THEME PARKS: Theme Parks Overview

Theme Parks Overview

Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park commemorates Walt Disney’s great love for animals, both real and imaginary. His first sketches of horses gave him an outlet for his extraordinary imagination and through the personification of animals, Walt was able to create heartwarming Characters that enhanced his masterful storytelling.

At Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park, you can explore the magic, fun and wonder of the creatures who inhabit our world and our imagination. There are Characters from beloved Disney movies-starting with Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade. Minnie, Donald, and Goofy join Mickey in this swingin’ safari, along with elaborate puppets and giant animal stilt walkers.

Over at DinoLand, U.S.A.®, there’s a brand new place called Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama™ featuring Primeval Whirl® - a hilarious, spinning dino-coaster that’s fun for the whole family. And don’t miss Tricera Top Spin – young people will love to fly up, down and around in their very own dinosaur. Then back to 65 million years to prehistoric times and ride DINOSAUR. Asteroids explode. A hungry Carnotarous is chasing riders for lunch. Time is running out. And the only thing between them and extinction is a seatbelt!

At Camp Minnie-Mickey, the Festival of the Lion King is a big-as-Broadway show that surrounds audiences with Simba, Pumbaa, Tiomn and a cast of singers, dancers and acrobats. It’s impossible to miss The Tree of Life®, there’s a hilarious 3-D show featuring Flik and Hooper – It’s Tough to be a Bug!®. Young people love to scream and squirm their way through this funny, creepy, crawly adventure. Then, head over to Africa and join Kilimanjaro Safaris® for a trek through the savannah to rescue elephants from poachers before journeying to Asia and plunging into the Kali River Rapids® for a cooling soak!

Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends is a charming children’s show with Grandmother Willow and a host of live animals searching for the protector of the forest. Be prepared for the breathtaking beauty of magnificent tigers along the Maharajah Jungle Trek®, and discover the amusement of gorillas and hippos on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail®. Create a memorable adventure for your family in this exotic and imaginative Theme Park.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park typically opens at 9:00 am. The closing time varies from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The later closing times occur near the winter holidays, the Easter holiday, and during the summer, generally from late June through late August.

	Check the tip board on Discovery Island™ throughout the day for the current wait times and the most popular attractions at the Park.

	There is one ATM at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park located at the entrance to the Park, just before the turnstiles and to the right, next to the kennel.

	Check the Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park Times Guide for show times and Park hours.

	Ten artists and three Imagineers worked full-time for 18 months to create the 325 animal carvings on The Tree of Life®. Sculptors had between six and ten hours to create the finished image before the plaster hardened.

	The Tree of Life® is covered with more than 103,000 transparent, five-shades-of-green leaves that actually blow in t he wind.

	More than 4 million trees, plants, shrubs, ground-covers, vines, epiphytes and grasses from every continent on Earth – except Antarctica – were planted at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park.

	To keep 1,000 animals happy takes about three tons of food a day…that’s a four-and-a-half year supply for the average person.