OFFICIAL New Animal Kingdom Experiences UPDATE 5/28: Reports from first night in Post #2

tinkerhon said:
Having the same problem !! Our itinerary is basically set, with the exception of our AK day (7/1)
I have the TH package booked with the first JB show ( which I am really not that excited for --- )
We also have a FP for the 2nd show --- I have an 8:15 FP for the safari ---

Problem is that we had our heart set on going back to Sanaa -- !! Our original plans were to do half the day at
AK and then hit Sanaa for dinner --- honestly , the only reason ( other than just seeing AK at night) that I want to stay at AK late right now is for the tree of life ---

Really conflicted right now !!
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I know how you feel. I have decided to go ahead and keep our safari at the real sunset time and do the late JB show which I'm not that excited about either. It has been hard this year to plan:sad2:
 
I just spent tonight at Animal Kingdom. As it is my favorite theme park at WDW, I was blown away. The night life around Africa with the musicians and dancers was awesome. Riding Kali River Rapids at night was amazing despite getting soaked and it being dark so drying off didn't happen. The highlight of the night was riding Expedition Everest at night. This is a must if anyone comes to Animal Kingdom at night. Regarding the Safari, my friend and I entered the standby line at 8 p.m. We got to the safari at around 8:25 p.m. It was still light enough that we could still see animals, but the night safari had started. The "fake" sunset does seem strange, but it didn't effect our experience because the animals were roaming around more than I have ever seen. The highlight of the safari was seeing the female lions begin to roar for at least a minute as we were driving by. My friend and I both looked at each other saying we had never heard lions roar in person. Our driver even said that she had never seen the female lions roar for that long. It was a sight to see. We skipped the Jungle Book show, but could have easily done the 2nd showing with a fastpass because Kali River Rapids had no wait, the Safari was a 25 minute wait, and Expedition Everest was about a 15 minute wait. All of these rides were done by 9:30 p.m. We ended our night by seeing the Tree of Life show. We saw the version with the Jungle Book and the lion feature. That was a great way to end our day at Animal Kingdom. I know when I come back to WDW, I'll be spending many nights at Animal Kingdom based on how much I enjoyed this evening.
 
Thanks for a positive report, AMusic. I know there are so many expectations and preferences, but it seems most here have been disappointed. It is nice to hear from someone who enjoyed the night experiences.
 
tinkerhon said:
Problem is that we had our heart set on going back to Sanaa -- !! Our original plans were to do half the day at
AK and then hit Sanaa for dinner --- honestly , the only reason ( other than just seeing AK at night) that I want to stay at AK late right now is for the tree of life ---

Really conflicted right now !!
Click to expand...

How about lunch at Sanaa?
 


I kind of wish we would've seen the JB show -- it looked so pretty from the line of and the top of EE! It just wasn't in the cards for us, though, because of our schedule. I could've made it work if we stayed for 10:30 show, but I didn't want to stay that late on that particular night. Anyhow, my thoughts:

1. Expedition Everest at night is all I thought it would be and more -- really thrilling!
2. KS at the real sunset time is the best time to do this. I think the artificial sunset would look very odd against a black sky. Also, if it was any darker, I think the animals would be very difficult to see (it was getting difficult toward the end of our ride). I'm glad we experienced the night time effects because we've seen it many during the day and wanted something different, but we really didn't care for the fake animal noises.
3. The Tree of Life was very pretty. We saw 2 "shows" and I think they did a great job with this.
 
iona said:
How about lunch at Sanaa?
Click to expand...

tinkerhon said:
That's another option -- we might just do that !! Thanks !!
Click to expand...

That was going to be my suggestion as well - we love doing lunch at Sanaa as it is a nice break from the park when it is getting hot and usually not crowded at all (especially earlish) so getting a table by the windows to see the animals is not much of an issue

Menu is slightly different but has the bread service and the "you pick 2" options which are great
 


maryj11 said:
Right now we have an 8:20, so I have heard you can get in 5 minutes early on a FP time. Do you know if this is right?
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The only problem is it may take you awhile after you pass the turnstile. We had FP and it still took us like 10 or 15 minutes to actually get on the ride.
 
ArielSRL said:
The only problem is it may take you awhile after you pass the turnstile. We had FP and it still took us like 10 or 15 minutes to actually get on the ride.
Click to expand...
Yes that was what I was thinking, but the next available time is around 6:00. So I guess I can keep checking for a bit earlier.
 
We spent last Friday evening at AK. We liked the JB show. It wasn't our favorite nighttime show, but I went in with low expectations and the rest of my family had zero expectations, and we thought it was fine. It was better than I thought it would be based on reviews I had read online. We had the dining package, and we were seated in the section on the far right of the package seats, 7 or 8 rows up (first row of wooden benches) about halfway down the row. The seats weren't perfect, but we could see pretty well. I didn't notice any issues with the water screens, I mostly looked at the one to my left. It did seem like the center of the show would be in the area between the seating sections, which really didn't make sense, but I guess that way people in either section can see about the same? I didn't notice any screams from Everest or noise that distracted me.

We saw a couple of "shows" on the Tree of Life, and that was amazing! We didn't attempt the safari at night, just no interest. We were going to do Kali, but it was down during of FP time after the JB show.
 
We were there last week and did KS just prior to sunset. I highly recommend this time!! We've never seen so many animals out and about!! By the end of our ride it was getting dark and harder to see the animals.

Also, I was worried about not being able to have a FP+ for EE, but we went just before 9 PM and were able to ride it over and over without any wait (we walked on each time). It was actually less of a wait than we had at rope drop that morning. The crowds were at the first Jungle Book show. It was great, and a must do at night!!
 
Has anyone here done the Tiffins dinner package? How does it work exactly? I wondered if it worked similarly to the Fantasmic package where you get paper passes for the show? Is the theatre entrance clearly marked for the standby vs. package people? We've only used the FP line, so I wondered how it worked for package people. I'm helping some friends plan their trip. Thanks!
 
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