How would you plan Animal Kingdom with lunch break

We are 2 adults and 7 year old boy. We are planning to visit Animal Kingdom on 17th October. Staying on site, and using early morning hour.

This is our current plan

http://touringplans.com/plans/print?id=1006973

I wan’t to change it so it includes break and return after. It looks like such amazing park to tour at night!

The meal isn’t priority for us and we can change subject to availability or even just have QC. We are staying at Saratoga Springs. How would you plan AK with lunch break - what time would you leave the park and return and what attractions would you leave for PM.

It looks like you have a nice long break scheduled, and I think that looks like a smart way to plan your day. I would try to do as much as you wanted in the morning, and then leave when it starts feeling crowded. The 11:00 time you have plan can be a guideline, but you’d have plenty of time for a rest if you got caught up in the fun and stayed longer. You could swim or rest and then return as people are starting to leave for the day. I think the wait times decrease significantly after 4:30.

I know you said the meal isn’t the important bit, but if you do want a nice lunch, it would be easy to eat at one of the excellent restaurants at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had the buffet at Boma on our Animal Kingdom day, and it was excellent. Sanaa always gets great reviews too. The bus ride to ALK fro AK is very short - 5 to 10 minutes - and it would be easy to catch the bus back to AK after lunch and then switch to the bus to Saratoga Springs. It sounds complicated, but we found it to be very fast and efficient. AK and AKL are very near one another. If you have a car, it would be even easier.

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You may also want to change the time of your FPP reservation as you’ve got it for 6.35AM and not PM. Can’t really help you with your questions, but @SallyEppcot seems to have it covered. Have fun

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We LOVE AK! I would save Kali river rapids for right before you leave, either at lunch or later, because you are likely to get soaked. If you do it an hour before closing, you can likely walk off and right back on multiple times. Our record was five, ha ha. But i f you don’t bring a change of dry clothes, beware the air conditioned buses. Have fun!

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A couple issue. You have a FPP for Everest at 635am. Guessing that should be pm. Also wondering why the plan has you arriving for the Safari at 5:41am when the park opens at 8am. Thinking I’d do the Safari twice: once right at opening and again at dusk and compare what you see, animal behavior, etc btw the two times. I’d def consider Sanaa for at AKL for lunch: you’ll enjoy one of the best meals on property and continue the animal theme as you’ll eat w animals in view. You can get very wet on Kali. So, ESP if you go to your room for your break, I’d do Kali as the last thing before your break when it’ll be warmer outside (afternoon vs evening), you can dry quicker (afternoon vs evening), and will be back at the room anyway to change out of wet clothes. Your Kali FPP is close enough to your break if you’d rather not move that FPP. Generally, any dark attraction can be done any time of the day. Anything outside (like Everest, Safari) can be fun at night. Hope the 7yo is tall enough for Everest. Think the Lion King FPP is a wasted FPP. I’d pick Dino instead. If you have extra time, maybe the 7yo will enjoy going for a Windersness Explorer badge or two? I personally wouldn’t break w just a 12hr day though- for me anyway- this could depend on the previous and following day. If you don’t have a lunch ADR, you could have the flexibility of not breaking; in this case, AKL is out.

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Thanks,
6:35 definetly error
5:45 - not sure how this come about, glitch & error perhaps but we will be at rd at 7:45
Sanaa looks lovely
We can return for few hours on another day - we love AK but we won’t be able to manage 8 to 8 with child so we need to include break.

would it be too dark at about 6 for Kilimanjaro
My son wont feel brave enough on our first AK day as it’s our first park day too. We will return for couple of hours on another day perhaps to do it (12 day holiday). I really really want to see AK in the last few hours of the day - the pictures from the blog are amazing!

My DD just turned 7, and loves AK. We usually start with the Safari, then walk the trail, then train to Rafiki’s, then make our way to EE to use a FPP, then to Dino land once she’s wearing down to play in the Boneyard Playground. Now that Lion King has reopened I’d stop there too. And that’s our AK morning plan. Afternoons we usually walk the Asia trail, enjoy the tigers, and ride Kali again and again. Oh – and meet Mickey and Minnie with a FPP too.

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I really really want to see AK at night and I read it isn’t that often that it’s open late. I can’t decide should we do lunch break and come back or stay in and leave before dark (as we will be tired by the end of the night).

One caveat on lunches at AKL - Only Sanaa (TS at Kidani) and Mara (QS at Jambo) serve lunch. Boma is breakfast and dinner, and Jiko (which I wouldn’t necessarily recommend for the DS7) only serves dinner.

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This past May was the first time since AK opened that I was there on a day when it stayed open past dark. It’s pretty, but really kind of dark, with a minimal amount of animal viewing - however EE is a blast to ride in the dark. If you do a split visit, I recommend that you do the Safari, Conservations Station, and the animal trails BEFORE the break, and the “non-animal” attractions later in the day. Check the show schedules and see where they best fit in (Flight of Wonder may have to be done before dark as it features live birds).

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may be I should stick to main park touring and visit another night for look around.

Is Tusker house ok for lunch?

revised touring plan

Would something like this be better? As much as I would love to go to Sanaa it may be wiser to stay in the park to give us more flexibility to stay or leave if we feel like it

Your revised plan is almost exactly our plan with a 6yo… Except we won’t do dinosaur and we do kali with FPP+ around 230p so we will dry fast

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It looks really good. I’m sorry I gave you incorrect info about Boma. I’m really glad @bswan26 came to the rescue.

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We really enjoyed tusker house, great food, fun characters. If you go around 10:45 you will be there when they switch from breakfast to lunch and get both, yum. :slight_smile:

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I’m sorry, can’t see your tp for some reason, I am so non techy I’m sure there’s some glitch on my part.

but wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed finding nemo show. best part for me and other adults was seeing how much the 2 and 4 yrs olds loved it. am not a big fan of shows in general, but this one was so well done, really special.

one thing that threw me - didnt realize 15 minute grace period doesnt work for shows. we were 1 minute late past fpp time, wouldnt let us use fpp. so we opted to rebook for next show with fpp, stay a little longer at park. fpp for that show allows fam to sit up front, not have to wait in line in hot sun.

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I just tried TH for the first time on my most recent trip and absolutely loved it. I am not a buffet person, but I make the sacrifice at WDW for the sake of my kids getting to meet characters. TH beat CP by miles! Miles. I went at the switch over time so I had breakfast and lunch offerings. I enjoyed everything I tried, food was fresh, etc. I thought that overall lunch was the more interesting food and since I had filled up on breakfast I was not able to enjoy it as much. Lunch is only $1 more per person, so I will probably just do lunch next time - or I will eat very light with the breakfast food.

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I think I will leave Tusker House and just have QS in the park and have Sanaa at 5. We will try to return for a walk on another night (Sunday) for stroll around and dinner at Yak and Yeti perhaps.

I really appreciate all your tips. Thanks

Sanaa looks like a restaurant our family will enjoy.

(reason for leaving tusker is purely portion control)

My DH felt sick after TH because he ate so much. For me, I actually did worse at Sanaa because I couldn’t stop eating the naan bread, lol! But there is always risk with eating a heavy meal while in the parks, so your plan makes sense to me. And 5 is a good time to go to Sanaa because you are likely to see animals.

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