1-Day Animal Kingdom Itinerary
Our 1-day Animal Kingdom itinerary details step-by-step strategy for minimizing wait times & avoiding crowds at the theme park’s most popular rides & shows, including Avatar Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and more. This Walt Disney World touring plan covers attractions, restaurants, zoo exhibits, and more.
This single day Disney’s Animal Kingdom (DAK) itinerary has been updated again due to the return of more entertainment and meet & greets, as well as increased crowd levels. We’ve also made seasonal tweaks and accounted for changes in popularity and wait times due to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. However, this itinerary assumes you will not be buying those line-skipping services–it instead works around them. If you do plan on spending the extra, consult our 1-Day Animal Kingdom Itinerary with Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
We visit Animal Kingdom frequently “for the sake of research” (and to watch our otter homies hanging out in their grotto), monitoring wait times, testing various approaches, and fine-tuning our strategy as crowds have increased and decreased during that time. This is the revised Animal Kingdom itinerary for 2024 that we’ve devised as a result.
This post continues our series of Walt Disney World Park Itineraries & Touring Plans designed to answer the frequently asked question, “what would you do if you only had one day in ____ Disney park?” Animal Kingdom is an interesting mix of zoological offerings and traditional theme park attractions requiring a balanced approach that juggles the park’s various types of attractions.
It’s possible to experience what we call “animal fatigue” in this park, which is exactly what it sounds like–losing interest in the surplus of animal exhibits and walking trails. To combat this, we recommend scattering these throughout your day, doing a healthy mix of rides and walkthroughs.
Pandora – World of Avatar helps better achieve this balance, and most people will want spend more time in the rest of Animal Kingdom as a result of that land. Consequently, you can spend a full day in Animal Kingdom if you pace yourself to avoid the aforementioned animal fatigue.
Nevertheless, Animal Kingdom is the easiest park to accomplish in a partial day; you can either arrive early or stay late at Animal Kingdom and do the entire park with relative ease. See our recent post: Animal Kingdom Afternoon Arrival Strategy. The same general principles apply when arriving during Early Entry–you essentially just reverse the order of attractions.
So long as you can do major attractions outside of the window between 10 am and 3 pm, Animal Kingdom is pretty easy on normal days at Walt Disney World. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t really see much value in buying Genie+ for Animal Kingdom at all, even on days you’re Park Hopping to or from another park.
This is less about Animal Kingdom not having enough to fill an entire day and more about the aforementioned animal fatigue and poor pacing. The end result is the same; there’s a mass exodus around 3 pm and the park is relatively quiet during the last two hours of the day.
We’ve stressed this in other recent planning resources, but figured it was worth reiterating as there’s a huge difference between early/late wait times and those during the middle of the day. If you want to know which approach is currently best for every park, see our recent Best Time-Saving Strategies at Walt Disney World. That details the best and worst ways to save time in lines, and is really useful if you’re overwhelmed and don’t want to read a dozen others!
Now, on with the 1-day Animal Kingdom itinerary…
Zig When They Zag — There’s going to be a lot of temptation to do Pandora — World of Avatar first thing in the morning, but resist that–unless you’re an on-site guest arriving for Early Entry, in which case, you should absolutely do Pandora first.
Even if you’re not at Animal Kingdom for those extended a.m. hours, consider starting with the Avatar rides if official park opening time is 7:30 a.m. and you’re there for that. It’s still early enough that you can beat the crowds and longest wait times for Avatar Flight of Passage.
However, if you’re rolling up at 8 am on a busy day, head elsewhere. Over 90% of guests (literally) will make a beeline for Pandora in the morning, resulting in the longest lines and wait times of the day at Avatar Flight of Passage in the morning hours. At that point, you’re not going to beat the Pandora crowds, so zig when others zag.
Animal Kingdom’s other headliners all should be near-walk ons for the first hour of the day—you don’t even have to arrive at rope drop for this. Sleeping in and showing up 30 minutes late is fine.
Start Your Adventure at the Outpost – If you’re arriving “too late” to start in Avatar land, begin with Adventurers Outpost, which is the Minnie & Mickey Mouse meet & greet in Animal Kingdom. It might seem silly to start here, but this is the 4th longest line in Animal Kingdom on average, and very few people think to do it first. Consequently, it’s slower in the morning and wait times are significantly longer between around 10 am and 3 pm.
There’s also a Lightning Lane to Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost, and once users of that paid FastPass system start using that in large numbers–which usually happens around 9 am–the standby line slows to a crawl. That alone can be unpleasant, which is why we strongly recommend knocking this out in the first hour of the morning. You can be in and out quickly, and on your way to the second stop of the day. (If it’s more convenient, you probably can do this second so long as you’re not visiting on a peak season day.)
Two-Week Safari — This is a great option both from a time-savings perspective and for the best possible experience.
The reason we recommend Kilimanjaro Safaris in the morning is because it’s great for animal activity and also for photographing the animals with nice, soft light. From 11 a.m. until around 3 p.m., Kilimanjaro Safaris isn’t nearly as fun, unless you like watching big cats and other creatures sleeping. Late afternoon is also good in terms of light, and has a decent amount of animal activity as everyone on the savanna starts getting hyped for dinner.
Kali River Soaking – This rapids rafting ride is a crowd-pleaser that is worth doing if you haven’t done it before. It’s fun and goes through cool environments (albeit lacking show scenes) with a conservationist message.
The potential for getting soaked is incredibly high, so don’t do it if that’s going to be a problem. Conversely, because you’ll get soaked on Kali River Rapids, it’s less popular when the weather is cooler. Heading into the winter, its popularity is dropping again–but it’s still easiest to knock out Kali River Rapids en route to the next stop.
Peak XV Summit – After you’ve gone through the wash cycle on Kali River Rapids, it’s time to air dry on one of Walt Disney World’s best roller coasters. Even an hour or more after official park opening time, Expedition Everest should still have a relatively reasonable wait time. If it’s posted time is under 45 minutes (or you’re fine going in the Single Rider line) do it now. Otherwise, save it for closer to sunset.
Expedition Everest offers fantastic thematic details, one of the best queues, and sweeping views of the park (and beyond). You might want to do it again towards the end of the day, when wait times will be nearly non-existent.
See the Awesomest Animals – Everyone knows dinosaurs are the best animals ever. Unfortunately, Dinoland/Dino-rama are unquestionably the most disappointing theme park lands anywhere, ever. The backstory might be good (debatable), but unless your preferred way to experience a theme park is “reading,” then the actual land will disappoint you.
However, DINOSAUR is actually a pretty good attraction. Do it, then act like the rest of this blighted area is extinct to you.
Start Seeing Shows – When it comes to a day at DAK, pacing is paramount (that should be the park’s mantra). At this point, you’ve already done several rides, so it’s time for some shows. Since you’re in the neighborhood, it’s a good time to watching the newly-reimagined “Finding Nemo: The Big Blue and Beyond!” musical. You should be able to catch the first performance at this point, but if you’re late for it, grab a snack and do the second showing.
In this reimagined stage show, fish tell Nemo’s story in this updated 25-minute show, incorporating live performers, puppets, and screen-based visuals. The refreshed production takes place in the Finding Dory timeline and features beloved songs and numbers from the original Finding Nemo: The Musical, including “In the Big Blue World” and “Go With the Flow.”
Snack Time – If you’re getting hungry, it’s a good time for a pit stop at Dino-Bite Snacks. This location serves a variety of, as the name suggests, snacks. Without a doubt, the highlight is their ice cream sandwiches. The options vary by season, but the shared commonality is that they use freshly-baked, house-made cookies. As a result, they’re all excellent.
If you find yourself on the other side of the park, Creature Comforts Coffee Shop and Bakery is Animal Kingdom’s Starbucks location, and they also have some crazy animal cupcakes. They have a rotating lineup of Lion Cub, Zebra, White Chocolate Elephant or Cotton Top Tamarin cupcakes that are each like 3 feet tall (slight exaggeration).
Otter Odyssey – At this point, you can reasonably slow down and start enjoy walk-through trails and animal-centric attractions while “waiting out” the crowds.
One we’d direct your attention to that’s easily overlooked is Otter Grotto (near the aforementioned Starbucks). It’s just around the corner from Creature Comforts and features some of Animal Kingdom’s most fun and rambunctious critters.
Strategically, there is no good or bad time for any of the various animal trails and exhibits, but you’ll want to space them throughout your day at Animal Kingdom to avoid fatigue of the park’s zoological features.
Lunch – Animal Kingdom really brings it when it comes to dining. For lunch, we recommend slowing down and having a table service meal. Animal Kingdom gets pretty hot midday, and this is a great time to escape that heat with a longer, relaxing meal. Currently, our #1 pick for those wanting an exceptional, fine dining caliber (in a realized setting) meal is Tiffins. The best meal at Animal Kingdom, and one of the best overall at Walt Disney World.
If you don’t want something fancy, opt for the excellent Yak & Yeti instead. You can’t go wrong with either of these for table service dining in Animal Kingdom. If you want a character meal, Tusker House has also returned as a family-style meal, although our experience there was not the best.
Flights of Fancy – Previously known as UP! A Great Bird Adventure, this show is now called Feathered Friends in Flight and has mercifully cut Russel and Dug from Up. It’s still a bird show targeted towards families with small children, but it no longer feels dumbed down to a 3 year old level. No offense to the characters from Up–a movie we love–but this show is much better without them.
Before or after the bird show, explore trails or watch various animals in the park. From fully-fledged attractions like Pangani Forest Exploration Trail to smaller exhibits around the Oasis, Animal Kingdom has a lot to see that’s often overlooked. Slow down and take the time to explore, discovering various animals and details tucked away in quiet corners. Stumbling upon these hidden gems is very rewarding!
Maharajah Jungle Trek – This is another animal trail that you could really do whenever. Regardless of when you choose to do it, we strongly recommend that you don’t skip this one.
Maharajah Jungle Trek is another under-appreciated Animal Kingdom attraction, as this walk-through exhibit has some beautifully imagineered environments. Definitely don’t skip it, but you also don’t necessarily need to do it in this spot.
Festival of the Lion King – Acrobats, singers, and other performers in tribal attire and vibrant costumes, plus parade floats with Lion King characters and other creatures enact scenes inspired by the Lion King in a very lively theatrical show. There’s a lot of stuff going on, in what basically amounts to a lot of audio-visual stimulation. The show just flat out works, and the almost abstract nature allows the audience to just sit back and enjoy the wow-inducing performers.
Festival of the Lion King is an exceptional show–a relaxing, indoor way to break up the day. It’s now entirely back to normal, which means the tumble monkeys and aerial acrobats have returned. For lower crowds and shorter waits, we recommend one of the late afternoon shows.
Winged Encounters – Periodically, there’s a show directly in front of Tree of Life called “Animal Kingdom: Winged Encounters – The Kingdom Takes Flight.” If you can’t find showtimes for this, ask a Cast Member around the Tree of Life when it’s scheduled to occur.
This is not a major show, but it’s a magical one that is absolutely worth seeing. Try weaving it into your itinerary as you head back towards the front of the park. Also make an effort to see the other birds and critters around the Oasis, which are otherwise easily overlooked.
Insect Interlude – It’s Tough to Be a Bug is a good option to round out the middle of the afternoon here. It’s a fun 3D show housed inside the park’s iconic Tree of Life, which is arguably the coolest thing about the experience.
With that said, you can truly do It’s Tough to Be a Bug whenever. No strategy required for this one, so slot it in whenever is convenient for you.
Two-Week Sunset Safari – We’ve already gone to different corners of the globe, scaled the Earth’s highest mountain (a couple of times), and now, we’re going to do a few weeks worth of safaris. That’s more impressive than going around the world at Epcot in a day!
For this ride aboard Kilimanjaro Safaris, we recommend waiting until late afternoon, getting closer to sunset time. Along with the early morning, the animals are most active in mid to late afternoon, so this experience should be different from the first but equally eventful.
Unwind at Dinner Time – One of the biggest “problems” you’ll have with visiting Animal Kingdom is that there are too many good places to eat. I guess that’s a good problem to have. On the one hand, there’s Satu’li Canteen in Pandora – World of Avatar. This counter service restaurant has inventive, high-quality, and even healthy cuisine that is excellent.
On the other hand, Flame Tree BBQ is a good option if you’re looking for something unhealthy and distinctly carnivorous. One of the things this brings to the table is stunning views of Everest from the seating area. The food is also really good at Flame Tree BBQ, but we think it’s gone downhill in recent years with higher portion sizes.
Travel 4.4 Light Years Away… – The final stop of your day needs to be Pandora – World of Avatar. Right now, we recommend arriving to the land around 90 minutes before park closing. At that point, Na’vi River Journey should have a posted wait time of 55 minutes or less, with an actual wait time usually around 30 minutes. (Adjust your arrival accordingly based on the wait time in My Disney Experience.)
That should be a sufficient buffer to finish the boat ride and make your way to the park’s headliner, Avatar Flight of Passage, with 15-30 minutes left in the day. At this point, the posted wait for Flight of Passage will likely be over an hour (it might even be triple digits!), but the actual wait time will be significantly lower than that. If you don’t arrive within the first 30 minutes Animal Kingdom is open, these will be the shortest waits of the day at both Pandora attractions.
On your way out, be sure to watch the Tree of Life Awakenings, which are brief montages that play on the Animal Kingdom park icon. That should mark the conclusion to a satisfying day at Animal Kingdom. While the park is still relatively relaxed and less stressful of a touring experience than Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios (especially after the 3 pm mass exodus), you should still follow this strategy to avoid the few headaches that do exist at Animal Kingdom.
Even a few years after Pandora – World of Avatar opened, wait times for both Avatar attractions can still be quite long, especially at rope drop, so pack your patience! If you want to experience other attractions besides those we’ve listed, make sure to check out our Animal Kingdom Park & Attractions Guide, which rates and reviews all attractions.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What would you include in your ideal day in Disney’s Animal Kingdom? If you’ve been back to DAK since Genie+ and Lightning Lanes launched, what was your experience with crowd patterns and wait times? Did you do Na’vi River Journey and Avatar Flight of Passage first, last, or somewhere in between? What did you think of Pandora – World of Avatar? If you haven’t visited Walt Disney World, what do you plan on doing during your day in Animal Kingdom? Any questions? Share your questions and thoughts in the comments!
Tom
I have seen some questions about itineraries with park hopping.
Do you have any recommendations for park hopping itineraries?
Would you recommend visiting AK on a Friday or Sunday in early March? Or does it not matter?
Man, you guys are good! Went to today and followed a bunch of your tips– worked great for us! We did the Triceratops spin ( 3), dinosaur (with a child swap) and Everest all by 830am (got to the park at 750am). They were all walk on and we made it to the Safari by 945am (after Bugs Life, which was “eh”– but only had a 5-minute wait)– and so many animals were out– it was awesome! Thanks for the tips. I’ll be checking out your blog for MK for tomorrow
We came today (President’s Day), and this was spot on! Thank you for this! The lines were longer, Avatar got up to 120 mins, our line 30 mins before closing was 65 mins long. Looking forward to using your Hollywood Studios plan for tomorrow.
We’re staying 3 nights, for 4 days total.
Which park should we do on arrival & departure days?
I’m no expert, but Animal Kingdom is a shorter day, so definitely that for one or the other. Depending on when you come, it seems Epcot is open later, so that might be a logical arrival day choice?
Tom, my husband was skeptical of your advice on this one, but he’s now a big fan of zigging while others zag. Due to a few circumstances (including an 8yo who couldn’t find his magic band…) we got to the park right at opening time. Flight of passage was already 45 minutes. So we did Dinosaur, Triceraspin, and Everest each twice, waved to some characters on the boats and made it to the safari all before 10am. flight of passage was posting a wait time of about 20 minutes, so we enjoyed it prior to lunch. Our family enjoyed the Wilderness Explorer badges (8 & 10-year-old boys) for the first time this trip, and I found it to be a way interaction with cast members really shined in this temporary abnormal.
Thanks, Tom.
With the 8am opening time and park-hoppers coming at 2pm, would you still recommend waiting on Pandora, or would a rope drop be advantageous?
I have been wondering the exact same thing. Updated 1 day itineraries for all the parks would be super helpful right now!! 🙂
Angela, we just got back from our trip and found flight of passage lines shorter in the midday/afternoon than they were in the morning…45 minutes at rope drop vs. ~20 minutes around lunch time
Your 1 day worked out great! Got there when the park opened. Rode Everest twice, no wait, then did Kilimanjaro Safari with no wait. I was afraid park hopping might mess up Avatar for us, ( we were there Jan 1) so at 1:30, we got in line with a posted 90 minute wait. Wait time was actually about 60 minutes. So worth it! We thought lunch lines were long. Did a mobile order from Flame Tree, which was really quick and easy. Passed the Avatar line after the bird show, thought it was shorter, even though posted wait time was 105 minutes, so joined and it took about 60 minutes again. Thank you!
We followed the advice for the most part and the park was enjoyable. We did all of the rides for the most part with a little waiting but nothing more than an hour.
Had a great day at Animal Kingdom today. Followed the advice all day. Arrived at 8:30 to no entrance lines. Went straight to Everest then Dinosaur with no lines. Wandered the rest of the day and arrived at Pandora land at 4:00. River Journey said 55 minute wait. We were on ride in 30-35 minutes. At 4:45 Avatar said 90 minutes! Long times and tired people so we opted out. Never been so don’t know what we missed plis been on Soarin many times in California. Not sure how to adjust schedule to fit it in with long lines all day but loved the tips and advice. Heading to Hollywood Studios tomorrow so will look for more helps. Thanks!!
We are going to AK December 6. Do these suggestions still apply or would you suggest a different strategy? When you say you could show up a little later to avoid the parking crowd what time would that be?
Followed your plan today and got everything done by 3pm! Both avatar rides were 45 minutes around lunch time so we were able to knock them out earlier. Thank you for the tips!!
Amazing day , we followed your plan to the letter and saw it all. We even had both terrific and different experiences on the safari as you advised.
Following your plan for majic kingdom next month .
Your advice sucks. Tried it for Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom and it has not worked.
Why do you feel like it didn’t work? We’re going in a few weeks.
We did Hollywood Studios 2 days ago, and would have hit everything if RotR and Smuggler’s Run hadn’t broken down while we were in line. And that includes a dining reservation at 12:20-1:30, a reservation at droid depot at 2pm, lightsabers at 4pm, and two rider switches. They know what they are talking about.
We are going to be at AK for Halloween. Considering that the park is set to open at 7 am on that day, we are thinking of rope dropping and heading to Pandora with the thought that most people like to sleep in on the weekend. And given the very early 7 a.m. opening, we are figuring most people will elect to sleep in instead of rope drop. Do you feel this would be an accurate assessment? If we get in early and knock out Pandora then follow the rest of the suggested itinerary with our ADR for 12:25pm at Tiffins, we could get some re-rides on Everest and the Safari, enjoy all of the animal paths at our leisure and possibly still be done early and have time to head out early for a nap before our evening dinner reservations… We are doing a single day at each park, but all of our other days are during the week. I have been keeping up on all of your blogs and really appreciate all of the info provided! It has helped us with our planning strategies!!
We call ourselves DisneyGeeks and claim that WDW is our favorite place. However, admittedly, we usually skip AK. We typically do one free day in our week with 5-day single tix and opt to do both MK and Epcot (our family fave) twice. That said, if we have an early enough arrival time, we fit AK into our schedule on arrival day, and it is ALWAYS a wonderful, pleasant experience. That is without a doubt because we arrive late afternoon and stay until closing. Without exception ,those visits were cooler, lower crowds and waits, and the animals were out in those early-evening hours. Presumably up from their daytime snoozes and ready to eat. We do plan to designate a day at AK when we go in two weeks, because why not…nothings the same and I don’t recognize anything anymore. Thanks as always for your tips.
We are going in November and currently have Tiffins reservations for 4:10pm (only time I could get). If we do that, we won’t be able to save Avatar until end of day. Do you recommend keeping these reservations and doing Avatar earlier or skipping Tiffins and just eating counter service or Rainforest Cafe earlier in day for lunch and then going out to dinner after we leave the park?
That’s tough. Tiffins is an exceptional restaurant that we highly recommend. My first recommendation would be to keep checking for more ADR times. Failing that, I’d probably just do Pandora earlier in the day. Of course, things keep changing, so perhaps strategy will too by that point.
What you should do ultimately depends upon how excited you are to try Tiffins.
That’s a hard one, I would assess how much you want to try Tiffins. We recently had the same problem with dinner timing at Yak and Yeti, we were coming off Expedition and just walked in to see if we could change the time and they took us right in. No guarantee but just thought I’d add to the confusion. Again, how much do you want to eat at Tiffins? Depending on your group size, Nomads lounge is a thought also. They don’t take reservations there, though
I was just there, recommend doing Navi River right in the morning as everyone is heading to Flight of Passage instead. Also, during the afternoon, Flight of Passage posted very low wait times, 25-35 minutes. All the other rides were walk ons almost the entire day. We went on a Thursday.
But, but. but you missed one of the best (and most overlooked) things to do at Animal Kingdom…the Animation Experience at Conservation Station!!! Not only do you get to be in air conditioning but you get to come home with a free souvenir made by the newest Disney animator – yourself! While the ride on the Wildlife Express Train is underwhelming, the veterinary center and small exhibits inside Conservation Station are interesting (and did I say air conditioned) to look at while waiting for the next animation session to start. I have always enjoyed these learn to draw sessions. I’ve even been known to stay for a second session.
Any word on Tiffins changing hours or opening days? They went from having numerous lunch/dinner reservations every day to having almost zero for the next 60 days.