As the earliest park to open each day at Walt Disney World, rope drop at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is not for the faint of heart. But, setting my alarm to beat the crowds and the midday heat at Disney’s warmest theme park is a strategy that has served me well over the years. For non-resort guests, official park opening is at 8am, meaning Early Entry Rope Drop begins at 7:30am for guests staying at a Disney Resort or other participating hotel. This post will cover the logistics of traveling to and entering the parks for Early Entry Rope Drop, along with strategies to help you make the most of these early morning hours. I’ll also touch on best options for non-resort guests, what to do if you arrive “late” to early entry, and how to spend all that glorious free time you’ll have left. (Unsure of what “Rope Drop” is? Read my earlier post “Why You Should ‘Rope Drop’ at Disney World” for some helpful background information!)
Getting to the Park
Disney bus transportation begins running an hour before Early Entry begins. For Animal Kingdom, that means the first bus is pulling away from your resort around 6:30am. During very busy times of the year, transportation will often begin running earlier than the 60-minute mark. If you are staying anywhere besides Animal Kingdom Lodge you want to be on the first or second bus of the morning. It is a good 15-20 minute ride to Animal Kingdom from almost all other resorts (10-12 minutes or so from Coronado Springs and the All Star Resorts), and it’s important to factor travel time into your morning. If you are driving, parking also opens 60 minutes before Early Entry begins (occasionally earlier during peak seasons).
So, what time are you waking up? Plan to call it an early night the day before this rope drop. I recommend leaving your room to head to the bus by 6:10am, which means waking up sometime in the 5am hour depending on how quickly you and your group can get ready while it is still dark out. It’s okay. It’s nothing a Joffrey’s can’t fix!
Security and Park Entry
Security typically opens 45 minutes or more before Early Entry begins. This allows any lines forming outside the park to be let into the space between security and the turnstiles/MagicBand readers. There you will gather with everyone else who woke up before dawn to wait. Yes, while the main point of rope drop is to avoid long lines in the park, you are still waiting a good 30 minutes outside of the gates. The theme park logic in this is that you are not waiting during the park’s operating hours, at least for the first few rides of the day.
Cast members will usually start allowing guests into the park about 10-15 minutes before Early Entry starts, to alleviate the crowds gathering from the later busses, and to allow guests to walk up to the lands that are open to…wait. If you are a non-resort guest and arrive early for official park opening, cast members will direct to you to a separate queue/corral area to wait.
After you tap your band, phone, or keycard and fingerprint for park entry, you’ll be directed towards cast members who have handheld readers to scan your ticket again. This is to ensure that you are eligible for Early Entry based on your resort. If you are traveling with others, be sure that everyone included on your resort reservation is together for this step, so one person can be scanned, let the cast member know how many people are on the reservation, and they will simply count heads and let your group in.
Fly on an Ikran, Go Get that Dino, or Be Chased by a Yeti?
Animal Kingdom has the least number of ride attractions in Walt Disney World, and even fewer are open during Early Entry. As you enter Discovery Island, take a brief moment to appreciate just how beautiful the Tree of Life is at sunrise. This is a great time to grab a couple of pictures in front of the park icon with no crowds in the background.
You have four attractions to choose from: Avatar Flight of Passage, Na’vi River Journey, DINOSAUR, or Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. All but one of these rides (Na’vi River Journey) have a height requirement, and two popular rides are not open during Early Entry – Kilimanjaro Safaris and Kali River Rapids.
The vast majority of people here this early in the morning are headed to Pandora – the World of Avatar, with most of those people queueing up for Flight of Passage (FOP). This exhilarating 3D ride on the back of an Ikran over the Valley of Mo’ara sees wait times as high as 120+ minutes during peak seasons, so it is a great move to check this one off your list during Early Entry. Though you will literally see hundreds of people heading for the same attraction, and it may feel like you are not “skipping” any line at all, you will save a huge amount of time by joining this queue. For the most part, you will continually walk the entire time, as the queue for FOP is long enough to accommodate a 6-hour wait. Translation – you will be slowly meandering through a gorgeously themed queue for about 20 minutes, unless you were at the very head of the pack through the gates and did not stop for a picturesque Tree of Life sunrise photo.
Assuming you are in the World of Avatar and have successfully accomplished FOP, you can head to Na’vi River Journey, which is a gem for all ages. While this relaxing boat ride utilizes scenic dark ride storytelling and newer screen effects, the big draw is the Na’vi Shaman animatronic featured towards the end. Reportedly costing somewhere between $10 and $23 MILLION to build, I am always completely blown away by how fluidly this “machine” moves. This attraction will also have a very high wait time as the day goes on, and is a smart choice for your second ride of the day.
Visit Harambe Wildlife Reserve
If this slow moving (beautiful) boat ride is not your speed, (or perhaps you were on the first bus from your resort, rode Flight of Passage AND Na’vi River, and are really winning the day at this point), this is a great time to head to Kilimanjaro Safaris. Odds are it is at least 8:15am-8:30a by this time, and Kilimanjaro Safaris typically opens at 8:15am. Take the path from the back of Pandora along the river to Africa for the quickest route to this attraction. Kilimanjaro Safaris will take you on a tour of Harambe Wildlife Reserve, which is home to over 30 different species and covers 110 acres – that’s larger than all of Magic Kingdom.
An early safari is ideal for catching animals that are more active during the cooler morning hours. Spot cheetahs, peep elephants, and admire the Masai giraffe – who recently welcomed a newcomer to their tower, baby Tucker! If you’re lucky you might even hear the lion and lionesses waking up the savanna with their roar.
At this point in your rope drop morning, you have potentially accomplished three of the most popular rides at the park by 9am. Superb! The park has been open for at least an hour and Early Entry Rope Drop is sadly “over,” but you have positioned yourself to enjoy the rest of the park a bit more leisurely pace. Now is a good time for a breakfast snack and a Joffrey’s. In Africa, you have Kusafiri Coffee Shop & Bakery, Harambe Fruit Market, and Zuri’s Sweets Shop available for quick service/grab-and-go. Harambe Market does not open until 10:45am, and my personal plan is to keep moving. In my case, I’ve got two directions to go:
- Head to Asia for the Joffrey’s stand, and grab a pastry to enjoy with that glorious caffeine or
- Backtrack to Pandora for a hearty breakfast at Satu’li Canteen or a snack at Pongu Pongu.
Option one puts you in prime position to hop on two thriller attractions after a breakfast break if you’re ready for more rides, while option two is going to fuel you more for the rest of the day. Choose, but choose wisely… Heading to Pandora is going to use more time (though it is so delicious). If hitting all the main attractions before 11am is your gameplan, you might want to continue towards Asia for breakfast, if needed. (Maybe you are a true rope drop professional and brought a stash of granola bars to the park to get you through the first three hours. I applaud you!) You can also call it a morning and head into Tusker House for a fun character breakfast if that is more your speed.
They’re Not Gonna Make it, They’re Not Gonna Make it!
Can we complete all 6 ride attractions before 11am?!
The next two attractions are more than likely going to have short, manageable waits by this time in the morning, because the park is in full operation and Early Entry Rope Drop is now just a memory. DINOSAUR will be closing at some point in 2026, and as a result has seen higher than average wait times as of late. Even so, wait times for both DINOSAUR and Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain should be at a reasonable level during the 9am-10am hour, except for peak seasons. This is because folks who slept in on vacation (how dare they!) are strolling into the park now and are more than likely heading towards the three big attractions you’ve already experienced.
If you’re heading across the park from Satu’li Canteen, it’s time to “Go get that Dino!” If you traveled to Asia from Africa, you’re headed to Expedition Everest, and then to DINOSAUR in Dinoland USA afterwards. Either of these options is the right move at this point, having tackled the logistical Tetris of FOP-Na’Vi River-Safari.
You Made It!
You hit every major ride attraction before 11am! Congrats!
Wait, what about Kali River Rapids? Okay sure, you can ride Kali River Rapids as well at any point after Kilimanjaro Safaris, when you tackle Expedition Everest and DINOSAUR. Hot take: I skip this ride, often even if it’s 100 degrees out. You will get wet; you may get soaked. If you are not okay with having a wet bottom all day, you may want to skip this ride as well. It is, however, a fun option for kids, if you’ve brought a change of clothes, are heading out of the park shortly afterward, or simply don’t care about getting drenched. For me, skipping it also makes my rope drop morning even easier.
Hit Snooze 17 Times?
What if you show up “late” or are staying off-site or simply don’t want to rush to Pandora World of Avatar first thing in the morning? While heading left to Flight of Passage is going to be the most efficient use of your early morning time, sometimes you miss that first bus or the parks are just busy. A few other ways to have a great time during your Animal Kingdom morning are:
- If you love thrill rides and roller coasters, head to Dinoland USA or Asia first. Both DINOSAUR and Expedition Everest are usually a walk on for the first hour of park operations. I speak from experience, having arrived “late” to Early Entry one morning, finding myself at the back of the pack with a 45-minute posted wait for Flight of Passage. I pivoted east and was chased by a Yeti five times in about a half hour. (I then needed to sit down and gather my thoughts and ask myself if I’m too old for that sort of thing. The answer was, “maybe.”)
- If you rope drop official opening (i.e. not Early Entry) as a non-resort guest, you could head to Kilimanjaro Safaris first to catch one of the early trucks on the savannah. As previously mentioned, the morning is a great time to see animals in a more active state. Good or bad, this tip has become common knowledge for many guests, and you will see a line form for Safaris early on, so it is in your best interest to head there first if you want to enjoy this park’s premiere attraction without a lengthy queue.
- If you are not on a strict budget, you can also purchase an Individual Lightning Lane for Flight of Passage ahead of your trip, which will drastically alleviate the logistical decision-making process at this park. It’ll also make the early morning rush to the bus more manageable, as arrival time will not really make or break your day. If you plan to park hop and/or don’t want to rope drop, you could purchase Lightning Lane MultiPass and use your first mid-morning ride bookings at Animal Kingdom, and book for your second park as you use your Lightning Lanes.
Time to Luxuriate
Now the park is your proverbial oyster and there is so much to do and see at Animal Kingdom. Sometimes zipping through a rope drop morning means skipping the animal trails during the early half of your day or speed walking past the show theaters. Now that you’ve accomplished all of the rides in the park at least once, you can:
- Say hello to Gino and family on the Gorilla Falls Trail in Africa
- Check out show times for The Festival of the Lion King Show at Harambe Theater – in my opinion, easily the best theater show at Walt Disney World
- Walk the trails around Discovery Island, and dance with Viva Gaia Street Band!
- Take a few minutes to squeal over the adorable new baby tiger Bakso with mom Sohni on the Maharaja Jungle Trek
- Hop on the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, and pet miniature goats in the Affection Section, participate in the Animation Experience, or – if you’re lucky – catch a routine medical procedure on one the inhabitants of Animal Kingdom at Conservation Station
- Nosh ‘til you need to nap! Animal Kingdom is one of, if not THE best park for quick service locations, snacks, and sit-down restaurants
Setting my alarm and rising before the sun adds to the sense of adventure that I feel when visiting Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Hitting some of my favorite attractions in all of Walt Disney World, beating the intense midday sun, and spending extra time exploring this immersive park make the early mornings well worth it for me.
Ready to start planning the perfect Rope Drop morning at Disney’s Animal Kingdom? Let’s map out your next Magical Quest today!
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