Is your family traveling to Disney Animal Kingdom? Check out these best tips for your visit – Best Tips for Visiting Disney Animal Kingdom! Post sponsored by Disney as a part of #ZootopiaEvent. All savvy travel opinions are my own
Best Tips for Visiting Disney Animal Kingdom
Looking to maximize your visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom? I’ve gathered together the BEST tips to make the most of your vacation!
As a Disney enthusiast and Orlando native, this gal loves Disney Animal Kingdom as one of the best theme parks for families. From food to rides, exclusive tours to insider info, check out my 7 Best Tips for Visiting Disney Animal Kingdom, unlike any other animal theme park in the world!
FastPass The Best Rides
Your tips for the best Animal Kingdom visit all starts BEFORE you get to the parks! With tickets in hand, be sure to FastPass the best and most exclusive Animal Kingdom rides to fit your family’s schedule! From family favorites to extreme thrills, Animal Kingdom definitely keeps the attraction level high throughout the park. Here’s the list of Animal Kingdom FastPass eligible attractions:
- Expedition Everest
- Dinosaur
- Kali River Rapids
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Primeval Whirl
- Flights of Wonder
- Festival of the Lion King
- Finding Nemo – The Musical
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug!
- Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost
Take the Backstage Tales Tour
If you’re an early riser, the Disney Animal Kingdom Backstage Tales Tour is a great way to explore the Disney park, behind the scenes. An exclusive guided tour of the animals, enclosures, training, feeding, and more, this is definitely the tour for the Disney lover. AND, one of my favorite parts about this tour is that you get early access to the park, and that perfect Tree of Life picture!
Indulge in Exclusive Eats
If you’re looking for more authentic food inspired by Africa, Asia and beyond, Disney’s Animal Kingdom definitely steps up to the menu. The Disney chefs bring exotic spices, tastes and palettes to offer delicious food offerings you can’t find at any other Disney park.
My favorite area for exclusive eats is the newest Animal Kingdom eatery, the Harambe Market. Spice-Rubbed Karubi Ribs, Sausage Curried Corn Dogs and Watermelon Lemonade are our family’s personal favorites. And let’s not forget that Animal Kingdom is the perfect place to pick up another Dole Whip….with rum for adults!
Explore the Wild Africa Trek
The Disney Wild Africa Trek has to be one of the best private tour offerings at Walt Disney World. If you love animals, adventure, and Disney…this is the bucket list experience for you. A guided walking tour through the jungle, up close animal encounters, a bird’s eye view from a rickety bridge, a beautiful snack locale and your private safari, this is no ordinary 3 hour tour! Be sure to click the link above for my exclusive video and tips for your trek!
Complete the FREE Wilderness Explorers Guide
Want an even deeper look inside of Disney’s Animal Kingdom? It’s definitely my favorite tip to explore the park…and it’s FREE! The Wilderness Explorers Guide is a book chock full of exploration, discovery and learning for families. Pages in your book offer the ultimate scavenger hunt to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, earning you 31 badges along the way. The completion of the hunt also earns you the ultimate prize, the Senior Wilderness Explorers Badge!
Experience A New World at Pandora
Make time to immerse yourself in Animal Kingdom’s newest land, Pandora The World of Avatar. Stunning visuals, 2 all-new rides, out-of-this-world food options, gorgeous picture opportunities and whole lot more await your family. Be sure to check out my post to see why Pandora is great for kids too.
Be Enchanted by Rivers of Light Night Time Show
***Update: As of March 20, 2020 – Rivers of Light show is permanently closed. There are talks of The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic pyrotechnic show replacing this nighttime spectacle.
The all-new nighttime Disney show, Rivers of Light, offers a one-of-a-kind Animal Kingdom show. This 15 minute shows offers a different side of the park with enchanting views, creative visuals and so much for your family to take in. Be sure to check out the Rivers of Light best tips to make the most of viewing.
Learn About Animals, the Disney Way
Disney’s Animal Kingdom definitely allows the guests to get up close and personal with the animals, the Disney way. One of our favorite animal areas is the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Tigers, bats, kamado dragons and more Asian animal species are all surrounded by beautiful enclosures, informative signs and very knowledgeable staff. We could stroll this area for hours, learning new facts about animals in our world!
Enjoy Every Moment
The best tip for your Disney Animal Kingdom visit? Making sure to take in every Disney moment! Disney’s Animal Kingdom offers so many great experiences from amazing rides to exclusive tours, delicious eats to the best photo ops. Be sure to take in the memories with an open mind and a big smile!
What is your best tip for visiting Disney Animal Kingdom?
I received media access to Walt Disney World in exchange for this Best Tips for Visiting Disney Animal Kingdom post. All Disney fanatical opinions are my own. Be sure to follow Raising Whasians for more of your family travel tips!
Looking for more Disney travel tips?
Ted Fleming says
My friend and I did the Wild Africa Trek and we had a great time, got close up and unique animal photo ops, it was an amazing adventure that we will never forget. Disney hospitality at its BEST! Highly recommend it.
Toni says
I’m so saving this for our next trip! We’ve done some of your ideas but you have some fun new to us options too!
Tracey says
These are such great tips! Visiting Animal Kingdom is on my bucket list so I’m going to keep this post in mind.
Shannon Gurnee says
I went to Disney Animal Kingdom once, but didn’t really get to experience it. These are some great tips! Thanks for sharing.
Penny says
I have never been to animal kingdom, but it is defianately on my must do list! As much as I love magic kingdom, I think animal kingdom would be my first choice! Can u elaborate on the wilderness badges?
christie says
Sure! You get a booklet at one of the wilderness badge locations. When you complete a wilderness badge activity (from educational experiences about animals, culture, music, and more), you get a badge for your booklet. Complete them all and get the ultimate badge. All for FREE with your Disney admission. Perfect for families
Angie says
I just returned from our Disney family vacation and unfortunately Animal Kingdom was my least favorite. It felt hotter than the other parks. I would go back at night but probably not a full day.
christie says
Summer is definitely tough for animals and humans! Thanks for sharing
Brandy says
Thank you for all the helpful info!! My husband and I are going in sept for the first time and we’ll probably spend more time here than any other park!! We’re animal fanatics!! All our vacations seem to end up revolving around them! Cannot wait!! And will use your tips!!
christie says
Can’t wait to hear about your trip, Brandy. Enjoy!
Janet W. says
The Disney Wild Africa Trek is one thing we didn’t do last time we visited, but would love to the next time! Sounds amazing!
Elena Willets says
I was there this past February, and would recommend the “Caring For Giants” behind-the-scenes tour to anyone interested in elephants. The fee goes entirely to Disney’s elephant conservation fund. You get access to the entire elephant herd, and it was a great photo opportunity, especially with the baby elephant Suri! Also loved the tigers in the Asia section, and the gorillas.
Claudia Ortega says
We have gone three times and all of these we splurge at the Yak and Yeti restaurant, they serve the best duck. I find that going to sit down restaurants is not that much more expensive than fast food in Disney (except for the tip) and we get a much better meal.
Rae says
My favorite Animal Kingdom tip is to do the safari in the morning. They feed the animals strategically and you have to best chance to see the most animals during their breakfast. Also, we love a nice sit down lunch at Yak and Yeti. We don’t typically do a long lunch at Disney, but the animal kingdom park is definitely a lot more walking than the other parks (well except for the world showcase maybe) and a relaxing lunch in AC does wonders for the whole fam. Thanks for the tips!