Sunrise Safari Tour Review

Recently I had the pleasure of embarking on the Sunrise Safari Breakfast Adventure in Animal Kingdom. The Sunrise Safari is an exclusive tour offering guests an extended 45-60 minute ride on the Kilimanjaro Safaris prior to park opening followed by a private breakfast buffet at Pizzafari.

Why is it so exclusive? Because this tour is available only to Concierge Level guests at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. Furthermore, it’s only offered two days a week: Thursdays and Sundays at 7am. (Despite its name, the Sunrise Safari operates independently of the sunrise schedule.)

Unlike most Walt Disney World tours, this one is open to all ages. Current prices, including tax, are as follows, and no discounts are available:

• Adults ages 10+: $65
• Children ages 3-9: $32.50
• Children under 3: Free

Tour guests must check in at the Kilimanjaro Club (the concierge lounge in Jambo House) between 6:30-7am the morning of the tour. Tour check in was hands down the worst part of our Sunrise Safari. Not only was it at an unholy hour, but the check in process turned into a bit of a mess.

The morning of our tour, there was a line filling the small space between the concierge desk and the elevators. The 57 people on our tour were all milling about trying to get tour wristbands and coffee and read the paper and sneak breakfast before the start of the tour. You get the picture. Since the Sunrise Safari is open to all ages, there were also plenty of parents trying to navigate double strollers through the tiny lounge.

Pro Tip: Send one member of your party to check in at 6:30am. That one person just needs to bring all the ticket media for everyone in your group, since separate park admission is required for the tour. One person can have your party’s tickets scanned and collect all the wristbands. There is no reason for everyone to go to the lounge.

What about concierge breakfast you say? Kilimanjaro Club breakfast does not start until 7am. At 7am, you should be down in the main lobby with your wristbands on. Fortunately, the Pizzafari breakfast buffet is worth the wait, I promise.

Once everyone was wristbanded and in the lobby, the guides led us out to a pair of resort transportation buses waiting to whisk us away to Animal Kingdom.

Our guides were the curator and a keeper from the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Erich, the keeper, was on our bus and kept us entertained on the quick trip backstage. We learned all about the four savannas shared between Jambo House and Kidani Village. The animals at the resort keep a different schedule than those in the park. Animals in the park are called to their pens at sundown and let out again in the morning in time for park opening. On the other hand, animals at the resort aren’t rounded up until 5:30am. They are fed and then released around noon, so guests can see savannas full of animals from check-in until well past bedtime.

As we drove backstage at Animal Kingdom, Erich pointed out various areas and shared fun facts about park operations. I’ve already been backstage at Animal Kingdom on both the Backstage Safari and Backstage Magic tours, but everything we heard on the Sunrise Safari was new information.

Even though we drove backstage, the Sunrise Safari is not really a backstage tour. Those tours are usually limited to guests ages 16+ and involve stops backstage. As soon as we disembarked the buses, we walked out onstage to the standard Kilimanjaro Safari entrance.

We stayed in our two bus groups and boarded the 2nd and 3rd safari vehicles of the day. Cast Members ran one vehicle through to check the path earlier that morning, but we were the first guests.

The draw of the Sunrise Safari is that there is no rush. A normal ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris takes about 20 minutes. On the Sunrise Safari, we took a good 45 minutes to slowly work our way through the savannas. Our driver turned off the normal Warden Wilson spiel and let the guide  do all the talking.

We made our way through the normal safari route, stopping at length wherever the animals were. While stopped, guests could stand up to get a better view and take pictures. The guide shared information about all the different species we saw, as well as answered guests’ questions. The information was more detailed than anything you could get onstage, but the guide was very mindful of his wording when talking about sensitive topics (e.g., death, reproduction) due to the little ears on our tour.

When the safari was over, we all made our way to Pizzafari for a private breakfast buffet. The chef even came out to introduce the breakfast offerings before we all dug in. By this time, the park was open to the general public, so all were free to eat and leave on their own schedules. This tour ends in the park, so guests have to use regular resort transportation to go to other parks or back to the Lodge.

The breakfast buffet had a good variety of hot and cold offerings, and we were able to take our time without feeling rushed. All the food was different from what is available on the standard Pizzafari breakfast menu, and our favorite item was the fritter-like banana french toast. Several guests had special dietary concerns and were provided turkey bacon and other offerings direct from the kitchen. We were also able to order sodas from the back instead of juice, tea, or coffee.

Was it worth it?

Definitely – if you already plan on staying Club Level at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. If I ever find myself living the good life again, I would make sure my stay was timed so I could do the Sunrise Safari. Several of the guests in our group had done the tour before. The breakfast alone was worth half the price.

What if you weren’t planning on staying Club Level?

If you’re already considering Animal Kingdom Lodge, and for some miraculous reason it doesn’t cost more than $20 per person to upgrade to Club Level  – do it! I was able to snag a Club Level room mid-January for less than a Standard Savanna View room in October using the same discount.

Otherwise, consider taking the Backstage Safari tour offered to all guests ages 16 and older. It is currently priced at $72 (without tax or discounts) and is a great alternative Animal Kingdom tour experience. The Backstage Safari takes guests to several backstage locations and also includes a private (albeit shorter) Kilimanjaro Safari ride during normal park hours.

If you do decide to try the Sunrise Safari, make sure you plan ahead. It is advisable to book early as the tour routinely fills to its capacity of 64 guests. Guests with an existing Animal Kingdom Lodge Club Level reservation can book the Sunrise Safari up to 180 days in advance by calling the Itinerary Planning Office at (407) 938-4755 (9am-6pm ET). If you have any mobility or dietary concerns, be sure to mention them when booking and when checking in for your resort stay.

I really can’t express how pleased we both were with our tour. It was most certainly up the caliber of other Walt Disney World tour offerings and presented a good value for those already planning to stay Club Level. I truly hope I have the opportunity to take the Sunrise Safari again in the future.

Have you tried the Sunrise Safari?  Do you plan on trying it out on your next trip? Let us know what you think!