Animal Kingdom after dark?

[alexaveryq]

We will be at WDW in early October. When booking our trip (fastpasses, dining reservations, etc), we planned a 1/2 day (morning) at AK and the rest of the day at HS. At the time, AK schedule showed that it was closing at 7, and word was that all the "after dark" festivities might end after Labor Day.

Now it is showing that AK will be open until 8:30 most nights we're there. I can't rearrange the original park day, since I have fp and dining reservations for HS in the afternoon/evening, but we do have park hoppers for the whole trip. My question is, should I try to shuffle some things around and make time to be at AK after dark another day? What is there to actually do? Is it worth maybe missing out on a few things we've done in the past to do this?

 

[kmchisholm]

We came over to AK around 6pm today to enjoy the park after dark. Had fast passes for KS and KRR - really didn't need either. If you can, come overfor a few hours and enjoy it.

 

[WEDWDW]

Is it worth maybe missing out on a few things we've done in the past to do this?

IMHO yes,especially if you've never experienced DAK at night-it is the prettiest of the 4 Parks at night IMHO.

The new Tree of Life Awakenings are not to be missed.

 

[disneymom0104]

We loved AK after dark. The cooler temps, the lack of crowds- some of our favorite memories! We spent 2 nights there a couple weeks ago (once with 11pm close, the other with 9pm)- both were great and we didn't need FP for anything.

The Tree of Life is gorgeous, and Expedition Everest is so fun at night!

 

[AngiTN]

Yes to all of the above. If you've never seen AK at night it's not to be missed.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

YESSSSS!!! It is beautiful at night and I think this is when the park truly shines, add to that the lines are virtually non-existent and it's perfect.

 

[Accident]

Now it is showing that AK will be open until 8:30 most nights we're there. I can't rearrange the original park day, since I have fp and dining reservations for HS in the afternoon/evening, but we do have park hoppers for the whole trip. My question is, should I try to shuffle some things around and make time to be at AK after dark another day? What is there to actually do? Is it worth maybe missing out on a few things we've done in the past to do this?

So the word right now is rivers of light is very close (weeks away) from opening. Now it might be a disaster as well but nobody will know until it starts and I think the safe bet is your going to probably want to keep something opened in the schedule so you could be at ak at night...

The rest of ak at night is basically:
- night safari that if you see after dusk is too dark to see anything but if you go to early, it's still daytime and the normal day experience.
- kali and everest I feel are both better rides at night.
- dinoland is just a dance party but has more popular and current music than the other dance parties. (and the ride, but it's not different than daytime since dinoland is lit up like a roaming carnival).
- the street performers I do really like also and you can spend a lot of time enjoying them but you could also just quickly pass them by so really depends on your family. they are better at night in the lights, more interactive with the crowd and more in the crowd at night.. it really feels like your somewhere in africa watching street performers or some tiny middle of nowhere village having a fun night..
- the tree, it goes off about every 20ish minutes and there's a few videos stories.. it's nice to see but it's not celebrate the magic or star wars fireworks.
- some places to eat that mostly close up earlier leaving only some water stands and the quick service near dinosaur opened until close.

It is a really nice atmosphere though, and the sun isn't out so it's fairly comfortable to be there, just not much there that is opened.

 

[Mr & Mrs DD]

We enjoyed the Safari after dark. Some of the animals were a little harder to find BUT other animals, like the lions were more active when we went thru. It was dark and we were approaching the lion area in the safari vehicle. As we got closer to the lion area, we all heard a noise that made the hair on my arm stand up. We heard the a lion bellowing in the dark. We came around the curve and we could see the male lion up the hill pacing around making a bellowing call out. The safari guide seemed a little surprised as well. He said "you don't see that very often." The tree of life was also very nice at night. We are glad that we spent an evening at Animal Kingdom.

 

[garada3]

Lots of mentions of the ability to ride in the evening without Fastpass or there wasn't really a need for it.

Is the reason for this the current lack of show or or is it the lack of lots of attraction options in the AK?

I have read in the past about using the late arrival touring strategy or half day strategy at AK because many could experience the majority of the park in a shorter time. Personally we have always been done about 3:00 when arriving at rope drop.

Once RoL opens do you think FP for KS at twilight and EE after dark will be required?

The Fastpass day for our trip is approaching and FP+ for our evening here has me stumped. Do I need them or can I use them in another park earlier in the day.

I know it is all just guessing at this point.

 

[Klayfish]

I have no idea why the crowds at AK are so light at night. I'd guess it's because AK traditionally hasn't been open at night and people make plans for the other 3 parks at night. Not sure if the shows have anything to do with it. We were there the week that Jungle Book opened, so it hadn't had time to be universally panned by critics (we didn't like it either). Even getting a FP+ for it was hard, the show was packed. But the rest of the park was still pretty empty. In fact, the second time we did AK at night, we skipped Jungle Book since we had already discovered how underwhelming it was. While the show was going on, the rides were almost like ghost towns. It was strange.

 

[Farro]

Well, we loved Animal Kingdom "after dark" before they even had any special attractions. Now I'm sure it's even better.

That park is MAGIC at night.

 

[scurvyfreedman]

We're doing AK our arrival Sunday evening in late October. We land around 1:30pm, so after getting bags, rental car, hotel check in, we won't get to any park before 4pm. That leaves only a few hours at MK or HS, and it's a Sunday during F&W so we're avoiding EP on that night. That leaves AK, so I'm very happy that people enjoy it after dark.

Got our FP+ for the safari at 4:55pm, last show for Lion King, and KRR at 7:45pm, so that will be after dark and potentially the last thing we do before 8:30 close. Only other must dos are meeting Balloo and King Louie, the Gorilla trail, and Triceratops Spin. We're arriving too late to see Nemo and Flights of Wonder so we're going back another morning if we need to in order to hit the things we missed. No everest for us. Kids are 8 and 5 and neither my wife nor I are roller coaster fans.