's (I wish they would publish when they are going to have an animal procedure as it is rare that we ever find one occurring when we happen to go over there).

It's Tough to Be a Bug did finally open an hour or two after the official park opening. The line for the safari never decreased while we were there - ranging from about 60 minutes to about 75 or more and the wait times for the other rides also went up quickly during the course of the morning.

By time we approached mid day, there were so many people in the main walkways that it was difficult to traverse so we left the park.