Animal Kingdom Morning Strategy w/ TH Reservation

We are infrequent Disney visitors, taking my 3 and 4 year old nephews for first time this week. They’re too little for FOP, obviously, and seems they can’t even go through queue? We have 9:25 Tusker House reservationsm, so they can see the characters. Would it be realistic for a couple of us to RD FOP, then all do Navi River Journey and Kilimanjaro Safari before breakfast, or would that be pushing it too much?

I’m thinking it might be, in which case the couple of us riding FOP should RD that, then catch up with the others at KS before breakfast, and hope to catch Navi later in the day.

We have the whole day there, so I’m not at all stressed about anything else. Although I am curious for opinions re whether it’s worth the time to go out to Rafiki’s?

Thanks in advance for all the help!!

What time does it open? And are you getting Genie+?

We made it out to Rafiki’s for the first time on our last trip (6 and 8 year old boys) and they had a great time and that was with the petting zoo being closed, I think it would probably be a hit with your nephews.

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I think it’s doable.

100%. Especially with kids that age. They’ll love it!

the train doesn’t generally start running til 9 though. This would be a good post-breakfast activity.

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Opens at 9, and nah, not planning Genie+ for AK. Saving that for MK and HS.

Good to know train doesn’t start until 9, did not realize that.

Are you doing early entry or standard rd? With ee, I really think you can pull it off. We usually knock out everything including EE well before 10.

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Sorry, definitely should have clarified that. Yes, planning to do early entry, as we are staying at AoA, and we’ll have cars, so will be driving over.

That’s great to hear. Thanks!

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I don’t know, two of those three are long rides. I think it’s probably feasible if you’re right right right at the front for FOP, but you’re looking at, like, 20 minutes assuming it’s a walk-on, right, with all the pre-shows and stuff? And then you’ve presumably got a bit of a line built up for Navi but even if not that’s another 10 minutes to get there, through the line, loaded, and around the ride. Then I think you’ve got a half hour of the walk to Safari, walk through the line, take the Safari, and you’re late for your breakfast. It would make me nervous, especially with kids that young who might want to stop and look at something or have to pee.

Take all this with a grain of salt though because I’m not nearly the frequent visitor that some other posters are and so I might be over-padding things.

You could split group–adults RD FOP and adult with kids RD NRJ. Then both groups hit KS together by 9 and then breakfast.
I’m sure the kids would do NRJ again in the afternoon if the adults that missed it really want to ride. :slight_smile:

Pretty sure the train started at 9:30 when we were there in June.

At 9 the line for Kilimanjaro Safaris was long. I’ve never seen it out into Harambe Market.

Definitely some should rope drop FoP. The others could do Navi or KS. Once the park opens to all, I’d check wait times.

Another idea that early are the walking trails around the Tree of Life. The early morning sun brings out the carvings’ details nicely.

With kids that age, it’s best to see what’s engaging them and go with that. You never know what’ll capture their attention.

If you can modify TH to 10:30, that opens up your morning more.

Not a bad idea at all, momfourmonkeys, thanks! And yes, for sure, will have to go with the flow with the kids. Best laid plans, right :wink:

I’m assuming you’ll be setting up rider swap at FOP for the adult stuck with the kids before they split off? Then that adult and one other will be able to ride at any time later in the day without waiting in line. We would always do this and I would take the younger kid on NRJ while the others rode FOP. Then when the others get out of FOP, if NRJ still has low waits, would ride that next and then see about time vs. current wait time at KS. You could do it all before your Tusker House reservation but KS takes at least 20 minutes so I think it would be close and add undue stress. NRJ waits generally stay longer throughout the day while KS waits tend to drop off significantly in the afternoon. To which I’ll add that I’ve had some great KS rides in the afternoons—you’ll see plenty of animals either way.
Also I would be sure to take the train out to conservation station with the kids—we always go (kids now 5 and 7) because they love it. They will also enjoy doing WE/collecting stickers…Also make sure to budget more time then you want to for The Boneyard with kids that age!

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The one caveat with trying to get Safaris in before 9:25 is that frequently it stops for animals in the vehicle path - ankole cattle seem to be the biggest offenders I experience, but also giraffe, zebra, ostrich, and rhino can cause a stoppage.

Simply because of that, I’d probably save it until after breakfast so you can enjoy it and not worry if you’re going to get off in time if there is a “giraffic jam”.

Also this may have changed but when we were there Safari didn’t open for early entry, so the earliest you could get on would be 9.

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