Top Disney Attractions for Adults: Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom is the newest and largest park addition to Disney World. It is also the park that I am least familiar with. I have been on every attraction, watched every parade and went on each safari but I still feel I could know the park better. Walt’s dream was to have a park like Animal Kingdom to help people learn about how animals live in their habitats as well as animal conservation. I wish he could, above all else, see Animal Kingdom. He would be proud.

Although Animal Kingdom is the largest of the parks, it’s the only park that I think you can easily see in one day. Typically when we go, we go at opening and are able to spend a half day at the park and finish the day at another park. When we decide which days we’re visiting each park, we check to see which parks have morning or evening extra magic hours to maximize the time available in each park. We always choose Animal Kingdom for the morning extra magic hours to make sure we get some good action with the animals during the Kilimanjaro Safari. We arrive at the park early to make sure we’re at the front of the lines so we can get a Fastpass at Expedition Everest before heading over to the safari.

After watching the gazelles smooch, we head over to the Kali River Rapids to get soaked! We go on this ride at the beginning of the day to make sure we have time to dry off during the day. The lines are also shorter because it’s not as hot in the mornings. The next thing we do is my very favorite attraction in Animal Kingdom as well as my favorite roller coaster in Disney! EVEREST! I was able to test it before it was open to the public because I worked there during that time. I remember the first time I rode it and I still get butterflies thinking about how awesome it was!

After the thrills of Everest we go test our limits by going to Dinoland to ride DINOSAUR! I have to close my eyes at one part so beware! Now that we’ve jump started our tickers, we skip over to see the amazing Tree of Life and It’s Tough to be a Bug 4D inside! The tree is SUCH an amazing sight and I love the Bugs Life show.

Those are the main attractions we enjoy seeing. Depending on how long those took, we’ll watch the parade or go on some of the trails to see the animals. There are REALLY cool exhibits showcasing the animals that shouldn’t be passed up. I’ve been to some wonderful zoos and the Animal Kingdom has them all beat! They started building a Avatar land earlier this year and they’re in the works of putting together a firework show for the park (which would mean longer park hours!) I know they’ve done a lot of testing with the fireworks to see how it would affect the animals and will only go through with it if it’s completely safe and does not bother any of the animals.

Were there any attractions I missed that your family loves seeing?! Who’s been on Everest? Doesn’t it ROCK?! (See what I did there?) 😉 Next week will wrap up my Top Disney Attractions series with attractions for kids at Animal Kingdom. Stay tuned though because I’ll be starting a new series on Top Disney Eats next!