Though many of us have lived in Florida for a while and know the ins and outs of Walt Disney World, the Animal Kingdom Safari is an activity often overlooked for the sake of bigger and faster attractions in the theme park, such as Expedition Everest or Dinosaur. As a kid who moved to Central Florida in 2001 when my dad became a cast member at Walt Disney World, my interests when we visited the theme parks were primarily focused on getting on all of the rides that I could and running into all the Disney characters that I could meet. Yet, mixed in with these fictional characters that visitors can meet is an attraction that caters to the magic of reality that is present in the real world.
Animal Kingdom is perhaps the best of the four Walt Disney World parks that provide people access to learning natural world concepts in a fantasy space. After celebrating its 20th anniversary in April, the park has continued its commitment to environmental preservation and activism by educating the public and funding projects dedicated to preserving the natural environment.
Disney is often labeled as the spot for vacationers to escape from reality and enter a world of fantasy. The Animal Kingdom Safari presents a bit of both the fantasy along with a bit of real-world educational exploration for kids and adults of all ages. The safari-themed ride explores the grasslands on the “African Savanna” and takes riders to see some of the most unique animals that currently inhabit the Earth.
The best part? All of the animals are real, and they’re right in front of your own eyes.
The safari begins after a winding lineup to the safari vehicles where guests are seated in each vehicle in rows. The sides of the vehicles are garnished with large open sides to help promote better viewing for all guests to see the animals throughout the journey. You move in the vehicle with the rest of your group across bridges, through the savanna, past watering holes, and around different environments where the wide variety of different animals live.
Your driver will point out a great assortment of different animals along your journey, including elephants, lions, rhinos, and my personal favorite, giraffes. These animals are kept in sections of the environment that mirror their natural environments back in their original habitats. This helps the animals live a happy and relatively normal life while in captivity and allows for scientists and researchers to effectively monitor their behavior patterns.
The safari concludes by rounding a corner and you being dropped off near the enclosure for the gorillas and monkeys. In addition to this drop-off point, and true to the name of Animal Kingdom, there are so many other spots throughout the park where you can interact with animals and ask cast members questions about these different creatures throughout the park.
One of my other favorite examples was getting to see the two baby tigers in the tiger enclosure with their mom. These tigers are just shy of a year old and are just as playful as your own household cat. Seeing the two of them, one boy and one girl, was absolutely amazing. With tigers currently being one of the most endangered animals on the planet (their numbers in the wild dwindling to just above 3,890 as of 2016 as compared with the year 1900 when there were an estimated 100,000 tigers in the wild, according to The New York Times), it is now more important than ever to continue to educate youth about making intentional efforts to conserve and protect the beautiful animals that inhabit this planet.
Animal Kingdom’s Pandora, based on the movie Avatar, also features a unique conservation and educational message of its own that provides entertainment for kids while also teaching them the value of protecting the Earth in even the smallest ways. The experience is called Connect to Protect and allows families to “participate in conservation ‘missions’ with a digital scientist while exploring the incredible Valley of Mo’ara and helping protect the habitats of at-risk animals here on Earth,” according to National Geographic. “After completing one or more missions, guests unlocked a contribution, up to $10, from Disney Parks through the Disney Conservation Fund. They could then choose how that contribution would help protect or restore habitats important to one of 10 threatened categories of animals: apes, elephants, butterflies, coral reefs, cranes, monkeys, rhinos, sea turtles, sharks & rays, and tigers.”
If you are looking for ways to reconnect with your family whilst incorporating some of the best ways to teach and learn about the world around us, consider stopping by some of the various pavilions around Animal Kingdom. Not only does this activity promote interacting as a family and working together as a team to make a difference, you can know that your efforts will also have a meaningful real-world impact. What kind of better family time could you ask for?
