Animal Kingdom

Disney World | Day 1

We chose Animal Kingdom for our first day at Disney as a way to ease into the trip, thinking it wouldn’t take us a full day and we could conserve some of our energy for the rest of the week. We ended up staying for 11 hours and walking the most steps of the entire week! Haha. If you know the layout of Animal Kingdom, you will see below that we were not very efficient with our steps. But we had so much fun!

The kids’ favorite ride was Expedition Everest, which they did six times! Eric’s favorite ride was Avatar Flight of Passage, and mine was … definitely not that. My motion sickness got the best of me, and for the next hour I was head down on a table at Satu’li Canteen trying to regain my bearings. Kilimanjaro Safaris is more my speed.

Animal Kingdom was an awesome start to our trip! When we left, Finch said “That was the best day of my entire life!”

What we did (in order) on Feb. 26, 2024:

  • Got on the bus at Art of Animation at 7:55 am

  • Arrived at Animal Kingdom at 8:10 am

  • Kilimanjaro Safaris

  • Saw Pocahontas on Discovery River

  • Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

  • It’s Tough to Be a Bug

  • Wilderness Explorer

  • Avatar Flight of Passage

  • Na’vi River Journey

  • Saw Kevin from Up!

  • Expedition Everest (again)

  • Yak & Yeti Local Foods Cafe

  • DINOSAUR

  • Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond!

  • Avatar Flight of Passage (again)

  • Expedition Everest (again)

  • Snack

  • Avatar Flight of Passage (again)

  • Expedition Everest (again)

  • Expedition Everest (again)

  • DINOSAUR (again)

  • Avatar Flight of Passage (again)

  • Dinner at Satu’li Canteen

  • Expedition Everest (again)

And then we called it a day after 11 hours!

Our favorite rides at Animal Kingdom:

  • Eric: Avatar Flight of Passage

  • Kelsey: Kilimanjaro Safaris

  • Rooney: Expedition Everest

  • Finch: Expedition Everest

Next time I would change:

  • Go to the Festival of the Lion King show

  • Find DiVine

  • Don’t do DINOSAUR twice … or at all ;)

  • See zebras on the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail

Favorite surprise: Seeing Kevin and Pocahontas

Overheard from the kids:

  • “I’m having a lot of fun, and I’ve only been on one ride!” —Finch, after Kilimanjaro Safaris

  • “The lines are cool.” —Rooney

  • “Yeah, even waiting in line is fun!” —Finch

  • “There’s so much detail” —Rooney on Na’vi River Journey

  • “That was the best day of my entire life, and tomorrow’s going to be the best day of my life” —Finch, leaving Animal Kingdom

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