Has anyone done EE at AK this year? Going in a couple of weeks and trying to figure out some things.
First, how realistic are the predicted wait times. 77 minutes for FOP at the end of the day seems high during EE, but it is December. Most videos I could find suggest walk-on or under 20 minutes so long as you don’t go shortly after the park closes as you’ll still have day guests in line. I planned to do other things and save FOP for the end, but if the wait is still 77 minutes I’ll purchase LLSP and do it before the park closes.
Second, have they added any extra show times this year so far? I saw a video where they mentioned an extra show of Festival of the Lion King for guests doing EE. That would be great as I could arrive later and hit up a few things that close early before EE.
The wait times predicted make it seem like EE for Animal Kingdom is not worth it.
I can’t help, as I also am going in about a week and have the same question!
We are still going to stay at EEH because we want to enjoy the park actually after dark, but our touring plan has FoP in extra hours as like a 1.5 hour wait…
I also am trying to figure out if there’s an additional Tree of Life Awakenings - I figure the CMs will know when we get there if nothing else.
One of the videos mentioned the CMs told them there was an extra show of Festival when they entered. I imagine there will be signs with a QR or showing in MDE with extra show times for everything.
If I find anything useful I’ll post it here. I would be so grateful if you let me know about your experience if you have time as ours sounds like it is the week after yours.
I don’t know what to make of the conflicting predictions about how busy it will be. Christmas is usually a busy time, but when I checked a week or so ago every resort had availability (except DVC) which wasn’t like that in past years. The trend for 2024 has been lower attendance, especially when compared to pre-pandemic times. It makes me think it might be a lighter Christmas crowd this year, which I’d be perfectly fine with .
We went in November and had the best time! Queue times were much shorter than predicted - we rode flight of passage three times and dinosaur once. There was no shows on, just the rides.
The only downside was we were held a while waiting to board FoP at the end of the night, I guess to fill the ride, but it did mean we missed the tree of life show. So my advice would be catch that early if you plan to ride FoP last.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! Hopefully our experience will be like yours.
So to confirm - yours had an additional show near the end of EEH? Assuming you went after daylight savings ended in November, sunset isn’t that different from now.
(My ideal is to do all the daytime stuff, see Awakenings, ride Everest and FoP / appreciate Pandora, then watch more Awakenings…)
We did this November of '23 so little over a year ago, but we had a blast. Rode Everest several times and then did FOP 2 or 3 times. Lines were essentially non-existent. But really, night time in Pandora may be my favorite spot in Disney World. Its worth it just to be there when its dark.
An additional show on the tree of life? I think so, but it might have been on the whole time.
Yes we were there after day light saving. We got there an hour or so before EEH to do safari, Everest (we’d heard better in daylight) and to eat. It’s a good idea to do awakenings then, while you wait for the other queues to reduce.
The holiday Awakening started around 6:10pm (about half an hour after we expected and after official park close). It was pretty packed! I suddenly realized that they weren’t going to kick anyone out for EEH, just check bands for rides (which makes sense, it’s normal). (I wish I would have known this before assuming I had to book deluxe, but I wanted to book Jambo anyway.)
If you are eligible for EEH, I wouldn’t fight for a view. Go shop or eat before things close at 6.
After 8, they repeated the holiday Awakening (not sure if they did so before 8 as well). The last one ended at 8:30, and the very nice narration bid us goodnight and told us to go.
After the holiday Awakening, they rotated two of the other Awakenings: Simba, and the fox and squirrels in snow. I love both of them, more than the holiday one!
The first couple non-holiday Awakenings were still fairly crowded, but many people didn’t realize there would be more and left.
I think they started a new one about every 5 minutes? We left after we got a repeat and went to Dinoland.
If you take the trail by ITTBAB’s exit, you can see the back of the tree. The Awakenings continue there as well!! No specific story, but there is music. It was very private and beautiful. Just past a waterfall on the left, there is a little semicircular area with a great view. We found this by accident when trying to cut through to Pandora!
We did not get a chance to check the trail across from Starbucks to see if it was open. If it’s open, I bet it will have amazing views. Ping if you don’t know what I’m taking about, and I can @ someone who knows more (we will be looking for it for the first time tomorrow).
Dinoland is worth seeing not only for the Dino lights, but go in and there is a roped off trail beautifully lit up. Also, Triceratops Spin has a Christmas overlay - it was surprisingly fun.
Everest was a walk on around 6:45. It was posted 10, but that was just to walk the standby queue. Why do they make us do that?
Keep walking further into Asia until you get the India area (it was just beyond the turn into Discovery Island on the way to Pandora). The lights are beautiful (as recommended by others).
Na’vi was a walk on around 7:15. We had our own boat and the shaman was awesome (no b mode).
FoP said 15 minutes around 7:30, but it was at least 20 minutes to the first pre show. We got out around 8:10. Waiting on that cement incline is no joke. Not sure how many theaters were running.
Pandora was gorgeous as ever after dark. They had a PhotoPass photographer for at least part of the time, if you’re interested.
I will go re-read to see if I missed any questions, but AMA!
I didn’t see any mention of this, but we didn’t really look. They had an electronic board with attractions and wait times at the turn into Pandora (when we passed it about 7:15), but I completely failed to take a picture. . We debated whether Kali was open or not - I remember the board said “open” without a wait time, which was a little weird.
For some of the other previous comments in general:
I think the only headliner you couldn’t ride was Safari.
I love Everest at night - a bit more thrilling imo and easier to see the Yeti.
I took walking videos of just the empty paths, lighting, and wonderful music (path between Dinoland and Everest; Satu’li Canteen, etc.).
When we walked into the park around 5pm, lots of people were leaving. We joked with the CMs that we were there for our private party.
Thanks for the details. Very helpful for our visit next week for EEH. Sounds like it will be great. Plus I can save the money and not buy LLSP for FoP.
Update - we reviewed today, and the trail behind ITTBAB is the same trail as the one across from Creature Comforts. In the dark, we didn’t think it went through the tree roots, but it does.
There’s also a little overlook when heading from Africa to Asia, on the right, that has a PhotoPass photographer during the day. We didn’t go over there during EEH because nothing’s open in Africa, but that would be a spot to get pictures of the back side of Awakenings with water reflections.
The Merry Menagerie puppets are so cute. Check their hours if you’re only going to EEH - I think they end an hour before regular park close?
We did extended evening at AK on Dec. 25. It was busy when we walked in around 3 so we did animal trails until our LLMP for KS. Grabbed a bite to eat at Satu’li and then headed to EE for our LLMP. Off to Dinoland until park close. Navi was a walk-on 30 minutes after park close and FOP was a 25-30 minute wait. Everything else was a walk-on. Photo pass photographers taking photos in Pandora still too. Not many food options open. Highly recommend extended evenings if it fits your trip.
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. We debated whether Kali was open or not - I remember the board said “open” without a wait time, which was a little weird.
!!! We love EE at night. The yeti really comes to life.