Should You Skip Disney’s Animal Kingdom?
With construction equipment digging in Dinoland and multiple attractions closed, many Walt Disney World vacation planners are questioning whether they should skip Animal Kingdom on trips in 2026 through late 2027 when Tropical Americas opens. This covers what’s happening, when projects will be completed, and how they’ll impact your experience on upcoming visits.
When it comes to radical Walt Disney World overhauls, there are two existing ‘templates’ based upon recent projects: EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Both of these park reimaginings significantly impacted guests, albeit in markedly different ways.
Most fans will likely be familiar with the Giant EPCOT Dirt Pit, which involved several years of navigating a maze of construction walls in the middle of the park. There was a lot of audible and visual blight, and it felt like a construction zone. But only one attraction closed, and it was an unpopular one. The ride roster was not adversely impacted, especially once Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure opened.
During the Disney’s Hollywood Studios expansion, several attractions closed in order for construction to occur. The attraction count dropped dramatically, but the construction at DHS didn’t significantly impact the atmosphere or guest experience. It was all out of the way, on the periphery of the park.
This brings us to the Animal Kingdom construction project, which is more like the Disney’s Hollywood Studios expansion. The work is out of the way, so the park doesn’t feel like an active construction zone, but the already limited ride roster has now down 2 more attractions.
Animal Kingdom’s overhaul will likewise no doubt weigh on the park experience for the next couple of years. The question thus becomes, should you skip Animal Kingdom? Spoiler alert: the answer is “it depends.”
This article ending in anything but a full-throated, unequivocal endorsement of Disney’s Animal Kingdom is going to anger some fans. Now that old school EPCOT Center has been gone for a couple of decades, those purists (my people!) have been replaced by DAK diehards or defenders.
For many such fans, Animal Kingdom is misunderstood. They believe that the park is underrated and underappreciated with the general public, and that if people just gave it more of a chance, it’d win them over. Honestly, I am receptive to this perspective, as I am one such person who DAK has “won over.”
If you’re a DAK diehard, that’s fantastic! But you should also understand that the target audience of this post is not people who already love Animal Kingdom. If it’s your favorite park at Walt Disney World, you should not skip Animal Kingdom. If you think it’s an exemplar of themed design, you should not skip Animal Kingdom. But you already knew that.
For everyone else, Animal Kingdom already was highly skippable even before the construction began.
Animal Kingdom is the worst performing park at Walt Disney World. During the last year for which data is available (2024), it was #8 in the United States, also behind both Universal Orlando parks. It was the only domestic Disney Park not in the top 10 worldwide.
Globally, Animal Kingdom ranked #15, with 8.8 million annual visitors. That’s up by 0.3% year over year, but down considerably from the 13.9 million guests it hit in 2019. Animal Kingdom is the only Walt Disney World park that didn’t hit the 10 million mark, and it had less than half the annual visitors of Magic Kingdom, the #1 theme park in the world.
This gap will continue to grow in the next ~2 years. Animal Kingdom is the park most removed from its last development cycle, and it has lost more than it has gained since March 2020.
Animal Kingdom will be hurt by its own lack of offerings and construction, and is the park far and away most likely to lose attendance to Epic Universe at Universal as that new park (maybe?!) starts to find its footing in 2026.
The next few years will be tough for DAK, before it starts rebounding with Tropical Americas in 2028. That new land is expected to open in late 2027, and will bring with it an all-new Encanto Madrigal Casita family-friend ride, Indiana Jones Adventure (as a reimagining of DINOSAUR) and a critter carousel.
It’s possible that Tropical Americas opens in phases to get the critter carousel spinning earlier, and maybe even Indiana Jones Adventure. It’s also possible the Encanto attraction slips into early 2028. We would not bank on the ‘meat’ of Tropical Americas being open before November or December 2027. Everything covered here will be valid until (at least) then.
Walt Disney World guests are already voting with their wallets and feet and skipping Animal Kingdom, and have been for the last 5 years. If you simply want the consensus answer and not my opinion, it’s yes, Animal Kingdom is skippable–and increasingly so. But you’ve read this far, so hopefully you’re after commentary, and not just statistics.
With that said, I’m presenting the statistics because they speak for themselves and, frankly, do a lot to rebut the argument among fans that Animal Kingdom is just misunderstood. Maybe it is to an extent, but not by every single one of the 9 million people who visited Magic Kingdom but not Animal Kingdom.
There’s a reason (or several) why it’s less popular, and fans are doing themselves and the park a disservice by pretending that Animal Kingdom is just one more big “Nahtazu” marketing campaign away from ~14 million guests again. The park has real problems; there are valid reasons why guests would skip it.
I’ve had conflicted feelings about Animal Kingdom since the park opened. My family went opening year, and it was our least favorite park at Walt Disney World. When Sarah and I returned during college, Animal Kingdom had improved, but it was still the park we visited least often in the aughts.
At some point, Animal Kingdom started to “click” for us. As we visited Walt Disney World more often, we had time to slow down and take the parks at a more leisurely pace. We became more interested in Imagineering, design and details, which is where Animal Kingdom truly shines. That led to the post, “I Was Wrong About Disney’s Animal Kingdom” back in 2013, which has since been updated several times as the park continues to evolve.
A strong argument can be made that Disney’s Animal Kingdom is the best theme park in Florida. When you emphasize the theme in theme park, we’d rank it #1 at Walt Disney World. Animal Kingdom is an exemplar of themed design, and arguably Disney’s most “pure” park when it comes to coherent storytelling. This is true even after the Avatar addition, which was weaved into the park’s overarching ideas masterfully.
The problem is a lack of rides. Walt Disney World embarked on an infamous Nahtazu marketing initiative following the debut of Animal Kingdom. For those unfamiliar with that, it was pronounced “not a zoo” and I’m sure you can surmise from that what it entailed.
Guests were skipping Animal Kingdom because they viewed it as not too dissimilar from their local zoos. Why pay Disney’s prices and spend limited vacation time to experience something they could at home? The thing is, the ad campaign was tacit admission of the issue. Guests were right, there were too few rides and not enough daylight between Animal Kingdom and a really nice zoo.
This isn’t to say guests were completely right. Animal Kingdom is miles above the average zoo, or even a standout one like the San Diego Safari Park. Nevertheless, the ride count was (and is) way too low and the park leaned (and leans) too heavily on animal exhibits and walk-through trails. Those were (and are) great enhancements, but they were (and are) called on to carry too much of the load.
Animal Kingdom’s lack of rides problem has never been fully addressed. Attractions have been added over the years, with Expedition Everest and Pandora – World of Avatar being huge assets, among the best rides in all of Walt Disney World.
Even after those additions, Animal Kingdom has by far the lightest ride roster of any park at Walt Disney World. And that has only gotten worse in 2026, with the closure of two traditional theme park style attractions. The park is now down to 5 rides. Expand that to include major shows and experiences, the attraction count is 8 or 9. Even once Tropical Americas opens, DAK will only have 8 rides–still the lowest of any park at Walt Disney World.
This massively understates the totality of the guest experience at Animal Kingdom, as it doesn’t count several major animal exhibits (like Maharajah Jungle Trek or Gorilla Falls) that will be among the highlights of a visit. It also doesn’t take into consideration characters, atmospheric entertainment, or numerous other things that Animal Kingdom does so well.
For us, the biggest blow has been the closure of DINOSAUR, which is now extinct as of Spring 2026. That was one of the park’s headliners, one of the top 5 rides in the park as measured by wait times. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good campy fun.
Same goes with the rest of Dinoland USA, all of which is now closed. Substantively, the only other attraction this area offered prior to closure was a spinner, and the land itself was hideous. Whereas most of Animal Kingdom is meant to be slowly savored, Dinoland was pretty much a ‘get in and get out as quickly as possible‘ kind of deal.
DINOSAUR was the main draw, and losing it is far and away the largest loss at Animal Kingdom. Ride-wise, the park is now down to just the two Avatar attractions, plus the superlative Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest. That’s 4 good-to-great rides, plus the so-so Kali River Rapids, which is a borderline ride for many guests due to the soak factor.
It also doesn’t help that the new Zootopia: Better Zoogether, which replaced It’s Tough To Be a Bug, is not very good. Families with small children might find this to be passable, and it’s certainly worth seeing once. Regardless, this is “only” a 3D show, so it doesn’t really move the needle much (good, bad or otherwise) on whether or not you should skip DAK.
On the other hand, there are several other shows that are excellent. Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo: The Musical are among the best overall attractions in all of Walt Disney World. There’s also the underrated Feathered Friends in Flight, as well as many animal encounters, trails, and more that can easily round out your day in addition to those 4-5 rides. But that requires being satisfied with only 4-5 rides! Many guests do Disney for the rides, and that’s simply too low of a number as contrasted with the other parks.
We can spend a full day at Animal Kingdom and have an immensely satisfying and well-rounded experience on par with any of the parks at Walt Disney World. You can too, so long as you go in with the right expectations, know where to look for the park’s hidden gems, and pace yourself so as to avoid “animal fatigue.”
When it comes to construction impact in terms of visual blight or navigational issues, there really isn’t much of one. Dinoland is entirely walled off, and is easy to bypass. The tacky roadside carnival was ugly even when it was open. The construction walls are less of an eyesore than Dino-Rama, if you ask me.
Even so, we recommend Animal Kingdom to anyone with 4 or more days at Walt Disney World that enjoys wildlife and wants an immersive theme park experience that involves exploration and savoring the little things, and not just bouncing from ride to ride.
The fact that most guests treat Animal Kingdom like a half-day park and attendance will further decrease through late 2027 could be viewed as an asset to savvy guests, especially those with Park Hopper tickets. Go first thing in the morning or in late afternoon, and you’ll be able to enjoy low to moderate crowd levels ~300 days of the year. No need for Lightning Lanes!
You can routinely finish every ride in Animal Kingdom before 11 am! If you have Park Hopper tickets, it’s easy to do less than a half day at DAK and 1.5 days at Magic Kingdom, which is arguably a full day-plus park.
You can also easily spend a full day at DAK. Animal Kingdom is a lot like World Showcase–light on rides but heavy on environment and atmosphere–and guests rarely complain about World Showcase. Most everyone views that area of EPCOT as an asset, and enjoys making their way around the world. Animal Kingdom is very similar to that, but grittier and less romanticized…plus animals!
Recent highlights on the animal front include Bakso, the park’s adorable Sumatran tiger cub in Maharajah Jungle Trek. He’s already over one year old, but is still adorable. There’s also a new giraffe named Tucker in Kilimanjaro Safaris, who was born roughly a year ago.
Rounding out the trio of new animals is a trio: Butternut, Biscuit, and Potato are the newest Asian small-clawed otter babies to debut in the Otter Grotto habitat on the Discovery Island Trails. (Do not miss Otter Grotto–it’s another of the fantastic animal trails that’s often overlooked!)
While we very much would love for everyone to appreciate Animal Kingdom as much as we do, we’re also realists. There’s a reason why the the park has lower attendance, an afternoon exodus, and gives guests “animal fatigue.” Again, we have to underscore the reality that Animal Kingdom has 5 rides total, and only 4 of those are must-dos.
Then there’s the elephant in the room: Epic Universe.
Ride-oriented guests with limited vacation time wanting to “make room” for Universal Orlando’s new theme park might want to cut Animal Kingdom from the plans. Epic Universe has 11 rides and two major shows, plus atmospheric entertainment, play areas, and more.
For those keeping score at home, this is more rides than Animal Kingdom. Once you expand that to all attractions and compelling offerings (minus animal exhibits), the rosters are arguably comparable. I’m nevertheless convinced that the average guest will prefer the attraction slate at Epic Universe to that of Animal Kingdom.
The type of person who felt the need to read this post (and not hate read, but for planning purposes) might be better suited by Epic Universe. Both parks have high points and are incredibly compelling in their own ways, but there are more major rides that are must-dos at Epic Universe.
However, Epic Universe also is not perfect! The park is having a ton of growing pains, which are likely to continue throughout 2026. Wait times at Epic Universe are worse than any other park at Universal Orlando or Walt Disney World; the averages at Epic Universe are frequently as bad or worse than the peak week of Christmas to New Year’s Eve at the other parks.
Even more problematically, the high wait times at Epic Universe are due to ride reliability and operational efficiency (or lack thereof), and not overwhelming demand. Visit on a rainy day and you’ll find over half the park out of commission since most rides are (inexplicably) outdoors.
As much as I enjoy Epic Universe personally, there’s next-to-nothing for our toddler to do there. So I would go alone (and have, several times) to Epic Universe on a less busy day, it’s a non-starter for our whole family. Epic Universe might be a compelling alternative to Animal Kingdom for some guests, but definitely not for plenty of others. (See Why You Should Skip Epic Universe.)
Ultimately, the construction walls aren’t particularly impactful, and the attraction closure that’s been a big blow is DINOSAUR. Even so, it’s still possible to have a great day at DAK, especially if you have Park Hopper tickets.
But there is also the reality that Animal Kingdom is down to only 5 rides, all of which (and then some) can easily be knocked out by mid-morning. If you’re visiting theme parks first and foremost for the ride roster, the answer to this post is probably “yes.”
If you’re drawn to Epic Universe, the answer is also “yes” for some guests. That new theme park that competes for the limited vacation dollars and time of tourists, and is arguably a more well-rounded park from day one than Animal Kingdom.
If your family skews older and if you can visit during a less busy time and if you avoid rainy days, Epic Universe can be fantastic. Obviously, that’s a lot of caveats. But even if you’d rather wait out the growing pains at Epic Universe, Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios Florida could be good alternatives in the meantime.
It pains us to recommend that a sizable number of guests skip Animal Kingdom, but it didn’t have to be this way. Walt Disney World could have launched a new nighttime spectacular featuring drones, added entertainment, fun ride overlays or seasonal events–anything to help buoy Animal Kingdom and make it more competitive for the next couple of years.
That wouldn’t have made the answer to this post an across-the-board “no,” but it would’ve made “no” a more common answer. Staying on-site and visiting all 4 of the Walt Disney World theme parks is the cheaper and easier option–the path of least resistance.
Puncturing the Disney Bubble is more of a hassle that increases costs and logistics–but it’s an option that’s worthy of consideration for many guests in 2026 and 2027 for the sake of seeing Epic Universe. Just keep in mind that Epic Universe can also be a massive hassle, so weigh your options carefully and be as flexible as possible!
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Your Thoughts
Will you be visiting Animal Kingdom in the next couple of years? If you’re skipping DAK, are you doing so to avoid construction and closed attractions, and waiting until new rides and Tropical Americas opens? Or are you taking your limited vacation time and reallocating the day from DAK to Epic Universe? Agree or disagree with our take? Questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
There’s no comparison of AK to Epic. AK is the worst Disney park and compared to best Universal park. AK is enjoyable to a certain demographic like a family with young kids for the animals and the amazing safari ride, and they are installing Encanto. But a mistake to remove Dinosaurs. So adding in Indiana Jones will make the park more suitable for teens. I just wish they added in Raging Spirits roller coaster as the pair of attractions works well in Tokyo DisneySeas and will be a replacement for the removed Primeval Whirl coaster. Disney’s lack of commitment to improve their parks is a loss. They need to vastly increase attractions capacity and add entertainment. They don’t need to add a 5th Park that will be hyped up and abandoned in a few years.
Gina, you mentioned not doing Dinosauer bc of stairs in the queue. There is an elevator hiding in plain sight. After pre-show film you are exited into a short hall, then turn right into a stairway area. Immediately there is an elevator door on your left when facing the stairs to go down. There is usually a cast member in the short hallway you can ask to bring you down elevator. But we’ve taken it ourselves when no CM was available. You can take it back upstairs at end of ride.
Thanks for the info. I was afraid of asking cast members about stuff like that in case it got into the Disability Access Service rules, which are complicated. (Tom’s featured articles on them.) I’d be willing to wait as long as everyone else & not use the service just to jump ahead in line, as long as I could skip staircases on my poorer days. Sciatica hasn’t been bothering me so much ever since I started getting shots at Centerwell, but now I have a problem with a weak knee.
One thing your article doesn’t mention is transportation. If you’re not driving, Animal Kingdom is the only park that offers nothing but a bus. I wonder how much effect that has on people who are on the fence about visiting.
Absolutely love DAK. The food, drinks, shows, theming and rides. The rides are so good Everest, rapids, avatar and river, dinosaurs, the safari. I like every ride in that park except maybe the train. They do need to get a show for the outside theater, I miss that and the park should stay open till 9 because it’s so pretty after dark,
My favorite park. I do everything twice on one day then revisit for a half day several times. And of course fit in meals every time.
it’s been baffling to me for several years now that they have a perfectly good amphitheater sitting there in AK with no purpose, with water, which screams to me a WDW version of World of Color. add in a drone show, that makes AK a HUGE afternoon/night draw.
We’re clearly not the target audience for this piece. We’ll never skip DAK. But I have come to see the different perspectives in theme park goers in America. Generally speaking, Disney isn’t for adrenaline junkies. We all know the few rides that get the blood flowing-but it is for immersion and storytelling. And apart from most of MKs blandness, FOOD! Just picturing a stroll thru DAK right now, waving at Kevin and stopping for a Dole whip or a churros break brings down my BP 20 points! My mom has never been, so at our large family trip this fall, I cannot imagine NOT taking her! FINGERS CROSSED FOR A MIRACULOUS POP-UP LAGOON SHOW!
Love AK, but have never been able to find enough to do to spend a full day there. I got park hoppers for our next trip and will only go there a couple hours at a time to ride a couple things and eat at Tiffins.
Very good analysis, Mr. Bricker.
As for my family, Mrs. Klutch and her sister are complete, total and absolute crazy fans of animals. “Animals!” is to them what “Free Wine!” would be to most people.
So it makes sense that when we took the Sister to Walt Disney World for her first ever visit last December and stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, that was Heaven on Earth for Sister and Mrs. Klutch. They could visit Animal Kingdom every day of a year and would still be enthralled by everything every time. Sure, that’s not most people, but it sure is nice that Animal Kingdom Lodge and Disney’s Animal Kingdom exist in this world.
As for me, one of my favorite moments of that 7-day December trip was enjoying a beer and churros as the Nomad Lounge while Mrs. Klutch and her sister took their absolute time watching every animal and every animal exhibit. Good on you, Disney. Animal Kingdom is not a perfect park for everyone, but it’s beyond perfect for us and skipping is is simply not withing or realm of comprehension.
Animal Kingdom is our favorite park but we are skipping it this year. We got tickets for 2 days at the preview for Epic Universe instead. We will reevaluate for our next trip and see if we want to go back to Animal Kingdom next time. I do feel that at this time the tickets are pricey for what Animal Kingdom is offering.
My husband and I like Epcot and Animal Kingdom, and some visits just include those two parks plus an extra day in Storm A Long bay at the Yacht (and Beach) club. We are in our 70s. My husband skips most of the rides, which is why Animal Kingdom is his second favorite park. Yes, it involves a lot of walking and maybe we will get a scooter for him. While we usually stay at the Yacht club (so that we can walk to Epcot), I am thinking of following your advice to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge one time.
In one of our visits to Animal Kingdom park, we paid extra for the Wild Africa Trek https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/animal-kingdom/wild-africa-trek/ That was a great experience for us. I think we will try the Starlight Safari at Animal Kingdom Lodge our next visit https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/animal-kingdom/night-safari/
We like eating at Tiffins restaurant. So, we definitely are in the group who will visit Animal Kingdom during construction.
Thanks for acknowledging that people vote with their feet, and while some people love AK, it’s not that popular with guests. My family used to go for 7-10 day trips when my kids were young, and we would only spend one day there. Now we tend to go for 3 day trips, and we skip it altogether. If we had park hoppers we might go for a half day, but park hoppers are insanely expensive and I’m not paying that just to go to AK. Sometimes I wonder if they close AK early to drive park hopper sales….probably not.
Your story of “We didn’t like AK until we had AP’s and didn’t mind spending a whole day wandering around looking at stuff” is common. Even in these comments I see a lot of “I went last week and plan to go next week”. I get that. We got APs one year and did the scavenger hunts and Tom Sawyer’s island and everything else. But when we are spending $4k for 3 days at the parks, which breaks down to about $110/hr, I’m not interested in looking at flowers and monkeys for $110 an hour. Actually with AK’s shorter hours it would be more like $150/hr there. I want to do things I can’t do anywhere else, and the reality is even my state’s not-so-great zoo does provide an experience that is at least somewhat similar. The safari is great, but….by its very nature it doesn’t/can’t change much. So it’s less and less interesting with each visit.
Even when my kids were young we hated that park because of the textured concrete and the drink lid ban. It made strollers difficult and spills common.
On a related note, it boggles my mind that Disney can’t figure out that they need to add a bunch of smaller rides to every park. Sure they won’t drive visits on their own, and marketing won’t be able to use them, but small rides are one of the things that makes the MK so much better than the other parks. They absorb crowds, keep lines shorter at the headliners, and make you feel like you’ve done more at the end of the day.
Exactly Keith! We are Passholders and travel here from NY 3-5 times a year for 3 to 8 day trips. We have had trips where we skip altogether! And now taking away Dinosaur-what a terrible choice
The uneven concrete in the park (probably meant to evoke the atmosphere of underdeveloped countries) was a hassle the time I went last year when my sciatica was acting up. I wanted to ride Dinosaur “one last time” since the news was already out by then that it would be closing, but I remembered from previous times on the ride that it had stairs in the queue & no way were my legs going to tackle that that particular day. So I watched a street show, ate some food, & did a meet & greet with Moana. It was a disappointing, lackluster outing. Whereas even the most simple outings at Epcot seem special to me. (I’m an Orlando local so I say outings rather than vacation days.) I find Animal Kingdom the least magical of Disney parks, probably due to its primitive grittiness. Maybe also their focus on reality instead of fantasy worlds (though this conflicts with how I love World Showcase not for IPs but the chance to experience foreign cultures). Although when Hollywood Studios was Disney-MGM Studios, it severely lacked both magic & rides. HS has finally caught up into reaching its potential.
Yes! I completely agree with you, Keith, on the need for more smaller supporting attractions to round out the parks. It makes them much more little kid friendly too. Lack of a sufficient number of attractions for babies/toddlers/preschoolers is a big part of why we did 3.5 days in Magic Kingdom and half a day in AK on a recent 8 day trip (2 days each for Epcot and HS). Once Dinoland fully closes, AK will have like 3-4 worthwhile attractions for my kids.
Tom, what do you think will happen with the characters that have meet and greets in Dinoland? Will they move to elsewhere in the park? Because those were awesome costumes and some of the best character interactions of the trip.
Very well put, Keith. You summed up my feelings exactly.
Don’t skip AK altogether!
Presuming you don’t have parkhopper, then you just go on a “short” day – either right after you were out late the night before, or the final day of your vacation when you have a late flight out of MCO.
Maybe if Disney would fix that Yeti, then AK would be “worth it” again. 😉
DAK has always been my favorite park and I will not abandon it as it goes through this massive change. I doubt I will ever get to Africa and visiting Harambe is very important and precious to me. I was able to go on The Wild African Trek this year which was very exciting and moving. I take my time and explore and experience. I can’t do EE anymore due to my age and FoP was a one and done, again due to my age. But I continue to savor every minute I wander around DAK.
I’m here now, went to AK yesterday. We hit the Safari, Kali, Everest and Avatar before eating at Yak and Yeti then Dinosaur and then done. 4 hours total. I have An 8 and 13 year old , they were good. All day is tough here , we are back 2 more times this year and will hit dinosaur again before it’s gone.
I’m torn between rooting for “good, DAK haterz, don’t visit, more wonder and serenity for meeeee!” and fearing that they’ll close their BEST park down if numbers tank.
I skipped DAK for 8 years and then finally went in 2023. My whole family loved it!! It was one of our best park days ever! Don’t skip DAK!!!
Hey Tom! I’m taking my 18- & 22-year old daughters to WDW in a few weeks. We only have 4 park days, so I’m thinking one of each with AK being the last one since we’ll be tired and might enjoy an evening at the pool and/or dinner in Disney Springs before we fly out Sunday am. The girls may be bored at AK after a few hours…any better ideas for Day 4 that will be more entertaining for them??
(I love animals, so I’m happy to walk everywhere with a cocktail and enjoy nature, but it’s their trip—my hubs and can go back anytime now that we’re empty-nesters!)
THANKS!!
I have absolutely no desire to go to Epic. I realize that puts me in the minority. But even setting aside my ethical objections, I just don’t see the argument for spending the upcharge to tack on a day down the road as opposed to adding on another significantly cheaper park day to do AK if I wasn’t an AP.
But I’m also one of those Animal Kingdom purists. Uni has never appealed to me because of why I love *theme* parks, even before they got into bed with a certain toxic author. All I see at Epic is a hodgepodge of incoherent IPs thrown together, and even if a couple of them are ones I genuinely love, I wouldn’t give up a day at AK for it. The immersion there is unmatched, and taking the time to slow down and soak up the vibes there is such a crucial part of a Disney trip to me—a much needed slower type of day between breakneck touring at HS and MK. If all I cared about was bouncing from ride to ride then yeah I guess I see the appeal of cutting it out for Epic, but if all I cared about was bouncing from ride to ride I’d frankly save my miles and hotel money and just drive to Great Adventure. I enjoy the full package of storytelling thru immersive theming, atmosphere, etc AND rides. So with due respect I’m not giving up those Pandoran sunrises for Mario Kart.
While I take your point and think it’s a good one, I also think it falls apart (aside from incremental costs) when comparing Epic Universe to DHS. In terms of the attraction roster and themed design, they are quite comparable. This is not a typical Universal park when it comes to the atmosphere and immersion, even if it’s a grab bag of IPs.
I absolutely love AK ; I visited WDW only once in 2011 so before Avatar land. I thought it was absolutely magnificent – if it was not for Dinoland, it would be on par with Disney Sea. We spent two days there at the time (maybe not completely full days but you get the idea) and couldn’t get enough !
In comparison I thought Epcot Future world was very week as well as 2011 DHS.
I looked at a map recently to check where Dinoland was exactly as my memory is not that sharp. It is not that much in the way and I assume routes to go through a land to another will be clearly indicated ?
That said I absolutely love Indiana Jones and my son is a fan of Encanto so we will HAVE to visit again for sure !
Do we think Disney will actually make 2027? That seems really fast for Disney.
Honestly, I’m very skeptical. If they do make 2027, it’s probably Christmas 2027.
I could also see the land opening in phases. While I think that’s a terrible approach from a marketing perspective, it probably makes sense for DAK capacity. But even so, we’re talking the first phase debuting in late 2027, then the rest in 2028.
I still think there’s a chance Monstropolis is done first and the two flip-flop years.