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 have been replaced by DAK diehards or defenders.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!
I feel like instead of bringing in more IP and trying to make it work within the AK structure, what they should do is “lean in” to the animal park. The original thinking of AK was right – animals are naturally very interesting to people of all ages. Kilimanjaro Safaris is still one of the best theme park attractions, ever. I’ve never experienced a ride like that anywhere, even in fancy zoos, and I absolutely want more of it. I wish they would make more animal-focused attractions (actual attractions, not just “walk through and see nice animals”). They can make it “not a zoo” in the best possible way. I am cautiously optimistic for Tropical Americas.
As a separate thought, I do wonder if the “thematic integrity” has hurt AK over the years, just like how the strict “timeline” has hampered SW:GE a bit. I know all about the “no pants” rule, but I think the general audience thinks “animals” and thinks “Zootopia.” Zootopia would’ve been a huge draw for AK if it were its own land. I know the designs of the land would have been stark and distinct from other lands in AK, but frankly, we have that contrast within other parks too, and I trust that Imagineering can do a good job of making the lands flow together. Or, why not bring Bistro Chez Remy to AK? Or build a Lion King dark ride? (I’m sure the AK purists will come after me… yikes!)
P.S. Aren’t they bringing Bluey to AK soon? Hopefully that should be a bit of a draw for families with younger kids as a temporary stop-gap.
With the Rafiki’s Planet Watch area closed for the next months is “obviously yes”. Without that, what’s the point? That was the cherry on the top for our trip this March.
It’s really kind of baffling to me that they didn’t do all of that *before* closing Dinoland USA. I know Rafiki’s Planet Watch isn’t a huge draw, but to have yet another part of the park closed so soon after the last one makes it a tougher sell.
This closing is kind of the nail in the coffin for our trip planned in late April. We are now thinking of planning a second day in another park instead of AK during our trip. We just don’t understand why Disney would close this now.
OMG same for us in April, and I thought we’d be the only ones this flummoxed and disappointed by missing out on it! Rafiki’s Planet Watch crew rise!
I would never skip AK! I’m on the west coast so if I’m making the trip all the way out there you bet I’m going to AK! I agree with what most posters have said here, it is the most beautifully themed park. I could get lost in its beauty. I love rides and I love the rides there but it’s so much more than that. We have literally spent hours at the Tiger enclosure and almost as many in the gorilla trek. It’s the perfect park to go to until they close and then go have a really nice dinner somewhere, our choice is usually Sanaa. It’s just so relaxing. It’s not rushed and I still feel like I might have missed
something.
My only wish is that they would have a nighttime show as was mentioned and at some point open up the river, have a boat cruise something. it’s so beautiful and such a huge amount of wasted space that could be used for an attraction even if it’s a mellow attraction!
Much to my husband’s dismay, we are not skipping AK in two weeks. We will be going on our little boy’s 4th birthday! He LOVES Dinosaurs and he LOVES jungle animals, so skipping it wasn’t an option. We aren’t going to do Avatar (another pout from the hubby lol) but there will be plenty to do! Safari, gorilla trail, tiger trail, the boneyard, a couple of the shows and I think he’s big enough to try to get Wilderness Explorer badges. And of course, meeting Chip and Dale as dinos! We’re planning to rope drop at 7:30am, leave mid-afternoon for a nap/pool time, then do dinner at T-Rex in Disney Springs. Hopefully a perfect day for my dino-obsessed boy!
Love DAK! We were just there last week and spent the entire day. Still didn’t get to see everything we wanted. My family loves rides just like most people who come to WDW, but AK is a different park all together. It is the most beautiful and themed park with chill and laidback vibes. It is so underrated. I couldn’t imagine zipping through this park only doing rides when it offers so much more. My girls 8 and 6 are obsessed with AK (along with MK). It is the first park they want to visit when we stay at WDW. As a family, we will continue to our visits when we come and can’t wait to see what the future holds in 2027!
We haven’t been to AK since late Aug 2019. The real feel temp that day was 115, so I assumed that’s why I didn’t like the park. Our previous visit was in good weather, they still had a parade, and it was still a half day park. Fast forward to early March of this year. We went because we go to the other parks much more often. I won’t go back to AK for a while. Everything is so spread out, especially with having to zig zag around based on LL and show times. The signage is awful. I know it fits the theming, but I couldn’t find anything. Even with the app map, I missed the otters. When I found a cast member to ask for directions, we had to back track even more, and I was just done. We had already walked 8 miles looking at a bunch of jungle.
While I can understand the problems with the first experience — Heat index above 95F is pretty bad unless you’re really heat-adapted, our experience with AK is a bit different. We know the ride count is low but we LOVE hitting the Safari twice with rope-drop, and perhaps a bit later in the day to see if someone else has come out to play, or who prefers sun to cooler temperatures. We space out the rides, stroll a bit (my wife’s on an ECV, so her version of ‘stroll’ is likely faster than a sprinter’s!) and ALWAYS make an afternoon stop at Nomad Lounge. A trip out to Rafiki’s world, and a look at what the vets are doing in the clinic. A quick stop at the petting area, even though our kids are now adults. Depending on how long we’re in the Bubble, we might make it a 3/4 day, or all day and we just might have dinner at the Lodge (we usually stay at Shades of Green). When we’re there in the summertime, with later closings, we do, you guessed it, the Safari as late as possible, again to see who’s out looking for guests to see ’em. What we’d love is some form of good night time show, or visits to the Savannah at night, with their night-vision experience. I’m probably going to pay for that this next trip.
One thing to note: We’ve never found the signage to be a problem, but it also helps that I’ve pretty well got that park’s geography committed to memory. I can lead us to any attraction in the park as long as it’s not new since our last visit.
We are out-of-state APs who still find ourselves in the parks embarrassingly often. My 11 year old daughter’s favorite park is AK, and this has been the case for several years. We just returned from a 2.5 day trip over Easter weekend, and I always fill out whatever surveys WDW sends. This time, the only questions we got were related to our day at AK – which attractions did we do, what entertainement did we watch, asking us to rate all the offerings (not just those we did) in terms of whether they were a personal favorite, iconic, boring, etc. There were also a number of questions about Rafiki’s Planet Watch, the Conservation Station, etc. (eek!).
I love Animal Kingdom!! The atmosphere is what I love. Also you can get great merchandise only there. It’s a great time to go for the day and have time to go to Disney Springs in the evening or just be by your resort pool and relax for the next day.
My family went for a half day closer to closing time at Spring break (end of March) at Animal Kingdom this year. It was not that crowded in the evening. But it is a lot of walking to get to between rides. Besides the safari ride, which boasted lots of animals- the animal exhibits like the jungle trek hardly had any animals present. I remember it being better in 2021, so that was disappointing. My local zoo had better exhibits for animals outside the safari experience. So since my family has teenagers and is heavily ride focused- it was good for a 1/3 of the day for rides (less than 1/2 day spent there). We hope to go to Epic Universe for Spring break 2026.
I was interested in hearing your thoughts on this subject, but I had to stop reading. It was taking too long to get to the point! Tom, I’ve been reading your articles for years because I have found them helpful. Lately, however, I find you’ve just been too wordy and too repetitive. Your articles are getting longer and longer. The “recaps” leading off most articles are just killing me. I’ll stick around for awhile, but I’ll have to stop if this continues. I honestly just don’t have the time to wade through so much to find the objective. Please consider becoming a bit more concise…like the old days!
DAK is my absolute favorite park, but I am a huge animal nerd with an interest in immersive theme park engineering whose favorite movie franchise is Avatar, so it’s basically made for me.
Whew, I’m not sure if I’ll be visiting. Honestly, it’s not the lack of rides that does it for me because we love the Safari and Pandora. It’s the bus ride over. Last time we went the shuttle bus was not only over crowded and the driver didn’t stop people from cramming in, people weren’t giving up seats for elderly passengers and my late 70s mother got stepped on and hurt. Being the farthest park out and the bus you’ll be spending a lot of time in, it’s not worth it imo.
Tom, I think you were quite kind to label the re-imagineering of part of Epcot as “half-baked.” It was “fully” baked. What a waste.
I wish all of the WDW parks would stay open later. Last November we had the opportunity to stay after dark at Animal Kingdom and thoroughly enjoyed just walking around. Both AK and HS are in need of more attractions. But when it takes Iger’s team 3 to 5 years to build one ride or a “land” with 2 rides, I’m not optimistic of them turning this situation around until he’s gone. What a shame walking by the unused AK Rivers of Light Pavilion. That was a niche show to watch.
My family, especially my wife, loves the Safari. Flight of Passage is a fantastic attraction.
And yes, it is a well themed park just fantastic to walk around.
Also has some of the better in-park dining: Tiffins is far better than Brown Derby or Le Cellier, the other in-park traditional signature options. Nomad lounge is fantastic, Satu’li Canteen is some of the best in-park quick service. Yak and Yeti is fun, an better than most of the ethnic dining at Epcot.
But it really is a struggle to want to spend more than 2-4 hours in the park. Largely depends on ages, and whether you’ve done the park before.
Expedition Everest is great if you don’t have young kids and you like thrills. I’m not a big thrill seeker, so it’s skippable for me.
Na’vi River Journey — worth doing 1 time, but not worth the line. Completely skippable on repeat visits.
Dinosaur has outlived its appeal. Sure, it’s still worth doing if it’s your first trip to Animal Kingdom. But no problem missing it on repeat.
And that goes for the shows too — Festival of the Lion King is totally worth seeing — but not more than once every few years.
I guess that’s a lot of the problem with DAK — I want to ride Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain and Toy Story Mania and Tower of Terror and Test Track and Soarin almost every time I enter their parks. Animal Kingdom has a lot of, “oh.. I’ve done that before… I don’t need to do it again.”
I’ve always liked Animal Kingdom but it took me a while to fully appreciate it. It is now my favorite park and the one I come out of each time with the greatest feeling at night. To me the strongest and most cohesive theming in all of Disney. It’s hard to explain what makes it so good. For those looking for ride after ride and ever more thrill, it probably won’t appeal. You have to be able to slow down and soak up the theming to appreciate it. That’s a lot to ask of guests that are saving up for a rare trip and trying to get as much done as possible – “to get a money’s worth” out of a very expensive trip. Not trying to convert anyone – there are different parks for different tastes. It’s just been surprising to me how I’m getting bored with many theme parks while AK keeps growing on me.
Andy, I completely agree!
I agree with the point that AK is both the best purely themed park at WDW, and the park with the least to do. Always a tough call for us as pretty regular guests at WDW. If we’re on hopper passes we squeeze it in as a late afternoon hop. If not we skip it.
Having been in AK last December, we stayed until close and experiencing the park after dark is pretty magical. I cannot understand why they don’t have more nighttime hours. Maybe that would draw more guests. Is it an animal maintenance thing?
Also, am I the only one who thinks AK always feels hotter and more humid than any other park? Power of suggestion perhaps?
“Also, am I the only one who thinks AK always feels hotter and more humid than any other park?”
Epic Universe says “hold my beer” to this comment. 😉
I’ll likely visit AK over the next two years if I’m doing a solo or adults only trip but likely won’t visit if my grandchildren (ages 4 and 6 currently) are along. As others have said, not enough for them to do in this park and they are both huge fans of MK and DHS. One overlooked area of AK not mentioned in this article is Rafiki’s Planet Watch. I did not go there for literally years, even when I was visitingAK. Finally went with my grown daughter and was lucky enough to happen on a vet procedure being done in the Conservation Station area, which was fascinating. Then last year went with a friend who wanted to do the Animation Experience, which I never would do when offered at DHS because I can’t draw At.All. And was surprised to discover that yeah, I could actually create something that looked like a Disney character. Definitely worth checking out. And on second thought, maybe the Affection Section may be something my grandkids would like, even though they have petting zoos at home.
We do it for the food. Tuskerhouse, nuff said.
Tusker House is awesome, but I’d highly recommend Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge for a meal that’s very similar–but better (and doesn’t require admission).
If you are a family that loves animals (like mine) then AK is a great park. If you and your family do not love animals then not so much, it really is that simple.
I think you can make an argument that the Safari is the top attraction at WDW for the fact it is different every time. What animals will be out and about, how active will they be, how close will they get to the ride vehicle? It changes every time, even in the same day. We have seen animals eating, sleeping, running, lying down in the middle of the road, and doing what comes naturally when you put a boy and a girl together and it is never the same twice.
I went on the Kilimanjaro Safari at night once & a frolicking antelope slid right under the vehicle & got stuck. So the driver had to pause for several minutes while the keepers came out & freed the poor animal. It ended up being okay & was reunited with some friends or relatives.