Animal Kingdom Rides by Age (2026): There Aren’t That Many
Let’s set expectations: Animal Kingdom is the most beautiful park at Disney World and one of the worst for people who came for rides. After DinoLand U.S.A. closed in February 2026, the count dropped to roughly six rides. The park’s real currency is animal exhibits, walk-through trails, and shows. So which Animal Kingdom rides actually exist, and which are worth the wait for your kid’s age? Here’s the honest breakdown.
What Do You Need to Know About Animal Kingdom Rides by Age?
1. Maximize Your Day with a Touring Plan
2. Do You Need Front-of-the-Line Passes?
3. Rides in Animal Kingdom for Everyone
4. Rides for Preschoolers and Up
5. Rides for Early Elementary-Aged Kids and Up
6. Rides for Upper Elementary-Aged Kids and Up
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Quick Answer: How Many Rides Does Animal Kingdom Have?
About six rides as of 2026: Kilimanjaro Safaris, Na’vi River Journey, Avatar Flight of Passage, Kali River Rapids, Expedition Everest, and the Wildlife Express Train. DinoLand U.S.A. closed permanently on February 2, 2026, which took DINOSAUR and TriceraTop Spin with it. That land is being rebuilt as a new “Tropical Americas” area with an Indiana Jones attraction and an Encanto ride-through, slated for 2027.
- One must-do: Avatar Flight of Passage. It’s the best ride here, and it isn’t close.
- Best for little kids: Kilimanjaro Safaris, Na’vi River Journey, and the new Bluey’s Wild World at Conservation Station.
- Thrill rider in the family: Expedition Everest is the only roller coaster, so manage their expectations.
- Don’t skip the shows: the new Zootopia: Better Zoogether! 4D show at the Tree of Life is genuinely good and welcomes all ages.
- Honest verdict: come for the animals and the atmosphere, not a packed ride lineup. If rides are your kid’s whole reason for visiting Disney, the best rides at Magic Kingdom will serve you better.
Animal Kingdom Rides by Age
1. Maximize Your Day with a Touring Plan
Disney World is hot. Central Florida humidity does not care about your itinerary. You will be much happier if you minimize wait times and alternate indoor and outdoor attractions so you aren’t roasting in the sun all day. Make a plan.
What should you ride first at Animal Kingdom? The perfect plan depends on what your family wants to do, but the math rarely changes: Avatar Flight of Passage builds the longest line of the day, often by mid-morning. If there’s already a wall of people when you arrive, knock out a few shorter-wait rides and save Flight of Passage for late evening. First thing in the morning, you can usually walk onto Expedition Everest and Na’vi River Journey before the crowds find them.
Do not waste rope-drop seeing animals. They will be there all day. Spend your precious low-crowd window on the rides instead.
Pro tip: Touringplans.com creates personalized touring plans for free. Input what you want to do and it generates an order of operations you can re-optimize throughout the day based on live wait times. It is the closest thing to cheating that Disney allows.
Bonus pro tip: Skim the park map before you go so you aren’t learning the layout while three kids melt down in the sun. For a wider game plan, our Animal Kingdom tips cover the whole park, not just the rides.
Note: Disney’s in-app planning tool inside My Disney Experience will happily suggest an itinerary, but it has a reputation for sending people toward rides with longer waits that don’t make sense. Treat its suggestions as a starting point, not gospel, and double-check the actual posted wait times.
2. Do You Need Front-of-the-Line Passes?
After the pandemic, Disney retired the free FastPass+ system and replaced it with paid line-skipping. As of July 2024, those paid systems were renamed: the old “Genie+” is now Lightning Lane Multi Pass, and “Individual Lightning Lanes” is now Lightning Lane Single Pass. Disney also added a pricey Lightning Lane Premier Pass for guests who want one shot at each Lightning Lane experience in a single tap-and-go bundle.
Pro tip: You can buy Multi Pass and a Single Pass for Flight of Passage on the same day. You don’t have to choose between them.
Lightning Lane Multi Pass
Multi Pass lets you reserve shorter waits on a set of rides and shows throughout the day. The big upgrade over the old Genie+ rules: you now pre-select up to three attractions in advance, with arrival windows, before you ever set foot in the park. Staying at a Disney resort? You can start booking seven days before arrival (covering stays up to 14 days). Off-property guests can book three days out. Selections open daily at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.
Once you’ve used or burned through those three, you can add more, one at a time, throughout the day. At Animal Kingdom the Multi Pass list is not tiered, so you pick any three from the lineup. As of 2026 that lineup includes Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Na’vi River Journey, Kali River Rapids, Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond!, Feathered Friends in Flight!, and the new Zootopia: Better Zoogether! show.
Pricing is date-based and changes constantly. At Animal Kingdom, Multi Pass has typically run somewhere in the ballpark of $16 to $32 per person per day before tax, but check current pricing in the app for your dates rather than budgeting off a screenshot from a blog.
Pro tip: If you don’t care about sitting with your party, consider skipping Multi Pass entirely and using the single rider lines for free.
Lightning Lane Single Pass
A Lightning Lane Single Pass is an à la carte purchase: you pay to skip the line on one specific ride, one time. The price floats with demand. At Animal Kingdom, the only attraction sold as a Single Pass is Avatar Flight of Passage, which makes sense because it is the only ride people will line up two hours for.
In 2026, the Flight of Passage Single Pass has generally run somewhere around $15 to $19 per person depending on the date and crowd level. As always, confirm the live price in My Disney Experience before you buy.
Pro tip: Guests at on-property resorts can start booking Single Pass reservations at 7:00 a.m. Off-property guests have to wait until the park opens, by which point the good return times may be gone.
Bonus pro tip: If you don’t care about sitting with your party, the single rider line on Flight of Passage will move faster and cost you nothing.
Are These Extras Worth It at Animal Kingdom?
Here’s the honest take: at a park with about six rides, you do not need Multi Pass the way you’d need it at Magic Kingdom. If you arrive at rope drop, ride Flight of Passage early or late, and don’t mind a few moderate waits, you can do this park without paying a dime extra. The one purchase that’s genuinely tempting is a Single Pass for Flight of Passage on a busy day, because that line is the only one truly worth buying your way out of. Will you be there open to close and want to avoid every line? Then Multi Pass might earn its keep. Otherwise, save the money for snacks. For more ways to keep the budget honest, see how to save on Disney trips.
3. Animal Kingdom Rides for Babies and Up
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Kilimanjaro Safaris is a long ride through artificial savannas, and it’s the signature experience of the whole park. You’ll see a ton of live animals up close, including crocodiles, giraffes, lions, and cheetahs, while the driver narrates. It’s the rare Disney “ride” that’s actually educational. It’s popular, so lines get long.
Pro tip: The animals tend to be more active in the cooler morning hours. By mid-afternoon a lot of them are doing exactly what you’d be doing: lying in the shade, refusing to perform.
Bonus pro tip: This ride doesn’t always run all the way to park close. Check the posted times so you don’t miss it.
Height requirement: None
Lightning Lane Multi Pass: Yes
Lightning Lane Single Pass: No
Best for: All ages
Location: Africa
Indoor or outdoor: Outdoor
Na’vi River Journey
Na’vi River Journey is a slow-moving boat ride through a glowing, bioluminescent rainforest, ending with a remarkably lifelike Shaman of Songs Audio-Animatronic. The whole experience is serene and gorgeous, which is a polite way of saying older kids will find it boring. It’s a perfect breather for babies and toddlers, and a perfect nap trigger for everyone else.
Height requirement: None
Lightning Lane Multi Pass: Yes
Lightning Lane Single Pass: No
Best for: Babies, toddlers, preschoolers, adults
Location: Pandora
Indoor or outdoor: Indoor
Bluey’s Wild World
This is the newest reason to bring a little kid to Animal Kingdom. Bluey’s Wild World opened May 26, 2026 at Conservation Station, which you reach via the Wildlife Express Train from a station near Harambe Market in Africa. It’s not a ride so much as an interactive play experience: meet-and-greets with Bluey and Bingo, games, and a new “Jumping Junction” habitat with kangaroos and wallabies. If your toddler is obsessed with Bluey, this is the single most exciting thing in the park to them, full stop.
Pro tip: At launch, access used a virtual queue rather than a standby line. That may have changed, so check the app the morning of your visit so you don’t wander over to a closed sign.
Height requirement: None
Best for: Babies, toddlers, preschoolers
Location: Conservation Station (via the Wildlife Express Train from Africa)
Indoor or outdoor: Both
Wildlife Express Train
The Wildlife Express Train is the steam-powered shuttle out to Conservation Station, which is now home to Bluey’s Wild World. The train itself isn’t thrilling, but it’s pleasant, it’s a guaranteed seat for tired legs, and it’s the only way to get to the Bluey experience. (Fun fact: the train was briefly closed from February to May 2026 during the Bluey buildout, so older guides may tell you it’s down. It’s running again.)
Height requirement: None
Lightning Lane Multi Pass: No
Lightning Lane Single Pass: No
Best for: Babies, toddlers, preschoolers
Location: Africa
Indoor or outdoor: Outdoor
Zootopia: Better Zoogether! (Show)
Not a ride, but worth slotting into your day for every age group. This 4D show opened November 7, 2025 in the Tree of Life Theater, replacing the long-running (and notoriously kid-terrifying) “It’s Tough to Be a Bug!” It runs about nine minutes, you wear “Carrot Vision” glasses, and it stars Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, and a brand-new Clawhauser Audio-Animatronic. It’s a Lightning Lane Multi Pass attraction, and unlike the bug show, it won’t send your preschooler running for the exit.
Height requirement: None
Lightning Lane Multi Pass: Yes
Best for: All ages
Location: Discovery Island (Tree of Life Theater)
Indoor or outdoor: Indoor
4. Animal Kingdom Rides for Preschoolers and Up
Kali River Rapids
Kali River Rapids is a circular-raft water ride you’ve probably seen a version of at half a dozen other parks. The wait is usually reasonable, the scenery is nice, and you will get very, very wet. Not “a fun little splash” wet. “Squish in your shoes for the next hour” wet. Bring a poncho and consider a dry bag for phones. For how this one stacks up against the rest of the property’s soakers, see our ranking of water rides in Disney World.
Height requirement: 38″
Lightning Lane Multi Pass: Yes
Lightning Lane Single Pass: No
Best for: Preschoolers, early elementary, upper elementary, tweens, teens, adults
Location: Asia
Indoor or outdoor: Outdoor
5. Rides for Early Elementary-Aged Kids and Up
Avatar Flight of Passage
Avatar Flight of Passage is a 3D motion simulator where you strap onto a banshee and soar over Pandora, and it is hands-down the best ride at this park. The seat moves, the visuals are stunning, and the banshee under you even breathes. This is the ride that justifies the whole visit for anyone tall enough, which is exactly why the line builds fast and stays brutal all day. Ride it at rope drop, ride it at the very end of the night, or buy the Single Pass and ride it whenever you want.
Height requirement: 44″
Lightning Lane Multi Pass: No
Lightning Lane Single Pass: Yes
Best for: Early elementary, upper elementary, tweens, teens, adults
Location: Pandora
Indoor or outdoor: Indoor
6. Rides for Upper Elementary-Aged Kids and Up
Expedition Everest
Expedition Everest is the only roller coaster at Animal Kingdom, so if you have a thrill-seeking kid, this is the whole show. At one point the train rockets backward through a dark, indoor section that feels like you go upside down (you don’t), and yes, it’s a little rough on the neck. The Yeti animatronic is mostly relegated to a strobe-lit “disco yeti” these days, but the speed and the surprises hold up.
The queue earns bonus points all on its own. There’s a small museum’s worth of Himalayan artifacts and Yeti lore to read while you wait, which makes the standby line far less miserable than most.
For where this coaster lands on the fear scale for shorter or more cautious kids, check our guide to the scariest rides at Disney World.
Height requirement: 44″
Lightning Lane Multi Pass: Yes
Lightning Lane Single Pass: No
Best for: Upper elementary, tweens, teens, adults
Location: Asia
Indoor or outdoor: Both
What Happened to DINOSAUR and TriceraTop Spin?
If you’ve read an older guide, you’ll have seen DINOSAUR (a famously pitch-black, jerky jeep ride through carnivores trying to eat you) and TriceraTop Spin (Dumbo, but in dinosaur cars) listed here. Both are gone. DinoLand U.S.A. closed permanently on February 2, 2026, taking those rides, Restaurantosaurus, and the rest of the land with it.
The good news for future trips: the space is being rebuilt as a new “Tropical Americas” land, with an Indiana Jones adventure and an Encanto ride-through, expected to open in 2027. So the ride count is briefly even thinner than usual, but a real expansion is coming. For now, plan around six rides, not the eight some lists still show.
FAQ: Animal Kingdom Rides by Age
What are the must-do rides at Animal Kingdom?
Avatar Flight of Passage is the one ride you should not leave without doing, assuming everyone meets the 44″ height requirement. After that, Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest round out the top tier. Don’t sleep on the Zootopia: Better Zoogether! show either.
Is Animal Kingdom good for toddlers and babies?
It’s surprisingly good for little ones, just not because of the rides. Kilimanjaro Safaris, Na’vi River Journey, the Wildlife Express Train, and the new Bluey’s Wild World all work for the stroller set, and the animals themselves are a hit. For a deeper dive, read Is Animal Kingdom Worth It for Toddlers?
How long do you need at Animal Kingdom?
With only about six rides, a focused family can hit the highlights in roughly half a day. But the trails, shows, and animal exhibits can easily fill a full day if you let them, and that’s really the point of this park. If you want a one-day battle plan, the Animal Kingdom tips walk through it.
Do you need Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Animal Kingdom?
Usually not. With so few rides, smart rope-drop timing covers most of it. The one purchase worth considering is a Lightning Lane Single Pass for Avatar Flight of Passage on a crowded day, since that’s the only line genuinely worth buying your way out of.
How much is a ticket to Animal Kingdom?
Animal Kingdom is the cheapest of the four Disney World parks. In 2026, single-day, single-park tickets start around $119 on the lowest-demand dates and climb from there with date-based pricing. Always price your exact dates on the official site before buying.
Final Thoughts – Animal Kingdom Rides by Age
Animal Kingdom doesn’t have a ton of rides, and after the DinoLand closure it has even fewer. But that was never really the point of this park. Build your plan around the available Animal Kingdom rides by age, ride Flight of Passage at the right time, leave room for the safari and the new shows, and spend the rest of your day on the trails and the animals. Done right, the thin ride lineup won’t bother you a bit.
Visit Disney World with kids. You will not regret it.
