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108. One Day Park Strategy: Animal Kingdom · Mom Street USA

0:05
Welcome everybody to Mom St. USA.
0:07
My name is Jackie AKA Wishes Mama and on today's episode of
0:11
Mom St. we are continuing with our one day park strategy series
0:17
and we are going to be talking about Animal Kingdom.
0:21
So this episode you may look at the time stamp and go this is a
0:24
little bit of a shorter episode. Well, that's because there is a
0:27
ton of change happening at animal Kingdom right now.
0:29
So I am going to talk about it and chat about kind of what is
0:33
going on over there right now with the assumption that a lot
0:38
of this is probably going to change once some of these new
0:41
things open over here at Animal Kingdom.
0:44
But so far in this series we have talked about Universal
0:48
Studios Florida, we have talked about Magic Kingdom.
0:51
So now we're going to talk about Animal Kingdom and let's see
0:54
what we can come up with for our one day park strategy.
0:58
So the goal is if you've got one day in Animal Kingdom, what is
1:01
the best use of your time and what rides did you hit first?
1:05
What rides can wait till later? And what does it look like if I
1:09
use lightning lanes or if I don't use lightning lanes?
1:11
So all of that we've got some answers to and some opinions on.
1:15
So that is the goal for today's episode.
1:17
Just a couple of general notes about Animal Kingdom at
1:21
Disney's. Animal Kingdom, also known as
1:23
DAC, has the shortest operating hours of all of the Disney parks
1:28
due to the animals. So one day an Animal Kingdom is
1:32
not going to feel like, you know, a super early to super
1:35
late open to close. When it comes to that.
1:39
Typically speaking, Animal Kingdom is open about 8:00 AM to
1:43
6:00 PM on most days, but you always want to check your My
1:47
Disney Experience app for the best park hours because it can
1:52
vary year during different times of the year.
1:56
Some parts of the year when it's really, really busy, like
1:58
gearing up for the holidays, they can stay open a little bit
2:03
later. But generally speaking, that is
2:06
something that you definitely want to take a look at.
2:08
The other thing to consider is that some of these attractions
2:11
actually close a little bit early, mainly the Safari and the
2:16
Wilderness Express train that goes out to Rafiki's Planet
2:19
Watch. So that's something else to
2:21
consider when you're looking at your time that you're spending
2:24
at Animal Kingdom for the day. So we're going to jump into
2:28
suggested itineraries are for your day at Animal Kingdom.
2:32
Right now, Animal Kingdom really only has about 5 attractions and
2:40
but it's also got a couple shows and some other things that you
2:42
can do as well. There is a ton of construction
2:46
happening right now. So the entire area that was once
2:51
Dino Land USA is being converted right now into the Tropical
2:54
Americas. That is where the Encanto ride
2:57
is going to go. There's going to be a carousel
2:59
over there and there's going to be an Indiana Jones themed
3:02
attraction over there as well. So Dinosaur is going to be
3:05
converted into Indiana Jones in early starting in early 2026.
3:10
So I am going to talk about dinosaur in this, but with the
3:15
caveat that February 1st, I believe is the final day for
3:19
dinosaurs. So keep that in mind if you're
3:22
someone listening to us in the future and you're going to be
3:25
headed to Animal Kingdom, Dinosaur will be closing to make
3:29
way for Indiana Jones. So let's talk about what your
3:33
day might look like if you are planning to use lightning lanes
3:36
at Animal Kingdom. Now a couple notes.
3:39
This park currently is very very easy to accomplish using
3:45
lightning lanes. You are definitely going to get
3:47
on everything very easily and things twice if you choose to do
3:52
them. Stand by as well using lightning
3:55
lanes. That being said, I'm a huge fan
3:59
of lightning lanes. I love using them in the parks.
4:02
I love being able to help other people use them in the parks.
4:06
I don't necessarily think that lightning lanes at Animal
4:13
Kingdom are a need. Most days, most time of year,
4:20
the crowds are spread out enough that you're not going to need
4:26
lightning lanes. That being said, we'll talk
4:29
about that in a minute, but we are going to talk about how to
4:33
use lightning lanes if you are planning to use them now this
4:36
park with their lightning lanes set up again, I'm not going to
4:39
go into great detail about lightning lanes, what they are,
4:42
how to use them, how to book them, all that kind of stuff.
4:44
We did that a few episodes ago. So if you need like the very
4:48
basics on lightning lanes and what they are and how I use
4:50
them, hop back in our archives, check out that episode, then
4:54
come back over here. But currently at Animal Kingdom
4:57
the they do not have tiers for their rides.
5:00
So the other parks have Tier 1 and Tier 2.
5:03
Animal Kingdom is all on a level playing field right now when it
5:06
comes to that. It does have one single pass
5:09
attraction that is Flight of Passage.
5:12
So those are your options when it comes to using Lightning
5:15
Lanes. My suggestion if you are
5:17
planning and budgeting to use Lightning Lanes, definitely grab
5:20
Flight of Passage and then for yours first three attractions
5:25
for your multi pass, I would book the Kilimanjaro Safari,
5:29
Navi River Journey, and Expedition Everest.
5:32
Those are going to be my suggestions for that.
5:35
Now let's jump into the itinerary.
5:38
Day of. I suggest you arrive to Animal
5:41
Kingdom at least 30 minutes before early entry time.
5:46
As far as I'm aware, Animal Kingdom is still holding early
5:50
entry guests towards the front of the park.
5:53
When you enter through the tap styles, you're going to go left
5:56
and get tapped in over there for your resort early entry.
6:01
We talked about with Magic Kingdom that they kind of
6:03
shifted things and you'll hear we're going to talk about that
6:05
again later with some of the other Disney parks as well, but
6:08
that is the way that that works. So early entry, because you're
6:14
using lightning lanes and you're going to be able to get on
6:16
everything using those lightning lanes.
6:18
My suggestion for rope drop is to do whatever ride is the top
6:23
priority for your group because you've probably already booked a
6:26
lightning lane for it. But this will give you the
6:29
ability to then do it a second time.
6:31
So if it's Expedition Everest because you like the thrill
6:34
rides and the roller coasters, do that one.
6:36
If it's Flight of Passage and you want to try to get a second
6:39
ride on flight of Passage, do that if you're early entry.
6:42
If you're not early entry, that lines going to be pretty long,
6:46
but if you're willing to wait up to 45 minutes to an hour, then
6:50
go for it. Do note that the Safari is not
6:54
open during early entry and typically doesn't open until
6:57
about 15 minutes after park is officially open.
7:02
So if park open is at 8, safaris going to be opening at 8:15.
7:06
Now, they may let people into the queue earlier than that, but
7:09
they're not going to start running those safari trucks with
7:13
guests on them until 8:15. And keep in mind that that is
7:18
also one that will sometimes close early or will close the
7:22
line off early just for the animals on that attraction.
7:27
So your morning is going to be again, rope dropping, whatever
7:31
attraction is the top option for your family and your first
7:36
lightning lane. You can definitely book that
7:38
within 30 minutes of park open at Animal Kingdom.
7:42
We talked about at Magic Kingdom, waiting to book that
7:44
first one until 60 to 90 minutes after park open.
7:49
Animal Kingdom is not that way just because it is a has a
7:52
smaller number of attractions and there is more to do.
7:57
You'll have plenty to do as you're walking in between those
7:59
attractions. You're going to use your
8:02
Lightning lanes in the morning for those top three rides that
8:05
we already talked about. After that, you're probably
8:08
going to be close to lunchtime. The other thing that you can
8:12
consider is going to some of the shows Festival, The Lion King,
8:17
The Finding Nemo musical, both really amazing shows that you
8:21
can go to when you're visiting Animal Kingdom.
8:23
But chances are that your first, you know, 3 to 4 attractions is
8:28
going to take you up to lunchtime.
8:29
Several different places that you can look at for lunch and
8:32
these are all great mobile order options.
8:36
Again, highly suggest mobile ordering your lunch and dinner
8:39
to save you a ton of time you're having to wait in line.
8:42
You can go scope at your table, get everybody situated and then
8:46
go and get your food once it's already ready and for you to
8:50
just grab your tray and go to your table.
8:51
So Tuli canteen is a great option, Flame Tree BBQ is a
8:56
great option, Pizza Fari and the Yak and Yeti quick service
9:00
option. All great options.
9:02
You're really going to want to look at where you're at in the
9:04
park and which ones closest to you and just kind of by default
9:07
go there because it can be a lot of trekking from one corner to
9:13
the next if you are not careful. So keep that in mind when it
9:17
comes to picking your lunch location, you're going to just
9:19
kind of want to by default go with what's nearby.
9:23
I highly suggest the Tuli Canteen.
9:25
That's my favorite place to go at Animal Kingdom.
9:28
And when it comes to mobile ordering for your, your quick
9:32
service lunch after lunch, you're going to want to round
9:36
out finishing your lightning lanes.
9:38
So the only lightning lanes that you've got left after those
9:42
first three are Cali River Rapids, Dinosaur for now, and
9:50
then the new Zootopia show also has a lightning lane option.
9:54
It just opened the day that I'm recording this to the public, so
9:59
I don't exactly know what wait times are going to do with that
10:02
specific attraction and what the Lightning Lane variability is
10:06
with that. So just take a look at that on
10:09
your app, see what the return time looks like.
10:12
If you are booking your 4th Lightning Lane and Zootopia is
10:17
already towards the end of the day, maybe go ahead and grab
10:19
that one so you've got it in your back pocket for later if
10:22
that's something that you guys want to do.
10:24
So a little bit of uncertainty with that one just because it is
10:28
so new. But those three are the only
10:30
other attractions that you have to book.
10:32
So once you use those first 3 on your multipass, those are your
10:37
next three that you're going to book.
10:38
So book them in order of importance or book them in order
10:41
of how quickly you can get a return time.
10:44
The later the return time showing on the part on the tip
10:48
board in part of your app, the more likely they are to quote UN
10:52
quote sell out for the day if it's a really busy day over at
10:55
Animal Kingdom. So just some things to keep in
10:58
mind when you are booking your secondary round of lightning
11:02
lanes over there. Always remember you can hold 3
11:05
lightning lanes at all time time.
11:06
So be sure that if you pull up your app and you're looking at
11:10
your My plan tab, if you don't see 3 lightning lanes for
11:14
multipass on there, hop onto that tip board and book your
11:16
next one. Now some of the shows over at
11:21
Animal Kingdom will have lightning lane options.
11:26
They're not always necessary unless you don't want to like
11:32
get to the line super early, if that makes sense.
11:36
The only thing you have to be careful of is that those
11:39
Lightning lane return times for the shows are a shorter window
11:42
than your standard Lightning lane.
11:44
So because those, because Festival, The Lion King and the
11:48
Finding Nemo musical have set showtimes and it's not just a
11:52
continuous show, you have to make sure that you get there
11:57
during your time allotted to ensure that you have a seat for
12:00
that particular Showtime. So for example, let's say it's
12:05
an 11:00 show. Your lightning lane is probably,
12:09
if I remember correctly, going to show you like 10:20 to 10:50
12:13
as your return time for that show.
12:16
So you want to make sure that you get there in that window so
12:20
you're guaranteed a seat at that 11:00 show.
12:23
Just keep that in mind. So the afternoon is going to be
12:27
those additional 3 lightning lanes that we just talked about
12:30
any shows and then anything that you want to do stand by as a re
12:35
ride is is an option for your afternoon as well.
12:39
A couple other things that you can look at are they have two
12:42
different walking paths, two different major walking paths.
12:45
I should say. There's several walking paths
12:46
around the Tree of Life in that Discovery Island area, but there
12:50
is also the Gorilla Falls, Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail,
12:57
something like that. I don't remember the extended
12:59
name of it, but that one is going to be found right at the
13:02
exit of the Kilimanjaro Safari in the Africa section.
13:06
Your second major walking path at Animal Kingdom is the
13:10
Maharaja Jungle Trek, and that is going to be in the Asia
13:14
section, kind of past the entrance to Kali River Rapids.
13:19
Those are going to be to the two major walking paths if you're
13:23
someone that wants to go and look at the animals that they
13:25
have on those trails. The other thing that you can
13:28
look at is taking the Wildlife Express train up to Rafiki's
13:32
Planet Watch up there. They've got the petting zoo area
13:36
with lots of little animals that the kiddos can go in and pet if
13:39
that's something they're interested in.
13:40
They also have the animation drawing class out there.
13:43
So if you've got a little artist or a big artist that's traveling
13:48
with you and you want to to go learn how to draw different
13:52
Disney characters that exists out at Rafiki's Planet Watch,
13:56
that'll take you pretty much all the way up until dinner time.
13:58
Now, dinner time, you can go a couple different ways when it
14:03
comes to spending the day at Animal Kingdom.
14:06
So because Animal Kingdom closes at 6:00 PM quite frequently, you
14:12
may or may not end up doing dinner inside the parks.
14:15
It really just depends on how your day has gone, but if you're
14:19
doing dinner inside the parks, a lot of the same options still
14:21
exist. As far as quick service, there
14:23
are several table service options that you could look into
14:26
as well, but there's also tons of options if you wanted to like
14:29
take a bus to Disney Springs for dinner or go to a resort for
14:34
dinner. You know there's tons of
14:35
different options when it comes to that, so keep that in mind.
14:39
Just because Animal Kingdom does tend to close right around
14:42
dinner time, you may need to just plan accordingly.
14:45
A few of these dinner locations will close like like an hour
14:49
before the park closes. So again, you just have to look
14:53
at times, kind of plan accordingly and make sure
14:56
whatever option you are looking at is going to be available for
15:00
you and your group to eat dinner.
15:03
But that pretty much takes care of your lanes.
15:06
When it comes to Animal Kingdom, again, very feasible, very easy
15:10
to do. I think we just talked about 7
15:13
attractions plus the two shows and The Walking trails and the
15:17
train. All definitely easy to do on
15:21
your day at Animal Kingdom, especially with lightning lanes.
15:24
Let's talk about without lightning lanes what that list
15:28
order kind of looks like. So again, you want to get there
15:31
at least 30 to 45 minutes before you can access the park.
15:36
If you are a resort guest, you're going to go left.
15:39
If you are a non resort guest, you're going to go to the right
15:42
after you have tapped in at the top styles for rope drop.
15:46
If you are a resort guest and you're not using lightning
15:51
lanes, you have to rope drop Flight of passage.
15:54
There's no other way to ride it without having to wait in an
15:58
hour plus line most days unless you rope drop it.
16:03
So you want to get there early, you want to be in the front of
16:06
that crowd waiting to get let in, and you want to go straight
16:09
to the far left side of the park to go to Flight of Passage.
16:14
After you get off a Flight of Passage, you're going to want to
16:16
hit Navi River Journey and cross your fingers that it's less than
16:19
a 30 minute wait, and that's going to take up your early
16:23
entry into park open time. Immediately after that, you're
16:27
going to want to go to the Kilimanjaro Safari because that
16:31
again will be opening about 15 minutes after park open.
16:35
Now that being said, you may have to leave one of those out
16:41
if the safari is a top priority for you because you want to get
16:46
in line for the safari at the very latest by 15 minutes after
16:50
park open because that wait time will shoot up to 45 minutes
16:54
very, very quickly. And that line is not super fun
16:58
to wait. And there are a few animals, a
16:59
few screens where they're talking about different things
17:02
with the animals, but overall that line is not super fun to
17:05
wait it. So if the safari is a big thing
17:09
that you want to do, you're only going to be able to hit one of
17:12
the rides over in Pandora. That being said, the ride you
17:17
don't hit over there now goes to the very end of your list and
17:21
you get in line right before park close to do it.
17:24
So there is an option. Both of those rides are fairly
17:27
reliable, knock on wood. Right, But both of those line
17:32
those rides are fairly reliable as far as they don't go down
17:36
super often. They're not closing early for
17:39
anything frequently, anything like that.
17:43
But in a perfect world you'd be able to get Flight of Passage,
17:46
Navi River, and the Safari all done within the first hour and a
17:50
half of the park being open. After that, it really just
17:55
depends on your wait times. My best suggestion is to work
18:01
clockwise starting in Pandora, going up into Africa, over into
18:06
Asia, and then ending over in what is currently Dinoland USA,
18:09
soon to be the Tropical Americas.
18:12
That is probably going to change once Tropical Americas opens,
18:15
but after the safari I would head towards Cali River Rapids.
18:19
It typically also has a delayed open, so chances are good that
18:22
maybe you catch that right as its opening and you'll be able
18:25
to hop on with less than a 30 minute wait over there as well.
18:30
If you make it all the way over to Expedition Everest, that is a
18:35
very high capacity ride, so the chances are good that mid
18:38
afternoon towards lunchtime, it still won't be more than a 2530
18:43
minute wait over there. It does also have a single rider
18:45
line, so if your party is someone that can utilize single
18:48
rider lines when it comes to some of those thrill
18:51
attractions, definitely an option.
18:53
And it is a really good single rider line that's probably going
18:56
to take you up to lunchtime if you haven't already gotten
18:58
lunch. Again, you're going to want to
19:00
look at some of those different quick service locations.
19:03
So Tuli Canteen, probably not an option for lunch if you're
19:07
following this itinerary because it is all the way back over in
19:09
Pandora, but something like Yak and Yeti's quick service is
19:14
right near there. That's a great option for lunch
19:17
if you are over in that Cali River Rapids area.
19:21
I'm so again, we hit those ones in the morning.
19:24
We hit Cali River, maybe we hit Expedition Everest or maybe we
19:27
do that right after lunch, depending on what your
19:29
preference is with that. Then you're going to continue
19:32
your way around. You're going to hit Dinosaur for
19:34
now until it changes over again. This plan will probably all
19:38
change whenever Tropical Americas opens with those new 3
19:43
new attractions that are going to be over there.
19:45
But for now, you're going to hit Dinosaur.
19:48
After that, then you're going to take a look at the weight for
19:51
the new Zootopia show that is Under the Tree of Life, and do
19:54
any of The Walking trails around the Discovery Island area as
19:57
well. The other things that you can
19:59
look at are showtimes for Festival of The Lion King and
20:02
the Finding Nemo musical at that point in the afternoon.
20:05
Both of those typically run all the way up through about 4:00
20:08
PM. If not a little bit later, so
20:11
you still got some time, but keep an eye on when the last
20:14
show times are for those to make sure that you don't
20:16
unintentionally miss out if that's something that you want
20:19
to do on your trip. And then again, same thing with
20:22
Rafiki's Planet Watch. Keep an eye out on Wildlife
20:26
Express train that goes to Rafiki's Planet Watch.
20:29
Keep an eye on the times for that as well, because typically
20:33
if the park closes around 6:00, that train typically stops
20:38
running about 4:30. So keep that in mind as you're
20:42
looking at the different options there, But those would be kind
20:45
of my suggestions. Now you could wait and do the
20:48
Zootopia show and The Walking paths later if those shows and
20:56
the train are higher on your priority list because those do
21:00
close earlier and the other things are open more often
21:06
longer into the night. Sometimes The Walking trails
21:08
close to again with those live animals at Animal Kingdom.
21:13
You've really got to look at what the hours are for the
21:17
different attractions. All of that is listed on your
21:19
app. So if you're looking on the map
21:22
section of your My Disney Experience app, click on that
21:26
attraction and scroll underneath where it says like the title and
21:29
description and it'll show you like the operating hours for the
21:32
day. So take a quick look at that to
21:35
make sure that you're not unintentionally accidentally
21:38
missing out on a walking trail or that wildlife, I keep wanting
21:43
to say wilderness Express train, wildlife Express train out to
21:47
Rafiki Planet watch. You want to look at those hours
21:50
to make sure that you've got that kind of in your the back of
21:53
your head whenever it comes to planning your afternoon.
21:57
Again, when it comes to dinner time, you may or may not end up
22:00
in the parks depending on what is going on with your where
22:06
you're at and if you finished all of the things that you
22:09
wanted to finish or not. Also keep in mind that if you
22:12
had to skip one of those rope drop attractions, Flight of
22:15
Passage, Navi River or the Safari, I don't suggest skipping
22:19
the safari. Definitely hit that in the
22:21
morning. That's the very best time to see
22:23
all of the animals on that. But if you had to skip either
22:26
flight of passage or Navi River journey, the end of the day is
22:30
your best time to get in line for those.
22:32
So remember, you can get in line up to one minute before park
22:35
closed. So if if you want to do flight
22:38
of passage, your best chances to do it right at at park closed,
22:42
you won't have as many lightning lanes coming through.
22:44
Again, we talked about this at Magic Kingdom that first thing
22:49
in the morning and last thing at night, you don't have as many
22:51
lightning lanes coming through, so they don't kind of slow down
22:55
your standby queue nearly as much during those times of the
22:59
day. So lots of things to keep in
23:01
mind, but overall Animal Kingdom is a fairly simple park to
23:05
navigate. And most of the time, like I
23:08
said, I truly don't think you need lightning lanes for that
23:12
park. It is very easy to do if you are
23:15
able to get there early, especially if you're on property
23:18
and have that early entry time that you can utilize.
23:21
That is the best way to tackle Animal Kingdom.
23:25
I really don't think you need lightning lanes now if you if
23:30
everything at Animal Kingdom is on your list, you don't want to
23:34
do multi pass. Maybe you have an extra few
23:37
bucks to throw towards a single pass for Flight of passage.
23:41
That's also a great idea. So then you can rope drop Navi
23:45
River, do the safari, and then come back and do Flight of
23:48
Passage right after that you have done the safari and then
23:50
continue on the rest of that loop like I talked about.
23:54
Again, starting at the bottom left of your map if you will,
23:58
and continuing your way clockwise around to hit those
24:01
attractions. So overall, again, Animal
24:06
Kingdom fairly simple to navigate.
24:08
I hope that this was helpful for those of you that may be needed
24:13
a little bit of guidance when it came to Animal Kingdom.
24:16
Again, like I mentioned in the last episode, if you are someone
24:19
headed to the parks in the near future when from when you're
24:22
listening to this and you want some additional advice, please
24:25
send me a message. I am more than happy to help you
24:28
with your itinerary to help you figure out what makes sense for
24:32
your group, what doesn't. More than happy to do that, you
24:35
can reach out to me on any of our social media platforms.
24:38
You can also find usmomstusa@gmail.com and that
24:42
e-mail is good. If you've got questions or
24:45
suggestions or anything that you want to give input about for our
24:50
upcoming podcast episodes, we would love to hear from you via
24:54
e-mail on any of our social media, and also on our new
24:57
Patreon account that we've got. Again, we're going to be posting
25:01
some graphics over there shortly for the first several episodes
25:05
of this One Day Park series that we're doing that just kind of
25:08
give you the visual rundown of these different lists of
25:12
attractions that we've been talking about.
25:14
So that is coming very soon over on our Patreon, so be sure to
25:18
head over there. Tons of free content over there.
25:20
By the way, it's never expected for you to pay a membership fee
25:24
or anything like that. Our unedited podcast episodes do
25:28
live over there as well as some other fun content, so be sure to
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check that out if you haven't yet.
25:34
But for today, that kind of wraps up our time.
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I'll be it brief at Animal Kingdom.
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Thank you guys so much for joining me for this episode of
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Mom St. USA and I will see you on the
25:44
next one. Bye everyone.