Disney's Animal Kingdom® Park News from Disney's Animal Kingdom
- Thread starter kiang
- Start date
They only imported them back in 2016 so I would assume they would still have some.
Yes, they at least have two on exhibit. I saw them just before New Years.
They have three female lion-tailed macaques.
Park Updates and Questions
-Red kangaroos are still in the park, but when you get to the flamingo exhibit you must look way in the back since the kangaroos exhibit is kinda in an off display area by Tree of Life.
-As of December 31, 2021, from the old herd of goats and sheep there are only 11 individuals left, with 37 already dead. Most of what is left are sheep with the exception of three male African Pygmy goats. All are between 12-15 years old now, and one of the goats is the oldest at 15 years old(look for the tan one.) Until about 2019, there were around 30 individuals total, and since covid the park has lost quite a lot. The rest of the 37 dead individuals have been deceased for a long time now. We are at 26 goats and 8 sheep currently, but mainly due to the new Nigerian dwarf goats and the young Oberhasli goats that came in 2019 and some being born in recent years.
-There are still lion-tailed macaques on Maharajah JungleTrek. They are the same three females, the male died a while back.
-The female Komodo dragon on JungleTrek passed away due to complications with giving birth, the park still has two, a male on JungleTrek and another male at Rafiki’s Planet Watch across from Affection Section.
-What happened to the scimitar horned oryx? I never heard anything, and four male Nigerian dwarf goats are in a fenced area where the oryx used to live
-I never see the hyenas, are they still rotating with African wild dogs?
-With the avian influenza pandemic spreading much of the world, are the birds at Animal Kingdom currently off exhibit? I don’t know how Florida is doing with avian flu, I live up in Pennsylvania where they are taking precautions.
-Red kangaroos are still in the park, but when you get to the flamingo exhibit you must look way in the back since the kangaroos exhibit is kinda in an off display area by Tree of Life.
-As of December 31, 2021, from the old herd of goats and sheep there are only 11 individuals left, with 37 already dead. Most of what is left are sheep with the exception of three male African Pygmy goats. All are between 12-15 years old now, and one of the goats is the oldest at 15 years old(look for the tan one.) Until about 2019, there were around 30 individuals total, and since covid the park has lost quite a lot. The rest of the 37 dead individuals have been deceased for a long time now. We are at 26 goats and 8 sheep currently, but mainly due to the new Nigerian dwarf goats and the young Oberhasli goats that came in 2019 and some being born in recent years.
-There are still lion-tailed macaques on Maharajah JungleTrek. They are the same three females, the male died a while back.
-The female Komodo dragon on JungleTrek passed away due to complications with giving birth, the park still has two, a male on JungleTrek and another male at Rafiki’s Planet Watch across from Affection Section.
-What happened to the scimitar horned oryx? I never heard anything, and four male Nigerian dwarf goats are in a fenced area where the oryx used to live
-I never see the hyenas, are they still rotating with African wild dogs?
-With the avian influenza pandemic spreading much of the world, are the birds at Animal Kingdom currently off exhibit? I don’t know how Florida is doing with avian flu, I live up in Pennsylvania where they are taking precautions.
The area isn't off display. If you wanted to see the kangaroos, you could walk past the catfish exhibit and there's some viewing areas to the vulture/Kangaroo habitat there, which has a really nice view.
Oh I didn’t know that, I have only seen the kangaroo habitat from the flamingos.
They are part of the night safari experience.
I am not aware of any closures in FL due to the bird flu. I know that Zoo Tampa had all the normal bird displays open last Friday.
*edit
The lorikeet aviary may have been closed.
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Given that is this is Disney we're talking about, we'll know if they close their bird exhibits. Disney always makes sure even the most minor news about park closures is public knowledge.
How long should I expect to spend here, if I want to see just the animal parts?
I feel like you can easily spend 4-5 hours here just focusing on the animals. Got to figure if you don't do Lightning Lane (as you would spend $15 just to do one ride), Kilimanjaro Safaris would easily fill an hour and a half as you would wait standby. You could easily spend an hour on the Gorilla Falls Trail and Maharajah Jungle Trek each trying to photograph everything and take your time. And although I've never done it, the Conservation Station probably would take another hour to ride the train out, look around, and come back.
Then remember the maze of trails around Discovery Island and the entrance area, could easily spend another hour navigating these.
How long is the line for Kilimanjaro expected to be? I hate waiting in lines and if it's too long I'd almost rather skip the line. I have no idea what Lightning Lane is but I'd be more then willing to spend an extra $15 to skip a really long line.
JollyGreenGiant94
Well-Known Member
As a zoo/animal lover, you could spends several hours, adding or subtracting time based on animal activity (I've spent an hour on the Gorilla troops alone multiple times). I strongly suggest going right at opening and getting on the first safari of the day to avoid long wait times (After about the first 30 minutes of the ride being open the line jumps to 60+ minutes where it holds until maybe the evening). From there go to Maharajah Jungle Trek (Tigers are active for the first 30 minutes of the day, usually they get let out at 9) then Gorilla Falls (The Gorilla troops tend to be pretty active and visible throughout the day). After that you can go out to Rafiki's (Something I've been needing to do again) then do the Discovery Island Trail (Kangaroos and Vultures). Bonus points if you take a bus out to Animal Kingdom Lodge (Two separate Disney hotels about 5 minutes from the park, completely free to visit and explore).
JollyGreenGiant94
Well-Known Member
See my above comment for the first part of your question, but lightning lane is part of Disney's paid line-skipping service. More information can be found on their website, but it involves a lot of headache and has received quite negative feedback from guests so I would recommend avoiding it. DAK is my home zoo and I visit multiple times a month. It is a lot of fun, but it is still a zoo inside one of the busiest theme parks in the world so don't expect a normal zoo experience.
I think it depends on when you plan on going. When I was there in a "peak season" this line can easily be anywhere from 45 mins to an hour and a half. Lightning Lane used to be called FastPass and let's you bypass most of the standby line and usually reduces wait time to around 10 to 15 mins. You have to purchase this through their Genie+ system, then once you get into the park you can "Reserve a Time" window to ride the ride so you don't have to wait in standby. The ability to do this is that $15. It used to be a free system until last year.
Probably twice as long as whatever you're thinking. The animals are spread throughout the zoo, so you still have to walk past all of the rides and crowds and people constantly stopping to take selfies and all of that. A lot of the people there don't care about the animals at all, they care about the disney.
So true, many visitors have no interest in animals unless they talk!
It’s quite common for people on this forum to be snobby about DAK & their visitors but you have to remember that 1) it’s a Disney theme park, and 2) they obviously care about the animals there to a degree otherwise they wouldn’t be there. Not everybody is going to have as much interested in the lesser spotted something or the Mordor island whatever as the people on this forum - and that’s okay!