AK - safari first? About This Page:

[paulnsusan]

We'll be at AK on Sunday, 9/21, Touringplans.com calls the crowd size 4 for that day. Their plan starts with Dinosaur (with getting a FP for Expedition Everest immediately), and getting to the Safaris after lunch. One of my friends recently went and suggested that the safari was best first thing, especially since this was the top thing on my list.
We are a group of 6, 4 adults, my 16 yr old DS and a 8 month old grandson.
What are your thoughts about the benefits of doing Kilmanjaro safaris first?
Thanks for any AK input.

[Jolin]

defintely go to Kilmanjaro first! it's a bigger draw and dinosaur usually doens't have a long standby like kilmanjaro does!

plus, animals are active during the cool periods of the day, tha means early morning and as close as dusk as you can get, maybe 4ish?

[chezp]

I would go to the safari first thing as well. You'll have more chance of seeing the animals active at that time of the day.

[KathyL]

DH and I always ride the Safari first thing in the morning. We have always seen lots of the animals. When it gets hot outside, the animals tend to move deeper into the tree areas to keep cool. Another great time to go is when it rains or just after it rains as it often cools things down too.

[katskids]

Like others have said I would do the Safari first. The animals are out first thing in the morning and tend to hide in the shade in the afternoon.

[Colexis Mom]

We always do the safari first Best chance of seeing the animals

[sillyolebear2380]

How long is the safari ride? We are thinking about doing it before breakfast and hoping we have enough time.

[lauren-roxy]

I would definitely do the safari first!!

[disney_duke]

I would also say to do the safari immediately for active animals. Then head over to EE to get your FP. I would imagine that would only add about 30 minutes to your FP return time. We've seen Dinosaur as a walk-on in the late afternoons.

The safari ride can be anywhere around 20-30 minutes or so. Does that seem about right? It really depends on how active the animals are - if they're crossing the pathway of your truck.

[Buffalogirl18]

Originally Posted by paulnsusan

We'll be at AK on Sunday, 9/21, Touringplans.com calls the crowd size 4 for that day. Their plan starts with Dinosaur (with getting a FP for Expedition Everest immediately), and getting to the Safaris after lunch. One of my friends recently went and suggested that the safari was best first thing, especially since this was the top thing on my list.
We are a group of 6, 4 adults, my 16 yr old DS and a 8 month old grandson.
What are your thoughts about the benefits of doing Kilmanjaro safaris first?
Thanks for any AK input.

Piece of advice, if I could, we went late May, heavy crowds, if you can, go to breakfast before park opening at Tusker House, it is AWESOME, besides that puts you at the rope right in front of the safari when the park opens, you'll be in the very first group to get on the safari! You will see more animals than you can imagine! We have been to WDW many times, and on the safari different times of the day, and we never enjoyed it more than this last trip when we did it right at park opening, if you can do it this way, you won't be disappointed. After the safari, we did the trails, then went right over to Asia, hopped on Everest, saw the tigers & Gorillas, the did Kali Rapids, and then headed to Nemo & Friends. After that you can do all the other stuff. But, definitely do the safari first thing. My advice, always try to get a character breakfast at 8am at any park if you can, that way you will get to be inside the park and really close to some great rides right when those ropes drop! We did it for most of our 9 day trip this year, and it worked out really well.

[krisk11]

The worst trip dd & I ever had on the Safari was when we rode it first thing in the morning. As soon as the park opened we headed back to the safari. There were hardly any animals out, not a single giraffe and one elephant. It was horrible. I'll do it later from now on.

[paulnsusan]

thanks for the input.
Which of these plans sound best: all of us straight to the safari to get in line, or one of us going to get fastpasses for all of us at everest while the rest of the group heads for the safari? (with the baby along, I'm really interested in using fastpasses - and then babypass, as it'll take longer to do the rides twice for the one out with the baby). I'm really comfortable with the second option - unless you tell me the line for the safaris will be awful while they wait for me.

[trixie lamb]

Do the Safari first, but allow time. We went and the second time we rode it we were delayed an extra 10-15 min becuse animals have the right of way!
It was awesome b/c we were parked beside a baby elephant (50 pics at least I think...) IT was great!!!!

[tinker_me_happy]

We sent DD (fastest runner and most able to duck and weave through crowds) as the runner for FP for EE and the boys and I headed for the Safari. It was our first trip to AK and NONE of us knew where we were going! We ended up waiting about 7 minutes for DD to catch up with us at the entrance for the safari but over all not too bad.
We went for AM EMH which I personally would NOT recommend at AK!! It was TOO crowded and congested! I don't mind it at the other parks, but it felt too closed in here! We were there for the opening and did Safari first. We Saw LOTS of animals. Elephants included! Only about 3 Giraffe though. If I had it to do over again, I would go on a NON am EMH day, DO Tusker House breakfast for 8am and then hit the safari right away. Send a runner ahead as you get off the safari for EE.
Dinosaur was only a 40 minute wait and the return time on the FP was for 50 minutes later!!

[KMB733]

I would do the safari either first or last thing for the day (if your planning on being there all day) Some of the best safari I have been on have been right before they have closed.