We had a wonderful day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom with a 3 years and 8 months old kid including the fantastic Avatar Flight of Passage. This post is our guide to the rides, attractions and entertainment at Disney’s Animal Kingdom which help you plan your day easier.
Before talking about Disney’s Animal Kingdom, let me give you a quick review about our Disney’s Art of Animation resort. This resort is listed under Value category which means the cost of staying here is affordable. All value resorts are character theme resorts except The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort. Read more about benefits of staying in WDW Resort property here
Disney’s Art of Animation resort is perfect if you want to be reminded that you’re at Disney. My daughter enjoyed every single detail of the resort from the decorations, the characters, the arcade, the room to the largest pool of Disney’s resort. The pool is heated so no matter what season you stay, you are always welcome to the pool.
QUICK TIPS ABOUT DISNEY ANIMAL KINGDOM
- Check the height requirement. Animal Kingdom’s rides’ height requirement is higher than Magic Kingdom. If you have kids shorter than 40 inches, there is only one ride they can do which is The Kali River Rapids.
- FAST PASS – If you stay in the WDW Resort property, you can reserve your fast pass up to 60 days. Do your research and download the map so you know where the rides/attractions at. After that, try to reserve the fast pass as early in the morning as possible. After you finish your last fast pass, you can reserve another one. Our fast passes were Na’vi River Journey, DINOSAUR and Kali River Rapids and they were all in the morning. My daughter was barely 100 cm/40 inches with the help of her shoes.
- Lunch and Dinner – you can reserve the restaurant up to 6 months and the famous restaurants run out of seat quicker than the rides so do your research and reserve it as soon as possible. If you change your mind, you can cancel it 24 hours before your appointment with no charge.
- Prepare water and portable fan. Bottle water is expensive there but the fountain water is free. If you don’t mind to drink fountain water, just bring the empty bottle. All restaurants and food courts have free water. Florida is hot all year round and you don’t want your kids get sweat all the time so prepare a fan. I bought the portable fan with mist spray from Kohl’s for $7 which is sold as $25 in the park.
- The path from the gate entrance to the ride is so long, be prepared for lots of walking
- Always have the sunscreen with you; you and your kids will sweat a lot under the heat of Florida. Apply sunscreen to protect your kids from the harm of UV.
THE BEST RIDES AT ANIMAL KINGDOM
- Avatar Flight of Passage
The fast pass for this ride was out so early. I checked it every single day but unfortunately, I couldn’t reserve one. This ride required 44 inches so my kid couldn’t ride it. Thanks to the “Swap” program that Disney offered. You just came to the staffs who stay at the ride gate and tell them you want to swap. They will ask you who go first then the second one will receive a fast pass for it. My husband went first. During that time, I took my kid to the store next to it for shopping then went to the drink station for a “colorful” drink; I forgot what it’s called. It took my husband 1 hour to ride it but totally worth it. Even the waiting area was amazing which made the waiting time shorter.
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
This is a truly unique ride, a meandering ride through the landscapes of Africa with real animal sightings along the way. We have been to several safaris but none of them could compare to Kilimanjaro Safari. The tour guide was fantastic that made the whole trip perfect. The fast pass for this ride goes out so fast for the morning time when the weather is not too hot. If you couldn’t get the fast pass, try to do it during lunch time or around noon to 3 PM when it’s hot and less people waiting in line. Don’t worry, the tour buses have cover.
NOTE: The animals are not as active with the sun beating down on them after 5 PM.
- DINOSAUR
This is the vehicle powered through the bumps and jerky turned off the jungle in search of a specific dinosaur, hoping to track it down before being killed. The ride is long and 95% is covered in the darkness which made my daughter scared. The waiting time for this ride ia not too long. We should not have reserved the fast pass for this one.
OTHER RIDES/ATTRACTIONS WORK BEST FOR KID AT 40 INCHES AND UNDER
- Na’vi River Journey
Na’vi River Journey is an all-ages offering in the form of a boat ride through Pandora’s wildlife. It was another ride besides the Avatar Flight of Passage located at Pandora-land. We got fast pass for this one so we didn’t need to wait so long. I gave this ride 8/10 because we expected a big surprise happened at the end but nothing. I think because this ride is Tier 1 Animal Kingdom fast pass ride, we gave it a big HOPE for something special but disappointed at the end.
- Tricera Top Spin
This was a really basic/standard ride which you sit in a Triceratops, spinning around a center as the vehicles move up and down. My kid loved it no matter what, same as the dumbo flying elephant at Magic Kingdom, she ended it play this ride 3 times. No waiting time for this ride.
- It’s Tough to be a Bug
It is not a ride. It is a 4D film and lived show inspired by the Disney Pixar movie A Bug’s life. It was kind of scary and my kid was not comfortable in the darkness so we left the show half way.
- Kali River Rapids
I think this ride is over rated. We got fast pass for it and disappointed. We got wet after the ride but it was not a problem. The point was this ride was slow, no shade at all and there was not much to see during the short ride. I recommend not to have fast pass for this ride.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
My kid did not like to sit and watch the show so we skipped all of them but I heard the Finding Nemo and Lion king shows were fantastic.
Other than that, Animal Kingdom has a lot of walking trails through the animal exhibits. The park is covered in green and nature which make you feel like you are in the jungle with animals, rivers, and mountain. Everything creates a wonderful and different Animal Kingdom from other Disney themed parks.
The bone yard is the dig-site themed playground so kid can run around, climb and down the slides and even dig for dinosaur bones. We missed this yard because of the rain.
LUNCH
There are lots walking under the sun at Animal Kingdom so I recommend that you should have a table service lunch which can give you time to escape the heat. Since I have little kid and she eats so little so I didn’t pick the buffet style meal. It wastes of money when she only eats couple fries and maybe a quarter of a hamburger. Tiffins is the themed restaurant which provides expensive meal. Lunch is always cheaper but you still receive the same view and service. . . Tiffins is our good choice!!!
