Happy Birthday to Disney’s Animal Kingdom! What is written off by some as a half day park, to us is a must-do park for every trip. Seriously, we have never had a Walt Disney World trip without spending a day at Animal Kingdom. Yes! You need to take a bus, ride share, or drive but the park is amazing once you are there. Keep reading for some history and an overview of the part park/part zoo, Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
History
June 5th, 1995, plans were announced for Walt Disney World’s for and largest theme park. In fact, this would be the largest theme park in the world by acreage at five hundred and eighty acres. Ground was broken in August of 1995 and on April 22nd, 1998, the gates were opened to the public at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Park Atmosphere
The focal point of the park is the towering Tree of Life Standing proudly in the center of the park. The tree is actually an oil rig built to withstand hurricane force winds in the open ocean. It features three hundred and thirty-seven carvings of animals and took a crew of ten Disney Imagineers more than a year and a half to complete. The tree is covered in one-hundred and three thousand plastic leaves in an assortment of colors and patterns to look life-like.
The Kilimanjaro Safari is one hundred and ten acres in area and loads passengers onto bus ride vehicles to go on safari. This attraction alone is larger than the Magic Kingdom. There are several endangered species at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and they have one of the largest herds of African Elephants in the United States. The park’s conservation efforts also work towards expanding endangered species numbers as is the case for Guam Kingfishers. Disney has increased the population numbers of the species through breeding efforts within the park.
It takes over four tons (8,000 pounds) of food daily to feed the more than two thousand animals in the park and Animal Kingdom Savanna. There are over three hundred species on site. There are also trees and plants from every continent except for Antarctica and number over four million plants and trees.
The Valley of Mo’ara is themed directly from Avatar’s Pandora. This is where regular animals give way to mystical creatures like banshees. The floating mountains are reminiscent of the Hallelujah Mountains where Jake Sully was paired with his banshee. Pandora’s area of the park features extremely detailed theming and two of the top rides in the park.
Rides
Disney’s Animal Kingdom has fifteen rides and shows and features some of the most immersive rides in any theme park. Both Avatar rides are among leaders of this park in experience as well as queue time. Flight of the Passage is a dark screen ride in which you pair with an avatar and ride a banshee around Pandora. The queue for this ride will often run over two hours but is the most detailed queue, possibly, in any theme park. If you have the time, wait in the standby queue. It only adds to the experience.
Expedition Everest is a train ride to the top of the world into there territory of the Yeti. This ride has it all… dark, pauses, and backward moving aspects and was one of the most expensive rides of Walt Disney World to build at the time. There used to be an animatronic Yeti, but he had proven to be unreliable so there is now a digitized Yeti featured.
Dining
Disney’s Animal Kingdom does not disappoint when it comes to dining. One of our favorite character buffets is Tusker House. It features African cuisine and visits from Mickey, Daisy, Donald, and Goofy all decked out in their safari gear.
Tiffins is a Disney Signature Restaurant and we have never been disappointed by the food, service, or theming at this restaurant. The menu features one of the best bread services at Walt Disney World and some exquisite desserts but will set you back some travel budget as it is not an inexpensive meal. The theming and decorations are not to be missed. Please do not hesitate to walk around and check them out, politely so you do not disturb other guests.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom also features some fantastic counter service and snack options. Yak and Yeti Café serves up some good chicken fried rice and egg rolls if you want to keep your day moving. Flame Tree BBQ does offer up a full quick service meal, but we love their BBQ loaded French fries or mac and cheese options for a quick, but substantial snack between the three of us. Our younger traveler LOVES the Cheeseburger Pods at Satu’li Canteen in Pandora. We cannot make a visit to Animal Kingdom without ordering these.
There are some snack options that you can only get at Disney’s Animal Kingdom as well. The Nightshade drink at Pongu, Pongu is a slushy with boba balls. Eight Spoon Café offers a unique pulled pork and jelly doughnut sandwich at times which is only available here.
Future
Seven Disney Imagineers flew over a half million miles searching for inspiration and ideas when designing and building Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Quite literally that mileage would encircle the globe more than twenty times. One of the executives was Joe Rohde. Why is that tidbit of history in the “future” section of the post?
Well, Bob Iger has announced billions of dollars to expand and reimagine Walt Disney World. One of the ideas released in 2023 Destination D23 was retheming Dino-Land USA into a South and Latin American theme. This would include replacing Dinosaur with an Indiana Jones ride. In March of 2024, Joe Rohde announced he would be returning on a temporary basis. Nothing has been confirmed as to what he will be working on, but Disney will have more projects going on in the future. It would be interesting to see Joe work on Animal Kingdom as he had such an influence in Animal Kingdom during its infancy.
Closing
Disney’s Animal Kingdom has so much to offer. We hope we are able to encourage some of you to give the park more of a shot. We can help you plan your trip, or we can help you book your trip to Walt Disney World and make suggestions to make your trip magical. Check out or post on Disney’s Genie Plus to help you get on the rides you want to get on. Drop us a comment here or on Facebook Theme Park Vacations Facebook and let us know if we missed anything.
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