Is Animal Kingdom a half day park? It can be, but you probably aren’t getting the MOST out of this park. I’m sharing my Strategy on how to not only get everything done using Standby Skipper and Genie Plus, but ALSO fit in some other things in your schedule to really soak in everything this park has to offer!

Just a heads up! You need to understand how Genie+ works before reading this post! You can find what you need HERE.

First we’ve got to talk about getting ready for your day as you’ll need to be ready to go to book your first Lightning Lanes at 7am EST.

If you are using Standby Skipper, you’ll need to make sure to have everything set up and linked so that you can put your first search request in BEFORE 7am. Learn more about what Standby Skipper is and how it works HERE.

I highly recommend only setting up 1 (maybe 2) searches for that first one so that you have the best chance of getting the ride you really one. You can also increase your chances with harder to get Lightning Lanes by choosing ‘Anytime’ so that on really busy days or days that Genie+ decides to be glitchy, Standby Skipper can be searching the whole day instead of just a few hours.

You need to make sure to put in your search before 7am, I typically get up around 6:30am EST and purchase Genie+ and then set my 1st search so that I’m ready to go at 7am. If you are a night owl and would rather do this at midnight, you can do that too! (yay for sleeping in a bit).

Then at 7am, you can focus on booking your Individual Lightning Lanes for Rise of the Resistance. While you do that, Standby Skipper will book your first Genie+ Lightning Lane!

Now let’s head to the park!

ROPE DROP

This is honestly a park that you DON’T need to rope drop! If you are using Standby Skipper, it will most likely snag you a pretty early Lightning Lane return time, but you can always modify it a little bit later and sleep in a touch.

I like to take my mornings at Animal Kingdom a little slower while most of the crowds are over in Pandora. If you are an early riser and want to take advantage of early park entry, you totally can! If you do, hit up Pandora so that you can do Flight of Passage twice with this strategy, or you can head over to Expedition Everest and ride it several times when there is no one over there!

For those of us that want to take it a little slower, I’m setting my 7am Lightning Lane search request for the Adventurers Outpost to meet Mickey and Minnie. Character lines are usually shortest first thing in the morning, so this is actually a great first pick to knock this out right away. (this is also a Lightning Lane that is harder to get later in the day)

I usually try to get to the park around 30 minutes-1 hour after park open. So again, just make sure that you keep an eye on your Lightning Lane return time so that you can modify it a bit if needed.

Dinoland USA

After hitting up Mickey and Minnie, I’m headed over to Dinoland! This land is usually pretty dead, so a great time to hit up two attractions with little to no wait! (whether your using Genie+ or not).

After I got my Lightning Lane for Adventurers Outpost for the 7am drop, I put in my Standby Skipper search request for Dinosaur and once I scanned in for Adventurers Outpost and I received my notification that it got Dinosaur, I put in my search for Finding Nemo so that it could grab me a Lightning Lane for the first show once I’m eligible.

While in Dinoland, I’m going to of course hit up Dinosaur and Triceratop Spin, but this can also be a good time to let your kiddos play in the boneyard for a bit and wander through the land to check out some easter eggs (before this land goes extinct for good!)

Some of the activities like the carnival games and shops don’t open till a little later, but you can always check the My Disney Experience App for hours!

You can check out our deep dive and all there is to do in this land in our FULL Dinoland USA video!

More Characters

Another thing I like to do after hitting up the Dinoland rides is catch a few characters! Again, you’ll need to check the My Disney Experience App to see what time they are starting their meet & greets, but you can find characters like Moana across from Flame Tree BBQ, or Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, and Chip & Dale in Dinoland! If you can get in line about 10 minutes or so before their first meet & greet time, you should be able to do it with minimal wait!

Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond!

Ok… here’s the thing about Stage Shows in Disney World. You don’t NEED a Lightning Lane for these, but it can sometimes be helpful if you want the best seats! My tip is to snag it if you are eligible and ready to go pretty much immediately, but if availability isn’t for a few hours, don’t waste a Lightning Lane.

Regardless of if you have a Lightning Lane or not, you need to show up at least 30 minutes early to most shows. Typically they’ll let the Lightning Lane in first about 15-20 minutes early (sometimes earlier) and then the regular line goes in around 10-15 minutes before the show. So if you have a Lightning Lane, don’t make the mistake in thinking that you will get a good seat rolling in 10 minutes before showtime.

Nemo is a little bit of an exception, mainly because of how the theatre is set up. When you walk in, you’ll see a path down the middle with seating above and below. I recommend going down to the below seating closer to the stage! I feel like you get a better view of the actors and their expressions, and for some reason, a lot of people don’t realize that they can go down there.

I do still recommend getting here early (at the very least so that you can sit in some nice cold a/c) but if you do show up a bit closer to time for this one, you should still be able to get a good seat!

Asia

Alright, heading to Asia! This one can be a little tricky as it’s pretty spread out and there are several things to do here. Attractions-wise you’re looking at Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids, and then you also have the Animal Trail Maharajah Jungle Trek. You also have the show Feathered Friends in Flight!

After you get your Lightning Lane for Nemo, you are going to put in your search for Expedition Everest. You can also put in your Standby Skipper search for Kali, but be aware that you may end up having to backtrack if it grabs you Kali first. (that happened to us)

My normal tip for most of the parks is to put your searches in batches so that you don’t have to spend as much time babying your phone, but for this park, because you are juggling showtimes and trying not to backtrack, it may be better to put in one at a time.

Don’t worry! You’ll still be spending less time on your phone! It just gives you a little more control of where you go next.

If you can hit Expedition Everest (don’t forget, they also have a single rider option if you can’t get a Lightning Lane and don’t mind being split up from your group) THEN Kali River Rapids, THEN Maharajah Jungle Trek, and FINALLY Feathered Friends in Flight, this is the most ideal! Obviously things can go a bit awry depending on timing of shows and Lightning Lane return times, but overall this is the area you want to focus on.

You can get a Lightning Lane for Feathered Friends in Flight, but I ONLY recommend doing that if you have gotten BOTH your Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest Lightning Lanes secured.

Rafiki’s Planet Watch

This is one of my favorite areas of the park! You get to take the Wildlife Express Train to the Conservation Station where you can pet animals in the affection section or learn to draw a Disney Character with the Animation Experience.

This is also a great place to get a few Wilderness Explorer Patches if you are doing that!

The Animation Experience does have Lightning Lanes available, but kinda like shows, if you are eligible for right then and can grab one and scan in immediately, great! If not, I actually use this time to grab my Na’vi River Journey Lightning Lane for the end of the day. To do this, I’m going to set my search for ‘Night’ and when Lightning Lane return times get past 6pm, Standby Skipper will grab it for me! Ideally you’ll put this search in after getting your Everest and Kali Lightning Lanes, OR after Feathered Friends in Flight if you were wanting to use a Lightning Lane for that.

Hopefully if you do this, you’ll also activate your two hour rule so that you can grab a Lightning Lane for Kilimanjaro Safaris. I recommend putting in that search after you get your Na’vi River Journey Lightning Lane.

Africa

Once you head back to Harambe on the Wildlife Express, you are going to hop onto Kilimanjaro Safari. If you are hitting it later in the day, the wait tends to go waaaaay down! If you can get a Lightning Lane definitely do it, but if not, the line should be a bit shorter.

Depending on what time it is and when the last showing of Festival of the Lion King is (typically 5pm), you may end up needing to flip flop these two. Festival of the Lion King is the NUMBER ONE show that you MUST get there early! This show is incredibly popular and fills up fast, so the earlier you can get here, the better. I recommend at least 30 minutes for this one whether you have a Lightning Lane or not.

Again, depending on timing, if you can grab a Lightning Lane, great! Definitely do it!

There is another animal trail in this area I recommend checking out if you can! The Gorilla Falls Trail features African Animals and you can do it before or after Kilimanjaro Safaris. This does close early, so make sure that you check the hours for this one in the My Disney Experience App.

If you’ve gotten all this done and you still have a little bit of time, head over to the Tree of Life to watch It’s Tough to Be a Bug before heading to Pandora!

Pandora

And finally, we are ending our day in Pandora! This land is the MOST beautiful in the evening as the sun is setting or if you are visiting during the winter months, you may even get to see Pandora at night! It also tends to be MUCH less busy during this time of day as many people dip out of this park after 3pm.

You should hopefully already have your Lightning Lane for Na’vi River Journey ready to go so that you can skip that line! If you have some time, you can grab a snack at Pongu Pongu, check out the gift shop, or grab dinner at Satu’li Canteen.

THEN my favorite way to ride Flight of Passage with little wait and NOT having to pay for the Individual Lightning Lane is to do what I like to call reverse rope drop. This simply means that you get in line a few minutes before closing. Once the park closes, there are no more Lightning Lanes being used, so the regular queue goes SO much faster! I’ve don’t this many times and typically only wait between 15-45 minutes max AND I get to experience the detailed queue!

The best part of doing this is that you will be one of the last people in the land after park close, so you can take a few minutes while walking out to really soak it all in!

A FEW NOTES

This is my typical strategy and it’s good to know that there will always be variables based on crowd levels, Lightning Lane availability, ride closures, etc. So definitely use this as a base, but also prioritize the things MOST important to you and don’t feel like you have to squeeze EVERYTHING in one day. Spoiler….. it’s not always possible. I live here and go to Animal Kingdom all the time and still have not seen or done it all!

BUT if you focus on those few things that are most important, anything else you get done is just a bonus and you won’t be disappointed! It’s only as fun as you make it, and you are on vacation after all.

Let me know in the comments your Standby Skipper, Genie+, or Strategy Questions! Ready to get started with Standby Skipper? Just click the button below! Don’t forget to let the captain know that Kayla and Mark Alan sent you. (We earn a small commission when you do)

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