We are planning to do Wilderness Explorers at AK and the TP puts it at the end of our day as a standalone activity. Would I be better off to pickup the “kit” first thing and then do it as we tour all day? Does it take long to pick them up - it’s an EMH morning for us, so not sure if I should “waste” time on getting it early or wait until later? TIA
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I’d recommended picking up the pamphlet early, and doing the activities as you go through the park. It only took us a few minutes to get the booklet when we were there.
Be warned that it could take over your day. My DD8 was OBSESSED with trying to get every single badge, but she was having a lot of fun which made it worth it.
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We picked it up on our way into the park. My DS5 was having a hard morning, and the CMs at the WE booth were AMAZING – turned his whole day around. It only took a few minutes to pick up, but acquiring all the badges will take several hours. It is a wonderful activity and so much fun for the kid. We did it over the course of 2 days in AK, didn’t get ALL the badges, and I bet we spent 3-4 hours on it. It was a great way to slow down and really absorb AK, but it was not the 25 minutes that they put on the touring plans.
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Agree with pp. We got ours early in the day and used it throughout the visit. We’d done AK the year before and caught most the shows so this was a nice change. Like mentioned above, if you want to fill the book with badges it will take the much of day. As adults we enjoyed many of the badge sessions as much as the kids. To this day my kids now no the difference between an ape and a monkey because of one of the badges. If you want to savor AK, it’s a great tool.
I like the idea of savoring AK. Is this something that two adults (no children) can do? Or, is this an activity only for children?
We basically abandoned the shows in favor of Wilderness Explorers; if you are there for the day I don’t think you can do both. I was bummed to miss FOTLK, and I think my kids would have really really liked it but we made a decision on the fly that was right for the kids that day.
That’s what I’m wondering a bit to - it sounds awesome - but does it totally change your TP? That might be right to do for the kids - just wondering outloud.
I think so. There are a couple that are more kid focused For example, one is in Dinoland in the playarea. You could completely do it or just skip it. However many are pretty interesting. The bug encouter was pretty cool and one had us talking with a CM from Kenya for a while. We would have never probably had that interaction without it.
Thanks so much for the info! On our last trip, the Animal Kingdom was my favorite park and I’m looking forward to spending more time there next spring. I just want to take it all in and Wilderness Explorers sounds really fun to me! Thanks again, everyone! 