Animal Kingdom, worth it or not?

We love Epcot and Magic Kingdom. Hollywood Studios was so-so, party because of the ages of our kids and partly because it just didn't have anywhere near as much stuff as MK or Epcot. We could easily stick to MK and Epcot for the rest of our stay, there is so much to see. I just don't want to skip Animal Kingdom if it is actually worth going to. Our kids are 0, almost 3, and 6.

TIA.

Ahem, '0' is nine months old!!!

Just saying...

Scully said:
Ahem, '0' is nine months old!!!
Just saying...

Under age one, which is the point. He ain't gonna be going on any rides where he can't sit on my lap, and is just as happy watching the buses pull up as he is watching the fireworks at Cinderella's Castle.

I think it's great for kids that age. It's a beautiful, spiritual park. Like a beautiful zoo. They'll love the safari. The Lion King and Nemo shows are both awesome. There's a huge play gym/climbing sort of thing and a dinosaur dig that my nephew would have been happy all day at from age 3-6 or so. Do safari first thing in the am. The character buffet there is pretty good as is Yak and yeti. For us, it's a 1/2 to a 3/4 day park especially if you are there at rope drop.

It's definitely my least favorite park (and I hate that there is a whole section of carnival games that you have to pay for--really Disney--I haven't paid enough?). I wouldn't skip anything in MK and Epcot for it. Having said that, I know people who love absolutely love it (sorry, that's not very helpful).

it's fairly easy to steer clear of the carnival games. The only ride near them isn't for little kids. (And this is coming from someone who has a niece that's a carnival game addict and can smell them a mile away. You come in near the dinosaur and stick way right where you'll come to bone dig and climbing area.

It's my least favorite park too but it is nice for little kids. Now that mine are all older we skip it or possibly FP the safari and Everest and then leave. the safari is a must do at least once.

We went for one day and enjoyed it when our kids were 5 and 9. But we went to MK and Epcot multiple times on that trip.

Thank you for the heads up on the carnival games. Is the Dino dig included, or is that an extra charge too? That sounds like something the kids would love.

We had planned on going to bed early for a early AM, but between a bout of food poisoning and then our magic bands were accidentally reset by the front desk and we were locked out of our room (THREE separate trips to the concierge to fix!!!) we are only just gettin to bed now so I don't know how early we will be getting up in the morning.

ETA: Everything else has been awesome, and the staff at the resort and the parks really are on top of things and very helpful and pleasant to deal with. It was just tonight that we had a huge SNAFU with the wrist bands.

I didn't realize you were there now. Can you get a FP for the safari? If so, take it and do the bone dig first. If you have a safari FP, no need to rush. No, no extra charge for the bone dig. You'll rarely find that at Disney- the carnival games are the exception. Complain tomorrow about rhe repeated trips to the front desk and they will surely give you a small reaort credit for your trouble.

do you know it's still food and wine festival through Sunday at Epcot? The food booths are amazing! Do it early in the day or it will get very crowded Sat & Sunday with many drunk locals (and tourists). The kids can keep entertained getting a stamp at each country on a little Duffy bear thing they color

for little kids, Hollywoid studios is so so unless they love Star Wars. The Star Tours ride and Toy Story Mania are awesome and worth the trip. If the 6 yr old is into Star Wars, you can sign up at Sounds Dangerous for him to have a light saber duel with Daryh Vadar which my little 6 yr old nephew is still talking about 4 months later. It's definitely a 1/2 day park at those ages.

We love animal kingdom - its our favorite park at disney. The safari is great if you can do it early as more animals are up. We saw lions when we went last week during the extra magic hours. There also are the wilderness explorer badges/stations where staffers teach kids short lessons about animals or cultures. Its a little cheesy but provides plenty of activities to keep the kids interested.

There is also a great playground by the entrance to dinoland. One side has cool slides (plus fans to keep it cool) while the other side is a big shaded dino dig (sandbox).

Also, if you have had magicband hell, talk to the concierge and ask for fastpasses. We had those problems last time and they can give you a bunch of anytime/anywhere fastpasses to make up for it.

(Also, be sure to leverage the ride swap option where ever possible. When you get on a ride that has height restrictions, you can ask the staff at the gate for a "rider swap pass" so your spouse who is watching the smaller ones can ride again with your older child. They then give you a fastpass usable anytime in the next 30 days. My daughter loved expedition everest so she was able to ride 3 times (once waiting on short normal line, once with fastpass, once with rider swap pass) in under 30 minutes. )

No one has mentioned the petting zoo and the train. Was planning to do them next week with our 8 year old grandson - thoughts?

By the way - we did not like lunch at the Tusker House the last time we were there. The Characters were fun, but the food was not enjoyable. I hear the breakfast is better. We have lunch reservations at Yak & Yeti this time.

It can be fun but it takes some time to do. We skipped it this time.

soorlady said:
No one has mentioned the petting zoo and the train. Was planning to do them next week with our 8 year old grandson - thoughts?

soorlady said:
No one has mentioned the petting zoo and the train. Was planning to do them next week with our 8 year old grandson - thoughts?

It takes a lot of time because you have to get on the tram. But if you have a leisurely day there, it's really cute. They have brushes around so instead of local petting zoos where people gorge them with for-a-fee food, here you use the brushes to brush their fur which my nephew used to adore. There's also a hospital inside where you can sometimes watch animal surgeries ( morning only) and I remember my nephew being fascinated with that. I think compared to other character buffets, Tusker house is one of the better ones but it's not fine dining for sure. We really liked Yak and Yeti.

My kids loved the train. They didn't want to get off, they wanted to just ride it back and forth Watching a group of kids (mine included) chase down goats while carrying brushes was hilarious. At one point there were about 8 kids brushing one goat. And yes, they do have a roped off area so the goats and sheep can duck out if they want some kid free time.

We tried to do fast pass for the safari ride, the only ride I absolutely wanted to on, but it wouldn't allow us to add the younger two, the app said they needed to purchase park admission. In previous days we had no issues with them and fast pass. After yet another trip to concierge they explained they didn't need fast pass so long as we stayed together as a party. The woman then looked and said the safari was already booked for the entire day. I was a little sad because we weren't planning on coming back to Animal Kingdom another day. Since this was our fourth trip to concierge in two days she then said not to worry, that she would get us on anyway. She wrote out a slip and said it was good for anytime today. It was actually better than a fast pass since we didn't have to arrive during a certain time frame.

I can see how older kids (pre-teens to teens) might not find Animal Kingdom that exciting if they're not into animals, but for little kids it was worth going to.

Someone said that a lot of the details are the things you don't notice until they're not done. I have to say this is true. After paying attention I noticed that as crowded as the parks can be I have not once walked into a restroom stall where there was no paper. Of all the parks and resorts we have visited I have only seen ONE restroom stall that was marked as out of order. Today is some sort of marathon and normal weekend visitors, yet the restrooms are still spotless. I hadn't paid attention at first, but after thinking about it, that is one of those details that most people don't notice unless they end up in a stall with no paper, or it is dirty, or out of order. Attention to detail is something they excel at.