Animal Kingdom Visit

Yesterday morning, we drove over to Animal Kingdom. We were not staying on Disney property so we were not eligible for the extra 1/2 hour.

A few minutes after we went through the turnstiles, we were allowed to advance into the park at 7:30 am. We went directly to the Safari, only to be told that the Safari would not begin tours until 8:15 in the morning. People were still entering the standby line even though their wait time would be at least 45 minutes. The gorilla trail was closed. The Maharajah Jungle trek was closed. It's Tough to Be A Bug was down. Avatar was already showing a 45 minute wait before the park opened to everyone. Strangely, Navi River showed a 5 minute standby time. We walked over to Navi passing by the Avatar line that was growing ever longer. By time we walked over there, the standby time was 10 minutes and moved quickly. The line for this ride increased quite a lot within a hour of so of the time we rode it.

After that ride, and with many things still not open, we stopped into Starbucks for breakfast which we ate at a table just outside. At this point, the line for the safari extended beyond where we were seated and back towards Pizzafari. Folks who were lining up were being told the wait time was 60 minutes but I suspect it was likely more than than.

We walked the Discovery Island Trails and then went to see the gorillas. I was surprised by the number of people walking this trail - there usually aren't so many. We went to the 10 am Festival of the Lion King show (getting on line 20-25 minutes before the start of the show) which was filled to capacity. We took the train over to Rafiki's (I wish they would publish when they are going to have an animal procedure as it is rare that we ever find one occurring when we happen to go over there).

It's Tough to Be a Bug did finally open an hour or two after the official park opening. The line for the safari never decreased while we were there - ranging from about 60 minutes to about 75 or more and the wait times for the other rides also went up quickly during the course of the morning.

By time we approached mid day, there were so many people in the main walkways that it was difficult to traverse so we left the park.

Really disappointed to hear all this - how do you open a park and not have the attractions open? Where is any value for the money? There is such a demand for the theme parks post covid but if corporate can't see that they are going to send many guests away angry having experiences like this, they have to be smoking something. I keep hearing this sort of story over and over lately. Look, I get that it's hard to find employees etc right now, but if you don't have enough folks to operate the park and are still demanding premium prices, then that's a HUGE problem.

I thought the point of park reservations was so none of the parks were overfull.!!! I too hate it when it's difficult to get around the parks comfortably.

My family was there the same day. It was all quite discouraging. We did walk right back to the Safari and waited for the 8:15 opening.(granddaughter’s favorite) but it made the “early entry” benefit worthless. The park was packed by 11:00. We left after the first Kite Show ended in a disaster, the King Louie kite ripped as they were pulling from the starting dock!

All in all, this was not a good day for the AK

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Originally Posted by Jeff

We did walk right back to the Safari and waited for the 8:15 opening.(granddaughter’s favorite) but it made the “early entry” benefit worthless.

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Sorry it wasn't a good day for you. We've done the early entry a few times but haven't found a lot of value in it. By time you get to the first ride of the day, the 30 minute allotment of time is already halfway done. The last time we went for early entry, we went directly to Peter Pan at the Magic Kingdom (one of the listed early entry rides) but it was not operating and they didn't allow us to remain in line to wait for them to fix the problem. We then waited for the rope drop to the rest of the park - about 15 minutes later - in order to go to The Haunted Mansion - only to be told the Haunted Mansion was not currently operating and to try again later.

As far as finding out about the vet procedures at Rafiki's, I do agree with you. However, I've found that sometimes, if you ask nicely, the CMs at the sign for the train to Rafiki's will call up there on their walkie-talkies to find out.