The Perfect Time to Ride Kilimanjaro Safaris in Disney World

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is part theme park and part safari adventure. This is why we probably love it so much.

Not only do you get to see one of the best shows in Disney World, The Festival of the Lion King, but you can also scale Mount Everest on a roller coaster and visit the world of Pandora from the Avatar movies, as well as see wild animals up close and personal on Kilimanjaro Safaris. But when’s the best time to hop on a ride through the Harambe Wildlife Reserve?

There are three times that are the BEST for riding Kilimanjaro Safaris — and we’re going to tell you about them.

Mornings

If you’re visiting Disney’s Animal Kingdom in the morning, make your way to Kilimanjaro Safaris as early as you can. In the mornings, the animals are just waking up (at least those that aren’t nocturnal) and coming out onto the savannah to greet visitors and start their day.

Later in the day, towards mid-afternoon, the animals become less active and start lounging around and napping. A bonus of riding first thing in the morning is that this is when ride wait times are generally shorter, too, because almost everyone is heading over to Pandora for Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey.

The REAL animals are the appeal

One important note here, though. If you’re planning to rope-drop Disney’s Animal Kingdom, don’t bother making a beeline to the safari. If you’re staying at a Disney World hotel, you can take advantage of a 30-minute early entry into Animal Kingdom, but not all attractions are open early.

©Disney

Kilimanjaro Safaris is NOT open during that Early Entry period, so you’ll have to wait until the park officially opens to take a ride through the savanna.

Rainy days

If you find yourself at Animal Kingdom and it starts to rain, you might be tempted to go indoors and wait it out. Instead, put on that raingear and head straight for Kilimanjaro Safaris. Many of the animals enjoy the rain, while others might huddle together under trees.

You’ll also catch animals that aren’t usually active during the day, like the cheetahs. These cats are almost notoriously hidden during sunny days, but they seem to enjoy the rain (who said cats don’t like getting wet?).

Right before the ride closes

The lowest wait times for Kilimanjaro Safaris are generally just before the ride closes — and you’ll need to know that the ride generally closes earlier than Animal Kingdom does. At one point, you used to be able to go on the ride at night, which was one of the best times to see the animals, but if you can catch them around sunset, you might get a great safari experience, too.

The lowest wait times are before the ride closes for the day

Some of the lowest wait times for the ride are an hour or two before it closes: we usually see ride wait times as low as 5 minutes during this time (basically a walk-on).

Kilimanjaro Safaris

You can also use Lightning Lane Multi Pass to ride Kilimanjaro Safaris, but you may only need it if you choose to visit in the middle of the day when ride wait times tend to be higher. However, these are the best times to see a wider variety of animals doing something more than sleeping.