Animal Kingdom is by far the largest Walt Disney World park, in terms of how much you'll walk, but all the attractions are at a distance from each other making your decision on where to go first in the morning an important one.
Animal Kingdom is one of my favorite Walt Disney World parks and it's often underrated when compared to the other theme parks. There is plenty to do at Animal Kingdom between all the main attractions like the animal safari and the Pandora rides plus all the extra hidden gems throughout the park like the animal trails. Our Animal Kingdom strategy is based on our personal experience of visiting Walt Disney World and navigating the parks with Lightning Lane Multi Pass and without it!
Keep reading for our full Animal Kingdom rope drop and morning strategy including how to ride Flight of Passage with minimal waits and whether we think Lightning Lane Multi Pass is worth it for Animal Kingdom.
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Animal Kingdom Strategy
Animal Kingdom is one of my favorite Walt Disney World theme parks and I always make time to visit this park more than once on our Walt Disney World trips. You can navigate the parks with ease using Lightning Lane Multi Pass or you can arrive early and do a bit of a run and dash to get everything done without Lightning Lane Multi Pass since this park focuses more on experiences than big-ticket attractions.
Before we get into the logistics of my Animal Kingdom strategy, it's helpful to start off with your morning to do list. Before you even arrive at the theme parks, there are experiences you can start booking!
Morning Animal Kingdom Checklist
Here are all the options that are available for guests to start booking via My Disney Experience app before the park opens. Not all of this is a necessity but some of it works along with our strategies below.
- Purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass at 7AM and make your first ride reservation
- I recommend Kilimanjaro Safaris in my strategy below
- Purchase Individual Lightning Lane for Flight of Passage at 7AM (Disney World guests only) or when you enter the park (off-site guests)
- Optional: see our strategy below to see how to ride without paying!
Now that you have that quick and easy morning to-do list on your radar, let's get into the logistics of the best Animal Kingdom strategy.
My Disney Experience App
The first thing you need to know before using my Animal Kingdom morning strategy is how to use the My Disney Experience app. This app is free to download and includes a map of each Walt Disney World theme park, posted wait times plus this is how you use mobile ordering and Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservations. This app is a must-have for any day at Walt Disney World.
In addition to downloading this app, make sure you have your Walt Disney World theme park reservation for Animal Kingdom completed for the day of your visit if you are coming before January 9th, 2024. After January 9th, theme park reservations will no longer be required.
Animal Kingdom Rope Drop
Rope drop is the term Walt Disney World fans use to describe when you arrive at the parks early enough that the ropes blocking off access to the rides are dropped at the beginning of the day. This is when all rides are walk ons so guests often prioritize their favorite or most popular rides to go to first at rope drop.
Planning your transportation to Animal Kingdom is key so that you can arrive early with our Animal Kingdom rope drop strategy. Ultimately, the goal is to get to the gate of each park about 30 to 45 minutes prior to park opening. To accomplish this you need to figure out which transportation you will use.
- Walt Disney World Resort Bus– I recommend lining up at your bus stop at your Disney World resort at least 90 minutes prior to the park's official opening time.
- Driving – you can drive yourself to the parks or use rideshare (read our guide to using Uber at Disney World) which some people prefer especially if they plan to park hop.
Animal Kingdom is one of the furthest parks away from the other theme parks and hotels (unless you are staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge) so this is something to keep in mind if you are planning on arriving for rope drop.
Animal Kingdom Strategy with Lightning Lane Multi Pass
If you decide to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Animal Kingdom, you can easily ride everything in the park with no waits and still have time to enjoy all the hidden gems and animal trails. Follow my Animal Kingdom morning strategy for the most efficient morning.
Guests staying at a Walt Disney World hotel can take advantage of Early Entry which allows access into the parks 30 minutes prior to opening. Since so many guests visiting Disney World stay on-site, you can expect a large number of people to turn up at Early Entry but still significantly less than later in the day due to the earlier morning time. For Animal Kingdom, we have two different Lightning Lane Multi Pass Animal Kingdom strategies for Early Entry vs. those without.
Rope Drop Strategy for Early Entry
- Reserve Kilimanjaro Safaris with Lightning Lane Multi Pass at 7AM
- All guests can purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass and make their first ride reservation at 7AM
- Rope Drop: Flight of Passage
- Ride Naʻvi River Journey
- Ride Kilimanjaro Safaris with Lightning Lane Multi Pass
- I recommend riding the safari early in the morning because this is when the animals are most active which is why I put this so early in our Animal Kingdom strategy
- Reserve Expedition Everest with Lightning Lane Multi Pass
- Ride Kali River Rapids
- Ride Expedition Everest with Lightning Lane Multi Pass
- Reserve showtime for Festival of the Lion King with Lightning Lane Multi Pass
- Ride DINOSAUR
- If the wait for DINOSAUR is beyond 20 minutes by this point, you can grab a Lightning Lane Multi Pass time for it instead of Lion King.
- Ride TriceraTop Spin
- This is a skip for me but if you have small kids, they will enjoy this.
- Look at the rest of the Lightning Lane Multi Pass shows/character meets offered and prioritize which you want to experience with the rest of your afternoon. I recommend at least prioritizing Festival of the Lion King first since this is easily the most popular show.
Since you did not need to use Lightning Lane Multi Pass to ride Naʻvi River Journey or DINOSAUR, you could book a second ride for this attraction for the afternoon if you wish! Since there are so few attractions at Animal Kingdom, having Lightning Lane Multi Pass for this park makes touring a breeze. The biggest challenge is getting on Flight of Passage for rope drop but once you have achieved that, the rest of the day can really go at your own pace.
Keep in mind you should NOT rope drop Flight of Passage if you are not lined up at the front gates for Early Entry at least 30 minutes prior to park opening. Otherwise, you will be at the back of the crowd and miss out on the shorter wait time.
Rope Drop Strategy Without Early Entry
If you do not have Early Entry, then I do not recommend going to Pandora when you arrive. At this point, the land will have been open to guests for 30 minutes meaning both those attractions will have long waits. Instead, we follow a different route.
- Reserve Naʻvi River Journey with Lightning Lane Multi Pass at 7AM
- All guests can purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass and make their first ride reservation at 7AM
- Rope Drop: Expedition Everest
- Ride Kilimanjaro Safaris
- I recommend riding the safari early in the morning because this is when the animals are most active which is why I put this so early in our Animal Kingdom strategy
- Ride Naʻvi River Journey with Lightning Lane Multi Pass
- Reserve DINOSAUR with Lightning Lane Multi Pass
- Ride Kali River Rapids
- Ride DINOSAUR with Lightning Lane Multi Pass
- Ride TriceraTop Spin
- This is a skip for me but if you have small kids, they will enjoy this.
- Reserve showtime for Festival of the Lion King with Lightning Lane Multi Pass
- Look at the rest of the Lightning Lane Multi Pass shows/character meets offered and prioritize which you want to experience with the rest of your afternoon. I recommend at least prioritizing Festival of the Lion King first since this is easily the most popular show.
If you do not have Early Entry, you have two best options for experiencing Flight of Passage with a minimal wait:
- Purchase an Individual Lightning Lane reservation for Flight of Passage for sometime after 11AM so you can ride it when you're done with our morning plan.
- If you plan on doing all day at Animal Kingdom, save Flight of Passage for the evening as wait times will drop drastically. Plus you get the bonus of seeing The World of Pandora at night!
Lightning Lane Multi Pass Lightning Lanes- Animal Kingdom
For your reference, here are all the available attractions and character meets you can use Lightning Lane Multi Pass for to save time in Animal Kingdom.
- Festival of the Lion King
- DINOSAUR
- Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
- Feathered Friends in Flight!
- Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond!
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug!
- Kali River Rapids
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost
- Naʻvi River Journey
- The Animation Experience at Conservation Station
All of these attractions and shows are included with your Disney Lightning Lane Multi Pass purchase. You can reserve a Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservation once every two hours or once you've redeemed your Lightning Lane reservation.
Individual Lighting Lane- Animal Kingdom
- Avatar Pandora Flight of Passage
Lightning Lanes Individual Attractions service is an option for guests to purchase one-off access to the most popular Walt Disney World attractions on the same day of their visit. Price ranges from $8-$15 per person, per ride. Limit of two per day. I highly recommend you use it for Flight of Passage! This ride is easily the most popular in the park and always has a long line- even at park closing and opening.
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Animal Kingdom Strategy without Lightning Lane Multi Pass
You can easily get everything done at Animal Kingdom if you do not purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass but you will need to make sure you arrive early! Here are two different Animal Kingdom strategies for those with Early Entry and those without!
Rope Drop Strategy for Early Entry
- Rope Drop: Flight of Passage
- Ride Naʻvi River Journey
- Ride Kilimanjaro Safaris
- I recommend riding the safari early in the morning because this is when the animals are most active which is why I put this so early in our Animal Kingdom strategy
- Ride Kali River Rapids
- Ride Expedition Everest
- Ride DINOSAUR
- Ride TriceraTop Spin
- This is a skip for me but if you have small kids, they will enjoy this.
Look at the list of shows/character meets offered and prioritize which you want to experience with the rest of your afternoon. I recommend The Festival of the Lion King first since this is easily the best Animal Kingdom show! Plan on arriving early since you will not get first dibs seating without Lightning Lane Multi Pass but you still should have no problem getting a spot.
Rope Drop Strategy for Guests Without Early Entry
If you do not have Early Entry, then I do not recommend going to Pandora when you arrive. At this point, the land will have been open to guests for 30 minutes meaning both those attractions will have long waits. Instead, we follow a different route.
- Rope Drop: Expedition Everest
- Ride Kilimanjaro Safaris
- I recommend riding the safari early in the morning because this is when the animals are most active which is why I put this so early in our Animal Kingdom strategy
- Ride Kali River Rapids
- Ride DINOSAUR with Lightning Lane Multi Pass
- Ride TriceraTop Spin
- This is a skip for me but if you have small kids, they will enjoy this.
- Ride Naʻvi River Journey
- Ride Flight of Passage after lunch!
Plan on going to World of Pandora after you complete the rest of this list, maybe even grab lunch first! Everything goes straight to Pandora in the morning and once the crowds move on from the land, you will start to see wait times drop. You will be looking at a wait time of up to an hour for Flight of Passage but it will be far less in the afternoon vs the morning.
If you plan on doing all day at Animal Kingdom, save Flight of Passage for the evening as wait times will drop drastically. Plus you get the bonus of seeing The World of Pandora at night!
Do You Need Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Animal Kingdom?
I honestly wouldn't even say it's necessary to buy Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Animal Kingdom due to the smaller amount of rides and how spaced out the park is. As you can see even in our Animal Kingdom strategy with Lightning Lane Multi Pass, it was fairly short and simple. Lightning Lane Multi Pass will give you a more leisurely morning so if you prefer this pace, then by all means. Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Animal Kingdom will give you a fairly relaxing experience but I would not say it's necessary if you arrive early. And if you have Early Entry, you definitely do not need it at all!
If you have Early Entry as a guest of a Walt Disney World hotel, then you can easily get on Flight of Passage first thing in the morning and not need to purchase Individual Lightning Lane access. If you do not have Early Entry, it may be worth purchasing Individual Lightning Lane access for Flight of Passage and skipping Lightning Lane Multi Pass for the rest of the attractions. The cost balances out a bit then!
Animal Kingdom Beyond the Attractions
One of the things that makes Animal Kingdom so unique is the numerous experiences available beyond just classic rides. Since Animal Kingdom is home to thousands of different animals, there are plenty of opportunities to see these animals in various encounters in the park.
Animal Encounters- Animal Kingdom is full of animal encounters around the park. Just pull up the Disney My Experience App to find all these different animal exhibits as they are tucked away all over Animal Kingdom.
Walt Disney World Character Meet and Greets- There are some great options for character meet and greets including some you can access with Lightning Lane Multi Pass to skip the long line. One of my favorite Animal Kingdom characters is DiVine, she is painted green, covered in ivy, and walks around on stilts- very cool!
Walt Disney World Shows- There are a variety of shows, which we mention in our strategy above, that are perfect for incorporating in your afternoon. Festival of the Lion King is a must-see with other options including Feathered Friends in Flight!, Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond!, and It’s Tough to Be a Bug! There are also cool entertainment options like the Animation Experience where you can draw your own Disney character. This is just SO much to do at Animal Kingdom.
Nighttime Shows, Seasonal Entertainment- While Animal Kingdom does not have any large nighttime spectaculars that include fireworks, this would disturb the animals, the Tree of Life will feature nighttime projections and the World of Pandora will be lit up at night jus like in the films. If you are visiting during Disney World Halloween or Disney World Christmas, then there will be a great variety of special experiences to enjoy.
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My two not miss things at Animal Kingdom is the World of Pandora and the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride. There is so much to see and do at Animal Kingdom but definitely prioritize these two areas!
You can easily see all of Animal Kingdom in one day or even a half day if you are not interested in seeing the animal encounters.
Morning is the best time to go to Animal Kingdom so you can enjoy the rides with lower waits plus this park is known for being one of the hottest at Walt Disney World so mornings are much cooler.
Animals are most active at Animal Kingdom in the morning which is why I recommend doing Kilimanjaro Safaris in the morning!
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