Disney’s Animal Kingdom was the fourth theme park built at the Walt Disney World resort.
This park blends the dark rides and theming you’d expect from Disney with a full-fledged zoo.
This makes it one of the more unique Disney parks and an absolute must for animal lovers.
Find out why in this review! Animal Kingdom opened in 1998
fittingly on Earth Day. The park is lushy landscaped. It’s arguably the greenest of
the Disney parks with all the flowers and plants scattered about the park. Then the centerpiece is
the Tree of Life, which is a giant 145 foot or 44 meter tall tree with animals carved onto the bark.
It’s the perfect icon for this zoological park. The entire park is themed to animals- past,
present, and mystical. The original Disney characters have less of a presence at this
park than others, but you’ll see some of the nature based ones that seamlessly tie into
the theme such as the Lion King characters. There are seven themed areas to experience.
Oasis has dense vegetation and bridges guests from the main entrance to the park’s larger lands.
Discovery Island is the central hub of the park featuring the aforementioned Tree of Life.
You also have waterways and nature pathways extending outwards from it.
DinoLand U.S.A. is a mixed bag. I like the general theme of dinosaurs and the area by Dinosaur,
but Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama is the worst area Disney has ever designed. This
section is designed to look like a tacky, run-down carnival and it most certainly
feels like one. The cracked pavement and carnival games suck out the Disney magic.
Asia and Africa feature architecture and animals from their respective continents.
Rafiki’s Planet Watch is a conservation area. The only way to access this land is to take the
Wildlife Express train. The area features some farm animals and care facilities.
The final area is the park’s crown jewel, Pandora. Themed to the Avatar franchise, this land is a
spectacle. You have the bioluminescent plants and colossal floating mountains.
There’s a photo opportunity around each corner and the way this park tastefully adapted this
film franchise to the feel of Animal Kingdom is incredible. This land looks great by day,
but it’s extra special at night. However, it can be tricky to visit this
park in the evening. Animal Kingdom tends to close earlier than Walt Disney World’s other parks. It
routinely closes by sunset. To compensate, Animal Kingdom is usually the earliest park to open at
the resort. It typically opens by 8 or 9 am. Now let’s talk about the arrival experience.
If you arrive by car, you’ll need to pay $25 to park in the large lot.
If you’re staying at a Disney resort or nearby hotel, you likely will be arriving by bus and will
be dropped off close to the main entrance. As of 2022, this park costs between $109
to $159 depending on the day, making it one of the priciest parks in the world.
The price per day can decrease dramatically if you buy a multi-day ticket for Disney World.
I think this is the trickiest park at Walt Disney World to navigate.
Every single land branches outwards from Discovery Island, but it can be a little tricky to identify
which path leads you to the next section. But if you get lost, don’t hesitate to ask
an employee. This park has the usual Disney staff that is super helpful and friendly.
Ever since Pandora opened, this has been the second highest attended park at the resort. While
this park does have many shows, animal exhibits, and high capacity attractions, you understandably
may have to wait a while for the latter. Avatar Flight of Passage notoriously
has one of the longest lines for any amusement ride in the world.
It routinely reaches and exceeds the 2 hour mark. The other attraction in Pandora in Na’vi River
Journey often has a wait exceeding an hour. Then lines can spike midday for Kilimanjaro Safaris,
Expedition Everest, and Kali River Rapids. How you tour the park depends on two things-
whether you have early entry and whether you purchase the Genie Plus skip-the-line pass.
Guests staying at Disney Resort hotels or select partner hotels can get in 30 minutes early.
This is the best time of day to knockout the rides in Pandora. If you arrive 20-30 minutes
before early entry starts, you can usually be one of the first people on Flight of Passage
and then ride Na’vi River Journey with no line. Then when the official park opening time hits,
you want to head to Kilimanjaro Safaris. This applies whether you have early entry or not. Not
only are the animals more active in the morning, but this line will quickly build. I would then
continue clockwise hitting Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest. The latter also has a
super helpful single rider line that’s usually no more than a 5-10 minute wait most days.
Midday, focus on the animal exhibits and shows while the ride lines are at their max.
If you don’t have early entry, your best bet to hit Pandora is the end of day.
I have routinely gotten in line for Flight of Passage right before closing. The ride will
usually grossly overestimate the wait- I’ve seen it posted as high as 3 hours- but I’ve never had
to wait more than 45-60 minutes since there’s no one using Lightning Lane after closing.
One other note for touring this park is that a few attractions can close early,
most notably Kilimanjaro Safaris, Rafiki’s Planet Watch, and Kali River Rapids, so check the app the
day of your visit for their hours of operation. The other tool to help navigate your day is Genie
Plus. This skip-the-line service costs $15 per day. This is a helpful tool to get rerides midday
when the lines spike or if you don’t arrive for rope drop. Starting at 7 am on the day you’re
visiting, you can start booking skip-the-line passes or Lightning Lanes for the attractions. You
can book one Lightning Lane every 2 hours or as soon as you use your most recent Lightning Lane-
whichever comes first. You can use it on each attraction once per day per person.
The one attraction that’s excluded is Flight of Passage. This requires an
individual Lightning Lane that costs $11-$14 on its own. If you don’t arrive at open or close,
this may be worth considering to avoid a lengthy wait midday.
Moving onto the attractions, Animal Kingdom’s signature ride is Kilimanjaro Safaris.
This is a 20-30 minute off-road adventure covering 110 acres of the Harambe Wildlife Reserve.
Guests can see 34 different species including some famous African animals like giraffes and lions.
No two rides will ever be the same, but I’ve had my best rides on this early in the day.
Then you also have several animal walking trails. There are two I especially recommend.
The Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail takes you past- as the name suggests-
gorillas. Then the Maharajah Jungle Trek passes over 100 animals including tigers.
For roller coasters, you now have just one in Expedition Everest. This is among the best themed
coasters in the world. The hulking forbidden mountain looks astonishing, the queue line
establishes the legend of the yeti, and then you come face-to-face with the famous creature during
the ride. This coaster features forwards and backwards segments, including a backwards helix
that’s one of the most forceful elements on any Disney coaster. It occurs in total darkness and is
super disorienting. Then you have 3 dark rides.
The most popular by far is Avatar Flight of Passage. This is not only the park’s best ride,
but one of the best attractions at the resort. This high-octane flight simulator features
gorgeous 3D visuals and thrilling movements. The motion is matched perfectly to the screen and some
of the maneuvers are more aggressive than you may expect. This ride is just pure fantastical fun.
Na’vi River Journey is a colorful journey past the plants of Pandora.
The ride is slow-paced and it doesn’t have a story to it, but the sights are spectacular
and the Shaman of Songs towards the end is one of the most impressive animatronics ever created.
Dinosaur is a surprisingly intense adventure. A lot of the sets are dark,
but you have large and loud dinosaurs that pop out at you during the ride. Then you have the EMV
ride vehicles providing physical thrills as you suddenly accelerate and are turbulently shaken
side-to-side. This ride does get a lot of flack, but I really like this attraction’s ride system.
Just know this will scare young kids. The same can be said about It’s Tough to be a Bug,
the 3D show beneath the Tree of Life. There are some scary visuals and intense physical
effects in here even for adults. You are sure to hear blood curdling screams every show.
For water rides, you have just one in Kali River Rapids, but it can be the most soaking attraction
at the resort. This rapids ride doesn’t have the wildest water, but you do have a sizable
drop towards the end that will absolutely drench whoever travels down it backwards.
Then you have some sprayers on the way back to the station. There are better rapids rides out there,
but few are as unique as this one. Like many Disney parks, flat rides
aren’t this park’s fortay. The only one here is TriceraTop Spin, which offers the same
experience as Dumbo with a fraction of the wait. Another attraction kids will love is the Boneyard.
This is an expansive playground with climbs, slides, and digging exhibits.
Last but not least, you have the shows. My favorite one at Animal
Kingdom is the Festival of the Lion King. This well-choreographed show features the highly
popular songs from the classic Disney film. One that is so bad that it’s funny is Kite Tails.
I don’t know how much longer this show will be around, but it doesn’t have the same charm as the
resort’s other shows and it’s comical seeing the kites crash into the bleachers in between acts.
One thing this park is currently missing is a nighttime spectacular. They used to have
Rivers of Light, but this was eliminated after covid-19. Now the only night show is the Tree of
Life Awakenings, which are these cool projection mapping effects on the park’s central icon.
Another key component of your visit will be the food. If you want to try a sit-down restaurant,
you want to book these as far in advance as possible. The popular ones will sell out.
Tusker House is my favorite sit-down restaurant here. It is pricey,
especially if you do the character dining, but the food is plentiful and consistently high quality.
Satu’li Canteen is my favorite quick service restaurant.
This place serves bowls with delicious meats similar to what you can get at Chipotle.
Lastly, my fiancee recommends the crazy beverages at Pongu Pongu.
So do I recommend Animal Kingdom? I sure do! This is one of the best themed parks in the
world. You have an immersive atmosphere and several standout lands, most notably Pandora.
And you have a small but solid ride lineup too. Flight of Passage is a true standout attraction
and then you have a few other interesting rides like Kilimanjaro Safaris, Dinosaur, and Expedition
Everest. Then you also have the unique animal exhibits and shows to round out the experience.
How much time you need at Animal Kingdom depends on your tastes.
If you only care about the rides, you likely only need a half day.
If you care about the shows and animal exhibits as well, this is definitely a full-day park.
So those are my thoughts on Disney’s Animal Kingdom, this hybrid theme park and zoo.
What are your thoughts on this nature themed park? How do you think it compares to Walt Disney
World’s other parks? Let me know your thoughts down below. If you enjoyed this review, I’d
appreciate it if you gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a
lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!