It’s Long Overdue for Disney World To Fix Animal Kingdom’s Big Problem

Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World is easily the most underrated park at the resort. I am constantly advocating for guests to spend more time at this beautiful park.

Animal Kingdom's popularity will soar once Disney completes Tropical Americas especially since this new land includes Indiana Jones and Encanto experiences that will be a hit with guests. Perhaps this is when we'll see Disney rectify one of their biggest fails when it comes to Animal Kingdom.

One of the most frustrating things about Animal Kingdom are the short operating hours which often make it impossible to be inside the theme park at night. And this is a huge fail considering the special experiences that exist after dark in Animal Kingdom!

Animal Kingdom's Big Problem

The operating hours for Animal Kingdom are the shortest out of all the Walt Disney World theme parks. It is rare that Animal Kingdom is open past 6PM which is often the latest time the park ever stays open. Even if we look ahead to Christmas week, the busiest week of the year at Walt Disney World, the hours for Animal Kingdom currently do not go past 6PM.

The usual operating hours for Animal Kingdom are 8AM to 6PM with some days the park closing as early as 5PM.

No wonder so many guests refer to Animal Kingdom as a half day park when the operating hours don't even extend for an entire day!

Guests Miss Out on Pandora at Night

The biggest drawback to not experiencing Animal Kingdom at night is that many guests never get to see the beauty of Pandora- The World of Avatar at night.

The entire land comes alive at night to mimic the beauty of the glowing land in the Pandora films. The plants, the ground, and the scenery comes alive with a  bioluminescent glow. But if Animal Kingdom is never open past sunset then this beautiful sight goes unseen!

Tree of Life Lightning Ceremonies are Limited

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Animal Kingdom's main centerpiece is The Tree of Life and it comes alive at night with the special show called the Tree of Life Awakenings. During the holiday season, the show is altered to show winter scenes and animals.

Since this show only takes place after dark, if the park closes before the sun goes down then no one gets to experience this projection show.

No Expedition Everest Night Experience

One of my favorite things about theme parks at night are experiencing the outdoor rides in the dark. This is even better when those rides are a rollercoaster.

Expedition Everest is one of my favorite rollercoasters at Walt Disney World and experiencing this ride in the dark makes it even more thrilling as you plummet down that 80-foot drop! It makes the entire experience more intense and makes for a great ride photo. When the park closes before sundown, no one can experience this fun twist on one of the best roller coaster's at Walt Disney World.

Bring Back Nighttime Entertainment to Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom didn't always have limited hours and may be one of the many casualties of policy changes due to COVID-19. Rivers of Light was the nighttime spectacular that took place at Animal Kingdom on the Discovery River until March 2020.

When the parks reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, Rivers of Light did not return and the operating hours for Animal Kingdom were shortened. We have not seen a nighttime show since. If Disney brought back nighttime entertainment to Animal Kingdom, this park would go from feeling like a half day park for many guests to a full day experience!

This would be the best solution to extending the hours at Animal Kingdom. Nighttime entertainment would bring more guests to the park and encourage them to stay later which would justify the longer hours. Perhaps this will be something we see return when Tropical Americas opens and we see a shift in demand for this long underrated Disney World park.

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