Disney's Animal Kingdom (Update)

As promised, here is an update since our last visit to Animal Kingdom. This year (2014) we are Disney Annual Passholders for the 1st time ever. Now that we have had the opportunity to be passholders, we know a lot more about the ins and outs of each park. This review will have a lot more detail than the previous review. Unlike our past Animal Kingdom review, this review will include our pictures as well.

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Dates of Visit: Several Times in 2014

We went to Animal Kingdom often this year because we have the annual pass for Disney. In fact, we will go a few more times before these passes run out in January. We will probably even go this upcoming weekend. Love this park. For seeing animals it is better if you can go on the safari. You cannot ride the Kilimanjaro Safari ride while pregnant so we missed the biggest attraction at this park when Jenna was pregnant during the last review. Not this year though! Disney's Animal Kingdom is still a fantastic time no matter what. In fact it is the favorite park of several in my family. Our favorite Disney Park (mine, Jenna, and Jr.) is Magic Kingdom because of the amount there is at that park, but this is a close second for all of us. We love Animal Kingdom! Enjoy our comments, and pictures!

Highlights: This is one of the best if not the best animal attractions in the country. You could easily spend the whole day there! They have an amazing "African" area and "Asian" area! The animals are all awesome! There are some spots where you can't see certain animals, but there are so many viewing decks, you could probably move somewhere and get a view of them. The Kilimanjaro Safari is easily the best part and it is probably the closest thing to a safari there is outside of Africa. The up close views of animals on the safari are incredible and some even cross the path. We have never seen rhinos that close and so many of them. The rhino is my favorite animal so it was awesome for me to see them so close. You always get a good view of rhinos and I have never gotten a better view of a hippo than this safari.  It is Noland Jr.'s favorite ride and he wants to ride it over and over again. He loves pointing out the animals on the safari and telling us what they are. The look of amazement on his face is truly priceless everytime we ride this ride. I definitely recommend using your fastpass+ for this attraction at AK. Usually you can walk on this attraction in less than 1 hour too if you get there within the first hour of park opening. Another good idea for riding it is checking the Disney app for wait times and going there anytime there is less than a 30 minute wait. During non-peak season it shouldn't be difficult to ride with little to no wait. You see more the second time around when you go on it. We always try to ride the safari twice when we come. The Komodo Dragon exhibit was another highlight for us as we saw one of our favorite animals and we could see it outside of the safari. Also for Florida Residents you can go to Disney 3 days for $99 which makes tickets extremely affordable. There are also several seasonal and annual passholder options for you to visit this theme park.

You can look at some pictures this time from our many trips to Animal Kingdom. 

When you first enter the park you are directly in front of a spoonbill exhibit. We love the spoonbills.

Another creature featured early in the park is this awesome Iguana.

Waiting for the now extinct parade an awesome worker drew this Mickey for our boy. Disney workers are fantastic at creating magic for the family.

We saw the kangaroos very well from a walkway that goes by their exhibit.

We love the Komodo Dragon it is one of our favorites. This can be seen on the Jungle Trek in Asia.

This is a gorilla from the walking trail in Africa.

Kilimanjaro Safaris is the best place to see hippos that we know of.

We love the rhinos on the safari.

The Nile Crocodiles are crazy looking.

At Disney World we have learned that a group of flamingos like this is called a flamboyance. Check out the elephant in the background of this shot Jenna took.

The rhinos are mine and Jr.'s favorite part of this safari.

This is my favorite photo from Animal Kingdom of just the animals!

This is from his first safari where we got front row. It was a bit chilly that day, but he loved it.

On a different visit he was waving at the rhinos.

Animal Kingdom is a ton of fun!

Disappointments: We did not have many disappointments for this place! We both wish that there were some more walk throughs where you could see more of the African animals outside of the safari. However they did have the underwater hippo viewing area and a walkthrough of some of the animals. This inability to see many of the animals made us miss some of our favorite part of the park when Jenna was pregnant. The safari is not recommended for pregnant women, so you should avoid it if you are. Another good idea would be to add some more bones/plastic dinosaurs in DinoLand for the little ones, but other than that, WE LOVED THIS PLACE! This park is a big reason why someday we will get annual passes to Disney again despite the expense.

We gave it a 5 out of 5!

That's all for now!

Leave a comment or your opinion if you have been to Disney's Animal Kingdom!

-Noland

What is the Best Zoo in the US?

It depends on who you ask. According to America's Best Online I have been to a couple of the best zoos in the country. Here is a little bit of their list, with my take. Interesting that the Atlanta Zoo wasn't on this list, because we rated it as the top Zoo in the southeast. Also interesting that Lowry Park Zoo was rated the top kid zoo. Hopefully, that is true because we can't wait to take our kid to the zoo. Check out this list below.

1. San Diego Zoo

I have heard many times that the San Diego Zoo is at or near the top of the best zoos list. I really want to go here. Unfortunately, I have not been West of Arizona. Hopefully, I will be able to get you my own review of this zoo. Maybe I can share the review of one of our followers also.

2. Disney's Animal Kingdom

We recently did a review of Disney's Animal Kingdom. Here it is.

3. San Diego Wild Animal Park

I haven't heard as much about this one, but if we make it out to San Diego we will surely go here as well.

4. Maryland Zoo

We recently did a review of the Maryland Zoo as well. Here that is.

5. Bronx Zoo

I have never been to New York. Jenna has, but neither of us has seen this zoo. We hope that changes sometime soon, because we have heard many say that this zoo is the best.

6. Columbus Zoo

Much like the Bronx Zoo, we have heard many people claim that this zoo is the best in the US. We may be able to go to this zoo this summer, but we will see if it happens.

7. San Antonio Zoo

I actually have been to San Antonio with my family, but did not go to this zoo. I did go to Sea World San Antonio and that review is coming soon, but not the zoo. I would love to go back to San Antonio at some point and check out the zoo. It is a very interesting city.

8. Henry Doorly Zoo

This zoo is in Nebraska. I have never heard of it before. I am kind of shocked to see it on the list. Apparently, it is home to the largest indoor rain forest in the world and that is the big appeal. This is probably the zoo in the Top Ten that we are least likely to go to, but you never know.

9. Phoenix Zoo

I have been to the Phoenix Zoo a few times when I was little and my aunt lived in Arizona. I do not remember it too well and certainly not well enough to do a review, but I remember a good time. Wouldn't mind going back.

10. St. Louis Zoo

I am surprised to see this zoo in the Top Ten as well. You don't usually hear too many people talk about the St. Louis Zoo. It is a free zoo which is one plus and is one of the leading research zoos. Looks like we may have to check this one out.

-Noland

Top Ten Zoos In the Southeast

It is my birthday today and one of my favorite things on this earth are countdowns and countdown shows. Because of that I decided that I would do a countdown of the top 10 zoos in the southeast. We live in Florida and I grew up in Virginia so the majority of the zoos I have been to are in the southeast. For purposes of this assignment we will call the southeast anything south of Baltimore on the east coast.

Add in Maryland and take out the non coastal states and then this map is where we are going off. MD, DC, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL. We will count theme parks and aquariums as part of this countdown. Unfortunately if we have not been to the zoo it can not be included on the countdown.

10) Florida Aquarium, Tampa, FL
Review to come soon. Visit in 2011.

9) National Aquarium, Baltimore, MD
Review here

Main Tank at the National Aquarium

8) National Zoo, Washington DC
Review Here

The biggest draw at the National Zoo, their Giant Panda Exhibit. Well other than the fact that it is free!

7) Sea World, Orlando, FL
Review coming soon. Trying to wait for a return visit to get an updated review before posting.

Shamu

6) Lowry Park Zoo, Tampa, FL
Review Here

Penguin Feeding at Lowry Park Zoo

5) Jacksonville Zoo, Jacksonville, FL
I've been to this zoo many times in the past, but Jenna and I just went together last week. Our review is coming very soon.

4) Maryland Zoo, Baltimore, MD
Review Here.

Arctic Fox @ Maryland Zoo

3) Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL
Review posted 3 days ago. Click on the FL tab for more on Busch Gardens Tampa.

This picture was not in the review. It is a Gorilla napping @ Busch Gardens Tampa.

2) Disney's Animal Kingdom, Kissimmee, FL
Review Here

Tree of Life @ Disney's Animal Kingdom

And the number one animal attraction in the southeast is.....
Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Full Review Here

They had close views of my favorite the Rhino!

They also had a baby komodo dragon feeding when we went.

Zoo Atlanta is very deserving of #1. It was so close between it and Animal Kingdom though.

However, if this was talking about each park and not just the animal portion, I would go with Busch Gardens Tampa. I suggest you check out all of these places if you can!

Let us know if you think we missed anything or if we need to check another zoo out. Also if you have different rankings please share.

-Noland

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Sorry Everyone! I've been a bit of a slacker lately on the updates! I have the blog over at itsjustcalledspicy and since my last update have gotten married and pregnant. However, Noland and I have been to quite a few zoos since November. After this update on Disney's Animal Kingdom, we will post on our local zoo next week and we got many more updates coming soon! Unfortunately, this update will not include many pictures.

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Dates of Visit: December 27, 2011 & February 18, 2012

We went to Animal Kingdom with Noland's family right before the wedding and again just the two of us in February. However, when we went back I was pregnant so it was quite a different experience.For seeing animals the first trip was much better. You cannot ride the Kilimanjaro Safari ride while pregnant so we missed the biggest attraction at this park during the visit. We also were unable to do practically anything in Dinoland USA because of the pregnancy. Disney's Animal Kingdom is still a fantastic time whether pregnant or not. In fact it is Noland's favorite of all the Disney Parks.

Highlights: This is one of the best if not the best animal attractions in the country. You could easily spend the whole day there! They have an amazing "African" area and "Asian" area! The animals are all awesome! There are some spots where you can't see certain animals, but there are so many viewing decks, you could probably move somewhere and get a view of them. The Kilimanjaro Safari is easily the best part and it is probably the closest thing to a safari there is outside of Africa. The up close views of animals on the safari are incredible and some cross the path. We have never seen rhinos that close and so many of them. The rhino is my husband's favorite animal so it was awesome for him to see. It was also our nephew Luke's favorite ride as he wanted to ride it a couple of times. I definitely recommend getting there early and getting a fastpass for later. You see more the second time around. The Komodo Dragon exhibit was another highlight for us as we saw one of our favorite animals and we could see it outside of the safari. Also for Florida Residents you can go to Disney 3 days for $99 which made our tickets extremely affordable.

I've added some other people's pictures from online because ours did not come out to good from our phones. We both managed to leave our cameras behind in Tampa.

Giraffes and Zebras courtesy: travellandleasure.com

Rhinos courtesy: DisneyEveryDay (There were a ton of these guys!)

Tree of Life, Kilimanjaro Safari, and Komodo Dragon courtesy: Wikimedia

Disappointments: We did not have many disappointments for this place! We both wish that there were some walk throughs where you could see more African animals outside of the safari. This inability to see many of the animals made us miss our favorite part of the park in February. Another good idea would be to add some more bones/plastic dinosaurs in DinoLand for the little ones, but other than that, WE LOVED THIS PLACE!

We gave it a 5 out of 5!

That's all for now!

Leave a comment or your opinion if you have been to Disney's Animal Kingdom!

♥ jen