I’m finalizing my touring plans for our trip in just two weeks (so excited!), and what I’m getting for our AK day has me a bit confused. We’ll be there on an EMH morning, with CL 2. My optimized TP is suggesting to use that first EMH hour for Discovery Island Trails and the Gorilla Falls Trail, followed by 29min of free time until our Kilimanjaro Safaris FP+ at 9:20am. http://touringplans.com/plans/print?id=2278615
Does this seem right? It feels crazy to me to spend that crucial first hour on trails. And free time in the morning? Any suggestions, or reassurance, much appreciated.
I guess it’s because almost everything that’s open for EMH is either not in your TP, or you have a FP+ for it. Here’s the list of morning EMH stuff at AK:
DINOSAUR - You’ve got FP+
Discovery Island Trails
Expedition Everest - You’ve got FP+
Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail
It’s Tough to Be a Bug! - Not in your TP
Kilimanjaro Safaris - You’ve got FP+
Primeval Whirl
TriceraTop Spin - Not in your TP
Only Primeval Whirl could be moved up without abandoning an existing FP+ window, and the TP has pretty sensibly stuck it next to Finding Nemo nearby, with only a 7 minute wait due to the low CL.
Since Tree of Life Awakenings is the only evening thing on your list, and then you’re planning to leave afterward to go to Sanaa for dinner, I’d consider skipping morning EMH and maybe moving your FP+es later if you can. You could probably start your day at 10:30 or 11:00 and get to everything in your TP. Otherwise, you’ll have 3+ hours between Finding Nemo and Tree of Life Awakenings.
You could definitely pass that time pleasantly in AK, though, so if you wanted to stick with morning EMH, you might consider switching your FP+ from Kilimanjaro Safaris to Primeval Whirl (1:00-2:00 or so), and doing the Safari first thing, to get that nice early-morning animal activity.
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It looks like you’re forcing TP to use your FPP - that’s one of the options when you’re making a personalized TP. I would suggest:
- Make a copy of your TP to play with
- Remove all your FPP, Tree of Life and Sanaa
- Remove and “forced” times (i.e. have to see 1:45 pm show, etc)
- Set your TP to finish by 2:30 pm,
- Hit Optimize and see what it comes up with.
My guess is that it will have you finishing your day by around 1:30 pm. Then head back to your hotel, have a swim and a break for a few hours, pop back to AK at the end of the day to see the Tree of life and maybe re-ride DINOSAUR (or something else you enjoyed) before popping over the Sanaa. If you decide you want to do this, adjust your FPP if needed.
SECOND ISSUE: It will take much longer than 6 min to get from Tree of Life to Sanaa. Expect 30 minutes minimum, longer if you’re taking Disney transportation. If you can, suggest bumping your Sanaa reservation to at least 6:30, preferably 7 pm if you must see the Tree of Life awakening.
Alternative is to leave the park early, return to Sanaa for early supper at 4:30-5 pm, then pop over to Animal Kingdom AFTER supper to enjoy the nighttime sights and sounds - park closes 7:30 pm.
The note on the break indicates the Sanaa reservation is actually at 7:05 so they should be ok on that front.
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AK is the easiest park to plan. The above is good advise. I usually just force the planner to do the rides I want in the order I want and compare them to their optimizer. My AK day usually involves doing Everest a few times at RP then doing the rides on that side of the park and ending with Nemo. Then lunch, FP safari in the afternoon, do the trails or Flights and see the Lion King. You will then have a bunch of time to kill.
I really like the idea of Sanaa at 4:30ish. Otherwise I might consider doing the morning rides again and saving a FP for a nighttime ride on Everest if available.
DH and I did the Safari twice in one day. We RD’ed it at 9am and then we rode it again just before sunset. I would highly recommend this strategy because in the morning we were able to see different animals than we did during the sunset tour. In the later one, the male lion was walking around and making his noises (not a roar but some other noise).
Also, nighttime Everest can be really fun and with a CL2, the lines probably wouldn’t be that bad if you did it after the sunset safari.
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Thank you! This breakdown by EMH attraction really helps. We are morning people, so we’ll probably stick with the EMH even though it gives us the 3hr break in the afternoon. I know AK is full of amazing theming, so I’m looking forward to having that opportunity to explore!
That’s a great idea. Switch the Safaris FP+ to 5:00-6:00, and ride it once during EMH and again in the early evening.
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