Animal Kingdom, Orlando

The best park after Magic Kingdom is Animal Kingdom. The kingdom is divided into 6 subparks, Oasis, Discoveryland, Pandora, Africa, Asia and Dinoland. When you plan for this kingdom pen down your priorities beforehand as which park to visit first or what ride you intend to do first. Our aim was to enjoy the African animal safari and then experience the Avatar theme park. To be honest one day is just enough to make most of the animal kingdom. But if you intend to enjoy all the rides plus watching the animals i suggest taking fast pass or visit the park during off peak time between 8am to 10 am.

OASIS

The entrance is quick and short with brief baggage and baby stroller checking leading us to the first park, the Oasis. The highlighted animals here are Babiroosa, Spoonbill and Giant anteater. While we got lucky to take pics with the Spoonbill the anteater was bit in a shy mood wandering behind the tropical green.

DISCOVERY ISLAND

We didn't want to miss the macaws bird show in discovery island and had to rush to the adjoining park, discovery land which greeted us with a magnificent Tree of Life. It was no ordinary tree but if you look closely and spend some quality time around you will spot many animal animals and bird carved on its trunk.

Shortly after lot of selfie moments the macaw birds show began. We held our breath to see a pack of colored wings flying above us. the sky was filled with red, blue and yellow. I have always seen them caged but to see them flying carefree in wilderness was an amazing sight.

AFRICA

Crossing the discovery island we rushed to Africa. In Africa i will suggest the Gorilla falls and Kilimanjaro safari ride. The Rafiki's is not much of an experience specially if you have little time and with no fast pass. Since we had no fast pass we que up for the safari ride first.

KILIMANJARO SAFARI

It was month of December and weather being in favor with cloudy sky we didn't mind the one hour waiting line. The ride toddler-friendly with no height restrictions, and your whole family can probably fit in one row of the tram.
Luckily Anika had her first bottle of milk and dozed off in few minutes. That is the best sight for any parent who has to wait for an hour. We were allowed to stand in que with baby stroller so that was another plus point to stand hands free. By the time we reached the open air vehicle with covered top, Anika was awake and we hand over the stroller for parking.
Yes, they did the parking themselves!

As our driver navigates the uneven bumpy dirt roads, they give you interesting facts about the animals, and they also help you spot the animals. We saw giraffes, elephants, rhino, hippopotamus, lions and much more.

The ride is 15 mins long, one of the longest rides (time wise) in Disney World. The best time to view the animals is morning and late evening. Once the afternoon settles in and the heat and humidity rise, the animals seek shade and lay low.
On this occasion we had our best ever sight of the because it was drizzling.

"You cannot visit Animal Kingdom without doing Kilimanjaro Safari"

GORILLA FALLS

After finishing the safari we came across the Gorilla falls and decided to do a quick nice short little trail to check out when you need a break in Animal Kingdom.

The Gorillas are some amazing animals and so much cooler to see in person. They're massive and super powerful. We saw two of them hanging out and munching on leaves.

There's also multiple walk up aquariums that offer some great views of a ton of fish swimming around. The main aquarium room is huge with 3 main viewing windows of a big pond with plenty of exotic fish to see. We were also able to catch a glimpse of a hippo briefly.The meercats section was probably my favorite.

Overall this is a great rain forest inspired exploration trail to explore.

HARAMBE MARKET

Harambe Market, in my opinion, is one of the most unique areas in a Disney World park. It’s an open-air plaza with a few restaurant options serving African food (it is in the Africa section of the park, after all). It definitely feels more like an African marketplace than a food court in the middle of a theme park!

ASIA

We took a short restroom break changing Anika's diaper and feeding her mac and cheese. We promised to take lunch break after completing the Asia where we opt out of Kali river rapid ride which is not scary but it is good on a hot day because it gets you wet. Feels refreshing and you dry quickly. Expedition Everest ride is the most scary and intense rides. Disney doesn't recommend the ride for small children and people with weak heart. So we strike this out too.

MAHARAJA JUNGLE TREK

We hopped for the Maharaja jungle trek which is a nice walking trail in Animal Kingdom where you get away from the crowds and explore at your own pace. Seeing chimpanzees in person was pretty fascinating. Their high energy jumping from one branch to another showed they're not afraid of the crowds. At times, it appeared they were posing for the everyone.

The major fun was at spotting the tigers who looked so powerful that we were wondering if they could just hop over to the visitor side if they really wanted to.

The exhilaration when she spotted a tiger!

The exotic birds section was great too.

Finishing the park we took our snacks break with masala tea from Royal Anandpur Tea company and chola rice pack from Yak and Yeti local food cafe which came with an open courtyard seating. While we sit and relax munching on food i got enough time to change Anika's diaper as she finished licking the last of mango pie.

UP!

The Up! show was another big hit with my kids. They bring live birds out on stage and have them perform tricks for the audience while talking about conservation and giving fun facts about the animals.

PANDORA

Now comes the most awaited park, Pandora!
My recommendation would be to walk around and check out Pandora at night. That area of the park has a completely different feeling once the sun goes down, so take your time to enjoy it lit up and dive into the Avatar theme.

But since this ride didn't had baby swap option Ani was given an option to go in first and when he is done with the ride me and mom in law can go with fast pass later. Waoo! that was a real deal and we cold not deny. While poor Ani bear with the wait line, me and mom in law took a quick rest in sula cafertria watching Anika dozed off to sleep shortly.

An hour later Ani came back with more than a satisfactory smile indicating this ride is a must do and one cannot die without doing this. Handling him sleepy Anika me and mom in law ran to the fast pass que. What i didn't like here was the lengthy introduction which takes about 5 to 8 minutes to go through the introduction process which is far far too long and not needed. They could cut that down massively to speed up the ride and reduce the waiting time.

This ride has arguably become my favorite. We actually felt like flying in the back of a banshee. You can even feel it breathing and the smells are brilliant with fast twisting turns and drops. Next time i am coming back again with fast pass just to enjoy this ride four times.

Once done with this park we head over to the Tree of Life to catch the Tree of Life Awakenings. When you think about Magic Kingdom most people visualize Cinderella's Castle. For Animal Kingdom it is the Tree of Life. It really is a master piece and looks amazing from so many different parts of the park. At night you get the lovely Tree of Life Awakening show with music and projection images on the tree.

Make sure to check your Times Guide for the schedule. In December the show went on from 6pm till 8pm.

We enjoyed the show till 7:30pm and rushed to Dinoland because we didn't want to miss Rivers of light. This is another nightime show performed over water telling story with music, amazing water effects, lotus flowers, boats and lazer show. Not a typical Disney show that includes any characters and fireworks due to animals in the park but it is a wonderful celebration of the beauty of nature.

If you would like to see that show, you will want to check your Times Guide and make sure you get in line for the show at least 20 minutes before it is scheduled to start.

There was still 30 mins left for the Animal Kingdom to close and we decided to check on Pandora again to enjoy the Nabi river ride. This last half hour is the best to enjoy any ride because of no waiting line and crowd since everyone is busy exiting the park. So we always run for rides that we have missed or want to enjoy once more. The Nabi river ride was the another amazing adventure in a boat passing though the neon lit tunnel as if witnessing the Avatar forest coming alive. Very safe and enjoyable with all age group.

After we were fully satisfied finishing every ride and park we didn't forget to take a final click in front of the tall majestic Christmas tree standing in the entrance. With light drizzling we made it a quick farewell and ran towards the parking before the unexpected rain drench us. We got lucky that it was cloudy throughout the day but rained only after dark.