Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom is one of four theme parks in Walt Disney World located in Orlando, Florida. When you enter the park you walk through the Oasis to Discovery Island which has the Tree of Life and serves as the central hub of the park. From Discovery Island you can visit different themed lands: Pandora- the World of Avatar, Africa, Asia, and DinoLand U.S.A. If you are taking your child to Disney World for the first time I highly recommend visiting this park first. During my son's first visit we went straight to the Magic Kingdom and he found it too overwhelming. The next day we went to Animal Kingdom and he had a much better day. The park is a little smaller, several of the attractions are outside, and there are more stage shows. This was a little more relaxing experience and a better way to introduce him to the parks.

Model Itinerary

Getting Started:
If you want to get the most out of your day, you should plan on lining up at the front gate 30 minutes before the park opens. Once the park opens go get in line for the Na'vi River Journey. This popular ride will form long lines later in the day. Then check the app and look for other rides with short wait times.

FastPass+:
Using the Disney FastPass+ system takes some advanced planning but can save you several hours in the park waiting in long lines. The FastPass system categorizes rides into Tier 1 and Tier 2 and you are only allowed to reserve 1 Tier 1 ride in advance. At this time, Avatar Flight of Passage will have a several hour wait even first thing in the morning, so I recommend getting this for your Tier 1 FastPass. If you can't get the FastPass arrive 30 minutes early and do Flight of Passage first and then River Journey. For the other 2 FastPasses I would reserve Kilimanjaro Safari around 10 am while the animals are more active and then Expedition Everest or Dinosaur.

Tips:
One of our favorite time saving tips is to use the Single Rider Line. At Animal Kingdom, there is a Single Rider line at Expedition Everest. Wait times in this line can be much shorter than the stand-by line and you can save your Fastpass for other rides. People from the single rider line are used by Disney Cast Members to fill empty seats on the ride. Please note that your party will be seperated on the ride, but you can wait in line together and can meet back up again at the end of the ride. We've found that if we ride Everest in the morning we can ride multiple times with a very short wait.

Sometime during your day, you need to make time for the Festival of the Lion King show. This unique indoor stage show is one of my favorites at Disney.

Restaurants:
One of our favorite things to do is to take a lunch break around 1:30 and sit down for a nice meal. I recommend making reservations ahead of time for a table service restaurant instead of trying to deal with the crowds and lines at the counter service restaurants. My favorite place to eat in the park is the Rainforest Cafe at Disney's Animal Kingdom. If you would like to try some African cuisine, go to nearby Animal Kingdom Lodge and try the buffet at Boma-Flavors of Africa.

Nighttime Shows:
The park has recently added the nighttime show Rivers of Light. This show will have limited seating so it is recommended that you use your Fastpass+ or get reserved tickets as part of a dining package. You can also see the Tree of Life Awakenings either before or after the River of Light show.