Orlando, FL – My favorite of the Walt Disney World theme parks in Florida, Animal Kingdom, combines the animals of a zoo with the rides and entertainment of an amusement park. Mike has written about the other Walt Disney World Orlando theme parks including Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney Hollywood Studios. We also spent two days visiting Universal Studios Florida and Universal Islands of Adventure. We decided to separate Animal Kingdom out due to the number of pictures and for my love of animals. We spent one full day here and were not able to do everything available. One key to making the most of your time at any of the parks is the use of FastPass+, which allows you to skip the regular line for 3 attractions scheduled in advance. One thing to keep in mind, visitors staying at a Disney owned resort get to book FastPass+ 60 days prior to their visit. As Disney’s Fort Wilderness RV Resort was already booked, we opted to stay at the Orlando/Kissimmee KOA, but that meant we could only book our FastPass+ 30 days in advance. Mike has written a separate post about planning a visit Walt Disney World.
In addition to rides and animals, Animal Kingdom is home to the newly opened (May 2017) Pandora World of Avatar section of the park. This entire section of the park has been designed to feel like Pandora. I highly recommend you visit this section after dark as there are iridescent lights which illuminate the flowers and the entire area. My biggest disappointment of Animal Kingdom was that I did not get to ride “Avatar Flight of Passage”, which is described as “fly on the back of a mountain banshee during an exhilarating 3-D ride above this vast moon.” Because we did not get to select our FastPass+ until 30 days in advance, we logged on the minute we were able, but this highly popular new ride was not available to us for FastPass+ as all available passes were booked by folks booking 60 days in advance. We used an app to check wait times throughout the day, but it never dropped below 150 minutes and we opted not to wait in line. We did FastPass+ the other Avatar popular ride, “Na’vi River Journey” which travels through a bioluminescent rainforest and was very well done.
Bioluminescent lighting creates the night ambiance in the Pandora area
The Tree of Life in the center of the park
Animal Kingdom is laid out around the central “Tree of Life” on Discovery Island. Sections include: Pandora, Oasis (entrance area), Africa, Asia, and Dinoland. The “Tree of Life” is a 145-foot sculpture of a baobab tree, which debuted in 1998. Inspired by the mythical tree of the same name, the “Tree of Life” features 325 carvings of existing and extinct animal species on its trunk and surrounding roots. We enjoyed walking around the tree and looking at the animal carvings. In the evening a water and light show called “Rivers of Light” includes projections onto the tree. This was very well done and worth staying to view.
Animals are sculpted into the “Tree Of Life”
Our second FastPass+ was used to book our favorite ride in Animal Kingdom, “Expedition Everest- Legend of the Forbidden Mountain”. This roller coaster, located in the Asia section, has you riding through the Himalayan Mountains while escaping the clutches of a Yeti. The Yeti part was a bit hokey, but this roller coaster travels backwards in the dark. This is really the sole adult-oriented roller coaster in Animal Kingdom, and is worthy of a ride if you like roller coasters.
Expedition Everest was our favorite ride at Animal Kingdom
The highlight of Animal Kingdom has to be the namesake animals. We opted to use our third Fast Pass to book an evening ride on the “Kilimanjaro Safaris” in the Africa section. We also went straight to Kilimanjaro Safaris first thing in the morning and were able to get in line with only a 15 minute wait. The Kilimanjaro Safaris is “a safari ride through the lush African savanna to search for lions, elephants, giraffes, and more.”
Elephants
A giraffe move across the savanna
An Okapi with stripes like a zebra is more closely related to a giraffe
Rhinoceros
In addition to the aforementioned animals, we saw hippopotamus, crocodiles, wildebeest, rhinoceros, flamingos, wild dogs, hyenas, cheetahs, and other ungulates including springbok. I was really glad that we took this tour twice, because different animals were active at different times of day. My least favorite part about this ride is that unlike a real African Safari, this ride stops very briefly (or even just slows down) at each animal area which makes photographing the animals challenging. That being said, it was wonderful to see all of the animals along the route, which really did feel like traveling on the savanna, aside from driving over the electric gates separating enclosures.
Also in the Africa section is the “Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail”, which is a walk through a tropical rainforest inhabited by African wildlife including gorillas, hippopotamus and exotic birds. As this is a walk through area, you can spend more time taking photos, but there are fences to work with on many enclosures. Before leaving the Africa section, stop in at Tamu Tamu Refreshments to get a Dole Whip- a delicious pineapple frozen treat.
The decor in each area worked to transport you to the region being portrayed
The Asian region of the park includes the “Maharajah Jungle Trek”, a self-guided tour of southeast Asian animals and ambiance. Animals featured include tigers, komodo dragon, monkeys, birds and bats.
Komodo Dragon
Bats
We also attended a “Flights of Wonder Bird Show” in the Asia section. Held in a shaded theater, this show displays the beauty and guile of exotic birds. The show is informational and inspirational. We opted not to ride the “Kali River Rapids” water ride as the temperature was in the low 60’s.
A Macaw from the Flights of Wonder Show
Oasis included exhibits of tropical gardens and animals including birds, anteaters, and more. Dinoland was oriented to kids and included numerous rides and carnival style games. There was a Finding Nemo musical. We did not spend much time in this area.
Flamingos
