The Animal Kingdom has had a coming out party of sorts this past year (if The Animal KIngdom was a Southern debutante in need of a coming out part, so to say). We’ve always thought of The Animal Kingdom as Disney’s best themed, most attraction light park. We love it – we love the attention to detail, the thought that is put into every nook and cranny, how you can spend hours just walking around exploring all the attention to detail. However – we haven’t been the biggest fan of the short operating hours, light (ish) attraction slate, and lack of nighttime entertainment. This year, however, all of that changed. Today, we’re talking about what you need to make sure you do
-Wander Pandora
GUYS – PANDORA AT NIGHT IS EVERYTHING. From the floating mountains glowing beautiful colors (which, lowkey made me belt out a few lines of ‘Climb Every Mountain’), to the bioluminescence floors – there isn’t an inch of Pandora that doesn’t come alive at night. It’s an Imagineering masterpiece – we tip our hats, and empty our wallets, for the genius of this place.
-Take in the show
Animal Kingdom finally has a nighttime show, which is a BIG DEAL for this park. Rivers of Light was a show that was delayed for a long time, and isn’t our favorite show in the world – but we have friends that LOVE it, and we recommend that you see it for sure. The stadium that they build for the show is beautiful, and we love doing the dining package for Rivers of Light is actually a great deal – you can read about it here.
-Watch the projections
In the past year, they started doing a stunning projection show on the Tree of Life. The tree comes alive, twisting and turning with colors and movement, as a subtle story makes it way across the tree. It’s absolutely beautiful – we could stand and watch it for hours.
-See the details
Obviously, The Animal Kingdom is a park full of details, but those details are even more stunning when lit up at night. Walk around and see them in a different light (literally).
-Have a drink
Have a nightcap at one of our FAVORITE Disney bars, The Nomad Lounge. This place is insanely detailed, and has some of our favorite drinks (served in some sick, thick cut, crystal glassware).
-Eat dinner
David and I recently decided that we think The Animal Kingdom has the best Quick Service of any theme park (we know that’s a bold statement – but it’s our blog and we can think what we want!). Do you want loaded mac n cheese?! You can have it! Do you want cheeseburger pods?! You can have it! Want sriracha tzatziki loaded fries?! You can have it!
-Go on a ride
Make sure to experience your favorite Animal Kingdom rides at night – we’re big believers that Imagineers are so good at their jobs, that different rides are completely different experiences at night.
We have a whole new appreciation of this park (and most of that is because we get to experience this park at night now). Make sure to take in all the new things to do (and eat, and drink, because you guys all know we’re basically gluttons).