Animal Kingdom Plan

[Kevin Chalmers]

January 24 - 3 adults, 3 kids (6, 4, 4)
Lucky to have 9:10am FP for FoP as well as Safari at 10:10 and EE at 1pm. We also have anytime FP for Na'vi, Lion King and Safari.

Here is our plan:
FoP - 9:10 FP (possibly rider switch)
Na'vi - Anytime FP
Safari - 10:10 FP
Do the Wildlife Express
Eat small lunch or snacks
Lion King 12-12:30 show
EE - 1:00 FP (rider switch and 2 kids 1 adult to boneyard/Triceratop Spin area)
Finding Nemo 3-3:40
Tusker House - 4:15 (with Rivers of Light seating)
Safari - anytime FP around dusk
Rivers of Light show
back to EE with rider switch FP

I think I have a good flow so not to do too much backtracking other than heading back toward Tusker/Safari after Nemo in the late afternoon.

Too ambitious?
Too light??

TIA

 

[pitpat]

looks great. 6 FPs sure help. Great outline of attractions that leaves time to enjoy the park, check out the trails, etc.

 

[sharonabe]

I think I have a good flow so not to do too much backtracking other than heading back toward Tusker/Safari after Nemo in the late afternoon.

Too ambitious?

One thing could put a snag in your morning plans. If you do have to do the rider switch for FoP, it could easily be after 10:00 before you're done. Then if you do Na'vi, you're getting close to 10:45-11:00 before you get to Safari. So now it's 11:30 when you finish Safari, and you need to be at Lion King before noon to get in the door. Depending on how all that goes, once you get off Safari, you'll probably have to decide whether you do Wildlife Express or grab a bite before Lion King. OR skip that morning Safari, and just do Wildlife before Lion King.

 

[Kevin Chalmers]

Thank you both for the input.
@sharonabe - It's been a long time since I've been to Disney....but, if we do the RS for FoP, we do not necessarily have to immediately ride it. We could come back after leaving the late afternoon Safari on our way to RoL show. I think we'd have time, wouldn't we? Or, we could head that way after riding EE after RoL.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Safari - 10:10 FP
Do the Wildlife Express
Eat small lunch or snacks
Lion King 12-12:30 show

I don't think you've got enough time here for all of this unless all you want to do is the train.

Lets say you walk into Safari with your FP+ at 10:05 am and your truck is pulling off and driving into the Harambe by 10:15. It will be close to 10:40 by the time you are back. Find your stroller and probably 10:45 or so by the time you're all finished.

Withe everything there is to do and see at Rafiki's Planet watch, you can easily spend an hour there not counting the train ride back and forth.

I'd likely ditch the first safari of the day since you already plan to go at dusk and swap out that FP+ for something less time consuming.

 

[srwarden1928]

I frequently find that with everything else I want to do at AK, Rafikis Planet Watch falls by the wayside. I'm not saying that it isn't worthwhile to do, just that the time that it takes to do it is so great that you may have to sacrifice several other things in order to work it in.

 

[sharonabe]

Thank you both for the input.
@sharonabe - It's been a long time since I've been to Disney....but, if we do the RS for FoP, we do not necessarily have to immediately ride it. We could come back after leaving the late afternoon Safari on our way to RoL show. I think we'd have time, wouldn't we? Or, we could head that way after riding EE after RoL.

I don't know. Let's say you're out of Tusker House by 5:30. Safari will be done by 6:00 at the earliest, and could be 6:15. You want to be at RoL no later than 7:00 to get your seats (I'm not sure what time or if they open package seating to all guests). So you might have an hour, but more likely 45 min to get all the way back to FoP, ride and then get all the way across the park to RoL. Whoever is riding FoP will need to hustle.

If you wait until after FoP, you only have about 30 min to ride EE and then get back over to FoP and get in line before they close at 8:00. Again, someone's going to be hustling to get there.

My choice would be to drop one of the Safaris, and I would probably drop the late one. It will probably already be dark when you finish with TH, and from reports here, you really don't see that much once it is truly dark. There needs to still be some light to make the dusk ride a good ride.

 

[Okiemom]

January 24 - 3 adults, 3 kids (6, 4, 4)
Lucky to have 9:10am FP for FoP as well as Safari at 10:10 and EE at 1pm. We also have anytime FP for Na'vi, Lion King and Safari.

Here is our plan:
FoP - 9:10 FP (possibly rider switch)
Na'vi - Anytime FP
Safari - 10:10 FP
Do the Wildlife Express
Eat small lunch or snacks
Lion King 12-12:30 show
EE - 1:00 FP (rider switch and 2 kids 1 adult to boneyard/Triceratop Spin area)
Finding Nemo 3-3:40
Tusker House - 4:15 (with Rivers of Light seating)
Safari - anytime FP around dusk
Rivers of Light show
back to EE with rider switch FP

I think I have a good flow so not to do too much backtracking other than heading back toward Tusker/Safari after Nemo in the late afternoon.

Too ambitious?
Too light??

TIA

What is an anytime FP? How did you get them?

 

[Donalyn]

With kids your kids' ages, I think that they'd enjoy the Wildlife Express/Rafiki's planet. Not sure how to rearrange. (We don't like EE and tend to skip the shows most of the time to make it all work.)

 

[dreamscometrue47]

Same question here...never heard of an anytime FP? What is it and how/where did you get them?

 

[Kevin Chalmers]

Same question here...never heard of an anytime FP? What is it and how/where did you get them?

We had to reschedule our trip due to Irma in September. As a result, Disney gave us FP for all of the rides we had originally planned. These can be used any day at any time. They are called "Multiple Experiences" FP.

 

[Carla1183]

I'd just keep yourself flexible on doing or not doing the Rafiki planetwatch thing. With the train out there I feel like it takes a good 1-2 hours and I don't feel like you really have it unless everything goes really quickly with your FPs in the morning. So just don't promise the kids Rafiki in case you end up feeling like you need to drop it.
(We had it in our plan and ended up having to drop it, I feel like our time at AK flew and with the longish walks to everything we just couldn't fit it in. I was disappointed for our Lion Guard obssessed kids but we ran into Timon and he was an awesome meet, so that helped!)

 

[Danimal]

I'm going to second what a few other posters have said. FOP can easily be a 20-25 minute experience (sometimes longer) for one group of riders. The idea of being able to use Rider Switch AND hit Na'vi AND get over to the Safari by 10:10 seems like a stretch. One thought would be to send the one adult and 6 year old through FOP while the other group heads over to Na'Vi and take care of them both simultaneously. That would leave you at leasta few minutes to explore Pandora or Windtraders and not make your morning so hectic. If you plan on coming back later for the Rider Switch, the other adult could hit FOP with the 6 year old. It would mean the 6 year old would miss Na'Vi, but I know all of my kids would have skipped Na'vi for another ride on FOP. Have fun!

 

[Kevin Chalmers]

I'm going to second what a few other posters have said. FOP can easily be a 20-25 minute experience (sometimes longer) for one group of riders. The idea of being able to use Rider Switch AND hit Na'vi AND get over to the Safari by 10:10 seems like a stretch. One thought would be to send the one adult and 6 year old through FOP while the other group heads over to Na'Vi and take care of them both simultaneously. That would leave you at leasta few minutes to explore Pandora or Windtraders and not make your morning so hectic. If you plan on coming back later for the Rider Switch, the other adult could hit FOP with the 6 year old. It would mean the 6 year old would miss Na'Vi, but I know all of my kids would have skipped Na'vi for another ride on FOP. Have fun!

Thank you for the input. Since we do have until 11:10 to ride Safari, and Wildlife express was added in late, if we have to skip it, we will. The DW really wants to ride Safari in the morning and just before sunset as she has heard they can be vastly different animal experiences.

 

[MrInfinity]

We've done Disney with approximately your family mix... I think you've got too much emphasis on hitting the rides and shows and no room for sitting down, having ice cream, parking your strollers or going to the bathroom. You don't need to do the rides multiple times. This is a slower park with lots of good content for your little kids but it's easy to blow by it when focusing on the rides. Safari between 10-11, then train, Planet Watch, train, lunch, and make the 12:00 Lion King for which you should arrive 15 min early. No way. Planet watch is a slower thing. If you just ride the train around and get off, it's pointless. You need 2 hours for this. I just don't think you're considering the logistics of parking / retrieving a stroller at every attraction and doing them all multiple times plus 3 shows, 2 meals, etc. Pretty much everything takes longer than you're giving it -- especially with your family mix of little kids. I guess it's ok to plan it this aggressively as long as you accept cutting things here or there.

 

[Kevin Chalmers]

Thank you for that input, MrInfinity. I think we'll go in with a plan and see what happens. The crowds should be relatively low during that week, so, hopefully that will play in our favor.

 

[Carla1183]

Thank you for that input, MrInfinity. I think we'll go in with a plan and see what happens. The crowds should be relatively low during that week, so, hopefully that will play in our favor.

It's totally worth a shot, as long as you won't get frustrated if you end up having to drop something here or there! You'll have a great time regardless - our kids would have stayed in the boneyard for 3 hours if I'd let them!

Also if you aren't on the dining plan, use the mobile ordering for sure for your quick service meals, it will save you a ton of time!

 

[kwdw]

We had to reschedule our trip due to Irma in September. As a result, Disney gave us FP for all of the rides we had originally planned. These can be used any day at any time. They are called "Multiple Experiences" FP.

Do they allow the anytime FPs on Navi now? The one day we got one - they didn't allow it on Navi. Now - that was MONTHS ago - and the lines for that have become more in the normal category now.

 

[Kevin Chalmers]

Do they allow the anytime FPs on Navi now? The one day we got one - they didn't allow it on Navi. Now - that was MONTHS ago - and the lines for that have become more in the normal category now.

They still show up in our itinerary, so, I'm assuming we have it to use. As I mentioned above, these are not 'any ride'/'any time'/'any day' FP, these are for specific rides that can be used any time, any day.