Touring Tips Animal Kingdom

Buying water in the park will cost you $2.50 a bottle. Bring your own water bottles and refill them at the fountains. I found myself consuming much more water in this park than any of the others.

Keep yourself HYDRATED with water and an occassional Sports Drink especially during the hot times of year! Stay away from sodas and alcholic beverages. The temperature in the Animal Kingdom easily averages 10 degrees hotter than any other place on Disney property. This is due to the dense vegetation which has created a "rain forest" effect.

Don't like the taste of fountain water? Consider purchasing a Brita sports bottle at your local Target before leaving home! Cost is about $7. Fill it with ice before you leave your hotel room and you'll have nice cool water for a couple hours!

If your park tickets allow, I would suggest NOT spending one whole day of Animal Kingdom. Rather I would select 1 or 2 mornings to arrive at opening and then 1 or 2 late afternoon visits. This is ESPECIALLY true during the hotter months in Florida. You do not want to be in Animal Kingdom in the July and August afternoon heat!

The Animal Kingdom is a MUCH different park at opening then before the crowds get there and it will enhance your enjoyment.

If you only have one day to visit the Animal Kingdom don't worry you'll still do fine, just do some preplanning.

Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios are both short park days, so I suggest doing one in the morning, like Animal Kingdom and then hopping over to MGM for the rest of the day. Do MGM last because of the wonderful Fantasmic Parade -Melanie

If you only have one opportunity to visit the Animal Kingdom, go prepared! Have a general plan of what you want to do. If you attempt to criss-cross this park, like you might do with the others, you'll find yourself extremely tired and missing lots!! EVERYONE seems to head for Kilimanjaro Safari, despite Cast Members pleading to visit other areas of the park.

The most popular attractions offer Fast Pass, consider the following:

Arrive at park opening, head to Kilamanjaro Safari, ride if standby is less than 10 minutes; otherwise, get a FastPass and walk the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail.

Make your way to Asia, get a FastPass for Kali River Rapids and while you are waiting, explore the Majarajah Jungle Trek.

On my early morning visit, I saw Dinosaur with virtually no line and the first show of Festival of the Lion King, had breakfast, did some shopping and left the park. I returned 2 different afternoons to ride the Safari, see more shows, do Countdown several times and enjoy a relatively empty park. As you enter in the late afternoon, you will see hoards of hot and tired guests exiting the park! My best suggestion if you plan a full day is to tour the park counterclockwise and utilize FastPass!! Start in Dinoland USA and work your way around.

FastPass allows you to get a "scheduled" time to experience the most popular attractions. At Animal Kingdom, you can get a FastPass for Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids (seasonal), It's Tough to Be a Bug (seasonal), and Dinosaur (Countdown to Extinction) and see other nearby attractions or shop while you wait for your time.. I highly recommend it, especially for the Safari!

Be sure to check out the attraction and show wait times, especially if you are not entering the park when it opens.

While the park is very beautiful and lush in some areas, there is MINIMALshade in many central areas and cue areas in the park. Disney has improved the shade in the last year, still — Protect Yourself! — Read Tips for Summer Sun Survival!!

One word to describe it…..HOT! Recommend that you bring and carry with you at ALL times, WATER. Minimal shade. If you want to cool off, go to the River Rapid ride. YOU WILL GET WET! We went first thing in the morning and since there was no line, they told us to stay on and go again. They were going to let us go again a third time, but by then were were soaked. Animal Kingdom is well worth it in all aspects. Just be prepared for the heat. (Steve Klodnicki)

This Park is HUGE! In fact, the Safari area would fit inside of Epcot! There is lots of walking and very few short cuts to get from here to there. To enhance the theming, Disney imagineers have put "tree roots" in the walkways and small ups and downs. Be sure to wear comfortable supportive footwear!

This is the park to bring some of that extra camera equipment to take close up and long range photos. In addition, some folks have found binoculars useful for viewing the Tree of Life and the Aviaries.

There are many photo opportunities while on the Safari HOWEVER it is a VERY rough and bumpy ride. Careful not to bang yourself in the head with your camera. Depending on your schedule – try to not be as concerned with photos and enjoy the views.

To maintain the environmental attitude and theme throughout the park, drinks do not have straws or lids. Bring your own empty mugs or water bottles to put your drinks in. Do you or your traveling companion require the use of Drinking Straws??? If so, this is a bring your own Straw park!

Rebecca Grohall: Remember to bring "sippie cups" or straws for younger kids. An environmental policy prevents them from having plastic lids for cups or straws. For adults its no big deal, but for younger kids and toddlers – it can be problematic. Especially after the other disney theme parks where refreshments from lids/straws are readily available.

When the park first opened I was told that approximately 80% of the Animal Kingdom logo'd merchandise will only be sold in the actual park. Since that time, I have seen a number of items for sale in the Disney Catalog, at the Disney Stores in Orlando airport and elsewhere. Be a smart shopper! Know what you can get elsewhere. Also, don't hesitate to ask Cast Members if there is a special sale rack. Sometimes you can get good buys this way.

There is a gift shop just before the turnstiles with Animal Kingdom merchandise. You do not have to use a park pass to enter the gift store.

The day we visited Animal Kingdom, we experienced a steady downpour of rain all day long, as opposed to other days when it just rained in the late afternoon. The upside is that the animals come out when it rains, and we saw LOTS of them on the Safari. The downside is that there are practically no places to get out of the rain, and there were LOTS of running streams and fairly big puddles to meander around on the walkways. The result was thoroughly waterlogged walking shoes and socks, and some pretty disgruntled folks by day's end. If we had it to do over again, we would stay long enough to enjoy the Safari ride, but then leave the rest of the park for a nicer day, and head to EPCOT's Future World while it is raining. Mary Ellen and Joe Kelly