The last time we went to AK I allotted 1/2 day to the park. Things were very rushed but we got to do most of what we wanted to accomplish thanks to our plan. I remember leaving the park thinking that there was so much more to see but we needed more time. This time with the addition of Pandora, I’m thinking that we need to spend more than a full day.
We don’t have park hoppers, so it’s either 1 or 2 full days at the park.
Family of 3 including an 8 yr old daughter who loves animals. She would do all 32 Wilderness Explorer badges in one day if I let her.
I plan on getting Fastpasses for Flight of Passage, Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safari. If we go a second day, I’ll Fastpass Navi River Journey.
My question is: How much time is required for Pandora? Can we spend a 1/2 - 3/4 or more of a day there? I don’t want to feel like I’m trying to kill time or that I’ve wasted a park day but it doesn’t feel like this is a 1 day park.
We went early last Dec before Avatar opened and easily spent two days in AK. I would think with its addition you could easily spend two day there. We went on the train to Rafikis’ planet watch (first time in many visits) and the jungle walks etc. Really enjoyed it but didn’t manage to fit in any shows!
Have a great time we first went in Feb and it was fab
Pandora is very small. I’d say you can still do it in 1 day, but if your daughter is really into the animals, you might want to do 2 days anyway. Let her do the Wilderness Explorers!
I haven’t been to Pandora yet… but my chance will come!
However, if you left last time thinking there was so much more to see, your DD still loves animals and would love Wilderness Explorers, then do 2 days. Plan the major attractions and then give yourself time to explore. Do the trails, count the animals on the Tree of Life, go see the Gorillas and watch them (and don’t forget those swimming hippos - I have a wonderful zoo near us, and have been to others but this is the only place I have seen an underwater view of hippos swimming). Let her do those badges. If some of you get tired, they can sit and watch the world go by.
Or, if it seems like you have finished what you want to do, you could go and visit AKL on a whim. Or head back and swim. If you have the time to give it 2 days, do it! IMO! AK has the best theming of all the parks, so much to see. Try and catch the sounds in Harambe, look up, explore the queue for Kali …
I’m going to be the devil’s advocate here and say I would never spend two full days in AK. It’s a beautiful park but we’ve never felt it was worth spending more than one day in. Same goes for HS. They’re just not substantial enough to me. What we like to do (which I know you stated isn’t an option for your family this trip) is to do one full day at each and then split a day between the two.
Could I spend 2 days at AK? Absolutely. But it would depend on how many total days I have in my trip. My “usual” is 5 days with hoppers; one day at each park and the fifth split between Mk and EP. With so much of DHS closed now, my next trip will probably be a half day at DHS combined with a half day at AK. If I didn’t have hoppers, a four day trip would be one day per park. A fifth day was be a 2nd EP day, a sixth day would be a 2nd AK day, a seventh day would be a 2nd MK day.
You can see Pandora land in 90 minutes or less. We didn’t do any of the animal trails and did 1 1/2 days. You can fill 2 days with AK if you do animals and shows.
Me too! We have a 2-week trip planned (8 day tickets) and I’ve been planning to spend 2 full days in AK. Loving that there are others who’d do the same!
Two days would be great it seems like if you can do that. We are doing most of a full day there per our TP: rope drop to 5 and I have to get rid of a lot of cool things I think my kids would have liked to do to fit in what I did and not run us all ragged.
We have the major rides minus Dinosaur plus FOLK and some other stuff, but have to skip the other shows, no wilderness badges, missing the acrobats in Africa, skipping the gorilla trail, not seeing Pandora at night, missing the festival stuff that happens in the evening. If we had two days I think it would have been the perfect amount.
Definitely opt for 2 days if time allows. It’s a huge park, with a lot of walking. I came all the way from Australia so wanted to make 2 days there… but I came in Sept/early Oct ‘16 and it was so humid and hot, we lost out energy by lunch. I’m planning to revisit during a cooler month and will again opt for 2 days at AK.
DD just said the same last night. I can’t quite let it edge out MK only for the nostalgia and Walt. But I looooooooooooooooooooove AK and I’m so excited we get to spend 2 days this trip!
We’re doing one and a half days at AK this summer (morning at Blizzard Beach) and I can’t wait. It was already pretty much my favourite park before Pandora so I can’t wait to see what it’s like now.
but my chance will come!
