Animal Kingdom Day - Scheduling Advice

shbarrett

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 28, 2018
We'll be going to Animal Kingdom on Day 4 of our trip and plan to start things out with A 7:30am reservation at Chef Mickey's. We are staying at the Poly. From there we plan to go to Animal Kingdom where we have a 9:10 - 10:10 Kilimanjaro Safaris Fast Pass. Is this cutting it too close? I thought that this might be our opportunity to take a Minnie Van. Thanks.
 
I think you will be fine if you take Minnie Van. Chef Mickey's is buffet style so you eat at your own pace. The only thing that might delay you leaving is if all the characters haven't made it to your table yet.
 
I think you should be ok, especially if you take a Minnie Van or Uber. Remember, you will have until 10:25 to scan in with your FP.
 
We'll be going to Animal Kingdom on Day 4 of our trip and plan to start things out with A 7:30am reservation at Chef Mickey's. We are staying at the Poly. From there we plan to go to Animal Kingdom where we have a 9:10 - 10:10 Kilimanjaro Safaris Fast Pass. Is this cutting it too close? I thought that this might be our opportunity to take a Minnie Van. Thanks.

Can you push the FP+ a little later? Even if Chef Mickey's only takes an hour, it can take a while for a Minnie Van to get to you. When we were there in December, we waited up to 20 - 30 minutes for a Minnie Van to show up. Hopefully they've increased their fleet in the past 3 months, but unless there's a Minnie Van at CR or MK, it may take a while to get to you. That may then put you at AK around 9:15 am or so. You then have bag check, scanning at the tapstiles and walking all the way back to the safari. Even if you moved the FP+ to 9:30 am, you would be allowing yourself some extra time so you don't have to rush through AK.
 


My two cents: you’ll be able to do it with Uber — Minnie Van wait times seem too variable to me.

If it were me, I would try to push the FP later if possible. Generally speaking, I don’t book my FPs until around 11am anyway... the point when wait times reliably go up.
 
We'll be going to Animal Kingdom on Day 4 of our trip and plan to start things out with A 7:30am reservation at Chef Mickey's. We are staying at the Poly. From there we plan to go to Animal Kingdom where we have a 9:10 - 10:10 Kilimanjaro Safaris Fast Pass. Is this cutting it too close? I thought that this might be our opportunity to take a Minnie Van. Thanks.
Why don't you try for Tusker House first seating? You'll be close to the Safari when you finish eating.
 
I usually budget at least an hour and a half for a character breakfast. You don't want to feel rushed and not enjoy yourself. I don't have any experience with the Minnie Vans but if you can verify a pickup time by no later than 9:30 you should be fine. While you shouldn't count on this, most cast members will allow you to be 15 minutes late for a FP. I would probably push your FP back to 9:30 - 10:30 to be safe unless that messes with your other FP's.
 


Ditto trying to get Tusker House first seating, and get the Rivers of Light package so you have the reserved seating in the middle.
 
From there we plan to go to Animal Kingdom where we have a 9:10 - 10:10 Kilimanjaro Safaris Fast Pass. Is this cutting it too close?
Lets say you get in an are seated right away. figure an hour to eat and see characters (this might be rushing it be it can be done). Then you get out to the bus stop say by 8:45-9:00 - if you are lucky you will catch a bus right away, but if not then you are waiting 20 minutes so the bus comes at 9:20, 15-20 minute ride to AK - so you get to the entrance by 9:40, you could rush and get to the back of the park to make it before your FP time expires, but if your goal is to enjoy your trip to breakfast and enjoy your park time -- i would not do it -- I think you would be rushing and not taking it all in and enjoying it. Even getting a minnie van -- if you have a looming reservation time that is too close to your meal you might not really enjoy everything going on around you. I am not familiar with the Minnie van and its timing/promptness. I guess at particularly busy times you could experience a short wait with that too.

Maybe look for a breakfast at AK - Tusker is a great option. As PP mentioned you can get it as the ROL dining package so it is a win-win -- character breakfast, already in the park and you get seating for ROL.
 

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