First. Thanks to everyone on these forums and the effort you make to answer random questions.
So we are going to AK in June and are going to use hotel early access to rope drop and have decided on Kilamanjaro Safaris as our first ride (long story). So rope drop is at 8:30a and Kilamanjaro doesn’t open till 9a, will they let us queue up at the ride or will there be a secondary rope stop somewhere inside?
The safari is not always open for early entry. I actually don’t know if it opens before official park opening?
Today it was official park opening.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/animal-kingdom/kilimanjaro-safaris/
Safari isn’t open for early entry. Sometimes doesn’t open until 30 minutes after the park opens.
I know it’s not open. But we still want to queue up at 8:30 w early entry. Do you know where the line starts?
I’m guessing right outside the ride. Those with Early Entry go to the left after the taps and then scan MBs again. Most people will head to Navi and FOP. We usually hit FOP, then Navi and then go to Safari with almost no wait.
There really isn’t a need to get in line that early. You could either plan to arrive a little later in order to avoid the mad rush at rope drop to Pandora or go ahead and get another ride in first and then head to the Safari. If you get in line within the first 10-15 minutes it’s open it’ll still be just about a walk on.
The line will likely open just before the ride does, prior to that you could hang out just outside the queue but there won’t be a line forming outside the queue that you’d need to get into.
I would also be prepared for AK hours to change. (About 2 weeks before your trip).
Yes. It’s at the entry. It’ll be roped off until the CMs get the go-ahead to walk people through the queue.
As to those asking why… It’s actually pretty cool to be on the first guest truck of the day. I’ve done it a couple of times.
So Thill Data shows waits of 45-70mins at 9am (opening time) for days of similar crowd level. Are folks sure it’s just a walk on at 9a?
Hmm; so looks like opening hours move up in June? Does that happen every year?
So on top of managing rope drops, Genie+, LL, ILLs, dining reservations we have random park hours. It just gets easier and easier
They usually update hours on a Friday, about two weeks before the date. They have been extending morning hours and at times, evening hours.
That’s with an 8am open which has been pretty consistent at AK for awhile. So an hour into operation the waits get up to 45-70 minutes. Look at waits for 8am, those are the ride open wait times
I was there at 7:50 on Saturday for my unnecessary 8:00am LL… there was no queue outside, just a handful of people milling about.
When I am not riding FOP during early entry, I still get there early, I just get there 5 mins before EE starts
That way I have an easy walk into the parks and still have a lead on offsite guests.