Photo Update: Disney's Animal Kingdom — October 2018

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Tree of Life

Today, we take a trip around Disney’s Animal Kingdom to see what the fall brings to this beautiful park. First stop is Dinoland U.S.A. where the ducks look to have moved in permanently, with Uncle Scrooge and the gang still as popular as ever and lines for meet and greets being longer than some of the attractions in the area.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Dinoland U.S.A.

Elsewhere in the land, the rarely-used extended queue for Dinosaur is having some work done to become the new home of the Wilderness Explorer Field Station after Uncle Scrooge moved into the old area.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Dinosaur Queue Work

One of my favorite shops in all of Walt Disney World is Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, which a week before Halloween, started its Christmas makeover with SantaSAURUS moving in.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Christmas Comes Early

UP! A Great Bird Adventure has proven to be a guest favorite, with shows filling to capacity throughout the day.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – UP! A Great Bird Adventure

The show has seen some changes since it opened earlier this year. Now, the plot has become more focused with Russel and Dug searching for Anika (a fellow Wilderness Scout) and having a special moment about Russel’s camera that leads to an ongoing story. Overall, the show flows much better than the original version with less awkward moments such as Dug rushing off stage for no real reason. If you have not seen the show or just saw the original version, it is time to head back and revisit this great bird adventure.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – UP! A Great Bird Adventure

One of the other big changes for UP! A Great Bird Adventure is taking place in front of the theater. Due to the large queue for the show, the walkway is being expanded to make traffic flow better.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – UP! A Great Bird Adventure

Last week saw the last trip of the Wildlife Express to Rafiki’s Planet Watch for a few months (click HERE for the full story), but instead of a wall closing off the train station, the walkway has been repurposed to help make up for the lost Wilderness Explorer field stations.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Planet Watch

The latest in the ever-changing menus is Tiffins, moving from the “wild” items the new menu now includes Shrimp and Grits along with Chicken and Waffles. The new menu is much more of the “family friendly” fare giving the options of something familiar. While it may dissuade some of the former guests due to the loss of a favorite item, it will open the restaurant up to more with “not too adadventurous” palettes.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Tiffins

Heading into Pandora: The World of Avatar, the latest update to the Play Disney Mobile App is a really great addition to help explore and learn about this amazing land and also a great way to help pass the long waits for the attractions.

For those that have not had a chance to explore Pandora, this new addition to the Play Disney Mobile App gives you the backstory, as well as insight into different flora and fauna of the land along with some fun games — and of course an all-new achievement badge. While waiting in the 95-minute queue for Avatar: Flight of Passage we explored the guide, which all lead up to entering the lab deep in the queue. Along the way, we learned about how the human/Na’vi world were connected and helped track some animals and learn all about this new world.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Avatar Flight of Passage

On the way out of Pandora: The World of Avatar, we found that the banshees have now found a way to fly across the 4.4 lightyears and are now available in the Island Mercantile along with some of the other Pandoran items.