Animal Kingdom Orlando Florida

Next stop – Animal Kingdom! I love the Animal Kingdom, firstly because it’s a great park, but also because there is lots of shade.

Animal Kingdom is a zoological park based over 580 acres it is not only the largest of the Disney parks but also the largest theme park in the world.

All information & exchange rates are correct at the time of our visit (26th November)

Parking

For a car it is $25 (£18.75) standard or $50 (£37.50) for express
For a larger vehicle it is $30 (£22.50)

We aren’t sure what they class as a larger vehicle as we have a 15 seater mini bus and were charged the car rate!

The car parks are great though they are all named – We were in Dinosaur – and the row you are in is clearly marked at the end of the row.

Take a photo of the board or drop a pin on your google maps if you need help remembering where you parked.

Entry to Animal Kingdom

Do check the app for opening times as they can vary – For us it was showing 8am and we got in just before.

Security tip : If you have a glasses case or power bank, hold this out in front of you as you go through the security scan as this sets off the scanner

You will also find this giant Christmas tree at the entrance decorated with animal themed decorations and all Winnie the Pooh characters surrounding the base.

Quick Dining

For our lunch we used Restaurantosaurus and chose children’s meals, as I’ve said before they seem better value.

They also come in a bucket and spade which we took home for the pool.

Snacks

If you’ve already read my Magic Kingdom post you’ll know we already purchased the $12 (£9) popcorn tub which can be refilled at all the parks for $2 (£1.50), we used this a lot today!

Just be warned its salty popcorn so have a refill bottle ready for all the water you will need – free water fountains are dotted all round the park.

Rides

‘Dinosaur‘ looked like a cool cart style ride, however it is super rough and bumpy.

Be prepared to be thrown about a bit and most of it is either in the pitch black or quite dark so even though the height restriction is low, it might not be suitable for younger guests.

Holly is 3 and tall enough but she was terrified on the ride (but fine when we got off)

For the Safari ride you can keep little ones in the stroller virtually to where you board the bus so that’s great!

If you go on ‘Its tough being a bug’ ride/show **Spoilers** giant spiders drop from the ceiling and dangle above your head.

My teen was virtually laid on the floor in fear.. so probably avoid if you aren’t good with spiders!

We love that you can just take your bags on all the rides, most of them have little storage pockets in the footwell (even the proper coasters!) which makes it much easier to keep valuables with you.

Christmas music in the bright sun is odd though! Here’s a bit of Mariah Careys All I want For Christmas!

Lion King & Jungle Book Kite Shows

The kite shows were awesome, over on the lake pulled around by jetskis and to the Lion King / Jungle Book sound tracks

Oscar absolutely loved it, if you are sat near the front the cast members also get the children involved with props before the show starts

Character Shows

At the moment characters are appearing on boats on the river / lake. They were going through quite regularly so if you miss one it won’t be long before another comes through!

Ride & Park Photography

Depending on the ride there’s a few different ways you can collect your photos.

Going to the counter – Some of the rides still have a counter where you will need to go to get your photo from a staff member added to your card / magic band. If you or any of your group have removed your mask they will refuse to download the image for you (or print it)

Automatic download – Some of the rides will ‘scan’ your pass as you go past the camera and automatically add your image to your account

Self Service – Lastly you may exit the ride to a wall of screens displaying all the images and you can press your card / magic band against the button that relates to your image and it will download.

Walkabout Photographers – These will have a handheld scanner which you press your card / magic band against and the photos will be added to the photo section of your app

Masks

Masks are still required in all indoor areas including on the rides (as you will see from our photos) This requirement is for 3 years and up.

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We had a really good day at Animal Kingdom but we will definitely need to come back again before we leave as both the Avatar ride queues were over 2 hours so we didn’t get on either of them!

We didn’t use Disney Genie+ today because it was just so busy the times that were available were so late in the date we didn’t think it would be worth it.

The wifi also wasn’t great here so the app kept throwing up errors.

If you have any questions feel free to ask

ChrissyJ xxx