My 17th WDW Trip – in 2017 too! – Day 1 (Animal Kingdom)
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August 14, 2017 at 4:54 pm #44373
So this will be in brief for now, just hitting the important points for folks trying to plan ahead for their upcoming trips.
Our only day in Animal Kingdom, here’s what I can tell you about crowd trends with the new Pandora now being a factor.
We got to the park just after rope drop on what should have been a highly recommended Animal Kingdom day. Most people should have gone elsewhere, and I think they did. We decided to check out Flight of Passage’s line and it was already up to an estimated 150 minute wait. The line ended at the bridge from Discovery Island to Pandora, but I suspect they had not really begun letting folks move forward into the interior queue. We checked wait times periodically since we didn’t FP it. Long story short we never got to experience it. The wait hit its peak about mid-day with a 225 minute wait. It hit a low point at around 8-9:30pm while many folks were going to see Rivers of Light, dipping down to 100 minutes. Of course after Rivers of Light, half those people left the park and the other half flooded Pandora. So bottom line, you’re going to wait at least 2 hours at Flight of Passage unless you have a FP. The Na’vi River Journey however hovered around a 60 minute wait. We did have a FP for this one. It’s not too bad, but I don’t foresee using a FP on it again. The animatronic of one of the Na’vi in the ride though is absolutely very well done! So life-like!
So after looking at the length of the FoP line, we commenced our actual plan. We went straight to the Safari. It was a 15 minute wait, and the walkway from Pandora Bridge to Discovery Island to Africa was very sparsely populated. So that should tell you what most people had in mind when they go there that morning.
Our plan in brief and it worked out pretty well:
Breakfast at Boma at 7:30am
Kilimanjaro Safari after rope drop (15 minute wait)
Gorilla Falls Trail
Festival of the Lion King first show (11:00am) Got in line at 10:30am with much success
Expedition Everest with FP+ (there was a 55 minute wait when we got there at 11:45)
Flights of Wonder (12:30 pm show) we got there at 12:15 with success at getting a good seat front and center.
It’s Tough to be a Bug! (around 1:15pm with a 10 minute wait) but the Hopper animatronic was broken :p
AFTERNOON BREAK
Returned to Animal Kingdom a little before 6:00pm
Na’vi River Journey with FP+ (There was a 55 minute posted wait when we got there at 6:10)
DINOSAUR at about 6:30 with a 20 minute posted wait
Quick bite to eat at Flame Tree BBQ
Kali River Rapids at 7:30 with a 20 minutes posted wait even in the heat
Rivers of Light (showtime 9:15pm, entered seating area at 8:25pm with FP+) More on this below…
Back to Pandora at night just to see the scenery – worth a walk around
Left Animal Kingdom at 10:30pmOn Rivers of Light – I don’t think a FP+ is absolutely needed for this. It could be better used elsewhere. I’m not sure when standby folks were permitted in, but I can say at 8:25 some of the best seats were still available (front and center, though most seats are at least satisfactory). At 8:45 best seats were gone, but still plenty of seating left. At 9:00, pretty much filled to capacity. The show had some dazzling effects for sure! But I think the story is better at any other nighttime spectacular in the other parks :| Still you’ve gotta see it if you haven’t!
August 14, 2017 at 5:07 pm #44374Sounds like a fun day!
I will say that I’ve done FoP two times now and waiting in that line it moves rather quickly. Of course I would recommend FP+ but seeing as how you couldn’t get one…
For now, on Na’vi River Journey, I would say you don’t want to wait in that queue for an hour. I’m hoping the hype leaves it and waits go down, mainly because the queue is NOT air-conditioned!
In Rivers of Light, there are two separate stadiums. One is FP+ and Dining Package only, the other is Standby only. Just to clear up as to why there were many seats left at 8:45.
Sounds like a fun filled day and can’t wait to hear the rest and add my thoughts!
August 14, 2017 at 5:08 pm #44375Also, what is it like not having Hopper work?
August 14, 2017 at 5:16 pm #44378It’s awkward without Hopper for sure! Flik is looking off to the side and you hear Hopper’s voice, but just a hole there
OH and yes, You do NOT want to wait in the Na’vi River Journey queue for an hour, especially in the summer. That place is hot an packed!
Lastly a Cast Member I know (whom I’ll call “Sherry” if I mention her again to protect her job and info) did inform us that Disney is disappointed that Pandora isn’t experiencing more crowds and LONGER lines than it is. It’s not quite as big a hit as they hoped. Of course if you know my opinions about Avatar and Disney’s decision to incorporate it into their parks, you know I’m not at all surprised
August 14, 2017 at 5:17 pm #44379And about the separate stadiums for Rivers of Light, that makes sense with the separation, but they both filled up almost equally quickly. Though I think the standby side is, understandably, larger.
August 14, 2017 at 5:23 pm #44380I can understand that Disney is disappointed, they unblocked CMs a month after opening on Tuesdays through Thursdays when before DAK was blocked until further notice.
No Hopper. Just a hole. Very interesting…
August 14, 2017 at 7:32 pm #44387Thanks for the report. This bears out everything I’ve read, FP FoP and rope drop Navi.
August 15, 2017 at 7:06 am #44410@RocketEar99 Wow sounds like an awesome day at Animal Kingdom. You got so much accomplished! I’m sorry that you didn’t get to ride FoP … bummer!
August 15, 2017 at 3:57 pm #44496I love this park! What a fun day you had! Sorry about no FoP. I know that was disappointing. I wonder if they have fixed Hopper by now? Seems that would get put on the “emergency -work on this every night until it is done” list.
August 16, 2017 at 5:13 am #44522Sounds like a day of fun!
August 16, 2017 at 2:24 pm #44643Great day at the AK! Always great to take on the Flame Tree for lunch!
August 17, 2017 at 5:54 pm #44781Sounds like a great day!!! We are going at the end of September. I was able to get a FofP FP for near the end of our trip. I then tacked on a Navi FP for an afternoon earlier in our trip. We saw Rivers of Light once and don’t need to see it again. It was visually beautiful, but the story was eh. We got there early, I had really high hopes for this show but had heard both ends of the spectrum on it being good or blah. I kept waiting for it to build but it was very anticlimactic to us.We love Flame Tree, a must eat on every trip! We have yet to see Flights of Wonder but have heard good things about it!
August 18, 2017 at 4:16 pm #44927So this will be in brief for now, just hitting the important points for folks trying to plan ahead for their upcoming trips.
Read “starbee”
Thanks Jet! This is all really useful information!
August 18, 2017 at 4:18 pm #44928Lastly a Cast Member I know (whom I’ll call “Sherry” if I mention her again to protect her job and info) did inform us that Disney is disappointed that Pandora isn’t experiencing more crowds and LONGER lines than it is. It’s not quite as big a hit as they hoped. Of course if you know my opinions about Avatar and Disney’s decision to incorporate it into their parks, you know I’m not at all surprised
I think the hype is insane! Can’t believe they’re disappointed. I think I’m with you, I don’t hate what they’ve done by any means, but if Disney asked for my opinion (ha ha) I would say Avatar’s a bad choice. Regardless of whether or not one thinks it belongs in Animal Kingdom, Avatar is not a popular enough franchise in my opinion.
August 18, 2017 at 4:29 pm #44932@starbee I’d have to agree with you on that one. As much as I love the land, the movie didn’t grab me. I don’t even remember any of the characters names! It was only popular for the ‘stunning visual effects’ which aren’t very stunning anymore.
But it does make a good land apparently. :|
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