The World Report
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Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade

Disney’s Animal Kingdom
One of the nice things about the Animal Kingdom has been that it has opened earlier than the other parks. Disney has changed the Animal Kingdoms operating hours to 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This brings this park into line with some of the other parks but takes away a nice perk of getting there early enough to visit the park and still park hop to another park later. Also, Animal Kingdom has staggered two of its shows to a 5 day-per-week schedule instead of a daily schedule. Flights of Wonders is now closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends is closed on Sunday and Mondays. The other shows continue to run daily. Also, the Flame Tree Barbecue is now designated as a seasonal restaurant meaning that it is only open during busy periods of the year.

Flights of Wonder

How to enjoy the Animal Kingdom: If you visit the Animal Kingdom on Thursday through Saturday you can see all the shows available at the park. Mickey’s Jammin Jungle Parade has been getting great word of mouth and of course Kilimanjaro Safaris is still a great attraction. Tarzan Rocks and Festival of the Lion King are two of the resorts most popular stage shows and you have minimal wait times throughout the park. The Animal Kingdom has never been busy in the afternoons. The reduction of park hours should not really affect the guests experience.

Note: Disney’s Animal Kingdom's operating hours may be changing again. It is being reported that the park will go to a 9:00 am to 4:00 p.m. operating day beginning November 4. The WDW website shows the park hours at 9-4pm next week but I made repeated calls to the park and was unable to confirm the change in hours. This shows just how quickly things are changing at the parks. Even Guest Relations could not give me a definite answer.