Disney’s Animal Kingdom is getting another chance to stay open later than usual, but one of the park’s most obvious nighttime experiences won’t be part of the fun.Walt Disney World has revealed the current attraction lineup for Extended Evening Theme Park Hours at Animal Kingdom. On the surface, the return of the perk gives eligible guests something they rarely get at this park: extra time after the normal operating day ends.Credit: Lee (myfrozenlife), FlickrThen you look at the list.Only four attractions are currently scheduled to operate during Extended Evening Hours at Animal Kingdom, and Kilimanjaro Safaris isn’t one of them.For longtime Disney World visitors, that absence is especially noticeable. Animal Kingdom once leaned much more heavily into nighttime experiences, and riding Kilimanjaro Safaris after dark was a legitimate part of that era.Credit: Brittany DiCologero, Inside the MagicThose nighttime safari rides have largely disappeared. If Disney were ever going to bring them back, Extended Evening Hours seemed like the perfect opportunity.Instead, Disney appears to be sticking with a very small group of attractions.Animal Kingdom Gets Extended Evening HoursExtended Evening Theme Park Hours is one of the perks available to guests staying at Disney Deluxe Resorts, Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts, and several other qualifying hotels. Disney has also confirmed that the benefit will continue through 2027.Unlike Early Theme Park Entry, which gives guests at Disney Resort hotels and other participating properties extra time before regular park opening, Extended Evening Hours is much more limited in eligibility.That exclusivity can make the perk valuable. Smaller crowds combined with extra park time can create an opportunity to experience major attractions with waits that may be more manageable than they are during the middle of the day.Credit: DisneyThe problem at Animal Kingdom isn’t necessarily the concept. It’s how few attractions Disney currently plans to operate.According to Disney’s published lineup, the four Animal Kingdom attractions scheduled for Extended Evening Hours are:Avatar Flight of PassageExpedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden MountainNa’vi River JourneyZootopia: Better Zoogether!That’s it.Disney notes that attractions remain subject to change and may not always be operational. It also warns that not every Disney World attraction operates during Extended Evening Hours.Still, the current Animal Kingdom list looks particularly thin when compared with the other parks.Animal Kingdom Has Far Fewer OptionsThe difference becomes much easier to see when you look at what Disney has listed for the other parks.Magic Kingdom has a lengthy Extended Evening Hours lineup featuring everything from Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, TRON Lightcycle / Run, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and several Fantasyland attractions.EPCOT also has a sizable selection that includes Frozen Ever After, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Mission: SPACE, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Soarin’ Around the World, Spaceship Earth, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, and Test Track.Credit: DisneyEven Disney’s Hollywood Studios currently has eight attractions on its list, including Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, Slinky Dog Dash, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and Toy Story Mania!Animal Kingdom gets four.Of course, attraction count alone doesn’t tell the entire story. Avatar Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest are two of Animal Kingdom’s biggest rides, and experiencing Pandora – The World of Avatar at night remains one of the more visually interesting things guests can do at Disney World.But Kilimanjaro Safaris feels like the glaring omission.Kilimanjaro Safaris Used to Be a Nighttime ExperienceThere was a period when experiencing Kilimanjaro Safaris at night wasn’t unusual.That may sound strange to guests who have become accustomed to Animal Kingdom’s more limited evening schedule, but Disney once made a significant push to turn the park into a nighttime destination.Kilimanjaro Safaris was part of that.The nighttime version naturally felt different from riding through the Harambe Wildlife Reserve during the day. Guests were entering the attraction under completely different lighting conditions, and the animals could behave differently depending on the hour.It gave repeat visitors another reason to ride.More importantly, it fit what Animal Kingdom was trying to become at the time. Disney wanted guests to see the park as more than a place they visited in the morning before leaving for another destination later in the day.Over time, though, the opportunity to ride Kilimanjaro Safaris late at night faded.That makes its absence from Extended Evening Hours much more interesting.This Would Have Been the Perfect Time to Bring It BackExtended Evening Hours would seemingly provide an ideal environment for Disney to revive nighttime safaris, even if only occasionally.Disney wouldn’t have to commit to keeping Kilimanjaro Safaris running late every night of the year. The attraction could simply become part of Animal Kingdom’s Extended Evening Hours lineup on the select nights when the perk is offered.Credit: DisneyThat could instantly make the event feel more substantial.Right now, guests have two rides in Pandora, Expedition Everest, and Zootopia: Better Zoogether! to choose from.Adding Kilimanjaro Safaris would provide something completely different.It would also give longtime Disney World guests a chance to revisit an experience that has become increasingly difficult to find.Instead, its omission suggests that nighttime safaris probably aren’t part of Disney’s immediate plans.Nothing prevents Disney from changing the lineup later. Disney specifically says attraction availability can change without notice, so this isn’t necessarily a permanent decision.But if there were ever an obvious opportunity to test the concept again, this feels like it.Animal Kingdom at Night Still Has Something SpecialThe frustrating part is that Animal Kingdom arguably benefits from nighttime operating hours more than any other Disney World park.The atmosphere changes dramatically after sunset.Pandora becomes an entirely different environment once its bioluminescent elements take over. Expedition Everest can feel different in the darkness. Even simply walking through Animal Kingdom at night offers an experience that many guests don’t regularly get anymore.That’s why Extended Evening Hours at this park have so much potential.Disney doesn’t necessarily need 20 attractions operating to make the perk worthwhile. Animal Kingdom doesn’t have the ride count of Magic Kingdom in the first place.But four attractions puts a tremendous amount of pressure on a very small lineup.Credit: DisneyIf one attraction experiences downtime, the selection gets even smaller. If guests aren’t interested in seeing Zootopia: Better Zoogether! during their limited extra time, they’re essentially looking at three rides.And two of those three are sitting next to each other in Pandora.Kilimanjaro Safaris could have helped spread people around the park while giving the Extended Evening Hours event something that felt genuinely different.Nighttime Safaris May Be Staying in the PastFor now, guests shouldn’t plan on using Extended Evening Hours as their chance to finally experience Kilimanjaro Safaris after dark again.Disney’s current published lineup doesn’t include it.That doesn’t mean the attraction can never return to nighttime operations. Disney can adjust Extended Evening Hours offerings, and its own website makes clear that attraction availability is subject to change.Still, this particular omission says plenty.Extended Evening Hours is specifically built around keeping select attractions operating beyond the normal park day. If Disney wanted to reintroduce nighttime rides on Kilimanjaro Safaris, there might not be a more natural place to do it.Yet Disney passed on that opportunity, at least for now.Animal Kingdom guests will still have Avatar Flight of Passage, Na’vi River Journey, Expedition Everest, and Zootopia: Better Zoogether! available during the extra hours.Those aren’t bad options. Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest alone could make the additional park time useful for eligible guests.But four attractions make this Extended Evening Hours lineup feel much smaller than what guests can find elsewhere at Walt Disney World.And without Kilimanjaro Safaris, one of the experiences that once helped make nighttime at Animal Kingdom so different remains missing.For guests who remember exploring the savanna after dark, that may be the biggest disappointment of all.The post Disney Confirms Classic Animal Kingdom Ride’s Permanent Removal appeared first on Inside the Magic.