Whatever You Do, Do NOT Walk All the Way to This Disney Safari Ride Any Time After 4:45PM

There’s a lot you need to think about when planning a Disney World vacation.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

However, the planning doesn’t end once you’ve arrived in Orlando and get checked into your hotel. You’ll also need to keep an eye on Disney World’s schedule because not all attractions and experiences are open until park close. We realized this today when we were looking at the schedule for a ride in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Take a look at the schedule for Kilimanjaro Safaris, the ride that takes you through the savannas of Disney World to see a variety of animals up close and personal, including elephants, giraffes, alligators, lions (our fave!), and more. You might notice that this ride closes WAY before the park closes. The ride closes at 4:45 PM (park close is at 8PM).

©Disney

We learned that Animal Kingdom’s current policy states that those animal experiences close before sunset. Now that sunset is earlier each day, that means that a lot of animal attractions at Animal Kingdom will be closing early. Pre-2020, you could ride Kilimanjaro Safaris at night (and it was always a WAY different experience from the safaris during the day since some animals are only active at night). Disney didn’t explain why this has changed, but we want to note that it has.

Kilimanjaro Safaris

This is one of the most popular rides in the park, so if you do want to ride it with a shorter wait (especially now that we’re in one of the busiest times of the year in Disney World), you might want to consider purchasing Genie+ to access the ride’s Lightning Lane, as well as other Lightning Lanes in the park.

Zebras on Kilimanjaro Safaris

It’s important to keep an eye on the Disney World schedule on the My Disney Experience app when you’re on your trip so you don’t get hit with any surprises if you want to ride something at a specific time (in this case, at night).

Stay tuned to DFB for more.

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Have you ever been caught by surprise by a ride schedule like this? Let us know in the comments!