Does anyone know of a website where I an find the wilderness explorer booklet and/or map so that we can preplan our visit in coordination with getting these badges. Also how much time does it take first thing in the morning to get the book and map? Can we just pick them up ( we have a safari fast pass first thing in the morning) and come back to do the activity later?
The fun in it is the spontaneity
I don’t think it starts until 10am most of the time so you should be just fine with going to KS first. We haven’t done it yet but are planning on doing it on our trip in December and that’s the info I found anyway.
It doesn’t take that long to get the booklet. The people usually gather the kids, do a little WE pledge thing (and teach them some kind of hand signal or something) and then send them on their way. I don’t know of any plane to get a list of badges in advance, and the spots aren’t all open all the time in my experience. If you want to incorporate it into your TP, you can add 10 minutes breaks along with your various steps in your plan. Those stops are everywhere: at conservation station and rafikis planet watch, near animal exhibits (my kids love the flamingo one for some reason), along the trails, etc. Depending on how crowded things are, each badge only takes 5-10 minutes to get, but there are a lot of them. I don’t think you could do them all in one day.
Following…this sounds fun
Thanks all. with ADRs and fastpass selections to make I think I may just pick up a booklet nearest to where we are at 10:00am and look for the activities/badges as we tour.
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This. We got our booklets in what is now called the Gorilla Trail. Our son worked his over two trips and has just a little bit left to do before he is a full fledged whatever 
It’s a great diversion and forces you to slow down and take it all in a bit. The tasks take very little time at all. It really added to our enjoyment of AK and, I think, helped to elevate it to 2nd favorite park status (just behind MK, because, it is WDW after all)
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Here is the map from the book we got last month (I assume all the stops are the same).
I agree with the others though, it doesn’t really require advanced planning. Basically as we had some extra time between shows or before a FPP or something we would find a nearby station and do it. We only had time for a couple, but they were all about 10 minutes or less.
Seems like you could plan almost a full day of walking around doing these and have a pretty fun time and see a lot of neat things.
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thank you! this is very helpful. I can add time to my touring plan based on where we are during the day
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Resurrecting a 4+ year-old thread.
DW and I are planning our next trip and are looking to continue the rehabilitation of AK in our WDW life.
We were there recently and many of the rides are not on the must-do list because of kids age/tolerance. I suggested we consider a more relaxed day in the park focused on completing WE badges (and eating…because its WDW). Our kids enjoy scavenger hunt-style games and based on my understanding of what WE explorers is, I think we could mosey the park and use this as the “straw that stirs the drink” of our day, if you will. Doing some research on WE in general I came across this thread.
So questions for all you experts (I’m looking at you in particular @DumboRunner because you were there doing WE stuff in the COVID era):
- Is this an issue? 'Cause spontaneity isn’t really our thing or what I’m talking about here:
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Not that I think we will complete the 25 or so badges, but we will likely be back for more at a future date. Is there a take-home item the kiddos get if they complete everything?
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Are there any other flaws in my plan, including anything COVID will throw at us? Kids & ages at the time will be DS9, DS7, DS5, and DD3. Again, the purpose of this day is to learn to love AK like @OBNurseNH.
Speaking of @OBNurseNH, I’m going to introduce the first (next) great TP Forum scandal:
I just…I don’t know. Walls are crumbling and I don’t know what to believe in anymore.
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You called it! 
I am not even sure what this means?
We RD’d Avatar and Navi and on our way out of Pandora there is a wilderness explorer stop on that pathway. I just went over and got my booklet and did the stops in the lands we were in for other rides throughout the day. It doesn’t take long at all.
That doesn’t have Pandora on that map? Is that right. I swore there were a couple in Pandora (one on the walkway in from DI)
Edit: I now realize this is a four year old thread. Oops!
You are famous for AK being your favorite! Back in '16 it was your 3rd favorite. Mind blown.
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Ah!
Want to know the craziest thing? In 2010 on our first big family trip — I was going to skip it altogether 
Now I want to move in.
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WE is wonderful, always. When I did it in Sept as a solo adult it was less fun and slightly more awkward because the COVID protocol requires always one family at a time. So I didn’t get to coast on cute littles answering Qs and channeling Russel, plus I felt awkward to be in the line/in the way of littles behind me
But it is very much still magical, still lovely, still a CM//WE Counselor guided exlporation into science, nature, conservation!
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if you complete all of the badges you get a ceremony and a Senior Wilderness Explorer badge (sticker). There is a certain amount of forgiveness on getting EVERY badge if things close early esp the train to Rafiki’s , in my experience
only that the protocols require one family at a time, so there may be a bit of wait in line, which didn’t used to be an issue
Thank you so much, that is all very encouraging. I think we have a winning idea for us here!