Disney's Animal Kingdom

 

December 17, 2021

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

The third stop on our Disney World tour was at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The zoological theme park is the largest theme park in the world, mostly due to the many acres devoted to animal habitat. The park is a mix of traditional theme park rides and attractions and a large zoo. The park is accredited by the American Zoological Association and features hundreds of species of animals.

The park, like all of Disney’s parks is divided into various themed worlds including Asia, Africa, Discovery Island, Dinoland, Rafiki’s Planet Watch and the newest section; Pandora the World of Avatar. While all of the sections have their own appeal, we wanted to make sure that we visited Pandora and rode on what currently are the two most popular attractions in the park.

The land's marquee attraction is Avatar Flight of Passage, a 3D  flying simulator that allows guests to fly on a banshee across the Pandoran landscape.^] The other cool attraction is the Na’vi River Journey which places guests aboard a boat ride through Pandora's bioluminescent rainforest The Flights of Passage ride is for adults only, so I got to wait and watch the girls while everyone else rode it.

We could all ride the very cool River Journey ride, which was a peaceful, beautiful trip through a brilliantly colored and impressive Pandoran rainforest. Personally, I find the rides better than the film they are based on. The journey builds to an encounter with the remarkable Shaman of Songs. Like most Na’vi, she is nearly 10 feet tall.  Music is central in Na’vi culture. Guests observe the shaman in the midst of a musical ceremony, playing an instrument and singing. Through her music, the shaman sends positive energy into the rainforest, telling of the sacred bond with nature that Na’vi and humans share.

Our next stop was at the Tusker House Restaurant in Africa for lunch. The restaurant features a family style, all you can eat selection of African inspired food as well as character appearances by Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Mickey Mouse and Goofy, which is the reason we selected this place. Finding character dining that is available can be tricky, but Dakota wanted to make sure that Sloane had that experience and she was able to make a booking at the Tusker House. 

It was a terrific choice as the food was great and every fifteen minutes or so, a Disney character would come in to interact with the families and children present. After lunch and already being in the Africa section of the park, we boarded the Killimanjaro Safari tour to head out and see the wildlife preserve that is packed with native African wildlife.

The ride is a twenty minute excursion through the 110 acre nature preserve aboard a large truck-like bus that winds through the place that has all manner of wildlife including rhinos, cheetahs, crocodiles, elephants, hyenas, giraffes, and zebra. In all there are 34 different species represented and the animals are obviously quite used to the trucks lumbering through their home and come quite close to the vehicles at times.

After Dakota and her family headed back to the hotel for their afternoon naps, Kathy and I stayed at the park where we attended the top-notch live show, “The Festival of the Lion King” which featured characters from the film and colorfully dressed actors singing the most popular songs from the film. It is a great show.

Finally, Kathy wanted to ride her favorite rollercoaster, Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. The mountain that is created for the steel coaster to travel up to and through is the tallest artificial mountain in the world and the ride is one of the biggest and most expensive in Disney history. It features a Yeti creature throughout that torments riders and creates havoc by breaking up the track, forcing the coater to go backwards, one of the only Disney coasters to do that.