You enter the park into the Oasis section and walk up to the Tree of Life - which is the central icon for the AK. (Every Disney world park has a central icon like Cinderella's castle for the Magic Kingdom). The Central part of the park with the Tree of life is called Discover Island.
From there the park branches out into several themed areas including Africa, Rafiki's Planet Watch, Asia, Dinoland USA and Camp Minnie-Mickey.
Ride Favorites:
Expedition Everest - Fast rollercoaster with a few surprises along the way! A must ride for coaster junkies.
Dinosaur - Found in Dinoland, you ride through time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. This may be frightening for young children.
It's Tough To Be A Bug - Fun 3D show that everyone will enjoy on Discover Island at the Tree of Life.
Kilimanjaro Safari - A must -see attraction. Take a ride on an open air safari vehicle to see hippos, lions, elephants, giraffes and other animals. One of my personal favorites - and worth doing more than once!
Kali River Rapids - Fun, wet water raft ride in the Asia theme area. Great for hot summer days. But you do get very wet.
Dining:
Dining options are a bit sparse at this park. There's not really a lot in terms of sit down, high end fare.
For character dining, there's Mickey's Safari breakfast buffet.
Some other favorites are the Rainforest Cafe, the Yak and Yeti Restaurant (which is excellent) and the Tusker House Restaurant.
Other Attractions:
Disney's Animal Kingdom has several walk through exhibits that are worth seeing like the:
Maharajah Jungle Trek - Walk through an see bats, komodo dragons and even tigers.
Pangani Forest Exploration Train - Monkey fans will love this exhibit. You get to see gorillas up close and personal (although they can be coy and turn their backs for privacy.
The Boneyard - Fun for kids, this fossil dig site lets the little ones dig to find fossil treasures.
Wildlife Express Train - You get a behind-the-scenes look at the AK with this old fashioned train tour.
Strengths:
- Excellent educational theme that most kids will still love because of the animals
- One of the most beautiful parks in Disney World
- Real animals outshine animatronics any day of the week
- Guides around the park are a hidden treasure - full of information and ready to point out features that most visitors miss.
Weaknesses:
- Not as well organized as some of the other Disneyworld parks - harder to navigate
- Dining options are quite limited
- Park closes earlier than other theme parks
The Disney World Animal Kingdom is a really unique park - a cross between a zoo and a theme park.
It's built around the theme of animal conservation and has some amazing attractions with both real animals (Kilimanjaro Safaris, Affection Section) and not so real (Expedition Everest, Dinosaur).
The Animal Kingdom (AK) was the last Disney world theme part to be built in 1998. It's the largest single Disney theme park in the world covering over 500 acres.
However much of this is not necessarily the park, but the conservation areas for animals.
