Top 10 Time-Saving Hacks We Utilize Every Animal Kingdom Trip

Animal Kingdom is a beautiful theme park with incredible shows, restaurants, animals, and of course, attractions. Whenever I hear anyone claim Animal Kingdom can be done in half a day, they clearly don't consider all the park has to offer!

Between two Broadway-level shows, animal trails, restaurants, character meet and greets, an animation academy, and attractions, it can actually be difficult to do it all in one day! However, as frequent visitors to Animal Kingdom, we have put together a list of our top hacks to save time and get the most out of your day at Animal Kingdom.

If you're planning a trip to Animal Kingdom, be sure to read our top 10 time-saving hacks we utilize on every Animal Kingdom trip!

1. Stay at a Nearby Disney World Resort

One of the best ways to save time during any Disney World vacation is to stay at a Disney resort. All Disney resort guests will have access to Extra Morning Hours, meaning they can enter any Disney World theme park 30 minutes before it opens. For guests staying at a deluxe Disney resort, such as the nearby Animal Kingdom Lodge, they may also be able to enjoy Extended Evening Theme Park Hours, which take place on select nights and typically last for two hours after the park is closed. In addition to this amazing perk, all Disney resorts offer free transportation throughout Disney World property and a guaranteed magical place to stay during your vacation!

If you plan on visiting Animal Kingdom, one thing to consider is that the park is located pretty far from most of the other theme parks and resorts throughout Disney World. Therefore, we would recommend staying at one of the resorts closer to the park in order to save some travel time. There are value, moderate, and deluxe resort options that are located near Animal Kingdom including:

• Value: All Star Movies, All Star Sports, and All Star Music
• Moderate: Coronado Springs Resort
• Deluxe: Animal Kingdom Lodge

If you plan on taking a Disney bus from your resort to Animal Kingdom, guests of these resorts will have a much faster journey than other resort guests.

2. Consider Taking an Uber to Animal Kingdom

If you want to guarantee an early arrival at Animal Kingdom to rope drop popular attractions, you should consider taking an Uber instead of a Disney bus. Even if you wake up early, it is hard to predict when you will catch the bus and arrive at Animal Kingdom. Therefore, we often recommend taking an Uber or other rideshare vehicle for convenience and to save time. You can always take the Disney bus back to resort at the end of the day when it won't be as stressful.

We recommend taking an Uber especially if you are staying at a resort further away from Animal Kingdom. It's typically a 15 minute drive from most areas of Disney World, and therefore it can be risky to rely on Disney's transportation.

3. Rope Drop Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey

Speaking of rope drop, we highly recommend using this strategy for Avatar Flight of Passage! This incredible attraction allows guests to feel what it's like to ride on the back of a banshee and experience breathtaking views of Pandora. It has been Animal Kingdom's most popular attraction since it opened in 2017, and usually has a wait time of at least an hour throughout the day. Flight of Passage is one of my favorite rides at Disney World and is a must do for any visit.

If you take our advice on staying at a Disney World resort, you will be able to get in line early due to the Extra Morning Hours. However, we recommend getting to Animal Kingdom 30 minutes before Extra Morning Hours start (so technically, one hour before park opens) to get a good spot in line. Many other Disney resort guests will be in line with you, and it can get long pretty quickly. As long as you are there on time you should have no issues getting onto this attraction quickly enough to also walk over to Na'vi River Journey after Flight of Passage with little wait. Na'vi River Journey is a beautiful boat ride through Pandora with an amazing life-size animatronic at the end. Since it's not as popular as Flight of Passage, it should be a short wait time even after you ride Flight of Passage.

READ MORE – Disney World's Flight of Passage – What Should I Be Afraid Of?

4. Use Lightning Lane Multi Pass on Popular Attractions

In addition to the rope drop strategy, purchasing Individual Lightning Lane Multi Pass is always a great way to save time at Animal Kingdom. Besides the Avatar attractions, the most popular rides at Animal Kingdom include Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest. You can also make a Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservation for Festival of the Lion King, which is an incredible 40-minute long performance with songs, pageantry, and puppetry celebrating The Lion King movie. This show has been compared to a Broadway level performance and I absolutely recommend seeing this show that is performed once per hour between 10 AM and 4 PM. The lines to get into the Festival of the Lion King can get long, however you can bypass a lot of other guests by making a Lightning Lane reservation.

Guests staying at a Walt Disney World resort hotel can book their Lightning Lane passes up to seven days in advance for their entire stay of up to 14 days. Guests with date-based theme park tickets (which require the Guest to choose a start date at the time of purchase) can purchase 3 days before the first day of their ticket, for the total number of valid admission days on their ticket. All other guests and annual passholders can purchase and select Lightning Lane reservations three days before their park visit.

Another important note is that Avatar Flight of Passage requires what is called a Lightning Lane Single Pass. These passes can be purchased on the same days as the Multi Passes but are an extra cost, with a maximum number of two Single Passes per day. If you are not able to rope drop Flight of Passage, the Lightning Lane Single Pass is a great option to save time and still experience the attraction.

READ MORE – Disney World Lightning Multi Pass 2024 – How to Book Advance Ride Reservations

5. Take Advantage of the Single Rider Line

There are several single rider lines throughout Disney World for popular attractions that can come in handy if you are trying to save time. If you are unable to book a Lightning Lane reservation for Expedition Everest, they have a very convenient single rider line available. Although individuals will be split up from their party, it's a great way to save time waiting in line for this popular rollercoaster. Expedition Everest usually has a decent wait time of 30 minutes or more, and the single rider line almost always moves much faster. Expedition Everest is the only attraction at Animal Kingdom that offers the single rider queue.

To use the single rider entrance, you must first check to see if the line is open and available to guests (sometimes they will close it, but most of the time it stays open). If the Single Rider Entrance sign shows “open,” you can follows the arrows that point to the single rider entrance, which runs parallel to the Lightning Lane entrance. Once you reach the cast member, they will pair you with a group of an uneven number to fill the empty spot. The single rider queue is one of my favorite tested hacks to save time at Animal Kingdom!

6. Stay Until the Evening

Animal Kingdom is not only beautiful in the late afternoon and evening, but it often has less crowds. As I previously mentioned, a lot of people think Animal Kingdom can be done in half a day. Therefore, these guests often end up park hopping to a different park in the afternoon. Since Animal Kingdom typically closes a lot earlier than the other Disney World parks, there aren't many guests that park hop to Animal Kingdom in the afternoon. This means a lot of people leave, and not a lot come into the park.

Therefore, I love taking a full day to experience Animal Kingdom especially during the couple hours before park closing. A lot of the attractions will have shorter wait times, and a lot of restaurants will likely have walk-in availability as well. Check out our ultimate Animal Kingdom dining guide for some ideas on where to eat.

7. Grab a Snack for Festival of the Lion King

If you make time to see the Festival of the Lion King (which we HIGHLY recommend) at the Harambe Theater, you can probably save some time by grabbing a snack before you get in line for the show. As I touched on earlier, people tend to line up early for the show because it is so popular. I always like to grab a snack or drink if I know if I'm going to be waiting in line for while, and this is one of those times. There are a few great snack carts nearby including the Harambe Fruit Market which is a food stand outside Kilimanjaro Safaris. They offer a variety of fresh produce, Mickey-shaped pretzels, hot dogs, and churros. They also serve one of my favorite Disney snacks, the grilled corn on the cob, with or without African spices!

Another popular snack stand is Tamu Tamu Refreshments, also located in Harambe Village which is very close to the Harambe Theater. Tamu Tamu offers various breakfast options as well as desserts including DOLE Whip cups and floats, the Pineapple Crisp Sundae, and alcoholic DOLE Whip drinks including the DOLE Whip Pineapple Juice Float made with Parrot Bay Coconut Rum.

I always want to make time for snacks, and a time saving hack I often use is grabbing a delicious snack or drink before waiting in longer lines such as the Festival of the Lion King show.

8. Mobile Order Food and Snacks

Another great way to save time at Animal Kingdom, or any Disney World park, is to use the mobile order feature on the My Disney Experience app. When you open the app, click the “+” button on the bottom center of the screen, and choose “Order Food.” The available restaurants, along with available times for pickup, will be displayed. Next, you can choose which restaurant you want to order from as well as the food you'd like to purchase. Once your pickup window arrives, make your way to the restaurant and select “I'm here” in the app. Within a few minutes, you will receive a notification on where to pick up your food.

Especially on busier park days, I have found mobile ordering to be much faster than waiting in line and ordering at the restaurant. It is extremely convenient and another favorite time-saving hack I use every time I visit Animal Kingdom.

Guests are able to make mobile orders at the following Animal Kingdom locations:

• Flame Tree Barbecue
• Harambe Market
• Pizzafari
• Restaurantosaurus
• Satu'li Canteen

9. Meet Donald Duck and Friends at Tusker House

Animal Kingdom has one character dining restaurant called Tusker House, located in the Africa area of the park. Tusker House serves all you can eat buffet style meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Donald Duck hosts this African fare meal with appearances from other classic Disney characters such as Mickey, Daisey, and Goofy (subject to change).

Character dining is a great way to meet characters, enjoy a delicious meal, and of course save time. Especially for those guests wanting to meet characters and enjoy the park's amazing restaurants, you might as well do both at Tusker House. The characters will make their way around to each table and spend a considerable amount of time interacting with your group and taking pictures. At Tusker House, each of the characters are dressed up in adorable safari-themed clothing that makes this dining experience even more unique.

10. Check Out Animal Kingdom Lodge For More Animal-Themed Fun

Right next door to Animal Kingdom is one of my favorite Disney resorts, the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This deluxe level resort has four unique savannas of their own where guests can watch giraffes, zebras, antelopes, and variety of birds. Animal Kingdom is also home to Sanaa, which is my favorite Disney World resort restaurant! I especially love visiting this and other Disney World resorts during Christmas when they are decorated with large trees and unique holiday-themed decorations.

Guests can also make reservations for a Starlight Safari at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. On this tour, guests take a nighttime drive through the African game reserve to see the animals in a whole new way!

Since Animal Kingdom Lodge is located so close to Animal Kingdom park, I usually recommend guests stop by either before or after their trip to the park to save time. This resort is so underrated, and I think one of the biggest reasons is because of the inconvenient location. Therefore, I highly recommend taking a drive over to this resort to enjoy it's beauty and also save time.

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