Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park Review

*Spoilers* Let's begin with me not having gone to this park in about ten years. I was so excited when Disney opened this new fantastical world of Pandora. I knew the wait time would be astronomical. I searched aimlessly for fast passes with no avail. So when all hope was not yet lost, I piled the family into the car and made the early morning trip to Pandora. As we reach the outskirts of Animal Kingdom and the little is bouncing "almost out of the car" I hear are we going to ride the banshee?? I excitedly answered yes, and continue on the blinding path to park. We reach the gate and start playing eye spy to keep everyone busy. I look at the My Disney App and find the wait time was already 90 minutes and the park was not even open. The flood gates open and we rush over to the wonderful mystical area of pandora. Then we see the line. Oh dear heavens the line. This poor cast member with the sign "End of the line" so we go all the way around and loop to the end. Luckily they planned this well (or so I thought) and there was a stand with Mickey ice cream bars. I got excited again. Another line parallel to the line for flight of passage. Great. My husband is at the end with the little while I am off getting us ice cream. Then my husband passed me and I was still waiting for ice cream. My turn. Hooray. I order my ice cream and a couple of drinks and this cast member says no change. So I pay with my card and hurry to my people. Still no worries. We meet this wonderful cheer family who made the two hour wait pass by like nothing. At least they had gorgeous things to keep you busy looking at everything Padora had to offer. I only wish we went back at night. The two hour ride was sooooo worth it. I will go back at night to see more.

We had one day to spend at a park and immediately chose this one. It's one of Disney World's top two parks, by far. The attention to detail and park design are incredible. Expedition Everest and Avatar Flight of Passage are well worth the price of admission. If you're hungry I suggest eating in the Avatar world as well. It has numerous dishes to choose from outside of just burgers and fries.

Have not been there in years....the foliage has grown so much I think this is the shadiest of all 4 parks!!! It was really nice. We went late afternoon about 4 ...93 degrees and it was not unbearable. Rode the Safari, got BBQ and sat by the water..there was a nice breeze, Everest was across the water... awesome!!! Stayed for the show at 9 and took our time leaving. Loved the Pandora area..had never been.

The tree of Life was the most detailed piece of work I've ever seen. I was so fascinated, it blow my mind away. Kilimanjaro Safari was awesome, Expedition Everest was good. & it's a Bug's Life show was also great lol.

A beautiful park. A little laid back pace which is really nice. The nature and scenic views are great for photo ops and family together time.

Another fun park to visit. The decorations were awesome.

Disney s Animal Kingdom is a great place if you or your loved ones love animals and adventure. If you haven t been there since Pandora opened I highly suggest you go. Even if you don t ride Na vi River Journey or Flight of Passage (which still have long wait times without FastPass) just go to explore the land itself. It is beautiful both during the day and night. But I suggest going at night after the River of Light show because everyone is trying to either leave the park or take a picture of the Tree of Life. When I went I practically had the area to myself.

Great park for animal lovers. The safari is a must as well as staying to see Pandora at night. Very cool expirience.

Very well detailed setup with elegance, cleanliness, attention to details of Disney. Kids had real fun and it was not too hectic as well. We had fast pass for the key rides (Naavi was not worth of) and for the rest like Nemo, Tough to be a bug we did not wait for long. Awesome eating options and very original setups for Asian, African sections. Staff is as usual super courteous and helpful.

It's always advisable to go to any disney park early.... this one you must if you want to save a lot of time .

Very nice park.... Very friendly and helpfully staff.

A lot of options where you can get good food. My fav place was opposite the tree of life.

Amazing rides.

Fun and immersive day and night. Night is especially beautiful

Disney's Animal Kingdom is such a fun park to visit! There is so much to do! From seeing live Animals to riding the amazing Everest rollercoaster! It is very large so make sure you're prepared to walk all day.

We really enjoyed the Lion King Festival! Fantastic!
We also had a Great time on the Safari ride. We saw Elephants, giraffe, Lions, Hippos etc!
There are some rides but it was a two hours wait!
Over all we had a Wonderful time!
One thing though is the $25
Parking fee is outrageous!
Maybe $15 Specially for Military Families!

Such a fun place for young & old! We had fast passes for "It's Tough to be a Bug" (a cute 3D show) & Festval of the Lion King a first class production complete with singing, dancing, circus acts & audience participation. We thoroughly enjoyed both shows and just walking around the park listening to the various musicians playing Christmas music. There is so much to do & see here..you won't be disappointed. Oh, if you enjoy thrill rides..definitely check out Expedition Everest! Guaranteed to take your breath away--not for the faint of heart.

Love the deep theming of this place. You can get lost in the wonder of all the animal treks and the safari.this is my favorite park! Definitely a must do

Simply amazing vary every minute in the queue to see the attractions

Absolutely love this park. It was so different than all the others Disneys around the world. I was so impressed with the Tree of life, it is huge. My favourite part it was the Avatar area. It is so real and I felt like I was in the movie.

Amazing place ! Pandora beat ride in Disney ! Safari ... A different experience every time.

Short lines. Hand sanitizer stations throughout. Not bad

Walt Disney World has some of the best theme park experiences you will ever have. Animal Kingdom takes that experience into the wild and gives you that unique Disney experience along with the beauty of nature.

In my opinion, Animal Kingdom tops Magic Kingdom in a number of ways. Aside from being less crowded being that it's not the "classic" Disney experience, I also believe that Rivers of Light is the most visually impressive end of night event of all of Walt Disney World. Also of course if you love animals, you'll find an extra layer of enjoyment. I especially love the choice to use paper straws and the roumored plans to convert over to reusable bags.

My advice is that regardless if you're a planner or are going as a day trip or at a resort, be on top of your fast passes and fast pass rides with very long wait times. You will end up regretting it later if you don't. Take advantage of that My Disney Experience app!

My sister in law purchased my tickets as a gift for me to go to this park with my family. When purchased she had me listed as the lead guest and pick up person. After her purchase of the ticket she even called Disney herself and confirmed there would not be an issue for me to pick up the tickets since she was not with me. They would not release the tickets to me because in the system it was listed as her to pick up since she purchased them. So she spent 2 hours on hold with Disney and after me talking to 6 different people who all told me different ways to solve the problem they gave me a different number to call because my sister in law was on hold with the wrong people the whole time. So then she spent another hour and a half on hold until she got through to someone. So i soent 3 and a half hours outside of the parks entrance because I couldnt get in. And to top it off they offered to refund the money to card and i could buy tickets, but you need reservations to enter the park, so i wouldnt have been able to go that same day. I missed half the day with my family. I didnt have any issues at magic kingdom the day before. But that was by far the worst Custer expirence i ever had in my life. I understand the issues with the pandemic going on causes issues but she confirmed it would be me picking up with someone at Disney over a month ago and it was still a whole ordeal. With the time left I was only able to enjoy 2 rides. I won't be returning to Disney after this whole expierence. Also all the employees should be on the same page of how to fix these problems instead of telling different ways to solve it. I was told to log on app to change it, then to call Disney, then to call ticket holder, and then finally to call the correct number. Even the other seperate time i talked to someone because in the fine print of my ticket it said ticket would not be released to anyone other than the lead guest holder who was me. I have just never dealt with so much confusion it was not needed.

Animal Kingdom was one of my favorite parks to go to out of the four I went to that are owned by Disney, this place is a MUST GO including the section "Pandora" that ties in with the newly Disney owned Avatar movie and soon to be movies. This place has things for EVERYONE, for the young ones, the parents, and the elders. If you're going you MUST try the Flight of Passage ride, it is the BEST thing there.

For a Saturday it wasn t too crowded. The only area that seemed a bit crowded was Pandora, which isn t surprising. The variety of food was low.. they didn t have many stands open unfortunately. Was really happy with the Safari ride.. they had plastic between passengers and it was a good experience overall. Saw the most animals this time around!

Amazing day in the jungle - it is a beautiful atmosphere in the jungle. Avatar flight is awesome and the Kali River we got drenched :)

Our favorite Disney park! But definitely the hottest! Do the safari first thing in the morning or a little after noon, I've found that the animals are more active then!

My second time visiting the park and still the best park to visit for thrill rides.

The animal kingdom is a special one among all of the Disneylands I ve been to. I like safari! Maybe you should try a night safari and the Avatar is the most fantastic thing that you shouldn t miss!!!!! I think this kingdom is more interesting than any other Disney land.

Beautiful and a lot of entertainment for all ages. We liked "It's tough to be a bug", the Everest ride is so good. It was so so hot, so getting in to see shows like "Finding Nemo" -which is very beautiful- in the middle of afternoon is good to rest and refresh while enjoying a good show. Pandora area is the best of the park, environment is so beautiful, you really feel you are there, they took care of the smallest derails, there are 2 rides, one that goes in the river which is beautiful but I did it after the flying one -don't remember the name- and did more than 1 hour line, so we said it's ok. At 8 PM that line was like 30 minutes, that way is better to go. Now, the ride that you flight is so amazing, so incredible, the best I have ever experienced, a must do! We did almost 3 hours of line but it worth it, I would do it again! Because at any time of the day is the longest wait, never less than 110 minutes, while we were there, but if you go to this park you have to do it!!!! We also enjoyed the show at the lagoon, very beautiful.

Went this weekend with some friends. We thought it would be a great time to capitalize on the short lines. Wearing a mask in 100 degrees eclipsed that benefit. If you ve been to Disney world before, you ll be disappointed. Disney used to be a fun, happy world, a break from reality. Now it s the same as everywhere else. The staff can t smile and it s all about Covid, masks and fear. I hope Disney can kick this trend soon and get back to being the happiest place on earth!

Cast was very friendly and nice. Safari was wonderful saw lots of animals

Its so much more than just a glorified zoo. The rides are amazing. It definately is worth the time to put it on your visiting to do list. Flights of passage is amazing.

A wonderful experience for the young and mature. If you are going to Disney make sure you take time out to visit Animal Kingdom. The Safari is a must do along with Mount Everest. Also the Pandora The World of Avatar is a first class ride. Only bad thing it was a two hour wait. TIP Fast Pass weeks in advance.

Great Park to visit! The kilimanjaro Safari was spectacular. So many animals in such a seemingly authentic environment. The tour guide really new her stuff. The Everest Expedition was lots of fun too. I am not much for going backwards on a roller coaster but it was still super enjoyable. Be sure to make time to see the show It's Tough to be a Bug. The show was by far my favorite with 4D animation and special effects to make it all come to life. I probably enjoyed it more than my daughter and she loved it.

The cast members are amazing. The pricess are very crazy and getting crazier. The crowds are nuts. However, I always have great things to say about the cast members.

Overcast morning safari 8:30-9am was the best viewing I have ever seen in over 6 visits. Coolness and lack of direct sunlight heat allowed lion, lionesses and cheetahs to be out in full force. Great pics!! I also have to give kudos to the new Avatar Flight of Passage ride. Although wait may be long without fastpass, definitely worth it!!

Pandora flight of passage is the best ride there. Today, during covid-19, the wait time was an hour long at peak time. and it was well worth the wait. First time on ride and it was refreshing and exhilarating. And it's always fun on the safari.

Amazing place, as all other within Disney World. Special kudos to Avatar (best simulator ever) and the Safari, with animals like giraffes, rhinos, zebras, elephants, cheetas and more! Natural environment makes you feel inside a jungle, and live music takes you to Africa!

Out of the 4 theme parks at Walt Disney World, it's by far the best one. You can take pictures with Goofy, LaunchPad, Donald, etc. And you can ride many fun rides and see animals. Don't forget to head to Pandora first cause that's the most wait time ride in the theme park!

Beautiful place to visit. But proper planning and research is must before planning to visit the place. Wait time can be irritating, so proper planning with fast pass+ booking in timely manner is must.

Disney does it right. All masked and all social distanced.

The Safari was definitely worth the wait...the driver was fun and full of energy. The pandora ride was enjoyed by my son and husband who went on it twice but gave me motion sickness. We all enjoyed the Navi River ride and liked the Dinosaur ride. Only problem was a lack of seating to take a break. If there had been more available seating the rating probably would have been 5 stars.

The lines are always too long. The place is always overcrowded. Everything is crazy overpriced. Disney isn't magaical. It is in the business of getting as much of your money as it can. On the plus side their Avatar area was really cool to see

The Shows, the rides, the safari & mickey mouse pictures are awesome. Festival is Lion King is fantastic

See more animals if you show up early... and be prepared to wait in Pandora.

This place is a piece of paradise on earth, I love the landscape and pandora land is so beautiful. The safari is breathtaking and avatar ride is worth the long wait on line.

Truly amazing way to spend the day/week/life. Disney put on a brilliant show. Lots to see and do. Spent 3 weeks here and saw everything I really recommend going to see festival of lion king. And take a rain mac for the water rides as you will get soaked. Everyone seems to have a brilliant time. Children, adults all smiling all the time. Disney make it easy for look after children with dedicated parking spots for push chairs for rides.

We were there for half a day. Wish we had stayed all day. It was amazing. Love the animals and the rides. Something for everyone

OMGOSH, if you don't do anything else, do the avatar ride called Flight of Passage, it is AWESOME!!! And Disney World is just so Amazing. Clean, friendly staff, so much to do. And our villa is Amazing also.

Totally worth the money and the Family having a great time....

We had a very good time here seeing all the animals and swapping pins.

I truly loved animal kingdom but I do need to go back as didn't get to finish parts as a heavy thunder and lightning storm came in. The safari is brilliant and something to definitely fastpass. Really enjoyed the Kali river rapids even though I am a big scardy cat. Can't wait to return and see more.

I've been there several times but am always amazed! My grandson (6 years old) and my granddaughter (3 years old) both loved everything about the Safari Ride!

The Disney version of the zoo. Cute themes, good docents at animal exhibits. Fun day.

This park is worth visiting just for the safari ride. Both Avatar rides are excellent. I do get a bit motion sick on the Flight ride. Navi is quite relaxing and you would enjoy if you like It's a Small World or Pirate's.

So many attractions and art work around. Love the animal safari area. And the Himalayas ride is beyond amazing.

Pandora is amazing, make sure you see it at night too! The whole park is just awesome. When you need to take a break and get out of the heat, head to the tree for a bugs life, fully air conditioned, and the Kali river rapids will cool you off too.

Love this park!
So interesting to see the amount of detail! Rides are so well themed. Bring and drink a lot of water, its is HOT!
Flame Tree BBQ had very good food, and the shaded eating area down by the water is a great place to rest and cool down a bit.
Was even lucky enough to see one of our favorites, Kevin!!!

Amazing Avatar experience! Of course the lines are too long; some attractions are worth the wait, but I hate spending time in line after paying such a high admission price.

My son lives this the most! This was the best birthday ever (according to him). It's made me very happy to see how face!

Pandora at night is truly amazing. Easy to spend the entire day here visiting the different areas, shopping and eating. There are numerous dining options throughout the park and plenty of places to get water and snacks.

Great rides. Good food. A lot of walking, but that's to be expected. Be sure to check out Everest Expedition if you like thrill rides. Bug's Life is pretty good, and a chance to sit and get out of the sun for a bit.

Had a wonderful time with my family and if it weren t for the excruciating long lines and monsoon that drove us out of the part at 4:30 then it would have been the perfect day! I love Disney anyway, even with the long lines. I m a big kid

We were extremely impressed with how they were able to handle social distancing. No one should be afraid to go to the parks as they have taken all precautions to keep masks on at all times, have have sanitizing machines all over. We also watched them clean down rides, rails etc. Great job Disney.

Great park stuff for the whole family. How ever long the line is for flight of passage please wait it's so worth it. Pure magic

Love animal kingdom!
It's a nice change of pace from the other Disney parks. It's like a giant zoo with rides! The Adventure Everest is a must ride!
Loved the bird show as well and the water rides.
Definitely plan to spend some extra time here to experience everything they have to offer!

I'm always a big fan of Disney parks. Animal kingdom is a great mix of animals, shows, and ride/experiences. It's especially great on hot summer days because it is the shadiest of the Disney parks. If you go, you must experience Pandora's Flight of the Passage. It's like being transported straight into the movie Avatar.

An absolutely beautiful experience. We spent two wonderful days there and both were completely different. Everest is an amazing rollacoaster and River of Lights is a stunning spectacle to behold. Pandora is breathtaking and Flight of passage is worth multiple rides. So much to see and do and a very lovely atmosphere.

I loved the different themes. Asia was awesome. They did a great job with pandora. Aside from the new pandora ride, we really never waited in that long of a line.

Disney is just amazing. It's expensive but if you save up it is worth every penny. Make sure to set up your fast passes before you go. Their app is not the best but functional enough. The Safari was great and saw a ton of animals that you don't normally see up close but more wild than a zoo.

If you want to see what half a billion dollars looks like, this is the place. It truly looks like another world. They spared no expense.

This is a great park to see many different unique animals. It has a lot of big attractions. One of them is the tree of life. It is the tree in the middle of Animal Kingdom that hosts many different night shows. The other astonishing attraction is Pandora, from Avatar. This area is floating islands, waterfalls, unique plants, mountain banshees, and the Na'vi. It has two amazing rides: Na'vi river journey, and the one of the most popular rides in Disney world, Avatar flight of passage. When I went, there was a 240 minute wait for the ride. Luckily, I had a fast pass. If you are an animal lover, Animal Kingdom is the place to go.

I enjoy your day in the animal kingdom have the Avatar ride and it's wonderful I will do it again and again

It is way better than a zoo and safari. Good rides for adults. We can see rarest animals of the world. Pandora's depiction is exceptional.

The Avatar Experience, Everest Ride and the Safari are a must...all these rides get filled up really quick. So get there fast, stand in line, be patient and have a blast. Fast passes get booked for these way in advance. Awesome experience in the park.

Absolutely loved this theme park. By far the best Safari trip I've taken in a while. The atmosphere and people were so kind and welcoming. I was intrigued by the different cultures then had on set. I will definitely revisit with my kids.

Of all the Disney parks this was my favorite. A little more shade but still a lot of walking. On some rides the lines were terribly long, but they do try to keep you in the shade. I wouldn't go any later than April because of the high temperatures.
I really enjoyed the safari ride and so did my tired feet.
Be sure to take treats and water in a back pack. Also we found sitting down in one of their restaurants for a late lunch was much nicer than getting food at the stands and trying to find a place to sit & eat.

The new Pandora land is amazing! Make sure you get Fast Passes in advance though! I wish we could have ridden the rides twice. The theming is so life like, you feel like you are in the movie. The plants, the flying mountains - even the sidewalk!

First time visiting Animal Kingdom and had a terrific time. The Pandora section was great and looked exactly like it did in the movie. Would definitely go again and recommend to others. Next time though, we would suggest taking some snacks because on a hot day you can really spend some money on things such as water and chips. Also make sure you plan ahead and get some fast passes for some of the activities there.

This park is vastly underrated by most. It is called the Animal Kingdom and the animals are outside! Most people do not care for this park because it does not have a lot of air conditioned areas to cool off. Our favorite part of this park is the Kilimanjaro Safari ride where you get to see several animals found in the wild of Africa and Asia. We also love to ride the Expedition Everest ride because it is so fun and unexpected. HINT: Get in the single rider line for a quicker ride! Of course the Kali River Rapids are fun and provide a nice cool off during hot days. Children and adults can learn a lot in this park and it should be treated as a learning experience! Finish your day with the Rivers of Light show. Recently added was the World of Pandora based off of the movie Avatar. This place is a great new section of the park and you have to visit during the day and come back at night.

Amazing place! Very beautiful and organized!
It's recommended arriving early to avoid longs lines.
The Pandora's world is perfect, each detail is perfect! The best park of Disney World!!! The Baby Center is so clean, organized and very accessible for all the kids.

Wonderful adventure into exotic places around the planet. Gorgeous jungle animals can be seen on safari, and Disney's Pandora brings you into James Cameron's Avatar. The flight of passage ride has a long line, but is tons of fun.

WOW! Everthing was awesome my family and I had a great time. Fast pass+ works great for some attractions not all of them... plan your fast pass+ one or two days out especially on the weekend. You can take drinks and chips in a bag just nothing with lose ice in it.

We had a great experience at Disney's Animal kingdom, but unfortunately we couldn't wait for the final show at the tree of life because It was really freezing for us.

Animal Kingdom is Awesome! The new-ish Pandora world is incredible. Disney has outdone themselves with this one...which was a really high bar. The Flight of Passage may be one of the most unique and incredible rides I've ever ridden. And Everest never disappoints. You must put AK on your list to visit while at Disney.

Everyone wore a mask. I felt safe. Lines are outside and people are six feet apart. Disney's Animal Kingdom was fun, and I would go again.

This was a more pleasant visit than the magic kingdom. With less crowds and lots of attractions and nature, they did a good job mixing development and nature. The show at the tree was a nice surprise. The Avatar ride was really impressive!

Honestly it was one of the best and worst experience because we had to wear a mask the whole entire time I know it s for her safety which is fine but it was very very hot and you felt like you were melting because there s not a lot of fans around there but one of the best experience when we went through the Pandora part which was amazing and breathtaking she loved it so much but anything else was ewwww. Honestly the only amazing thing that they have is the Pandora part which was beautiful breathtaking and stunning but everything else was all right not that great nor that bad

My favorite park. Going into Africa alone is amazing!

As the Magic kingdom really over crowded very hot and extremely long queues to go on any ride. Avatar time to ride 3.5 hours in the queue but an excellent simulator ride. Small bottle of water $ 3.50. Take your own drinks if possible

My favorite Disney park by far!!!! The bird encounter and the night boat show were magical.

Great place. Long line for Avatar, 3 hours in the heat! So worth it. I understand why previous reviwers say get in that line first. Also enjoyed the Safari.

Great way to spend the day. Good for the whole family. Be just prepared for heat.

If you like animals do not skip this park. There are exciting things around every corner if you look for them. Kilimanjaro Safaris are never the same twice the animals make sure of that. There are trails to go on and see more animals like underwater hippo viewing and silverback gorillas in Africa, Tigers and bats in Asia.

The new Pandora area is open and the banshee ride is breathtaking. You can feel the animal breathing under you.