Everything there is to do at Disney’s Animal Kingdom for the Holidays
Animal Kingdom might be my FAVORITE park to visit during the holidays. From quirky decorations, to sweet character meet and greets, the beautiful Merry Menagerie puppets and more, there’s a little something for everyone!
Characters
The fab 5 are decked out in their special holiday gear and this park is extra special as they already have fun themed costumes.
You can meet Mickey and Minnie in the Adventurers Outpost in their safari gear that has a little holiday overlay with red colors and holly. This is the ONLY meet and greet location where you can meet both Mickey and Minnie at the same time AND get a photo all together.
Be aware that the photos are from a photo box here, but you can always ask the Character Attendant to snap a few pictures on your phone. The other characters listed below all have normal Photopass Photographers.
You’ll find the rest of the fab 5 in Dinoland USA. Daisy has decked out her meet and greet all in pink and sewing trinkets as she makes fabulous outfits for her friend’s Christmas gifts. She also has a little holiday flair to her costume to go with the vibe. She is located over on the Cretaceous Trail over by the DINOSAUR attraction.
You can also find Chip and Dale in their normal Dino-Chipmunk outfits, but they’ve added some reindeer antlers and holiday lights! They are located right around the corner from Daisy and this is a fun one since you get to meet them together.
Back behind Chester and Hester’s Gift Shop you’ll find Goofy and Pluto. (This is also where the exit for the DINOSAUR attractions lets out)
They alternate times, so if you are hoping to meet a specific one, make sure to check the My Disney Experience App for meet & greet times! This tip goes for all the characters and I recommend getting in line around 10-15 minutes before their set start time to have a shorter wait.
And finally you’ll find Donald Duck right in the middle of Dinoland accross from Tricera-Top Spin. This photo op is super fun and colorful with Christmas trees full of Dino ornaments. Donald is his usual goofy self and this is always my favorite meet & greet to do.
Santa
Brand new this year is a Santa meet & greet on the patio of Restaurantosaurous. The past few years you used to only see Santa on the character flotillas along Discover River, but since they’ve disbanded those for meet and greets, that includes good ol’ Saint Nick too!
Be sure to take a look around at this set! There are LOADS of hidden easter eggs including a time rover spinning on the record player near the exit. This one also makes for some super fun photos.
Santa starts meeting at 10:00am and then intermittently throughout the day. This will get pretty popular the closer to the holidays we get so I recommend doing this one earlier in the morning if you can.
Dinoland Decorations
Speaking of Dinoland, this is 100% the year to check out all the holiday details as it is the LAST holiday overlay they will ever do as this land begins it’s retheme early next year.
My favorites are the kitchy decorations in Chester and Hesters including Santa-saurous. This gift shop is already heavily themed, so the festive decorations make this a great one to take a few minutes and look around.
You’ll of course find dino-decorations of ALL kinds all over from toy dinos in garland to cookie dinos on Donald’s Christmas tree. Over in Daisy’s meet and greet, she even made her dino a scarf!
Diwali Lanterns
Heading out of Dinoland and over to Asia, you’ll want to pay close attention over by the Feathered Friends in Flight show. Dozens of beautifully colored lanterns decorate the area to celebrate the festival of lights: Diwali.
I personally love that they represent other holidays in this park and by the way, it’s called festival of lights, so be sure to stick around until nightfall so that you can really see this area come to life!
While you are over here, be sure to check out the Beats and Strings show to see a live Sitar player! You can learn more about Animal’s live entertainment HERE.
Pandora
If you are looking for more unique decorations, you’ll want to head over to Pandora World of Avatar. They’ve gotten in the holiday spirit by dressing up their mec soldier as a Santa mec soldier.
You can also find unique ornaments inspired by the wildlife of Pandora.
And my favorite, they even have a Na’vi Nutcrackers above Pongu Pongu. They also have a small nod towards Hannukah here with a small Menorah.
This is another land that you want to check out once the sun goes down as the bioluminescence comes to life! This is one of the few times of year that you actually get to see Pandora at night since the sun sets early this time of year and Animal Kingdom usually closes pretty early.
Discovery Island Drummers
The Character Flotillas may be gone, but the Discovery Island Drummers still like to take a turn around the river! They are dressed in their Merry Menagerie style costumes and playing holiday beats. If you start to hear the music, take a peek at the river!
The Merry Menagerie
Probably the most highly anticipated holiday offering year after year is the Merry Menagerie! These are arctic animal themed puppets that roam around and interact with guests at the very front of the park.
You’ll see reindeer, polar bears, penguins, foxes, seals, and even birds! The puppeteers are incredibly talented and you’ll have a hard time remembering that these sweet animals aren’t actually real.
You are more than welcome to take selfies and photos with the puppeteers and their puppets, and you can also ask one of the character attendants (they are the ones in the blue outfits) to snap a pic for you too.
There are usually two groups of animals that rotate out around every 15-20 minutes, so if you stick around you can usually catch them all! Be sure to check the My Disney Experience App for what time they start coming out as it’s usually later in the morning.
I also love that they usually have instrumentalists like a violinist playing music to add some extra life to this area.
There is even some beautiful merch located just outside of Island Mercantile that features the Merry Menagerie animals like a Spirit Jersey, Tshirt, and Puppets!
The Tree of Life Awakens
There is one other nighttime offering you don’t want to miss! The Tree of Life Awakens is a short 5 minute or so long projection ‘show’ on the Tree of Life. This usually goes around every 10-15 minutes once the sun goes down.
This usually isn’t super busy, so it’s pretty easy to walk up right before or as it’s happening and get a good spot. You will want to be at the front of the park between Island Mercantile and Discovery Trading Post for a view of the projections.
I even recommend checking this out a few times if you can as the storylines will alternate to feature different animals!
Photo Ops
There are a few photo opportunities around the park that are special for the Holiday season. At the entrance to the park, you’ll find the 45-foot Christmas tree covered in handmade ornaments. There are usually a few photopass photographers around the tree and they even will have some fun Magic Shots that you can get ONLY if you have Memory Maker.
There is also a large photo op background off to the side that can be fun for a Holiday card!
Inside the park, as you head towards Pandora, you’ll see a beautiful mural across from Tiffins. There is usually a Photopass Photographer here too and I ALWAYS recommend asking for any Magic Shots that they may have.
Is Animal Kingdom my new favorite park for the holidays? Probably. Either way, it’s definitely one that you don’t want to miss!
