The 2022 Ultimate Guide To Animal Kingdom
The 2022 Ultimate Guide To Animal Kingdom
The 2022 Ultimate Guide To Animal Kingdom
Quick breakfast
• Yak and Yeti Local Foods Café has a variety of breakfast items
• Pongu Pongu in Pandora: The World of Avatar also serves up quick eats at breakfast
DiVine
• DiVine is one of the characters you can spot around Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I want to
say, “you can’t miss her,” but that’s not necessarily true. DiVine’s appearance allows her
to blend in with the surrounding greenery. But when you DO see her, you’re going to
see a walking plant on four stilts – making her over 7 feet tall (or 15 feet if she decides
to raise her stilts in the air.
COMING SOON
Though Disney’s Animal Kingdom isn’t undergoing QUITE as many changes as compared to the
other three parks, it still has its fair share of announcements, closures, and updates
• Finding Nemo: The Musical closed in 2020. Last year, Disney announced that the show
would be reimagined to Finding Nemo: The Big Blue and Beyond, with a projected
reopening date for 2022. Many characters and songs will remain in the performance,
but the way the story will be told is going to switch up a bit. Instead of acting out the
events as they happen in real-time, the story will now take place in the Marine Life
Institute (featured in the Finding Dory movie), where our fishy friends will recount
Nemo, Marlin, and Dory’s wild journey in “the big blue world” and beyond.
• You’ll often find seasonal treats at Animal Kingdom that are here one day and gone soon
after. If you see a sign for a “limited-time” treat, we suggest getting it before it’s gone!
Entertainment
• Animal Encounters: Winged Encounters – The Kingdom Takes Flight happens
throughout the day near the Tree of Life
• Feathered Friends in Flight Show is a 35-minute show that takes place in the Anandapur
Theater in Asia
• A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King is a modified version of Festival of the Lion
King and takes place every hour from 10AM until 5Pm
• Street performers also serenade guests around the park. You’ve got the Asia musical
performance, Chakranadi, with Indian melodies played on Sitar – as well as the Tam
Tam Drummers of Harambe, the Viva Gaia Street Band, and the harp-stylings of the
Kora Tinga Tinga in Africa
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug is a 4D experience based on the Pixar film, A Bug’s Life. Not only
will you be deemed an “honorary bug,” but you’ll face some pretty frightening
challenges when Hopper decides to invade on all the “fun.” This show can be scary for
guests of all ages.
• At Rafiki’s Planet Watch you’ll find the Animation Experience at Conservation Station --
a 25-minute class that will teach you how to sketch a Disney animated animal
• And don’t forget about the character cavalcades on boats
New entertainment
• For the 50th anniversary celebration, Animal Kingdom introduced KiteTails, a daytime
show featuring kites flown over the Discovery River Lagoon. There are two KiteTails
shows – one featuring The Lion King and the other featuring The Jungle Book. Each
performance is 10-minutes long.
• Beacon of Magic: At night, the Tree of Life lights up with lights and whimsical fireflies
surrounding this icon in a celebration of nature and discovery
Walking trails
There are three main trails in the Animal Kingdom
• Discovery Island Trail, which wraps around the Tree of Life – allowing you to get an up-
close-and-personal view of all the detailed carvings in the trunk and vines of the giant
tree
• Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail is close to Kilimanjaro Safaris in the Africa section of the
park
• Maharajah Jungle Trek in Asia features beautiful pathways and animals like tigers, tapirs,
bats, and birds
• If you’re walking the trails with kids, be sure to check out the Wilderness Explorers! It’s
FREE to join. Grab a Wilderness Explorer handbook from the headquarters, find a
Wilderness Troop Leader, and then start earing your badge.
Tours
Currently, you can make a reservation for four different Animal Kingdom Tours:
• Caring for Giants is a 60-minute tour that lets you take an up-close look at the Animal
Kingdom elephants while also learning more about their history, care, and upkeep.
• You can also embark on a Wild Africa Trek. This tour will take you across an extensive
swinging bridge next to a gathering of lounging crocodiles, teach you about different
African-native animals, drive you along the savanna, and provide you with a unique
array of Animal Kingdom snacks.
• Up Close with Rhinos is… pretty self-explanatory.
• And last but not least we’ve got Savor the Savanna, which is a private safari, followed
immediately with food and drinks over at the Harambe Wildlife Reserve
BASICS
Travel
• You can get to Animal Kingdom by bus or car, but the good news is the bus lines don’t
usually get too long
• The park hours are currently 9AM until 7PM, and there are currently no Extended
Evening Hours
Rides
• Expedition Everest is currently closed until mid-April
• In DinoLand USA, you can ride the intense dark ride adventure, Dinosaur, and the not-
so-scary Triceratops Spin.
• If you need to cool down while you’re in Asia, you can get in line for the Kali River Rapids
• Africa has the beloved Kilimanjaro Safari
• Pandora – World of Avatar has Navi River Journey as well as the ever-popular Flight of
Passage.
• We recommend skipping Genie+ for Animal Kingdom and using stand-by queues instead