What You Should Know About Disney's Animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom (also known as DAK), was the fourth theme park to join the Walt Disney World complex. It is either the least Disney or most Disney of all the parks, depending on your perspective. It is true that the park has very few obvious references to the famous mouse or any of the other classic Disney characters (though, of course, they can be found) and it appears to be the least "commercially Disney" of all the parks. The park celebrates animals, and more importantly, conservation, and while it lacks in some ways obvious Disney references, it carries so much in terms of Disney values and what Disney does best. You will find some of the best edu-tainment and imagineering in this park. It's so much more than a zoo.

How to Get There

Disney's Animal Kingdom is served only by automobile - meaning, you can drive your car there, take an Uber, Lyft, or mini-van, or you can take Disney's complimentary bus service from within the Disney resort property. There is no monorail, skyliner, or boat service.

The closest Disney resort hotel to the Animal Kingdom theme park is the aptly named Animal Kingdom Lodge resort. This deluxe resort has an African theme, and a safari area of its own, with many rooms that overlook the safari so you can see zebras, giraffes, and gazelles from your room. The bus ride from Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge to the theme park is about 5 minutes. From other resorts on property, expect the bus ride itself to take about 20 minutes, with a wait of an additional 20 minutes between buses.

Scenery in Pandora, near the Flight of Passage attraction

Most Popular Attractions

We like to think of Disney's Animal Kingdom as a little bit different than the other parks. It invites you to slow down, and has more to it than just rides and shows. After all, there are animals of all sorts! However, this park does have its share of attractions, including some of the best at Walt Disney World.

Coming in at #1 in terms of popularity is Avatar: Flight of Passage. This ride routinely boasts lines of over an hour, and can get up to three hours waiting. Avatar: Flight of Passage is eligible for Individual Lightning Lane (not regular Lightning Lane), which is one of the best strategies to ride. You can also plan to get in line at rope drop or shortly before the park closes.

Other popular attractions include Na'Vi River Journey, Expedition: Everest, Dinosaur!, and Kilimanjaro Safari. Kilimanjaro Safari is something we consider a Can't Miss Attraction. In fact, if you don't ride it, you haven't seen 1/5th of the park! The Safari habitat itself is 110 acres, while the entirety of the Magic Kingdom is 107 acres, to give you an idea of the scope of this attraction.

A blueberry mousse dessert at Satu'li Canteen

What to Eat

Whether it's quick service or table service you are looking for, our opinion is that Disney's Animal Kingdom has the best of both. Tiffins is a signature table service dining experience with an excellent setting and mouth-watering dishes and drinks. The Tusker House character breakfast, when operating, is also a very popular character dining experience.

In the land of quick service, you will find cuisine from around the world (and other worlds!). Satu'li Canteen is one of our favorites with "otherworldly" food from the Avatar land of Pandora. You can get pods (bao buns) and bowls made to order there. Yak and Yeti offers delicious Asian cuisine from both a quick service window and a table service dining room. Flame Tree Barbecue offers, you guessed it, barbecue, and has arguably the best outdoor seating area in the park.

Parades and Fireworks

At times, you can catch an afternoon parade at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Largely, it depends on the time of the year. Parades are not as much a big deal here as they are at, say, the Magic Kingdom. Another daytime entertainment option that recently started is Kite Tails that runs from about 11:15 AM to 5:15 PM every hour or two. There are only two unique shows, despite the multiple showtimes, and it can be seen in the Discovery River Amphitheater.

For evening entertainment, you will not find fireworks because of considerations for the well-being of animals. What you will find, also in the Discovery River Amphitheater, is a show called Rivers of Light which is a combination of floats, fountains, and fire. You should also stay around for the less formal, and less scheduled, Tree of Life Awakenings where the park's wienie, the Tree of Life, comes to life with projected animations. We like the Awakenings far better than we like Rivers of Light, though the majority of guests will want to flock to Rivers of Light. And you can see both if you so wish since Rivers of Light often has two showings, and the Awakenings happen all evening.

Roofline details in Safari Village, the hub of the park

General Lay of the Land

Disney's Animal Kingdom park is laid out like a modified hub and spoke, with Discovery Island (also called Safari Village) at the hub. This is where the Tree of Life, the park's centerpiece (or wienie) can be found. Discovery Island is surrounded by the Discovery River, and bridges connect to the other lands. However, you can get from most lands, except the Oasis, to other lands using an outer loop as well.

The entry plaza has a tree design in the pavement and as you funnel in from buses or parking lots, your branch will combine with others into one large trunk leading you to the turnstiles. Security is directly before the ticket booths, and then the ticket booths are followed by the turnstiles. Most guests will enter at the main turnstiles which are impossible to miss. However, facing the park entrance, to the left, is a Rainforest Cafe restaurant. Guests dining at Rainforest Cafe can also enter and exit the park through a single turnstile inside the restaurant because the restaurant is half in and half out of the park.

Upon entering, unlike other Disney parks that funnel you in a very obvious way toward the wienie, you will not be able to see the Tree of Life yet. Instead, you are in the heavily vegetated Oasis, a land of meandering paths with no obvious correct or direct way to go. There are some small animals in the Oasis to look at, as well as lots of vegetation, waterfalls, and even caves. If you're on a rush to get somewhere, this meandering land with no major attractions and obvious direction might make you anxious, but this is Disney telling you to calm down and take a breath. This is a park unlike the others where the point is to sometimes slow down and look around you. Making your way through the Oasis is not difficult, despite how it initially seems. It's not a maze, after all. Just keep heading in the same general direction and soon you find yourself on the large bridge to Discovery Island with a spectacular view of the Tree of Life.

As we said, Discovery Island is the hub. Arranged out like spokes on a tire, going clockwise, are the lands of Pandora, Africa, Asia, and DinoLand, USA. You can also travel along the outer edge of the Discovery River from Pandora to Africa, from Africa to Asia, and from Asia to DinoLand, USA.

This is an eclectic mix of lands, and here we'll provide an overview of each with more details coming later:

• Discovery Island (aka Safari Village) - As we said, this is the hub. It's also where you'll find several gift shops and restaurants, as well as access to the Tree of Life up close.

• Pandora - Pandora is the land of Avatar, a different planet with alien plants that glow at night. It also houses the most popular ride in the park, Avatar: Flight of Passage. Most guests make a bee-line to this land upon park opening, and, because of the bioluminescence of the alien plant-life, this land is also really busy after the sun goes down.

• Africa - The walkable part of Africa is taken up by the Village of Harambe. You can find excellent live entertainment in this village. This is also where you will access Kilimanjaro Safari, which accounts for most of the land in this part of the park, and the Gorilla Falls exploration trail. To the far corner of this land is a train station where you can board a train to Rafiki's Planet Watch, an outpost of educational exhibits. Kids are going to want to go there to get their Wilderness Explorer badges completed.

• Asia - While Asia is not meant to represent solely any one particular part of the vast continent, it is a bit like a village in the Himalayan foothills (think Kathmandu). Some of Disney's very best theming is here. Asia is a very large land, starting with the Village of Anandapur proper where you'll find several attractions, shops, and dining, and then, as you move along, the Village dissipates and you're in the foothills of the Himalayas, looking at Expedition: Everest. On some days, the smell in Asia is a heavenly combination of tea and incense, which we absolutely adore.

• DinoLand, USA - Carrying on around the outer spoke from Asia, you will pass the Discovery River Amphitheater to the right, and the Theater in the Wild to the left, and you will find yourself approaching DinoLand, USA, a campy college town with a permanently ill-fated paleontology facility, as well as, somewhat incongruously, a permanent carnival. The younger kids, those who are just as happy at a county fair as they are at Disney World, gravitate toward DinoLand making it quite rambunctious during daylight hours, but eerily quiet at night.

Slow down and appreciate the beauty of this park

Our Biggest Piece of Advice About This Park

Slow. Down.

Okay, don't slow down when it comes to riding Avatar: Flight of Passage. Be on the ball for that. Either rope drop it, or get yourself an Individual Lightning Lane, or just prepare to wait. But if you charge into the park running toward your first ride, you're missing the point with this park. The Disney Imagineers told you to slow down when you enter the Oasis, and it's usually best to listen to them.

This park has some great rides, though fewer rides than the other theme parks, and some excellent snacks, and shows, but if you are not slowing down to visit with the animals, you're missing out.

There are three major walking trails where you can see and learn about animals, and we recommend doing each one. And the best thing is - these seldom have any sort of line.

Our best advice is to secure your Individual Lightning Lane and your other Lightning Lanes, if using Genie+, and in between rides take some time to shop, see live entertainment, and see the animals. Also, talk to the Cast Members by the animal exhibits. They know a lot about the animals.

Feeling bad about animals in captivity? That's fair. But we want you to know that Disney has an excellent animal program. They have actually been able to breed the nearly extinct black rhinos, and have released several back into protected parts of Kenya to restore the natural population. Also, every gift shop offers you the opportunity to donate to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF, not to be confused with the OTHER WWF where men with contrived back stories talk tough to each other and throw each other around the wrestling ring). You won't find plastic straws or cup lids in the park because when these blow into an animal habitat and the animal eats it, they get sick. And you won't find fireworks because it spooks the animals. Truly, if animals are going to be in any zoo, let them be here where they are loved and respected and well taken care of, and where their populations that are in trouble in the wild can be restored.

Okay, we're getting off our soap box. But seriously. Don't go to this park thinking it's another day of knocking attractions off your bucket list. Go to this park as an explorer.

Jambo!