Animal kingdom is one of my FAVOURITE parks, I LOVE spending a day exploring, watching the shows and of course riding the rides! Being in Animal Kingdom always makes me feel like I am in the very heart of Africa instead of Florida! It has a great vibe, and there is so much going on!
So here I am to share MY top 5 tips for getting the most out of your visit!!
- Get an early breakfast reservation– Okay this tip was obvious (for those who have read my previous Disney posts) This really is a TOP TIP! Get to the park before opening, get some great photo shots of a pretty empty park. Have a delicious breakfast (my recommendation would be Tusker House) and IF you haven’t already got a Fastpass head straight over to Pandora world of Avatar to ride Flight of passage OR if you were lucky enough to grab a Fastpass for FOP before they all went then I suggest getting an early ride on Kilimanjaro Safari!
- Ride Kilimanjaro Safari early in the morning or later on in the evening – For many visitors Kilimanjaro Safari will be the highlight of your time at Animal Kingdom. That’s why you will want to make sure you see as many as the animals as possible. I have read on various blogs before that by doing the Safari early in the morning or later in the evening you will have a better chance of seeing the animals, as it’s far cooler than at midday when the Florida heat kicks in. On our last visit (2017) Luke and I finished breakfast at Tusker House and headed straight on over to the safari, for a nice and early 9am ride. The amount of animals I saw was incredible, rhino’s and giraffes so close you could almost touch them! Such an amazing experience and definitely worth it!
- Visit the affection section – A lot of people seem to miss this out, but it’s one of my favourite things to do while at Animal Kingdom (much to Luke’s dismay!) At the affection section you can enjoy friendly, hands-on encounters with a variety of animals, including goats, pigs and sheep, it’s kind of an open-air petting zoo. Handy animal brushes are also available inside the petting enclosure, I could spend a good hour here, Luke prefers a short 20 minuets!
- Get a Fastpass for Flight of passage- This tip actually involves BEING ON IT when it comes to booking your Fastpasses either 60 or 30 days before you vacation. Not being an avatar fan I really wasn’t fussed about even visiting Pandora whilst at AK, luckily Luke persuaded me, and got us 2 FP’s for FOP. I will go on record and say IT IS THE BEST RIDE EVER!! Even if like me you really don’t care too much for the world of avatar, this ride takes it to a whole new level of awesomeness. The queues for this ride whilst we were there were hitting the 3 hour mark, so plan in advance and get that FP!
- Don’t miss the amazing stage shows- Many first time visitors to AK don’t realise that their are 2 amazing shows to be seen whilst visiting. My personal favourite is of course Festival of the Lion King, which is as professional as a Westend/Broadway musical with a fun Disney circus flair. It features all your Favourite Lion King songs to sing along too, oh and don’t forget to pick up the official CD on your way out, I have mine playing in the car!! I recommend a Fastpass for this show, as I like to sit near the front. The other show you will find here is Finding Nemo the musical, not I have to be honest one of my favourites, but I can appreciate the talent and professionalism involved in bringing this show to the stage. It’s very clever and I know kids as well as many adults love it.
I am really enjoying sharing my quick tips with you all, I am definitely feeling sad that this year I will not be returning to my happy place ??
But I would love to hear from anyone who is, leave me a comment or email me at [email protected] I’m happy to answer any questions and love hearing other people’s tips too!!
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Thanks for reading
L xxx