Disney World parks have reopened, and we’re back to helping you strategize your visits. While the low crowds mean significantly less stress planning, you’ll still benefit from knowing the ins and outs of an early arrival. In this post, we discuss rope drop at Animal Kingdom—including when (and how) to arrive, and where to go first.
UPDATE: This post has been replaced by our new Animal Kingdom Rope Drop and Early Entry post
Important: Disney World Phased Reopening Notice
This topic is temporarily impacted by the ongoing phased reopening of Walt Disney World after its extended mid-2020 closure. We highly recommend you also visit our Walt Disney World Reopening Masterpost, where we highlight specific issues guests will face during this unique time.
This post now starts with a new section discussing rope drop during the reopening of the parks.
Animal Kingdom Initial Reopening Phase Rope Drop
Because the parks have reopened with new sanitation and social distancing requirements, rope drop has changed significantly.
Our old content on “standard” rope drop can be found below, as we expect rope drop to eventually return to normal. That section also includes a discussion of Extra Magic Hours, which are temporarily suspended.
But we’re starting with a section for upcoming visits that focuses on the temporary changes. If you’re visiting in the near future, that is what you need to focus on.
During the reopening, I also recommend reading our most recent Animal Kingdom Wait Time Scorecard, where we use a variety of methods to analyze wait times over the last week. Those posts also regularly discuss how different rope drop strategies look in light of the latest wait times.
Two Reasons Not to Stress About Rope Drop
I decided to update this post even though I’d really like the moral to be don’t stress about rope drop. We used to be of the position that rope drop was the most important part of your day and worth stressing over. No more. Here are two reasons why.
First, you can’t control it. As we’ll discuss next, if you decide to drive, buses might beat you to the park. If you bus, you might wind up waiting forever for a bus. If you Uber, you can’t be sure the lot will be open when you arrive.
Second, the parks aren’t that busy. Rope drop used to be about getting a 0 minute wait, then following it up with a 5 minute wait, then a 15 minute wait. Nowadays, 15-minute waits are common throughout the day, so rope drop isn’t a huge advantage.
Should I Drive or Take the Bus to Animal Kingdom?
As far as park strategy goes, at this point I don’t think there’s a serious advantage to either method. Yes, on any given day you might wait too long for a bus. Or you might have buses let into the lot before your car is. But these are small differences.
Much more important these days are the other factors. Do you personally prefer driving? Do you feel safer in your own car? Do you prefer to save money and rely on Disney transit? Nothing about Animal Kingdom makes either option necessarily better.
What time should I get to Animal Kingdom?
Plan to arrive at Animal Kingdom 15 minutes before the park opens. If you are taking the bus, be at the bus stop 35 minutes before the park opens.
This is the latest we ever recommend you arrive at the park, but right now there isn’t a significant advantage to arriving any earlier. Enjoy your sleep, enjoy not waiting in a small line of cars for 20 minutes.
What time do Animal Kingdom parking lots open?
Most reports indicate the parking lots are opening 30 minutes before the scheduled park open.
What should I expect when I arrive?
With the new safety and social distancing measures in place, the old “rope drop” procedure of holding people in crowds at various points in the park are gone.
Nowadays, once guests start arriving, Disney is making an earnest effort to get them straight into socially-distanced lines for rides. You’ll arrive, go through temperature checks, security, and turnstiles. Then you’ll head straight to the line for whatever your first ride is. The ride will typically start operating the time the park is scheduled to open.
What ride should I go to first at Animal Kingdom?
This is the FUN part of the analysis! While everything else at Disney parks is pretty uninteresting these days, Animal Kingdom has given us a nice twist.
Based on our most recent analysis, you want to start your day with Na’vi River Journey! This is a big departure from the past, when Flight of Passage and only Flight of Passage was a priority in the morning (unless you had a FastPass+ for it, duh).
This very well may change, particularly as more and more bloggers and influencers catch onto it. Right now, two factors make Na’vi River Journey the better choice.
First, it has longer waits most of the day. Because the ride has to go through cleaning cycles, and because of how social distancing impacts the loading of boats, Na’vi River Journey has sustained longer waits than Flight of Passage.
Second, Na’vi River Journey starts with lower waits than Flight of Passage. It’s like…the most perfect rope drop gift ever—a ride that has longer waits most of the day, except right at the start of the day.
To get to Na’vi River Journey, go straight through entrance and to Discovery Island (where you see the Tree of Life). Then turn left and take the bridge into Pandora, and stay to the left for Na’vi River Journey (Flight of Passage guests go right when they get into Pandora).
Again, this is always subject to change, but as of this update, we’re happy to have a creative recommendation.
Where should I go next?
This one depends but either Avatar Flight of Passage or Kilimanjaro Safaris is a fine second pick. Our recent wait time analysis discusses our thoughts on how to pick between the two.
Animal Kingdom Standard Rope Drop
The remainder of this post describes rope drop as it occurred prior to the parks closing (and reopening) during the pandemic.
Introduction
The best way to maximize your enjoyment at any Disney World theme park is to combine a good Walt Disney World FastPass+ strategy with a good rope drop strategy.
In our Animal Kingdom FastPass+ Strategy post, we cover how to use FastPass+ to skip the lines at Animal Kingdom. In this post, we cover how to handle rope drop—the very beginning hours following opening—at Animal Kingdom.
For a full itinerary at Animal Kingdom, check out our one day Animal Kingdom itinerary post. We also recommend checking our most recent trip report to see if we’ve provided any updates and just to see how this strategy is holding up.
What time does Animal Kingdom open?
Animal Kingdom opening times vary on a day-to-day basis, with openings at 8AM and 9AM being most common. You should check the Disney World website or My Disney Experience app for the scheduled opening times for your visit. But keep reading…
What Is “Rope Drop”?
Rope drop refers to the actual—as opposed to scheduled—opening of the park. Depending on the precise protocols at a park on a day, Cast Members may actually have a rope up cutting off people from the park which is dropped when the park opens.
What Time Is Rope Drop At Animal Kingdom?
Rope drop at Animal Kingdom usually occurs before the scheduled time the park is open. There are several times to know when it comes to rope drop at Animal Kingdom.
Turnstiles typically open 30 (more common) to 60 (less common) minutes before the scheduled park open. At this point, guests are allowed to tap in and visit most of Discovery Island, but they’re corralled at different points heading into the park.
Between 15 and 45 minutes before the scheduled park open, guests will begin to be escorted to attraction queues. Precise times may vary, and the Pandora attractions usually get a head start.
Update: As of November 2019, it is looking like the Pandora attractions are also opening at the scheduled park open. We’re adding small updated throughout this post to reflect this, and will update the post permanently once we see what early 2020 looks like.
Previously Suggested Arrival Times
When you arrive at Animal Kingdom depends on which rides you don’t have FastPass+ for or otherwise want to get done quickly in the morning. And, obviously, all these suggestions have caveats, so be sure to read on!
If you are only concerned with Avatar Flight of Passage, arrive 45 to 60 minutes before scheduled park open. You’ll usually be off 0 to 45 minutes after the park opens.
If you need to rope drop Avatar Flight of Passage followed by either Na’vi River Journey or Kilimanjaro Safaris, you’ll want to arrive between 60 and 75 minutes early. If you’re hoping to get all three of these in, aim for 75 to 90 minutes early.
If you need to rope drop Na’vi River Journey and Kilimanjaro Safaris, arrive 30 minutes early and start with Na’vi River Journey. If you need to rope drop one of Na’vi River Journey or Kilimanjaro Safaris, arrive 15 to 30 minutes early. For any other attractions, you can arrive at the scheduled park opening time. Night owls may prefer to pay to visit Animal Kingdom After Hours.
Notes About Arrival Times
It’s up to you to know how much more safe than sorry you’d like to be. While the above times work most days, holidays will always throw a wrench into things. For example, below we cover “Flight of Passage Rope Drop - Busy Day,” where an 8AM arrival for a 9AM park open didn’t get us off Flight of Passage until 9:54AM.
On ordinary weekends, add 15 minutes to the start of your day. On minor holiday weekends, add 30 minutes to the start of your day (up to 90 minutes). On major holiday weekends, add as much time as possible and pray.
If you have a stroller, add 15 to 30 minutes to the start of your day. Strollers really need to start near the front of the pack. You will get passed, so you need to start as far forward in the crowds as possible.
Unlike other parks, you can’t really count on pushing your way to the front of the rope drop pack into Pandora if you arrive after turnstiles open but before Pandora opens. People stand shoulder to shoulder on that bridge, and it’s common for Pandora to open very shortly after the turnstiles open anyways. Keep reading for the step-by-step of the morning at Animal Kingdom…
Animal Kingdom Rope Drop Part 1 - Pandora
For most guests, rope drop at Animal Kingdom is pretty straightforward: head to Pandora, where you’ll find the most popular ride at Animal Kingdom—Avatar Flight of Passage—and another popular ride (sometimes the second most popular), Na’vi River Journey.
Keep in mind that if your group doesn’t meet the 44” height requirement for Flight of Passage you’ll need to skip it or use rider swap. If this impacts you, you may also want to read about the best attractions for toddlers at Animal Kingdom.
If you don’t need to go to Pandora because you’ve decided not to ride these rides, or you have a FastPass+ for one and will ride the other at park close (or not at all) then you can either sleep in or just start with Tier 2 rides, which we cover below.
Once the turnstiles open, guests wishing to visit Pandora will be corralled at the bridge between Discovery Island and Pandora (just follow the massive crowd on the left when you enter). While this corralling can last 15 minutes, it sometimes lasts only 5 to 10 minutes.
Guests are then escorted to the ride queues, and the queue for Avatar Flight of Passage runs down the boardwalk into Africa.
If you arrive after rope drop, you need to walk from Discovery Island, through Pandora, and down the boardwalk to the back of the line. It is common for there to be a Cast Member at the Africa end of the boardwalk preventing people from entering the line from that direction.
A great Pandora rope drop for a 9AM park open will have a schedule like:
7:45AM Arrive at Animal Kingdom
8:15AM Turnstiles Open
8:45AM on Avatar Flight of Passage
9:00AM on Na’vi River Journey
An okay Pandora rope drop for a 9AM park open will look like:
8:15AM Arrive at Animal Kingdom
9:15AM on Avatar Flight of Passage
10:15AM on Na’vi River Journey
Update: As of November 2019, the Pandora rides are opening closer to the actual park open, which is making the “okay” outcome the best possible outcome.
A bad Pandora rope drop for a 9AM park opens looks like…the next section!
Flight of Passage Rope Drop — Busy Day
I recently visited Animal Kingdom on a busy day (10/10 by Touring Plans measurements) to rope drop Flight of Passage.
I’m not caught off guard much at Disney parks, but I was pretty shocked when I arrived at 8AM—an hour before the park opened—and crowds were already excessive. This was the Tuesday following Presidents’ Day, and I wrongly assumed everyone had gone home.
Here’s how the schedule wound up going:
8:00AM - Arrive at Animal Kingdom
8:05AM - Turnstiles open
8:15AM - Through Turnstiles
8:25AM - Rope Drop
9:47AM - On Flight of Passage
By the time I exited the ride building at 9:54AM, Na’vi River Journey was at 60 minute wait and Kilimanjaro Safaris was at 95 minutes—definitely not ideal since I didn’t have any FastPass+ today. But it’s important to note that with FastPass+ the day would still have gone well.
Animal Kingdom Rope Drop Part 2 - Tier 2 Rides
Riding all of the Tier 2 rides at Animal Kingdom in a single (or even half) day only poses a challenge if you don’t have FastPass+. With FastPass+ for two of: Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, and DINOSAUR, you really can’t go wrong. There are two options for visiting the Tier 2 rides once you’ve left Pandora.
If you don’t have a FastPass+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris, the conventional wisdom is to head there immediately from Pandora. From there, you’ll typically want to visit Kali River Rapids, then Expedition Everest, then DINOSAUR.
We really prefer to have a FastPass+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris to avoid this. The problem is that Kilimanjaro Safaris is a really long ride (20+ minutes), which leaves Expedition Everest, DINOSAUR, and Kali River Rapids time increase in wait.
Of course, if you don’t have a FastPass+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris you should have FastPass+ for two of Kali River Rapids, Expedition Everest, and DINOSAUR, so there really shouldn’t be a problem, unless you happen to be at Animal Kingdom without FastPass+.
The alternative, only for those who don’t mind a lot of quick walking (or have a FastPass+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris) is to speed walk around the park visiting (in order of priority) Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, and DINOSAUR as long as their waits are 15 minutes or under.
On many days, Kali River Rapids opens later than the rest of the park. In that case, it’s actually easiest just to head there when it opens, saving yourself the FastPass+. We highlighted this option in our May 2019 trip report.
Usually it will make sense to visit DINOSAUR after Kilimanjaro Safaris. Its waits increase slower than other rides and, more importantly, its queue is heavily shaded and mostly indoors.
We’ve tried both of these approaches with no problem (we are very fast walkers). Also, keep in mind that Expedition Everest has a single rider line, which would allow you to cut down on waits if you group is willing to be broken up.
Again, the only real “challenge” occurs when you don’t have FastPass+, so let’s move on to that!
Animal Kingdom Rope Drop With No FastPass+
Here’s an example of how we visited Animal Kingdom without FastPass+ on a 9AM open.
Update: As of November 2019 the Pandora rides are beginning operations closer to 9AM, which would make this schedule very difficult to replicate.
Kali River Rapids was closed for refurbishment this day, or we would have visited it before DINOSAUR. A late rope drop on a Sunday pushed up waits which caused us minor difficulty but nothing terrible.
7:27AM - Arrive at Animal Kingdom gates (7:45AM arrivals this Sunday were in great position as well)
8:05AM - Turnstiles Open
8:37AM - Rope Drop
8:58AM - on Flight of Passage (we had technical difficulties that delayed the start of the ride)
9:14AM - on Na’vi River Journey
9:53AM - on Kilimanjaro Safaris
10:57AM - on Expedition Everest
11:16AM - on DINOSAUR
As you can see, we went the conventional route of starting with Kilimanjaro Safaris after Pandora. Now, will this plan work every day? Definitely not! But it will work many days, and it serves to show that Animal Kingdom is manageable without FastPass+ provided you arrive early enough.
Animal Kingdom Extra Magic Hours Pandora Rope Drop
Extra Magic Hours is a perk offered to guests of Disney hotels (and select other hotels) that allows them to visit the park an hour early on select mornings (and evenings, which obviously don’t concern us here). We’ve done Animal Kingdom Extra Magic Hours at Animal Kingdom a number of times, and we’ve thoroughly documented it a few times.
We’re going to start with an example from the 7AM Extra Magic Hours.
Animal Kingdom Extra Magic Hours - 7AM to 8AM Example
A 6:40AM arrival had a decent group ahead of us.
All guests were allowed to enter through the turnstiles at about 6:50AM, with EMH guests and breakfast reservations going left while other guests were corralled to the right.
Heading toward Pandora, we were corralled on the bridge from Discovery Island for just a minute or two before being walked to Avatar Flight of Passage. You could go to Na’vi River Journey, if you wanted to, as well.
By 7:11AM, we were in the “decontamination room,” and we were out of the ride building by 7:30AM. Here’s a look at the waits at this point:
A 0 minute wait for Na’vi River Journey is a must-do, so we happily squeezed that in, finishing Pandora by 7:42AM.
Based on this morning, we’re still advising a 30 minute arrival before the start of Extra Magic Hour. We suspect these crowds were low, and either way there’s little reason to risk a major delay over 15 extra minutes of sleep.
If you’re not visiting during the “Extra” Extra Magic Hours, we’ve got two examples for you. One during a mid-level crowds day (6 on a Touring Plans standard) and one on a heavy crowd day (9 on a Touring Plan standard). Here’s how we fared those two visits.
Animal Kingdom EMH - Pandora - Moderate Crowds
This day we arrived at 7:38AM for 8AM EMH. Gates were already open, and we were in the Avatar — Flight of Passage queue at 7:51AM when the posted wait was 75 minutes.
We were off Flight of Passage at 8:55AM and in line for Na’vi River Journey at 9:03AM with a posted wait of 40 minutes. We were off Na’vi River Journey at 9:29AM—29 minutes after the rest of the park opened to regular guests.
Animal Kingdom EMH - Pandora - Heavy Crowds
We arrived at 7:17AM, prior to the gates opening. They opened at about 7:25AM, and we were through at 7:31AM and off Avatar Flight of Passage at 8:17AM. We were in line for Na’vi River Journey at 8:25AM (posted 30 minute wait) and off the ride at 8:53AM—in time to beat the regular park opening.
Notice that arriving 20 minutes earlier saved us 36 minutes, even though the crowds were heavier. Arriving 45 to 60 minutes before the start of EMH is advisable if you’d like to ride both Pandora rides.
What if you don’t have Extra Magic Hour?
Generally, I would not visit Animal Kingdom on a day with morning Extra Magic Hours if I did not have access to Extra Magic Hours. I might consider it if I had a FastPass+ for Flight of Passage, but it wouldn’t be ideal.
(We have a lengthier version of this same discussion in our firsthand report from Extra Magic Hours at Animal Kingdom in a trip report post here.)
For starters, you need a plan for Flight of Passage if you don’t have a FastPass+ for it. If you have a FastPass+ for Flight of Passage, you’ll probably start your day with a wait for Na’vi River Journey, although Kilimanjaro Safaris is a good option too if you don’t have a FastPass+ for it.
Without the Flight of Passage Fastpass+, You can plan to head right there when the park opens, accepting the roughly 90 minute wait.
Alternatively, you can plan to get in line for Flight of Passage a minute before the park closes, which might mean missing the arguably missable nighttime show, Rivers of Light. If Rivers of Light has two performances, you can usually catch the first one and still get in line for Flight of Passage.
Finally, we highly recommend that you take some time in the morning to bury your face in your phone and try to modify your existing FastPass+ lineup to Flight of Passage. Many guests who arrived for Extra Magic Hour are going to change their FastPass+ plans once they get on that ride in the morning, which makes this a good chance to try and grab a same-day FastPass+ for Flight of Passage.
We recommend a 30-minute early arrival if you don’t have Extra Magic Hour, simply because the bulk of the crowds beating you will be Extra Magic Hour guests.
Arrive 30 minutes early, and decide how Flight of Passage is going to fit into your day (including while constantly searching for a FastPass+ for it).
While the exact procedures can vary, guests without Extra Magic Hours are either left outside the gates for some amount of time, or they’re allowed in. Regardless, they’re typically corralled just inside the park entrance, to the right.
As the park already has guests in it, the rope will typically just be removed around 8AM and you’ll be allowed to go wherever you please. There’s no escort to Flight of Passage.
Animal Kingdom Rope Drop - Conclusions
There’s no way to guarantee the perfect day at a Disney park—rides break down, crowds get strangely high, and other unexpected things happen.
But the earlier you put yourself at the park with a plan for rope drop, the better your chances of a great day. With FastPass+ and rope drop, Animal Kingdom is a very manageable park.
So arrive early, know your plan, and keep busy during the morning. That leaves you afternoon open to take in the sights and sounds of one of the most beautiful theme parks in the world!
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