As promised in my Disney World tips and tricks post, I’m sharing our touring plans from our recent Disney trip for each park. I looked at several touring plans to figure out what might work well for our family and took our FastPass+ into account for a rough plan each day. This Animal Kingdom touring plan is for a one-day visit and tailored to a family with older children (9.5 and 8 years) and a toddler (2 years).
We arrived on the bus from the Pop Century Resort about 20 minutes before the park officially opened. After the entrance, we immediately walked to Pandora to get in line for our first ride.
Animal Kingdom Touring Plan: Morning
- Avatar Flight of Passage. We didn’t have a FastPass+ so arriving early was our best bet for a minimal wait. The line moved quickly, and our predicted wait was about an hour. People actually wait up to 3 hours for this ride… We brought water and snacks and bought muffins the size of our faces at a little snack stand. Because our youngest is too short for this ride, we got a Rider Switch. Essentially, this is a FastPass+ for later. The Rider Switch is the best thing about having a little one with you, because the boys rode every awesome ride twice!
In our opinion, Avatar is the best ride at all of Disney World, hands down. It’s more of an experience than a ride or roller coaster. The great part was that we started our day with Avatar. The bad part was that we started our Disney experience with Avatar… Truly, nothing else competes (until, hopefully, the new Star Wars section opens at Hollywood Studios).
While we waited for the boys, the toddler and I watched performers in the drum circle and explored the gift shop where Avatar ends. We met back up with the boys by the gift shop.
- Na’vi River Journey. We had a FastPass+ so we all walked over and got onto the ride right away, which is a slow boat ride through a “bioluminescent rainforest.” The wait time for this can be around two hours… Omg. Just don’t unless you can walk on without a wait. We thought this ride was terribly boring. And our toddler hated the dark. She quivered with fear the entire time. She really, really didn’t like the dark indoor rides (there are a bunch in Magic Kingdom).
- DINOSAUR. From Pandora, we walked over to Dinoland. Another FastPass+. Another ride I would skip. It’s loud, jerky and just not fun. Since we got a Rider Switch here, too, our oldest rode it twice… And our younger son cried, because he disliked it so much (not scary, just loud and annoying). It was a doubly huge let down after Avatar.
Animal Kingdom Touring Plan: Lunch
While my husband and oldest rode Dinosaur again, I ordered lunch on the mobile Disney app from the nearby Restaurantosaurus. Everyone was pretty hungry at this point so we wanted to sit and eat quickly. The food is your basic burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries type of lunch. Quality and value wise it is totally fine but nothing special. We wanted to eat at the Satu’li Canteen, but no one actually wanted to walk back to Pandora.
Animal Kingdom Touring Plan: Afternoon
- Kilimanjaro Safaris. After lunch, we walked over to Africa to use our FastPass+ This is another highlight of our day and a very popular ride. We saw a ton of animals, and it was a lot of fun!
After the safari, my husband and daughter went back to the resort for a nap. The boys and I watched performers in Africa, debated the Kali River Rapids (we all decided we’d rather not get soaked) and then watched UP! A Great Bird Adventure. We really liked the birds, but the characters from Up were too much.
- Maharajah Jungle Trek. This is a fun, self-guided zoo visit to look at tigers, monkeys, birds and bats. There was no line, and it was very nicely done.
- Avatar Flight of Passage. We used the Rider Switch since I didn’t ride it in the morning.
- The Boneyard. Back to Dinoland. The boys really wanted to play at the Boneyard, which is a large playground. Definitely plan in some time here, they had a blast!
- Primeval Whirl. I was initially not keen on this spinning and sliding coaster in Dinoland. But the boys loved it and it was more entertaining than I thought. My husband joined back up after this ride.
Animal Kingdom Touring Plan: Evening
- Rivers of Light. We walked over for the first nightly water show. We didn’t have FastPass+ and sat in the front row so don’t stress about getting a seat. It’s a massive area for seating. It was pretty. Unfortunately for me, my daughter panicked at the musical build up and I had to leave with her. Oh well.
- Tree of Life Awakenings. Once it gets dark, the Tree of Life features a light show with animals every 10 minutes or so. We walked over and watched for a bit.
We decided to head back to the resort for dinner and for an early bedtime. Disney World is tiring! The boys were in bed and sound asleep at 8:45 p.m. while I was still brushing my teeth.
One additional thought: We originally had dinner reservations at the Tusker House for their character meal buffet without really understanding what that was. Once at the park, I cancelled our reservation for two reasons: It’s really expensive, and none of us cared about seeing the characters. In fact, the toddler screamed “No” every time a character came close to us every day, so dinner would have been terrible for us.
Hopefully, you’ll find this Animal Kingdom touring plan useful as you plan your trip! Up next: Magic Kingdom for which we were up early for the extra Magic Hour.
