Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened in 1998 and is the fourth theme park at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It’s unique among the twelve Disney theme parks around the world in that its main focus is on animals. It was conceived as a cross between a zoo and a theme park with animal exhibits sitting alongside roller coasters, shows and other attractions. If you’re looking for the best rides and the top 10 attractions at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you’re in the right place!
There are 5 lands in the park – Oasis (the entrance), Discovery Island, Africa, Asia and Pandora – The World of Avatar. There was another land, Dinoland USA, which has closed to make way for the massive new Tropical Americas expansion which will see attractions based on Indiana Jones and Encanto. It was home to the iconic Dinosaur attraction which we’ll miss!
Animal Kingdom’s focus on nature is what makes it such a good theme park. You’ll be able to meet all your favourite Disney characters just like in the other parks but in Animal Kingdom, the animals are the stars.
One of the most amazing themed lands we’ve seen at any theme park is Pandora – The World of Avatar. It’s based around James Cameron’s Avatar and features the Na’vi people of the planet Pandora. It’s really amazing, especially at night when the bioluminescent plants light up. It’s very popular though with queues reaching over 3 hours on busier days!
If you’re looking to skip the queues, you’ve the option to pay extra for Lightning Lane passes. It can save you a lot of standing around in the heat but it’s not cheap. The Lightning Lane Multi Pass lets you book arrival windows for several attractions in advance but the most popular rides like Flight of Passage aren’t included in that bundle. For those, you’ll need to buy a separate Lightning Lane Single Pass if you want to bypass the main queue. It’s an added cost to consider and it’s entirely up to you if think it’s worth it for your day.
Just another word of advice. You can get Park Hopper tickets to do multiple parks in one day. We’d advise against it for your first visit. Disney’s Animal Kingdom is HUGE. It takes a lot of time to get around and it’s worth spending the time exploring the trails, seeing the animals and watching the shows. You’ll have a really good day that doesn’t feel as frantic as other theme parks.
If you’re planning a trip, we recommend booking your Walt Disney World tickets in advance here to save time at the gate.
The ultimate bucket-list experience is staying at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge where you can actually see giraffes and zebras from your hotel balcony. It’s not cheap either but it’s probably cheaper than going to Africa.
So with that being said, here’s our list of the top attractions at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park!
10. Maharajah Jungle Trek
Maharajah Jungle Trek is a peaceful, self-guided walking trail in the Asia section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It’s set in the lush ruins of the fictional Anandapur Royal Forest and the trail lets you get up close to animals like Sumatran tigers, Komodo dragons and giant fruit bats. There’s also an aviary filled with exotic birds. It’s got great theming and a relaxed pace that puts you in mind of The Jungle Book! You’ll feel like you’re walking through King Louie’s temple. It’s a great way to explore and take a break from the rides while still soaking up the magic of the park. It’s also well shaded so it’s a perfect chance to get out of the sun and do something with a calmer pace. Don’t skip this! It’s well worth a walk through.
9. Conservation Station
Conservation Station is a brilliant hidden gem that often gets overlooked. You reach it by taking a scenic ride on the Wildlife Express Train from Harambe in the Africa section. Located in Rafiki’s Planet Watch, Conservation Station is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Disney’s animal care programme. The highlight for any Disney fan is the Animation Experience. You can sit down with a real Disney artist and get a step-by-step lesson on how to draw famous animal characters like Simba, Dumbo or even Judy Hopps! You also get to keep your artwork as a free souvenir. Aside from the drawing classes, there’s a massive window into the veterinary treatment room. Every single animal in the park gets their medical care here so you might actually see real procedures taking place.
8. Zootopia: Better Zoogether!
Zootopia: Better Zoogether! is the newest addition to the park and fans of the films will love it. Housed inside the massive root system of the iconic Tree of Life, this brilliant 3D show replaced the old It’s Tough to be a Bug! attraction late last year (which we LOVED by the way). You join Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde and a VERY realistic animatronic Officer Clawhauser as they try to save the Zoogether Day celebration. It has fantastic physical effects in the theatre and takes you through the different biomes from the movies like Tundratown and the Rainforest District. It’s packed with humour, bright colours and high energy that keeps the whole family entertained. It really breathes fresh life into the centre of the park and gives Disney’s newest animal characters a proper home in Walt Disney World.
7. Finding Nemo: The Big Blue & Beyond
Finding Nemo: The Big Blue & Beyond is a great musical stage show based on the Pixar movie. It features puppeteers on stage playing characters like Marlin, Dory and Nemo. They use a traditional Japanese style of puppetry called Bunraku where the performers are completely visible but they blend so seamlessly with their massive and colourful puppets that you forget they’re even there! The original songs were actually written by the same team who created the music for Frozen so you know the tunes are going to be incredibly catchy. It follows a shortened version of the movie’s story with clever lighting effects to help bring the undersea world to life. The scale of the props like the massive Crush the turtle puppet makes it a true Disney theatrical masterpiece and it’s a great place to escape the afternoon heat for a while.
6. Festival of The Lion King
This is another great show and easily one of the best pieces of live entertainment at a theme park. Located in the Africa section, it’s designed like a vibrant circus tent with the audience sitting around the edges facing into the middle. Here’s a fun fact – The massive floats used in the show were actually originally built for a parade in Disneyland in California before being shipped over to Orlando. It feels like a Broadway production compressed into a 30-minute theme park performance. It features talented singers leading you through a high-energy pageant where you meet the classic characters. There’s acrobatics, fire dancing and the famous Tumble Monkeys on the trampolines! You’ll know all the classic songs and you’ll definitely be singing along to Hakuna Matata and I Just Can’t Wait to be King.
5. Na’vi River Journey
Na’vi River Journey is a visually stunning boat ride in Pandora that frequently has massive queues. We’re glad we booked a Lightning Lane because the standby queue when we arrived was over 3 hours long! It uses the same kind of gentle boat system as Pirates of The Caribbean or It’s A Small World. You board your vessel and are transported deep into the Na’vi forest where you see glowing creatures like Viperwolves moving through the bioluminescent plants. The physical effects and projection mapping create a realistic alien environment. We were amazed at how good it looked. The climax of the ride features the Shaman of Songs. This animatronic is so incredibly fluid and lifelike that you’ll struggle to believe it’s actually a robot!
4. Kali River Rapids
We’ve been on lots of rapids rides in various theme parks but Kali River Rapids is easily one of our favourites. It’s themed around a raft excursion in India that’s disrupted by illegal logging, bringing a really important environmental message to life. The queuing area alone is an experience in itself as it brings you through a rafting office and ancient temple ruins filled with real artefacts from Asia. Once you’re on the water, the theming is brilliant with geysers, waterfalls and a daunting drop past burning logs. There’s a very high chance you’ll get completely soaked! You’ll see plenty of people wearing ponchos on this one but on a hot Orlando afternoon, it’s a refreshing way of cooling off.
3. Kilimanjaro Safaris
Kilimanjaro Safaris really shows off exactly what Disney’s Animal Kingdom is all about. You board a rugged, open-sided safari vehicle and are brought out into the massive Harambe Wildlife Reserve. To give you an idea of the scale of this attraction, the entire Magic Kingdom park could comfortably fit inside the ride’s footprint! The animals are all in lush habitats cleverly designed to look completely wild. Disney uses hidden barriers to keep predators and prey separated without ruining the view. You actually manage to get quite close to giraffes, rhinos, elephants and even cheetahs. Keep an eye out for the lions sleeping on the rocks which look exactly like Pride Rock from The Lion King. Because the animals roam freely, no two safaris are ever exactly the same.
2. Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
Walt Disney World doesn’t have a lot of massive roller coasters so Expedition Everest stands head and shoulders above everything else. Here’s a fun bit of curious trivia for you – The mountain stands at exactly 199.5 feet tall because if it were 200 feet Disney would have been legally required to put a blinking red aviation light on top! The story starts in the queue as you wander through a highly detailed Yeti museum full of real mountaineering gear from Nepal. You’re then taken high up into Mount Everest before finding the tracks completely ripped apart. You’re suddenly plunged backwards into the dark and speeding through the icy caverns. You eventually encounter the massive Yeti which is actually the largest and most complex animatronic Disney ever built. It should be moving but the less said about that the better! This is probably our favourite themed roller coaster from any park we’ve been to!
1. Avatar Flight of Passage
As we’ve said before, we’ve been to many theme parks and experienced lots of rides but Avatar Flight of Passage is easily the best we’ve ever been on. We came out absolutely speechless. It’s easy to see why it gets so much attention and praise. We queued for nearly 2 hours and it was genuinely worth every single second. The story takes place after the events of the first Avatar movie and sees you becoming a Mountain Banshee pilot. After a pre-show, you board your link chair. You can actually feel the banshee breathing beneath your legs! The screen opens up and takes you soaring into the air over Pandora. The amazing visuals are paired with incredible physical effects like the smells of the damp earth and the mist of the waves. It completely tricks your brain into thinking you’re flying. It’s the ultimate theme park experience. You’ll love it!
What do you think?
That wraps up our ultimate top 10 Disney’s Animal Kingdom countdown! Do you agree with our number one pick? Did your favourite ride miss the list? Let us know your thoughts and your own rankings in the comments below!
