Top 10 Attractions for Disney’s Animal Kingdom

So, you’re newly through the gates of Disney’s most enchanting and naturalistic park, and you want to know what rides and attractions you should focus on. Well, we’ve got your back! When it comes to the essential experience of the Animal Kingdom, we have chapter and verse.

This is a crucial step towards enjoying Orlando’s theme parks to the max, as it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the choice and the frippery involved in these amazing places. You don’t want to get through your day and then realise you have missed out on key rides or shows and, even though the Animal Kingdom has fewer out-and-out rides than the other parks, you still need to have your card marked in advance.

We have already done this exercise for all the other parks (Disney, Universal and SeaWorld; see below), hence this completes the “set” of the magnificent seven – which is shortly to become the Great Eight when Universal’s Epic Universe opens in May.

Animal Kingdom basics

Just to start with, this is Walt Disney World’s newest park, having opened in 1998. It has grown notably since its debut, with expansions of both the Asia and Africa areas, and it will be going through another major transformation in the next few years as the current DinoLand USA area of the park is replaced by a completely new “land” called Tropical Americas.

The first closures have already taken place, with both the TriceraTop Spin children’s ride and the fun gift shop of Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures disappearing behind the rebuilding fences, along with the extra-fee Fossil Fun Games (which, in all honesty, we never really liked). The other DinoLand elements, including the DINOSAUR ride and the Restaurantosaurus dining option, will remain open until much later in 2025. In their place will (eventually) come new attractions for Indiana Jones – notably a dynamic ride to replace DINOSAUR – and a whole section devoted to the film Encanto, including a unique journey through Casita Madrigal.

But all that’s for a year to come; you want to know about what’s there now, so here’s our fundamental Top 10 attractions you should focus on (adding the caveat that the It’s Tough To Be A Bug animatronic show is closing in the near future to make way for a Zootopia-themed attraction, hence we won’t list it here).

10. Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail

Head into the heart of Africa on this “walking safari” through a series of realistic animal habitats in the Harambe Wildlife Preserve. The journey begins in the Pangani Forest and takes in a wide variety of species, from meerkats and naked mole rats (yes, really) to okapi, giraffes and hippos. The highlight, of course, are the two habitats for the African highland gorilla, with multiple viewing points, so take your time here and you should see these magnificent animals at play.

9. Na’vi River Journey

The heart of the park’s Pandora The World of Avatar land consists of two out-and-out rides based on the original Avatar film. The River Journey is a gentle boat ride through the mystical, and bioluminescent, Pandoran jungle, culminating in a meeting with the Na’vi Shaman of Songs, who sends positive energy through the forest with her songs. There’s a LOT to see, so keep looking all around you on the river voyage.

8. Maharajah Jungle Trek

Here’s the second of the park’s big animal habitat trails, adding an Asian theme to the African version, Gorilla Falls. The Jungle Trek takes visitors on a tour of key exhibits through a mystical forest and ancient palace ruins, across a towering footbridge and past cascading waterfalls. Along the way, visitors will see gibbons, Elds deer, water buffalo, Komodo dragons and the Malayan flying fox bat before reaching the crown jewel of the Sumatran tiger habitat, which now includes the super-cute tiger cub, Bakso.

7. Kali River Rapids

Get ready for a rip-roaring white-water adventure through part of the lush Asian jungle landscape as these 12-passenger rafts bounce along a wildly fluctuating waterway, encountering waterfalls and other fast-flowing sections, including a precipitous 20-foot drop that guarantees to get some riders seriously wet! NB the Rapids ride is currently closed for refurbishment and will re-open in March.

6. Finding Nemo The Big Blue…and Beyond

This highly polished 25-minute stage show features the characters from Finding Nemo in a magnificently imagined musical presentation. With live performers, animated backdrops and a theatre decked out with innovative lighting, sound and special effects, this undersea environment is a triumph of family fun and creativity.

5. DINOSAUR

For the last few months while it’s still Dino-themed, take advantage of this journey WAY back in time to visit the Cretaceous period, and a deeply immersive experience among the dinosaurs. The Time Rover vehicle takes passengers into a prehistoric jungle full of menacing dinos, with the challenge to escape the lurking Carnotaurus and dodge the incoming meteor!

4. Kilimanjaro Safaris

If you have walked the Gorilla Falls trail, this genuine safari ride presents the full panorama of east Africa from the back of an open-sided 36-passenger truck for a real animal extravaganza. The gentle trundle includes sightings of elephants, giraffes, zebras, kudu, warthogs, crocodiles and much more on a 20-minute journey through realistic savannas.

3. Festival of the Lion King

Arguably one of the best live presentations in any Disney park, this 35-minute show positively bursts with vitality and style, bringing The Lion King story to life with the songs, pageantry and colour of the film. With larger-than-life puppets, acrobats and dancers, the festival is a non-stop cavalcade of pure fun, delivered with enormous panache.

2. Expedition Everest

The Animal Kingdom’s most dynamic ride is a feast for roller-coaster fans, as this themed journey into the Himalayan foothills takes a turn for the super-dramatic with the lurking menace of the Yeti. The ride includes a backwards section that is quite breathtaking and finishes with a fast-paced whirl through the lair of the mythical beast.

1. Avatar – Flight of Passage

Disney’s Imagineers surpassed themselves with the highlight of the Pandora section, a journey into the world of the Na’vi – and a (simulated) ride on the back of a mountain Banshee. The queue is suitably immersive, and then the pre-ride preamble introduces the high-tech experience into the stunning landscapes of the alien planet. Queues will be at their longest here, so try to do this early on or wait until late in the day.

And those are the essential experiences of the Animal Kingdom. Get all 10 under your belt and you can safely say you have “done” the park. Check out all our Top 10 blogs for the other theme parks on these links Magic Kingdom; EPCOT; Disney’s Hollywood Studios; Universal Studios Florida; Islands of Adventure; SeaWorld Orlando.

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