Touring Animal Kingdom Without DAS
With the changes to Disability Access Service (DAS), including the new restrictions on who can qualify, we started to brainstorm how we would manage a Walt Disney World trip with our neurodivergent family members without the use of DAS. These are the ideas we came up with for touring Animal Kingdom and thought we would share in case they helped other families in a similar situation. If you are looking for a general plan on how to approach your Walt Disney World Vacation without DAS click here.
This is the only park where we will mostly likely not purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass (LLMP) unless we are planning to park hop later in the day. We would, however, plan on purchasing a Lighting Lane Single Pass (LLSP) for Flights of Passage. You can read more about using LLMP and LLSP here.
There is not going to be a one size fits all approach for those who have any kind of disability that makes waiting in line for any length of time untenable. Also of note, we have always needed to navigate the parks in a way that avoids crowded areas and bottlenecks as much as possible. We have a post detailing our best strategies for managing this here which includes a map for Animal Kingdom. We also have suggestions on where to go to take a sensory break if crowds get too overwhelming here.
Must Dos:
You will need to come up with a very clear realistic idea of what is important for your family to accomplish. We try to make sure we hit something that is important to everyone on our trip, so we make these plans as a family. Read more about finding your Must Dos here.
Get to the park early:
Rope Drop/Early Entry will be your friend if the person with the disability can manage early mornings. You will need to get there at least an hour before the scheduled opening. Animal Kingdom opens earlier than any of the other parks, so this will involve being up and there very very early. That way you can wait at the front of the large number of people waiting to get in. If that isn’t possible, because sometimes that crowd can be a lot too, wait over to the side. Then do not waste your time with the big E-Ticket (most popular rides in the parks) ride at the park unless it is your only goal for that morning. Everyone heads for Flights of Passage. If you head there also it will still be crowded and overwhelming. You will however be able to knock out a number of other attractions with your Early Entry time if you play your cards right. Read more about Early Entry here.
We recommend heading toward Kilimanjaro Safari and making that your first expereince. This ride is time consuming and may eat the majority of your Early Entry time, but lines build up for this attraction, so if it is a must do for your family getting it done now is your best bet. Also the animals are more active first thing in the morning. Afterwards head for Expedidtion Everest and then DINOSAUR (while it is still open). You should be able to do both of those rides with a relatively short wait time by mid morning. We personally are not fans of Kali River Rapids, but it also should be doable during this time of day.
At “official” park opening:
After the Park opens we start looking at the different show times for Lion King and Finding Nemo and try to see one of those. We also love wandering the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trails and the Maharajah Jungle Trail, and we find late morning to be a relatively uncrowded time to walk those.
Midday Break:
With walking between attractions, possible rests may be needed between the attractions, and actually riding the attractions it will probably be close to or a bit past midday at this point. Animal Kingdom gets hot in the afternoon. Around this midday point we would most likely exit the park and return to our hotel for bubble time/lunch/pool time and return in the evening. Is it possible to stay in the park all day? Yes. There are less crowded attractions and shows you can participate in. We have suggestions for areas to take a sensory break within the park here. But it is not something we personally would attempt with our neurodivergent family members. Trying to get them to power through the day often results in a breakdown that will make doing anything for the remainder of the day impossible. Taking a break at the hotel allows them to regroup, recharge, and get excited for evening activities.
Returning in the Evening:
Animal Kingdom closes earlier than any of the other parks, and tends to empty as the afternoon turns to evening. We would most likely return to the park before dinner time and try to expeience Na'vi River Journey and then whichever show we did not manange that morning. This is often a great time to reride Expedition Everest - which is a total must do for us.
End of the Night:
There is not currently a night time show at Animal Kingdom, though there are projections on the Tree of Life that are pretty spectacular. People tend to hang out in the Oasis at the end of the night to view it, so the area can become crowded and a little over whelming. But nothing like Cinderella's Castle hub, just be aware if crowds are an issue for anyone in your party.
Right before the park closes will be your best bet to try and ride Flights of Passage if you did not choose to buy a LLSP. The posted wait times are often longer than the actual wait at close to discourage people from popping into them at the last second. But as long as you are IN line at park close you will be allowed to stay in line and complete the ride.
Leaving Animal Kingdom at park close is usually considerably less crowded than any of the other parks.
Character Meet and Greets:
We typically do not prioritize character meet and greets when we are with our neurodiverse family members. To get our character interactions we will do character meals. The meals are better because our family members can see the characters coming and decide how much they want to interact with the characters, or if they just want to sit back and bubble. The characters are generally really good about reading the table and seeing who wants to say hi and get a hug and who they should just wave at.
There is a character meal at Animal Kingdom: Tusker House which features Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy. This is one of our favorite character experiences. To read more about character dining check out our article here.
If the other meet and greet options around the park are important to your family, we recommend checking times that are available and lining up about 15 minutes prior to one of the times to minimize your wait. For the princesses at Princess Fairytale Hall, who greet guests throughout the day, we recommend getting in line to see them toward the end of the evening. To meet Mickey Mouse, it's better to try to see him in the morning as many people will stop to see him on their way out, resulting in a longer wait-time in the evening.
Dining:
If you plan to eat a meal in the park try to avoid peak meal times and make use of Mobile Order if it is available. Read more about Mobile Ordering here. Around lunch and dinner the quick service dining locations in the park will be very crowded, making it hard to find a table and even if you can find one the area will be loud and very busy. We have found this is not ideal for our neurodiverse family members. To avoid the dining chaos we will try to time lunch early if we plan to eat in the park, or a little late and have lunch at one of the nearby hotels or back at our own hotel. For dinner we will often plan a sit down meal, which is a much more controlled environment and allows our neurodiverse family members to bubble if they need to.
We know it can feel a bit like a brave new world without the use of DAS, and for some it may even feel like a Disney vacation is no longer viable for your family. For us Disney has always been a safe space where our differences don’t mean we cannot have a magical time. While these changes to the accommodations Disney is willing to offer don’t feel very magical right now, Disney will still be our go to family vacation; even if we have to approach how we plan and handle our days with more intention for our neurodiverse family members. We hope these tips we have put together will help you and your family reclaim your own magical vacation.
Planning a Walt Disney World Vacation? Click here for our planning guide. Need tips for planning a Walt Disney World Vacation with someone with a disability? Check out the disability section of our blog here. Need help navigating using DAS? Click here.
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