November 25, 2025 • 25 mins
If you only have one day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, this is the guide you need! In this episode, we walk you through how to make the most of your time exploring the wild side of Walt Disney World, with and without Lightning Lane (Multipass and Single Pass).
We cover everything you need to know to plan your perfect day — from rope drop strategy to dining recommendations, ride priorities, and show schedules so you don’t miss a single magical (or wild!) moment.
You’ll learn:
🦓 The best Lightning Lane strategy (and why you might not even need it!)
🦋 Which rides to rope drop for minimal waits
🐘 The best ride order for both Lightning Lane and standby guests
🍛 The top quick service dining options like Satuli Canteen and Yak & Yeti
🎭 Which shows and walking trails are worth fitting into your day
Whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned Disney pro, this Animal Kingdom strategy will help you fit in all the must-dos — an d still have time to slow down and enjoy the magic of nature!
🎧 Tune in now to learn how to conquer Animal Kingdom in one perfect Disney day!
We cover everything you need to know to plan your perfect day — from rope drop strategy to dining recommendations, ride priorities, and show schedules so you don’t miss a single magical (or wild!) moment.
You’ll learn:
🦓 The best Lightning Lane strategy (and why you might not even need it!)
🦋 Which rides to rope drop for minimal waits
🐘 The best ride order for both Lightning Lane and standby guests
🍛 The top quick service dining options like Satuli Canteen and Yak & Yeti
🎭 Which shows and walking trails are worth fitting into your day
Whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned Disney pro, this Animal Kingdom strategy will help you fit in all the must-dos — an d still have time to slow down and enjoy the magic of nature!
🎧 Tune in now to learn how to conquer Animal Kingdom in one perfect Disney day!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome everybody to Mom Street, USA. My name is Jackie
AKAA wishes Mama, And on today's episode of Mom Street,
we are continuing with our one Day Park Strategy series
and we are going to be talking about Animal Kingdom.
So this episode, you may look at the time stamp
and go, this is a little bit of a shorter episode. Well,
(00:26):
that's because there is a ton of change happening at
Animal Kingdom right now. So I am going to talk
about it and chat about kind of what is going
on over there right now, with the assumption that a
lot of this is probably going to change once some
of these new things open over here at Animal Kingdom.
But so far in this series, we have talked about
(00:48):
Universal Studios Florida. We have talked about Magic Kingdom. So
now we're going to talk about Animal Kingdom and let's
see what we can come up with for our one
day park strategy. So the goal is, if you've got
one day in Animal Kingdom, what is the best use
of your time? And what rides did you hit first?
What rides can wait till later, and what does it
(01:08):
look like if I use lightning lanes or if I
don't use lightning lanes? So all of that we've got
some answers to and some opinions on, so that is
the goal for today's episode. Just a couple general notes
about Animal Kingdom. Disney's Animal Kingdom also known as DAK,
has the shortest operating hours of all of the Disney
parks due to the animals, So one day in Animal
(01:31):
Kingdom is not going to feel like, you know, a
super early to super late open to close when it
comes to that. Typically speaking, Animal Kingdom is open about
eight am to six pm on most days, but you
always want to check your My Disney Experience app for
the best park hours because it can vary year during
(01:54):
different times of the year. Some parts of the year
when it's really really busy, like gearing up for the hullays,
they can stay open a little bit later, but generally speaking,
that is something that you definitely want to take a
look at. The other thing to consider is that some
of these attractions actually close a little bit early, mainly
the Safari and the Wilderness Express train that goes out
(02:18):
to Rafiki's Planet Watch. So that's something else to consider
when you're looking at your time that you're spending at
Animal Kingdom for the day. So we're going to jump
into suggested itineraries are for your day at Animal Kingdom.
Right now, Animal Kingdom really only has about five attractions,
(02:40):
but it's also got a couple shows and some other
things that you can do us well. There is a
ton of construction happening right now, So the entire area
that was once dinal Land, USA is being converted right
now into the Tropical Americas. That is where the Encanto
ride is going to go. There's going to be a
carousel over there, and there's going to be an Indiana
(03:01):
Jones themed attraction over there as well. So Dinosaur is
going to be converted into Indiana Jones in early starting
in early twenty twenty six. So I am going to
talk about Dinosaur in this but with the caveat that
February first, I believe is the final day for dinosaurs.
So keep that in mind. If you're someone listening to
(03:23):
us in the future and you're going to be headed
to Animal Kingdom, Dinosaur will be closing to make way
for Indiana Jones. So let's talk about what your day
might look like if you are planning to use lightning
lanes at Animal Kingdom. Now, a couple notes this park
currently is very very easy to accomplish using lightning lanes.
(03:46):
You are definitely going to get on everything very easily
and things twice if you choose to do them. Stand
by as well using lightning lanes. That being said, I'm
a huge fan of lightning lan I love using them
in the parks. I love being able to help other
people use them in the parks. I don't necessarily think
(04:10):
that lightning lanes at Animal Kingdom are a need most days,
most time of year, the crowds are spread out enough
that you're not going to need lightning lanes. That being said,
we'll talk about that in a minute, but we are
(04:31):
going to talk about how to use lightning lanes if
you are planning to use them. Now this park with
their lightning lanes set up again, I'm not going to
go into great detail about lightning lanes, what they are,
how to use them, how to book them, all that
kind of stuff. We did that a few episodes ago.
So if you need like the very basics on lightning
lanes and what they are and how I use them,
hop back in our archives check out that episode, then
(04:54):
come back over here. But currently at Animal Kingdom, they
do not have tears for their so the other parks
have Tier one and Tier two. Animal Kingdom is all
on a level playing field right now. When it comes
to that, it does have one single pass attraction that
is Flight of Passage. So those are your options when
it comes to using lightning lanes. My suggestion if you
(05:17):
are planning and budgeting to use lightning lanes, definitely grab
Flight of Passage, and then for your first three attractions
for your multi pass I would book the Kilimanjaro Safari,
Navi River Journey, and Expedition Everest. Those are going to
be my suggestions for that. Now, let's jump into the
itinerary day of I suggest you arrive to Animal Kingdom
(05:41):
at least thirty minutes before early entry time. As far
as I'm aware, Animal Kingdom is still holding early entry
guests towards the front of the park. When you enter
through the tap styles, you're going to go left and
get tapped in over there for your resort early entry.
We talked about with Magic Kingdom that they kind of
(06:03):
shifted things, and you'll hear we're going to talk about
that again later with some of the other Disney parks
as well. But that is the way that that works
so early entry because you're using lightning lanes and you're
going to be able to get on everything using those
lightning lanes. My suggestion for rope drop is to do
whatever ride is the top priority for your group, because
(06:25):
you've probably already booked a lightning lane for it, but
this will give you the ability to then do it
a second time. So if it's Expedition Everest because you
like the thrill rides and the roller coasters, do that one.
If it's Flight of Passage and you want to try
to get a second ride on Flight of Passage, do
that if you're early entry. If you're not early entry,
that line's going to be pretty long. But if you're
(06:46):
willing to wait up to forty five minutes to an hour,
then go for it. Do note that the Safari is
not open during early entry and typically doesn't open until
about fifteen minutes after park is officially open. So if
park open is at eight, Safari is going to be
opening at eight fifteen. Now they may let people into
(07:08):
the queue earlier than that, but they're not going to
start running those Safari trucks with guests on them until
eight fifteen. And keep in mind that that is also
one that will sometimes close early or will close the
line off early just for the animals on that attraction,
So your mourning is going to be again rope dropping.
(07:31):
Whatever attraction is the top option for your family and
your first lightning lane, you can definitely book that within
thirty minutes of park open. At Animal Kingdom. We talked
about at Magic Kingdom waiting to book that first one
until sixty to ninety minutes after park open. Animal Kingdom
is not that way, just because it is a has
(07:53):
a smaller number of attractions and there is more to do.
You'll have plenty to do as you're walking in between
those attractions. You're going to use your lightning lanes in
the morning for those top three rides that we already
talked about. After that, you're probably going to be close
to lunchtime. The other thing that you can consider is
(08:14):
going to some of the shows. Festival, The Lion King,
the Finding Nemo Musical both really amazing shows that you
can go to when you're visiting Animal Kingdom. But chances
are that your first you know, three to four attractions
is going to take you up to lunchtime. Several different
places that you can look at for lunch and these
are all great mobile order options. Again, highly suggest mobile
(08:38):
ordering your lunch and dinner to save you a ton
of time you're having to wait in line. You can
go scope at your table, get everybody situated, and then
go and get your food once it's already ready and
for you to just grab your tray and go to
your table. So Tuley Canteen is a great option, Flame
Tree Barbecue is a great option. Pizza Fari and the
(08:59):
Yak and Yetti quick service option all great options. You're
really gonna want to look at where you're at in
the park and which one's closest to you and just
kind of by default go there because it can be
a lot of trekking from one corner to the next
if you are not careful, So keep that in mind.
When it comes to picking your lunch location, you're gonna
(09:20):
just kind of want to buy default go with what's
near by. I highly suggest the Tuley Canteen. That's my
favorite place to go at Animal Kingdom. And when it
comes to mobile ordering for your quick service lunch. After lunch,
you're gonna want to round out finishing your lightning lanes.
So the only lightning lanes that you've got left after
(09:42):
those first three are Cali River, Rapids, Dinosaur for Now,
and then the new Utopia show also has a lightning
lane option. It just opened the day that I'm recording
this to the public, so I don't exactly know what
wait times are going to do with that specific attraction
(10:04):
and what the lightning lane variability is with that. So
just take a look at that on your app, see
what the return time looks like. If you are booking
your fourth lightning lane and Zutopia's already towards the end
of the day, maybe go ahead and grab that one
so you've got it in your back pocket for later
if that's something that you guys want to do. So
(10:25):
a little bit of uncertainty with that one just because
it is so new, But those three are the only
other attractions that you have to book. So once you
use those first three on your multipass, those are your
next three that you're going to book, So book them
in order of importance or book them in order of
how quickly you can get a return time. The later
the return time showing on the part on the tipboard
(10:49):
in part of your app, the more likely they are
to quote unquote sell out for the day if it's
a really busy day over at Animal Kingdom. So just
some things to keep in mind when you are booking
your secondary round of lightning lanes over there. Always remember
you can hold three lightning lanes at all times, so
be sure that if you pull up your app and
(11:10):
you're looking at your my plan tab, if you don't
see three lightning lanes for multipass on there, hop onto
that tipboard and book your next one. Now, some of
the shows over at Animal Kingdom will have lightning lane options,
they're not always necessary unless you don't want to get
(11:33):
to the line super early, if that makes sense. The
only thing you have to be careful of is that
those lightning lane return times for the shows are a
shorter window than your standard lightning lane. So because those
because Festival, The Lion King and The Finding Nemo Musical
have set show times and it's not just a continuous show,
(11:55):
you have to make sure that you get there during
your time allotted to ensure that you have a seat
for that particular showtime. So, for example, let's say it's
an eleven o'clock show, your lightning lane is probably if
I remember correctly going to show you like ten twenty
to ten fifty as your return time for that show,
(12:17):
so you want to make sure that you get there
in that window, so you're guaranteed a seat at that
eleven o'clock show. Just keep that in mind. So the
afternoon is going to be those additional three lightning lanes
that we just talked about. Any shows, and then anything
that you want to do stand by as a re
ride is an option for your afternoon as well. A
(12:40):
couple other things that you can look at are they
have two different walking paths, two different major walking paths.
I should say there's several walking paths around the Tree
of Life in that Discovery Island area, but there is
also the Gorilla Falls Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail something like that.
I don't remember the extended name of it, but that
(13:01):
one is going to be found right at the exit
of the Kilimanjaro Safari in the Africa section. Your second
major walking path at Animal Kingdom is the Maharaja Jungle
Trick and that is going to be in the Asia
section kind of past the entrance to Cali River Rapids.
Those are going to be the two major walking paths
(13:23):
if you're someone that wants to go and look at
the animals that they have on those trails. The other
thing that you can look at is taking the Wildlife
Express train up to Rafiki's Planet Watch. Up there, they've
got the petting Zoo area with lots of little animals
that the kiddos can go and in pet if that's
something they're interested in. They also have the animation drawing
(13:43):
class out there, So if you've got a little artist
or a big artist that's traveling with you and you
want to go learn how to draw different Disney characters
that exists out at Rafiki's Planet Watch, that'll take you
pretty much all the way up until dinner time. Now
dinner time, you can go a couple different ways when
(14:03):
it comes to spending the day at Animal Kingdom. So,
because Animal Kingdom closes at six pm quite frequently, you
may or may not end up doing dinner inside the parks.
It really just depends on how your day has gone.
But if you're doing dinner inside the parks, a lot
of the same options still exist. As far as quick service.
(14:24):
There are several table service options that you could look
into as well, but there's also tons of options if
you wanted to like take a bus to Disney Springs
for dinner, or go to a resort for dinner. You know,
there's tons of different options when it comes to that,
so keep that in mind. Just because Animal Kingdom does
tend to close right around dinner time, you may need
(14:44):
to just plan accordingly. A few of these dinner locations
will close like an hour before the park closes, So
again you just have to look at times, kind of
plan accordingly and make sure whatever option you are looking
at is going to be available for you and your
group to eat dinner. But that pretty much takes care
(15:05):
of your lightning lanes when it comes to Animal Kingdom. Again,
very feasible, very easy to do. I think we just
talked about seven attractions plus the two shows and the
walking trails and the train all definitely easy to do
on your day at Animal Kingdom, especially with lightning lanes.
Let's talk about without lightning lanes, what that list order
(15:29):
kind of looks like. So again, you want to get
there at least thirty to forty five minutes before you
can access the park. If you are a resort guest,
you're going to go left. If you are a non
resort guest, you're going to go to the right after
you have tapped in at the tap styles for rope drop.
If you are a resort guest and you're not using
(15:51):
lightning lanes, you have to rope drop Flight of Passage.
There's no other way to ride it without having to
wait in an hour plus line most days unless you
rope drop it. So you want to get there early.
You want to be in the front of that crowd
waiting to get let in, and you want to go
straight to the far left side of the park to
(16:12):
go to Flight of Passage. After you get off a
Flight of Passage, you're going to want to hit Navi
River Journey and cross your fingers that it's less than
a thirty minute wait, and that's going to take up
your early entry into park open time. Immediately after that,
you're gonna want to go to the Kilimanjaro Safari because
that again will be opening about fifteen minutes after park open.
(16:35):
Now that being said, you may have to leave one
of those out if the Safari is a top priority
for you, because you want to get in line for
the Safari at the very latest by fifteen minutes after
park open because that wait time will shoot up to
forty five minutes very very quickly, and that line is
(16:57):
not super fun to wait in. There are a few animal,
a few screens where they're talking about different things with
the animals, but overall that line is not super fun
to wait it. So if the Safari is a big
thing that you want to do, you're only going to
be able to hit one of the rides over in Pandora.
That being said, the ride you don't hit over there
(17:19):
now goes to the very end of your list and
you get in line right before park close to do it,
So there is an option. Both of those rides are
fairly reliable. Knock on wood right, but both of those
line those rides are fairly reliable as far as they
don't go down super often. They're not closing early for
(17:39):
anything frequently, anything like that. But in a perfect world,
you'd be able to get Flight of Passage, Nave River,
and the Safari all done within the first hour and
a half of the park being open. After that, it
really just depends on your weight times. My best my
(18:00):
suggestion is to work clockwise, starting in Pandora, going up
into Africa, over into Asia, and then ending over in
what is currently Dyna Land USA, soon to be the
Tropical Americas. That is probably going to change once Tropical
America's opens, but after the Safari I would head towards
Cali River Rapids. It typically also has a delayed open,
(18:22):
so chances are good that maybe you catch that ride
as its opening and you'll be able to hop on
with less than a thirty minute wait over there as well,
if you make it all the way over to Expedition Everest.
That is a very high capacity ride, so the chances
are good that mid afternoon towards lunchtime, it still won't
be more than a twenty five to thirty minute wait
(18:44):
over there. It does also have a single rider line,
so if your party is someone that can utilize single
rider lines when it comes to some of those thrill attractions,
definitely an option, and it is a really good single
rider line that's probably going to take you up to
lunchtime if you haven't already gotten lunch. Again, you're going
to want to look at some of those different quick
service locations, So Tuli Canteen probably not an option for
(19:06):
lunch if you're following this itinerary because it is all
the way back over in Pandora, but something like Ya
Kanyetti's Quick Service is right near there. That's a great
option for lunch if you are over in that Cali
River Rapids area. So again, we hit those ones in
the morning, we hit Cali River, maybe we hit Expedition Everstore,
(19:27):
maybe we do that right after lunch, depending on what
your preference is with that. Then you're going to continue
your way around. You're going to hit Dinosaur for now
until it changes over again. This plan will probably all
change whenever Tropical America's opens with those new three new
attractions that are going to be over there. But for now,
you're going to hit Dinosaur. After that, then you're going
(19:50):
to take a look at the Wait for the News
Utopia show that is under the Tree of Life, and
do any of the walking trails around the Discovery Island
area as well the other things that you you can
look at our showtimes for Festival of the Lion King
and the Finding Nemo Musical at that point in the afternoon.
Both of those typically run all the way up through
about four PM, if not a little bit later, so
(20:12):
you still got some time, but keep an eye on
when the last showtimes are for those to make sure
that you don't unintentionally miss out if that's something that
you want to do on your trip. And then again
same thing with Rafiki's Planet Watch. Keep an eye out
on Wildlife Express train that goes to Refikee's Planet Watch.
Keep an eye on the times for that as well,
(20:33):
because typically if the park closes around six, that train
typically stops running about four thirty, So keep that in
mind as you're looking at the different options there. But
those would be kind of my suggestions. Now you could
wait and do the Zootopia show and the Walking Paths
later if those shows and the train are higher on
(20:58):
your priority list, because those do close earlier and the
other things are open more often longer into the night.
Sometimes the walking trails close too. Again, with those live
animals at Animal Kingdom, you've really got to look at
what the hours are for the different attractions. All of
(21:19):
that is listed on your app. So if you're looking
on the map section of your My Disney Experience app,
click on that attraction and scroll underneath where it says
like the title and description, and it'll show you like
the operating hours for the day. So take a quick
look at that to make sure that you're not unintentionally
accidentally missing out on a walking trail or that Wildlife
(21:43):
I keep wanting to say Wilderness Express Train, Wildlife Express
Train out to Rafiki Planet Watch. You want to look
at those hours to make sure that you've got that
kind of in the back of your head whenever it
comes to planning your afternoon again and when it comes
to dinner time, you may or may not end up
in the parks, depending on what is going on with
(22:05):
your where you're at, and if you've finished all of
the things that you wanted to finish or not. Also
keep in mind that if you had to skip one
of those rope drop attractions Flight of Passage, Navi River
or the Safari. I don't suggest skipping the Safari. Definitely
hit that in the morning. That's the very best time
to see all of the animals on that. But if
(22:25):
you had to skip either Flight of Passage or Navi
River journey, the end of the day is your best
time to get in line for those. So remember you
can get in line up to one minute before park close.
So if you want to do Flight to Passage, your
best chance is to do it right at park close.
You won't have as many lightning lanes coming through. Again,
(22:45):
we talked about this at Magic Kingdom. That first thing
in the morning and last thing at night, you don't
have as many lightning lanes coming through, so they don't
kind of slow down your standby que nearly as much
during those times of the day. So lots of things
to keep in mind, but overall, Animal Kingdom is a
fairly simple park to navigate and most of the time,
(23:09):
like I said, I truly don't think you need lightning
lanes for that park. It is very easy to do
if you are able to get there early, especially if
you're on property and have that early entry time that
you can utilize. That is the best way to tackle
Animal Kingdom. I really don't think you need lightning lanes. Now,
(23:29):
if everything at Animal Kingdom is on your list, you
don't want to do multipass, maybe you have an extra
few bucks to throw towards a single pass for flight
of passage. That's also a great idea. So then you
can rope drop Navi River, do the safari, and then
come back and do flight of passage right after you
(23:49):
have done the safari, and then continue on the rest
of that loop. Like I talked about again, starting at
the bottom left of your map, if you will, and
continuing your way clockwise around to hit those attractions. So overall, again,
Animal Kingdom fairly simple to navigate. I hope that this
was helpful for those of you that maybe needed a
(24:13):
little bit of guidance when it came to Animal Kingdom. Again,
like I mentioned in the last episode, if you are
someone headed to the parks in the near future from
when you're listening to this and you want some additional advice,
please send me a message. I am more than happy
to help you with your itinerary to help you figure
out what makes sense for your group what doesn't. More
(24:35):
than happy to do that. You can reach out to
me on any of our social media platforms. You can
also find us momsterreet USA at gmail dot com, and
that email is good if you've got questions or suggestions
or anything that you want to give input about for
our upcoming podcast episodes, we would love to hear from
you via email on any of our social media and
(24:57):
also on our new Patreon account that we've got again.
We're going to be posting some graphics over there shortly
for the first several episodes of this one day Park
series that we're doing that just kind of give you
the visual rundown of these different lists of attractions that
we've been talking about. So that is coming very soon
over on our Patreon, so be sure to head over there.
(25:19):
Tons of free content over there, by the way, it's
never expected for you to pay a membership fee or
anything like that. Our unedited podcast episodes do live over there,
as well as some other fun content, so be sure
to check that out if you haven't yet. But for today,
that kind of wraps up our time, albeit brief, at
Animal Kingdom. Thank you guys so much for joining me
(25:41):
for this episode of Mom Street USA, and I will
see you on the next one. Bye. Everyone.
Welcome everybody to Mom Street, USA. My name is Jackie
AKAA wishes Mama, And on today's episode of Mom Street,
we are continuing with our one Day Park Strategy series
and we are going to be talking about Animal Kingdom.
So this episode, you may look at the time stamp
and go, this is a little bit of a shorter episode. Well,
(00:26):
that's because there is a ton of change happening at
Animal Kingdom right now. So I am going to talk
about it and chat about kind of what is going
on over there right now, with the assumption that a
lot of this is probably going to change once some
of these new things open over here at Animal Kingdom.
But so far in this series, we have talked about
(00:48):
Universal Studios Florida. We have talked about Magic Kingdom. So
now we're going to talk about Animal Kingdom and let's
see what we can come up with for our one
day park strategy. So the goal is, if you've got
one day in Animal Kingdom, what is the best use
of your time? And what rides did you hit first?
What rides can wait till later, and what does it
(01:08):
look like if I use lightning lanes or if I
don't use lightning lanes? So all of that we've got
some answers to and some opinions on, so that is
the goal for today's episode. Just a couple general notes
about Animal Kingdom. Disney's Animal Kingdom also known as DAK,
has the shortest operating hours of all of the Disney
parks due to the animals, So one day in Animal
(01:31):
Kingdom is not going to feel like, you know, a
super early to super late open to close when it
comes to that. Typically speaking, Animal Kingdom is open about
eight am to six pm on most days, but you
always want to check your My Disney Experience app for
the best park hours because it can vary year during
(01:54):
different times of the year. Some parts of the year
when it's really really busy, like gearing up for the hullays,
they can stay open a little bit later, but generally speaking,
that is something that you definitely want to take a
look at. The other thing to consider is that some
of these attractions actually close a little bit early, mainly
the Safari and the Wilderness Express train that goes out
(02:18):
to Rafiki's Planet Watch. So that's something else to consider
when you're looking at your time that you're spending at
Animal Kingdom for the day. So we're going to jump
into suggested itineraries are for your day at Animal Kingdom.
Right now, Animal Kingdom really only has about five attractions,
(02:40):
but it's also got a couple shows and some other
things that you can do us well. There is a
ton of construction happening right now, So the entire area
that was once dinal Land, USA is being converted right
now into the Tropical Americas. That is where the Encanto
ride is going to go. There's going to be a
carousel over there, and there's going to be an Indiana
(03:01):
Jones themed attraction over there as well. So Dinosaur is
going to be converted into Indiana Jones in early starting
in early twenty twenty six. So I am going to
talk about Dinosaur in this but with the caveat that
February first, I believe is the final day for dinosaurs.
So keep that in mind. If you're someone listening to
(03:23):
us in the future and you're going to be headed
to Animal Kingdom, Dinosaur will be closing to make way
for Indiana Jones. So let's talk about what your day
might look like if you are planning to use lightning
lanes at Animal Kingdom. Now, a couple notes this park
currently is very very easy to accomplish using lightning lanes.
(03:46):
You are definitely going to get on everything very easily
and things twice if you choose to do them. Stand
by as well using lightning lanes. That being said, I'm
a huge fan of lightning lan I love using them
in the parks. I love being able to help other
people use them in the parks. I don't necessarily think
(04:10):
that lightning lanes at Animal Kingdom are a need most days,
most time of year, the crowds are spread out enough
that you're not going to need lightning lanes. That being said,
we'll talk about that in a minute, but we are
(04:31):
going to talk about how to use lightning lanes if
you are planning to use them. Now this park with
their lightning lanes set up again, I'm not going to
go into great detail about lightning lanes, what they are,
how to use them, how to book them, all that
kind of stuff. We did that a few episodes ago.
So if you need like the very basics on lightning
lanes and what they are and how I use them,
hop back in our archives check out that episode, then
(04:54):
come back over here. But currently at Animal Kingdom, they
do not have tears for their so the other parks
have Tier one and Tier two. Animal Kingdom is all
on a level playing field right now. When it comes
to that, it does have one single pass attraction that
is Flight of Passage. So those are your options when
it comes to using lightning lanes. My suggestion if you
(05:17):
are planning and budgeting to use lightning lanes, definitely grab
Flight of Passage, and then for your first three attractions
for your multi pass I would book the Kilimanjaro Safari,
Navi River Journey, and Expedition Everest. Those are going to
be my suggestions for that. Now, let's jump into the
itinerary day of I suggest you arrive to Animal Kingdom
(05:41):
at least thirty minutes before early entry time. As far
as I'm aware, Animal Kingdom is still holding early entry
guests towards the front of the park. When you enter
through the tap styles, you're going to go left and
get tapped in over there for your resort early entry.
We talked about with Magic Kingdom that they kind of
(06:03):
shifted things, and you'll hear we're going to talk about
that again later with some of the other Disney parks
as well. But that is the way that that works
so early entry because you're using lightning lanes and you're
going to be able to get on everything using those
lightning lanes. My suggestion for rope drop is to do
whatever ride is the top priority for your group, because
(06:25):
you've probably already booked a lightning lane for it, but
this will give you the ability to then do it
a second time. So if it's Expedition Everest because you
like the thrill rides and the roller coasters, do that one.
If it's Flight of Passage and you want to try
to get a second ride on Flight of Passage, do
that if you're early entry. If you're not early entry,
that line's going to be pretty long. But if you're
(06:46):
willing to wait up to forty five minutes to an hour,
then go for it. Do note that the Safari is
not open during early entry and typically doesn't open until
about fifteen minutes after park is officially open. So if
park open is at eight, Safari is going to be
opening at eight fifteen. Now they may let people into
(07:08):
the queue earlier than that, but they're not going to
start running those Safari trucks with guests on them until
eight fifteen. And keep in mind that that is also
one that will sometimes close early or will close the
line off early just for the animals on that attraction,
So your mourning is going to be again rope dropping.
(07:31):
Whatever attraction is the top option for your family and
your first lightning lane, you can definitely book that within
thirty minutes of park open. At Animal Kingdom. We talked
about at Magic Kingdom waiting to book that first one
until sixty to ninety minutes after park open. Animal Kingdom
is not that way, just because it is a has
(07:53):
a smaller number of attractions and there is more to do.
You'll have plenty to do as you're walking in between
those attractions. You're going to use your lightning lanes in
the morning for those top three rides that we already
talked about. After that, you're probably going to be close
to lunchtime. The other thing that you can consider is
(08:14):
going to some of the shows. Festival, The Lion King,
the Finding Nemo Musical both really amazing shows that you
can go to when you're visiting Animal Kingdom. But chances
are that your first you know, three to four attractions
is going to take you up to lunchtime. Several different
places that you can look at for lunch and these
are all great mobile order options. Again, highly suggest mobile
(08:38):
ordering your lunch and dinner to save you a ton
of time you're having to wait in line. You can
go scope at your table, get everybody situated, and then
go and get your food once it's already ready and
for you to just grab your tray and go to
your table. So Tuley Canteen is a great option, Flame
Tree Barbecue is a great option. Pizza Fari and the
(08:59):
Yak and Yetti quick service option all great options. You're
really gonna want to look at where you're at in
the park and which one's closest to you and just
kind of by default go there because it can be
a lot of trekking from one corner to the next
if you are not careful, So keep that in mind.
When it comes to picking your lunch location, you're gonna
(09:20):
just kind of want to buy default go with what's
near by. I highly suggest the Tuley Canteen. That's my
favorite place to go at Animal Kingdom. And when it
comes to mobile ordering for your quick service lunch. After lunch,
you're gonna want to round out finishing your lightning lanes.
So the only lightning lanes that you've got left after
(09:42):
those first three are Cali River, Rapids, Dinosaur for Now,
and then the new Utopia show also has a lightning
lane option. It just opened the day that I'm recording
this to the public, so I don't exactly know what
wait times are going to do with that specific attraction
(10:04):
and what the lightning lane variability is with that. So
just take a look at that on your app, see
what the return time looks like. If you are booking
your fourth lightning lane and Zutopia's already towards the end
of the day, maybe go ahead and grab that one
so you've got it in your back pocket for later
if that's something that you guys want to do. So
(10:25):
a little bit of uncertainty with that one just because
it is so new, But those three are the only
other attractions that you have to book. So once you
use those first three on your multipass, those are your
next three that you're going to book, So book them
in order of importance or book them in order of
how quickly you can get a return time. The later
the return time showing on the part on the tipboard
(10:49):
in part of your app, the more likely they are
to quote unquote sell out for the day if it's
a really busy day over at Animal Kingdom. So just
some things to keep in mind when you are booking
your secondary round of lightning lanes over there. Always remember
you can hold three lightning lanes at all times, so
be sure that if you pull up your app and
(11:10):
you're looking at your my plan tab, if you don't
see three lightning lanes for multipass on there, hop onto
that tipboard and book your next one. Now, some of
the shows over at Animal Kingdom will have lightning lane options,
they're not always necessary unless you don't want to get
(11:33):
to the line super early, if that makes sense. The
only thing you have to be careful of is that
those lightning lane return times for the shows are a
shorter window than your standard lightning lane. So because those
because Festival, The Lion King and The Finding Nemo Musical
have set show times and it's not just a continuous show,
(11:55):
you have to make sure that you get there during
your time allotted to ensure that you have a seat
for that particular showtime. So, for example, let's say it's
an eleven o'clock show, your lightning lane is probably if
I remember correctly going to show you like ten twenty
to ten fifty as your return time for that show,
(12:17):
so you want to make sure that you get there
in that window, so you're guaranteed a seat at that
eleven o'clock show. Just keep that in mind. So the
afternoon is going to be those additional three lightning lanes
that we just talked about. Any shows, and then anything
that you want to do stand by as a re
ride is an option for your afternoon as well. A
(12:40):
couple other things that you can look at are they
have two different walking paths, two different major walking paths.
I should say there's several walking paths around the Tree
of Life in that Discovery Island area, but there is
also the Gorilla Falls Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail something like that.
I don't remember the extended name of it, but that
(13:01):
one is going to be found right at the exit
of the Kilimanjaro Safari in the Africa section. Your second
major walking path at Animal Kingdom is the Maharaja Jungle
Trick and that is going to be in the Asia
section kind of past the entrance to Cali River Rapids.
Those are going to be the two major walking paths
(13:23):
if you're someone that wants to go and look at
the animals that they have on those trails. The other
thing that you can look at is taking the Wildlife
Express train up to Rafiki's Planet Watch. Up there, they've
got the petting Zoo area with lots of little animals
that the kiddos can go and in pet if that's
something they're interested in. They also have the animation drawing
(13:43):
class out there, So if you've got a little artist
or a big artist that's traveling with you and you
want to go learn how to draw different Disney characters
that exists out at Rafiki's Planet Watch, that'll take you
pretty much all the way up until dinner time. Now
dinner time, you can go a couple different ways when
(14:03):
it comes to spending the day at Animal Kingdom. So,
because Animal Kingdom closes at six pm quite frequently, you
may or may not end up doing dinner inside the parks.
It really just depends on how your day has gone.
But if you're doing dinner inside the parks, a lot
of the same options still exist. As far as quick service.
(14:24):
There are several table service options that you could look
into as well, but there's also tons of options if
you wanted to like take a bus to Disney Springs
for dinner, or go to a resort for dinner. You know,
there's tons of different options when it comes to that,
so keep that in mind. Just because Animal Kingdom does
tend to close right around dinner time, you may need
(14:44):
to just plan accordingly. A few of these dinner locations
will close like an hour before the park closes, So
again you just have to look at times, kind of
plan accordingly and make sure whatever option you are looking
at is going to be available for you and your
group to eat dinner. But that pretty much takes care
(15:05):
of your lightning lanes when it comes to Animal Kingdom. Again,
very feasible, very easy to do. I think we just
talked about seven attractions plus the two shows and the
walking trails and the train all definitely easy to do
on your day at Animal Kingdom, especially with lightning lanes.
Let's talk about without lightning lanes, what that list order
(15:29):
kind of looks like. So again, you want to get
there at least thirty to forty five minutes before you
can access the park. If you are a resort guest,
you're going to go left. If you are a non
resort guest, you're going to go to the right after
you have tapped in at the tap styles for rope drop.
If you are a resort guest and you're not using
(15:51):
lightning lanes, you have to rope drop Flight of Passage.
There's no other way to ride it without having to
wait in an hour plus line most days unless you
rope drop it. So you want to get there early.
You want to be in the front of that crowd
waiting to get let in, and you want to go
straight to the far left side of the park to
(16:12):
go to Flight of Passage. After you get off a
Flight of Passage, you're going to want to hit Navi
River Journey and cross your fingers that it's less than
a thirty minute wait, and that's going to take up
your early entry into park open time. Immediately after that,
you're gonna want to go to the Kilimanjaro Safari because
that again will be opening about fifteen minutes after park open.
(16:35):
Now that being said, you may have to leave one
of those out if the Safari is a top priority
for you, because you want to get in line for
the Safari at the very latest by fifteen minutes after
park open because that wait time will shoot up to
forty five minutes very very quickly, and that line is
(16:57):
not super fun to wait in. There are a few animal,
a few screens where they're talking about different things with
the animals, but overall that line is not super fun
to wait it. So if the Safari is a big
thing that you want to do, you're only going to
be able to hit one of the rides over in Pandora.
That being said, the ride you don't hit over there
(17:19):
now goes to the very end of your list and
you get in line right before park close to do it,
So there is an option. Both of those rides are
fairly reliable. Knock on wood right, but both of those
line those rides are fairly reliable as far as they
don't go down super often. They're not closing early for
(17:39):
anything frequently, anything like that. But in a perfect world,
you'd be able to get Flight of Passage, Nave River,
and the Safari all done within the first hour and
a half of the park being open. After that, it
really just depends on your weight times. My best my
(18:00):
suggestion is to work clockwise, starting in Pandora, going up
into Africa, over into Asia, and then ending over in
what is currently Dyna Land USA, soon to be the
Tropical Americas. That is probably going to change once Tropical
America's opens, but after the Safari I would head towards
Cali River Rapids. It typically also has a delayed open,
(18:22):
so chances are good that maybe you catch that ride
as its opening and you'll be able to hop on
with less than a thirty minute wait over there as well,
if you make it all the way over to Expedition Everest.
That is a very high capacity ride, so the chances
are good that mid afternoon towards lunchtime, it still won't
be more than a twenty five to thirty minute wait
(18:44):
over there. It does also have a single rider line,
so if your party is someone that can utilize single
rider lines when it comes to some of those thrill attractions,
definitely an option, and it is a really good single
rider line that's probably going to take you up to
lunchtime if you haven't already gotten lunch. Again, you're going
to want to look at some of those different quick
service locations, So Tuli Canteen probably not an option for
(19:06):
lunch if you're following this itinerary because it is all
the way back over in Pandora, but something like Ya
Kanyetti's Quick Service is right near there. That's a great
option for lunch if you are over in that Cali
River Rapids area. So again, we hit those ones in
the morning, we hit Cali River, maybe we hit Expedition Everstore,
(19:27):
maybe we do that right after lunch, depending on what
your preference is with that. Then you're going to continue
your way around. You're going to hit Dinosaur for now
until it changes over again. This plan will probably all
change whenever Tropical America's opens with those new three new
attractions that are going to be over there. But for now,
you're going to hit Dinosaur. After that, then you're going
(19:50):
to take a look at the Wait for the News
Utopia show that is under the Tree of Life, and
do any of the walking trails around the Discovery Island
area as well the other things that you you can
look at our showtimes for Festival of the Lion King
and the Finding Nemo Musical at that point in the afternoon.
Both of those typically run all the way up through
about four PM, if not a little bit later, so
(20:12):
you still got some time, but keep an eye on
when the last showtimes are for those to make sure
that you don't unintentionally miss out if that's something that
you want to do on your trip. And then again
same thing with Rafiki's Planet Watch. Keep an eye out
on Wildlife Express train that goes to Refikee's Planet Watch.
Keep an eye on the times for that as well,
(20:33):
because typically if the park closes around six, that train
typically stops running about four thirty, So keep that in
mind as you're looking at the different options there. But
those would be kind of my suggestions. Now you could
wait and do the Zootopia show and the Walking Paths
later if those shows and the train are higher on
(20:58):
your priority list, because those do close earlier and the
other things are open more often longer into the night.
Sometimes the walking trails close too. Again, with those live
animals at Animal Kingdom, you've really got to look at
what the hours are for the different attractions. All of
(21:19):
that is listed on your app. So if you're looking
on the map section of your My Disney Experience app,
click on that attraction and scroll underneath where it says
like the title and description, and it'll show you like
the operating hours for the day. So take a quick
look at that to make sure that you're not unintentionally
accidentally missing out on a walking trail or that Wildlife
(21:43):
I keep wanting to say Wilderness Express Train, Wildlife Express
Train out to Rafiki Planet Watch. You want to look
at those hours to make sure that you've got that
kind of in the back of your head whenever it
comes to planning your afternoon again and when it comes
to dinner time, you may or may not end up
in the parks, depending on what is going on with
(22:05):
your where you're at, and if you've finished all of
the things that you wanted to finish or not. Also
keep in mind that if you had to skip one
of those rope drop attractions Flight of Passage, Navi River
or the Safari. I don't suggest skipping the Safari. Definitely
hit that in the morning. That's the very best time
to see all of the animals on that. But if
(22:25):
you had to skip either Flight of Passage or Navi
River journey, the end of the day is your best
time to get in line for those. So remember you
can get in line up to one minute before park close.
So if you want to do Flight to Passage, your
best chance is to do it right at park close.
You won't have as many lightning lanes coming through. Again,
(22:45):
we talked about this at Magic Kingdom. That first thing
in the morning and last thing at night, you don't
have as many lightning lanes coming through, so they don't
kind of slow down your standby que nearly as much
during those times of the day. So lots of things
to keep in mind, but overall, Animal Kingdom is a
fairly simple park to navigate and most of the time,
(23:09):
like I said, I truly don't think you need lightning
lanes for that park. It is very easy to do
if you are able to get there early, especially if
you're on property and have that early entry time that
you can utilize. That is the best way to tackle
Animal Kingdom. I really don't think you need lightning lanes. Now,
(23:29):
if everything at Animal Kingdom is on your list, you
don't want to do multipass, maybe you have an extra
few bucks to throw towards a single pass for flight
of passage. That's also a great idea. So then you
can rope drop Navi River, do the safari, and then
come back and do flight of passage right after you
(23:49):
have done the safari, and then continue on the rest
of that loop. Like I talked about again, starting at
the bottom left of your map, if you will, and
continuing your way clockwise around to hit those attractions. So overall, again,
Animal Kingdom fairly simple to navigate. I hope that this
was helpful for those of you that maybe needed a
(24:13):
little bit of guidance when it came to Animal Kingdom. Again,
like I mentioned in the last episode, if you are
someone headed to the parks in the near future from
when you're listening to this and you want some additional advice,
please send me a message. I am more than happy
to help you with your itinerary to help you figure
out what makes sense for your group what doesn't. More
(24:35):
than happy to do that. You can reach out to
me on any of our social media platforms. You can
also find us momsterreet USA at gmail dot com, and
that email is good if you've got questions or suggestions
or anything that you want to give input about for
our upcoming podcast episodes, we would love to hear from
you via email on any of our social media and
(24:57):
also on our new Patreon account that we've got again.
We're going to be posting some graphics over there shortly
for the first several episodes of this one day Park
series that we're doing that just kind of give you
the visual rundown of these different lists of attractions that
we've been talking about. So that is coming very soon
over on our Patreon, so be sure to head over there.
(25:19):
Tons of free content over there, by the way, it's
never expected for you to pay a membership fee or
anything like that. Our unedited podcast episodes do live over there,
as well as some other fun content, so be sure
to check that out if you haven't yet. But for today,
that kind of wraps up our time, albeit brief, at
Animal Kingdom. Thank you guys so much for joining me
(25:41):
for this episode of Mom Street USA, and I will
see you on the next one. Bye. Everyone.
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