It's Earth Day this Friday, which also is the birthday for our Theme Park of the Week this week, Disney's Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Disney's Animal Kingdom opened on Earth Day, April 22, in 1998, celebrating the animals of today and ancient history... and eventually, imaginary ones from space, as well. Walt Disney World's newest theme park today is second only to the Magic Kingdom is annual attendance.
Park highlights include 2017's Pandora - The World of Avatar, inspired by the 2009 James Cameron film that's supposed to be getting its long-delayed first sequel later this year.
The land's anchor is the Flight of Passage flying theater ride that ranked in the Top 10 attractions worldwide in our most recent survey of Theme Park Insider readers. Our readers' next pick is Expedition Everest, a Top 10 roller coaster that just reopened after a refurbishment.
Other park highlights include the Kilimanjaro Safaris tour of the park's animal habitat, as well as the Celebration of the Festival of the Lion King musical show. A new musical, Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond!, will debut at the park later this year.
The park's table-service Tiffins restaurant ranks as one of our readers' favorite theme park restaurants, while the quick service Satu'li Canteen also draws high marks from our readers.
If you are interested in a deep dive into the park, including its design and its animal care, check out Magic of Disney's Animal Kingdom series on Disney Plus. And for planning tips and our complete location rankings for the park, please visit our Disney's Animal Kingdom listing page.
Happy birthday, Disney's Animal Kingdom!
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To be honest, I skipped this a few times in last few WDW visits but will change as I want to see Avatar.
I'll always count myself lucky to get there in early 2006 right after Everest opened as the original Yeti effect was fantastic and worth seeing. Too a bit to click but does look a good park and enjoy seeing it again.
The last time I've been here was 2006 when I believe Everest opened ( I also believe Sheikra was Busch Gardens newest coaster). I don't get the high rating and hype for Everest with the disco Yeti. What am I missing here? I mean the whole highlight of that coaster was the Yeti swiping at you. The disco Yeti (B mode yeti) totally knocks this coater down the pole.
As far as animals go, I remember being more up and personal with the animals at Busch Garden than Animal kingdom. I remember their Rhino Safari ride or whatever it was called was better than Animal Kingdom. I have family members who fly to Orlando frequently for a week long stay for the disney park and not once made a trip to Busch Gardens or the two Universal parks.
Again this was back 2006 and just felt this park was Meh. I'm sure Pandora has made the park better and I hope to find out in a few years when we take my son there. But in all honesty, he's looking forward to Busch Gardens, Universal Studios and Lego Land.
For the record I'm not a Disney hater, I just like my son to be open-minded that there are many great theme parks out there other than Disneyland.
@Mike W
Agree a fully working Yeti changes the rating of the ride. There was and still nothing else like it when that thing swiped at you.
I think DAK is a beautiful theme park, but in it's current condition, it is WDW's worst park right now - which is a big swing from being it's best park just a few years ago.
Finding Nemo is dark, the abomination that is KiteTails, and no replacement or even prospect for a replacement for Dinoland USA, and the park is incredibly unbalanced. PtWoA is amazing, and the Kilimanjaro Safari is a must do (along with Everest), but the rest of the park is nothing spectacular. DAK needs some serious TLC after being ignored for 5 years (since PtWoA opened). It doesn't need an EPCOT or DCA level refurbishment, but if Disney doesn't start investing into DAK soon, it probably will in another few years.
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This park is probably my favorite park in the Disney World resort. Pandora is an amazing land, and Flight of Passage is somewhere in my top 3 Disney e-tickets. I also love the animals, and Everest is my favorite Disney coaster (but that might change when Guardians opens). The only flaw of this park is that I think it needs 1 or 2 more dark rides. 2 more dark rides, and maybe another coaster, and this is a perfect theme park.