Don’t worry! I didn’t forget about your day at Animal Kingdom!

Animal Kingdom (AK) was never considered (generally) as the most popular WDW theme park, however, in recent years it has really stepped its game up! With the all “new” Pandora: The World of Avatar section of the park (with one of the best rides in all of WDW), their new nighttime spectacular: The Rivers of Light, and more, Animal Kingdom has become a hot stop for new and exciting adventurers!

 

The theme park is constructed of six areas (Africa, Asia, DinoLand U.S.A., Pandora – The World of Avatar, Oasis, and Discovery Island) which all meet at the center of the park, Discovery Island (home to the Tree of Life). It is designed to teleport you into these places and does a pretty incredible job of doing so.

 

AK is a veryyyy unique theme park as it has elements that no other theme park on the planet has. AK brings elements from all over the world (and beyond) and from all over time! The park offers several Broadway-esque shows–such as Finding Nemo – The Musical, Festival of the Lion King (an INCREDIBLE show), and more. It also has street performances such as Bollywood Beats, Winged Encounters – The Kingdom Takes Flight, Pandora Drummers – Swotu Wayä, Tam Tam Drummers of Harambe, Viva Gaia Street Band!, Pandora Rangers, and more. And it offers up close animal encounters with animals from around the world. If you want to take these animal encounters to the next level, you can to the Wild Africa Trek which takes guests around the safari by foot and makes them walk on “old bridges” over the alligator pit (of course it’s 100% safe though).

Festival of the Lion King

Tam Tam Dummers

 

If you have little kids in your group, then I would 100% recommend taking them over to DinoLand U.S.A. which is supposed to be themed as a Dig/Excavation Site-turned-Carnival. When I was younger this was my favorite spot in all of WDW (although I must say that I was a HUGE dinosaur fan) because of the giant dinosaurs (some made out of bones) and the Dig Site in which kids get to “dig” around a large pit in search of giant dinosaur bones.

 

AK has some incredible rides and attractions that often times get overlooked. Here are a few of the best rides AK has to offer:

• Kilimanjaro Safaris takes guests on a guided tour (in a safari vehicle) through AK’s 110 acre safari where you will see real, live animals (don’t forget your camera because you do NOT want to miss these photo opportunities).

• Kali River Rapids is another popular ride which takes riders through a jungle that got “ravaged by illegal logging,” or in other words, guests float in a giant inner-tube through bare-trees, with the occasional burst of fire, and ride down a giant drop which leaves everyone soaked with water. I would not prioritize getting on this ride, however, because the line is always very long (like 1.5 hour wait times) and the ride is very short and doesn’t give an experience worth an hour and a half long wait.

• Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is a roller coaster that takes you on a journey through the Himalayan Mountains where you will come “face-to-face with the legendary Yeti.” I 10/10 recommend this ride. It has everything you could want in a rollercoaster (including going backwards, having huge drops, and more!). I am not a big rollercoaster person, but I really enjoy this ride. It typically has about an hour long wait time, but it is definitely worth the wait, especially when considering all the things to look at while in the ride cue.

• The newest ride introduced to the AK is one that puts guests in an INCREDIBLE new experience (think Soarin’ on another level). This ride is Avatar Flight of Passage. The story of this ride is that you go into Pandora inside an Avatar and get to ride on the back of a banshee all around Pandora. Now if you are like me and never have seen Avatar and know nothing about it, you may be thinking that this ride is not for you because you wouldn’t understand anything, you would be totally wrong. The ride makes you feel every movement of the banshee, feel the wind on your face, the spray of water, and makes you smell everything. It is a truly breath-taking experience that everyone should try.
  • One note though, my dad said that his equilibrium got very messed up after riding this ride and is not planning to ride it again, so if you have problems with your equilibrium getting messed up, I would not recommend this ride. Also, the seats can be a little uncomfortable especially when the ride attendants press the restraints in so make sure you speak up about it immediately or else you might have an uncomfortable ride (speaking from experience here)
  • Also, note that the wait time is extremely long for this ride so make sure to get a FastPass if you can.

 

Okay, with all that being said, here is your schedule for your day at Animal Kingdom Park:

 

9:00 am – Reservations for Breakfast at the Tusker House

10:15 am – Fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safaris

Visit some of the animal enclosures in the area

12:00 pm – Fastpass for Avatar Flight of Passage

1:00 pm – Eat at Harambe Market or another Quick Service location for lunch

3:00 pm – Expedition Everest Fastpass

6:15 – Yak & Yeti Dinner reservation

Rivers of Light (times vary)

*I would also recommend trying to make time for the Festival of the Lion King show some time during the day (times vary)

 

I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know what your favorite ride at AK is (if you have one), or which ride/experience you thinks sounds most enjoyable, or what you’d like to see me write about next!

 

Until next time! See ya real soon!