The Disney Animal Kingdom is a zoological park on the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It’s one of the world’s largest theme parks with 580 acres of attractions.
It’s a zoo with a theme park ambience to it. The park was constructed for Earth Day, April 22, 1998 and is the resort’s fourth theme park.
The park is dedicated to and themed around natural ecology and animal conservation, which is something that Walt Disney himself pioneered.
The Disney Animal Kingdom is the only Walt Disney World theme park that combines historically based attractions with hundreds of live species.
Due to these fragile circumstances, various designs and measures were implemented throughout the park to guarantee the animals’ comfort.
RELATED:
- What park is Avatar in?
- The Best Hotels Disney World Florida: The Nerds Top Five
- Disneyland vs Disney World Cost
- The Best Food Disney World Magic Kingdom has to Offer: 20 Amazing Bites
- The Best Hotels Disney World Florida: The Nerds Top Five
Where is Disney Animal Kingdom located?
On the western fringes of the Walt Disney World resort, this preserve is far from the other theme parks and lodges to minimize external influences on the animals.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) have certified the Animal Kingdom, which means that it has satisfied or exceeded educational, conservation, and research standards.
In 2019, over 13 million people visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
This makes it the third-most-visited theme park in North America.
It’s also the sixth-most-visited theme park in the world, behind only Walt Disney World Resort’s other theme parks!
Second to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World Resort, it is the second-most-visited of all of its sister facilities.
The main street is the Oasis
The Oasis is the center of Main Street U.S.A. It provides a transition from the animal park entrance to the exhibits.
The exhibits have dense vegetation and trees, which leads to Discovery Island.
This area also includes a Rainforest Cafe (which can be entered from both inside and outside ticketed areas) and the parking lot
You have to visit Pandora The World of Avatar
This is based on James Cameron’s Avatar’s fictional alien exoplanetary moon, Pandora.
Avatar Flight of Passage, a 3D flying simulator that lets guests to soar across the Pandoran countryside in a banshee, is the park’s main attraction.
The Tree of Souls, which is the focal point of a new 3D ride, takes riders on an adventure through Pandora’s bioluminescent rainforests. The Na’vi River Journey transports visitors on a boat journey through Pandora’s beautiful forests.
Good to know conservation efforts
Disney’s Animal Kingdom, as a zoological park, is involved in research and conservation efforts for its animal species.
Since 1998, the park’s elephant family has had seven calves.
Three of those calves were born in 2003, 2004, and 2005.
Since 1998, the park’s giraffe herd has had four newborns.
That brings the total number of rhino births to eleven.
One of the park’s white rhinos had a calf in 2008 named Nande.
Nande and another white rhino who was relocated to Uganda’s Ziwa animal refuge in 2006 as part of an attempt to re-introduce white rhinos back into Kenya , were moved again in 2009.
The white rhinoceros had vanished from the region due to political conflict by June 2009, and Nande gave birth to a male calf, marking the first such birth in Uganda in over 25 years.
Since opening, eight white rhinos have been born at Animal Kingdom; the most recent was produced by another Animal Kingdom-born mother.
Incidents at Disney Animal Kingdom
In October 2014, a snake fell out of a tree and bit a youngster.
The youngster’s great-grandmother then had a heart attack and died.
The park has confirmed that the snake that wounded the boy was non-venomous and came from an indigenous species.
How the Disney Animal Kingdom is run
Disney’s Animal Kingdom is unique among the Walt Disney World Resort parks in several ways.
For one, it closes earlier than the others; however, on May 27th 2016, they began to stay open through evening hours.
Another difference is that due to environmental concerns, plastic straws, lids and balloons are not allowed within the park – a rare occurrence at any Disney destination.
Instead paper straws which decompose naturally are offered as well as hot drink lids.
Final thoughts about the Disney Animal Kingdom
The Disney Animal Kingdom is a great place to visit for animal lovers of all ages.
There are plenty of things to see and do, and the park does a great job of balancing education with entertainment.
The conservation efforts are also commendable, and it’s good to know that the park is helping to preserve some of the world’s most endangered species.
However, I would recommend avoiding the park during peak hours if you can, as it can get quite crowded.
Overall, the Disney Animal Kingdom is a fun and safe place to visit, and is sure to please all those who love animals.
