Animal Kingdom. Some people try to say that it’s just Disney’s Zoo, but it’s so much more than that! Safari rides, mountain coasters, character meet and greets, dinosaurs, Pandora, rides and much more. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Animal Kingdom.
The addition of Pandora to Animal Kingdom has kind of brought this park back to life in the eyes of many Disney goers. There is a gorgeous new area to explore and wander around, two new fabulous rides and two new restaurants. When I say gorgeous, I mean it. Just look at the picture below. All of that is real except the flying creature of course. We didn’t get the chance to ride Flight of Passage, but we did ride Na’vi River Journey and it was a beautiful ride! It’s hard to get a fastpass to Flight of Passage, so to get one you’ll have to try 60 days before your trip to the day to get one! Otherwise you’re looking at a 90-180 minute wait which was not on our list of things to do this year.
One of my personal favorites about Animal Kingdom is Dinoland USA!!! There are several rides including a Dino Carnival! You can spot dinosaurs around and of course snap pictures with them. They also have this awesome “dig site” giant playground for kids. We haven’t explored this completely just yet, but I know I’ll be climbing around with Chloe next time we go together. Also, when in Dinoland USA, you must where your dino ears. Can you spot Rexxy on my dino ears?
Animal Kingdom is an awesome place to just walk around and take everything in. In Africa and Asia, there are tons of street parties with singing, dancing and other performances. Make sure to take in everything around you because there is so much going on including animals everywhere! Some of my favorites are the Gibbons in Asia and the Kilimanjaro Safari in Africa. The Safari ride is an awesome fastpass idea. We get it every year. You get to see so many animals like giraffes, elephants, hippos, lions and more.
There are also so many characters that you can meet in Animal Kingdom! Mickey and Minnie have a permanent location at the Adventurer’s Outpost where you can meet them in their safari gear.
Pocahontas has a meet and greet just before you walk into Dinoland USA from Discovery Island. {You can kind of see a little bump from Baby Boy Gougler in this picture!}
One of my personal favorites is meeting Russell and sometime Dug too on Discovery Island! They’re always super fun and who doesn’t love Up? It’s one of my favorite movies.
This year Russell saw our “I run fairy fast” shirts that we made and decided to challenge us to a race. Rachael, our girl with the foot injury, won the race while we had to help Russell cross the finish line. It was adorable and so much fun. I love when characters give groups of adults just as much attention as the little ones. We like to have fun too!
Rafiki is at Rafiki’s Planet Watch along with Doc McStuffins! Their lines are almost always short because not as many people know about Rafiki’s Planet Watch. You take about a 5 minute train ride and arrive! You can see lemurs, pet goats at the petting zoo, learn about taking care of the animals at Disney, and more.
Some other favorites of mine are Baloo and King Louis! They’re in the Upcountry Landing between Africa and Asia. Helpful hint: They LOVE to dance. Go ahead and sing one of their songs and they’ll boogie with you. Be prepared, if you sing “Wanna Be Like You”, Baloo will get sad and you’ll need to serenade him with “The Bare Necessities.”
Other characters at Animal Kingdom are Flik and Tarzan on Discovery Island and Goofy, Pluto & Donald in Dinoland USA.
A must do in Animal Kingdom is watch the Festival of the Lion King! It’s a beautiful show with dancing, acrobatics and singing. You can get a fastpass to this if you’re interested. We usually do because it guarantees us a specific time that we can watch the show. Not only is the show actually really great to watch, but you also get 30 minutes to sit down in the A/C, rest your feet, cool off and enjoy the show.
Another awesome attraction in Animal Kingdom is the FOOD! Food is important in my life especially when pregnant. If you haven’t already checked out my Disney Eats post, I highly recommend it. This year I had 3 separate amazing food experiences at Animal Kingdom alone. I’m still dreaming of that ice cream cookie sandwich.
I think that about covers the awesomeness that is Animal Kingdom! If you’re planning a Disney trip, don’t skip Animal Kingdom. It’s worth the visit. If you have little ones, find the Wilderness Explorers station just inside so they can collect badges along your journey throughout the day! It’s also a great park to take advantage of early magic hours if available. Then you can call it a day earlier to save you evening energy for a different day. Or you if you have a park hopper, you can hop over to Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios for their amazing fireworks shows. Okay, now that covers it! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Happy FriYAY y’all and have a fabulous weekend!
