Kali River Rapids is the unique river rapids ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
This ride has a far bigger budget being at a Disney park and it also features a
far different layout. This is both a good and a bad thing. I’ll explain why in this review.
Kali River Rapids opened back in 1999 roughly one year after this zoological park debuted.
Built by Intamin, this water ride was placed in the Asia section of the park. It was the
first rapids ride built at a Disney park, but a few others have added similar rides since.
Kali is themed to illegal logging and deforestation. The queue line takes riders
through ancient temples and shrines before leading them to the office for Kali Rapids Expeditions.
Towards the end of the queue, you can hear chainsaws in the distance and you
hear a warning on the radio loggers have moved dangerously close to the river.
When you ride Kali will have a major impact how long you wait. Like many rapids rides, this is
at its worst during the hottest part of the day. I would waiting in the standby wait in the afternoon
when this line can routinely take an hour. There are a few ways to beat the crowds. One,
head here early. Kali is in the back of the park, so if you head here before 11, you usually won’t
have to wait more than 10-20 minutes. Just note that Kali isn’t usually available for early entry
and it sometimes opens late. Check the app the day of your visit to confirm when it opens.
Two, head here towards the evening. If Animal Kingdom is open late, this ride tends to close
early, so again check the app when the ride’s closing time will be. I’ve ridden
this around sunset before and the ride was so dead that I was allowed to stay on and reride.
Three, get a Lightning Lane. If you’re using this paid skip-the-line service,
I would consider shooting for an early afternoon time so this ride can cool you off.
For a rapids ride, Kali has excellent capacity. Each boat seats up to 12 riders,
seating riders in pairs. I have no clue how many are on the course at once, but the rafts seem
to be in constant motion as the continuous moving load platform never slows down. Then once seated,
riders are secured by just a seatbelt. Kali River Rapids used to have a sealed
compartment in the center of the raft to keep bags dry, but that was removed. You are still
permitted to bring your bags on-board, but no guarantee they stay dry. So as an alternative,
you can use complimentary lockers by the ride exit to keep your belongings safe.
Once dispatched, you turn the corner and head up a sizable lift hill. Riders are peppered with a
little mist on the ascent. When I was younger, I remember there being a lot more mist. I could
have sworn there used to be snake statues alongside the lift that provided the mist.
Atop the lift, you see a waterfall ahead of you. And then a geyser will shoot towards the sky,
although the latter has been inconsistent in my recent visits. While both effects
look cool, neither get riders wet. In fact, the first half will leave
guests bone dry. It’s a slow and tranquil journey with no rapids at all. Instead,
it’s a scenic jaunt past lush trees. This makes the next reveal particularly jarring.
Remember those loggers, you see a section of the forest that has been decimated.
I remember this section used to have visible flames when I was younger. Now,
you just see and smell smoke, but the message is still crystal clear what happened.
You then float under a glowing red tree and head down the ride’s 30 foot or 9 meter tall plunge.
It’s not too tall in the grand scheme of things, but it’s quite sizable for a rapids ride. I
wouldn’t be surprised if it was the tallest one on this type of ride back when it opened.
The drop is quite shallow, so it doesn’t offer the same zip as a coaster or even a flume. But it does
have some mild thrills. The rafts will slowly rotate on the way down. And there’s a ton of
suspense who will hit the splashdown backwards because those lucky riders will get very wet.
That’s the biggest splash on the ride by far. The return run to the station has the
same visual splendor as the first part of the ride, but the water is faster and more
turbulent. The raft will bounce and bob, but you don’t have any traditional rapids.
These are the bread and butter of most rapids rides, so it’s weird not to have any here.
There are a few additional water effects, but they’re mostly mild. You have some geysers,
but only one is timed properly to give guests a gentle spritzing. There’s a cave that has some
water trickle down on guests. There are water cannons that fly over the raft that’ll miss
everyone…unless you raise your hands to deflect the water down on the boat. Lastly, there are
some elephant statues right before the station that shoot water out their trunk. These are guest
controlled water cannons that are 100% free, so someone will most likely be manning them. They’ll
hit you with a light drizzle, but if Kali stacks for whatever reason, which is a rare occurrence
but it can happen, you could get stuck here and will be bombarded with the effect over and over.
So what would I rate Kali River Rapids? I would give this attraction a 6 out of 10.
This ultimately is a decent rapids ride. I love the landscaping and visuals along the course.
And it’s always cool to see a sizable drop worked into a river rapids ride. But I have two gripes
with this ride. One, I wish this ride had rapids. It’s really weird not seeing them on this type
of ride. Two, I wish this ride consistently got you wetter, especially considering just how hot
Florida gets. I’ve had several rides where I’ve come off Kali with nothing more than a sprinkle,
which isn’t what I want from this type of ride. I can forgive a rapids ride for not having rapids
if the other water effects are strong enough to get everyone wet. See Dr. Geyser’s at Story Land
for example, but Kali is deficient in this area. It’s still an enjoyable ride, but it
doesn’t reach its full potential in my opinion. So those are my thoughts on Kali River Rapids,
the water ride at Animal Kingdom. What are your thoughts on this ride? Do you wish it got you
wetter? Let me know down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it
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coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!