Christmas At Disney’s Animal Kingdom

We spent the day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a 500-acre theme park about animal conservation. It was a great mix of a zoo, science center, and Disney park – fun, interesting, and educational.

We entered Animal Kingdom into Oasis, where we walked through large rock formations and saw animals in their habitats. Then we crossed a bridge to Discovery Island and saw the Tree of Life, a gigantic tree (14 stories tall and 50 feet wide) whose trunk has over 325 animal images hand-carved into it.

Tree Of Life Gardens – very detailed hand-carved animal images The kids encountered their first Kids’ Discovery Club, a place where kids do a learning activity and get a stamp in their guide booklet. Justin really wanted to get all the Kids' Discovery Club stamps, but we didn’t make it to all Clubs. He was able to get the stamps he was missing from the visitor center at the park entrance when we left.

Next was Camp Minnie-Mickey. We decided to come back in the evening to see the shows there. We wanted to see as many of the outside attractions as possible during daylight. We never did make it back for the shows – there's always next time.




We spent several hours in Africa. It really looked and felt like we were in a foreign land. We ate at Tusker House Restaurant, watched African dances, rode the Kilimanjaro Safaris, walked through Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, and watched Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade. The Tusker House Restaurant had a buffet set up as an open marketplace with over a dozen vendors (food stations). Each station had 5 to 7 different items – what a huge variety of delicious foods to choose from!

Justin got a few of the African dancers to sign his autograph booklet. The rhythm of the drums, the outfits, and the dances were just fascinating.










During our safari ride, we saw many African animals in their natural-looking habitats - elephants, lions, gazelles, ostriches, zebras, antelopes, hippo, mandrills, crocodiles, giraffes, flamingoes, etc. The driver/narrator announced that poachers were in the area, so we went off the path to follow their trail. Kevin wanted to really catch them.

Mandrill (think Rafiki, the old sage in Lion King) - the most colorful mammal in the world (Africa, Animal Kingdom) Boabab tree - looks like its roots are in the air (Africa, Animal Kingdom) Crocodiles – lots and lots of them (Africa, Animal Kingdom) Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade consisted of many colorful, organic, and movable animal structures operated by people dressed to match. There also were stilt walkers dressed up as animals, and of course, Disney characters riding on floats. Traditional Christmas music with African rhythms was played the whole time. This unique parade was fun to experience.

Minnie Mouse - Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade Chameleon - Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade Stilt walker dressed as a bird – Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade Bird structure - Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade Giraffe - Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade Kangaroo - Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade Mickey brings up the rear - Jingle Jungle Parade at Animal Kingdom After Africa, we boarded the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. The kids had fun petting and brushing baby goats in the Affection Section. In the front of the Conservation Station, we encountered a talking trash can that carried on conversations with passer-bys. The kids thought it was the funniest thing and began chasing it. Kevin eventually found the person in the crowd covertly talking into a headset and operating a covered joystick to make the trash can talk and move.

Inside, we met Pocahontas and Rafiki. Justin was so excited to get both of them to sign his autograph booklet. We then walked through Habitat Habit!, an outdoor discovery trail, before taking the train back to the main path.




With Pocahontas - Conservation Station, Rafiki’s Planet Watch Kevin gets a closer look - Habitat Habit!, Rafiki’s Planet Watch Our next adventure was Asia. Kenton went with Kevin and Justin to line up for the Kali River Rapids. Brian was too small for the ride, so he and I walked through Maharajah Jungle Trek, where we saw some tigers and gigantic bats. We then returned to the rapids and waited on a bridge for Kenton and the boys. Sure enough, we saw them riding the rapids in their large tube. They all got soaked, but had a fun time on the ride.

Tiger at Maharajah Jungle Trek - Asia, Animal Kingdom More tigers at Maharajah Jungle Trek - Asia, Animal Kingdom Brian at Maharajah Jungle Trek - Asia, Animal Kingdom Kevin and I felt adventurous and decided to ride Expedition Everest, a roller-coaster ride which supposedly is a train ride to the base camp of Mount Everest. The train takes a shortcut through a forbidden mountain guarded by a yeti. It was our longest wait yet (over an hour) - and while in line, we went through a yeti mini-museum before reaching the boarding area. This ride crept up to high altitudes, dropped down at neck-breaking speeds, jerked around hairpin turns, and even went backwards when the yeti appeared – definitely not for the weak. Kevin did well for a 7-year-old, although he doesn’t care to “ever go on it again, at least not at night time.”

While waiting for Kevin and me to finish Expedition Everest, Goofy and Pluto walked by Kenton, Justin, and Brian. Justin was thrilled to meet them and had them sign his autograph booklet.

Then it was on to Dinoland USA. We walked around and looked at all of the attractions - many of which the boys would’ve enjoyed if they weren’t so tired. It was 7 pm, and we had a long, exciting day – arriving around ten in the morning. We decided it was time to head back to the villa. Of course, the boys ‘had’ to get Mickey Mouse laser swords as we left the park. It was a wonderful and memorable Christmas, and we look forward to visiting Disney's Animal Kingdom again in the future.