With construction equipment digging in Dinoland and multiple attractions closed, many Walt Disney World vacation planners are questioning whether they should skip Animal Kingdom on trips in 2026 through late 2027 when Tropical Americas opens. This covers what’s happening, when projects will be completed, and how they’ll impact your experience on upcoming visits.
When it comes to radical Walt Disney World overhauls, there are two existing ‘templates’ based upon recent projects: EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Both of these park reimaginings significantly impacted guests, albeit in markedly different ways.
Most fans will likely be familiar with the Giant EPCOT Dirt Pit, which involved several years of navigating a maze of construction walls in the middle of the park. There was a lot of audible and visual blight, and it felt like a construction zone. But only one attraction closed, and it was an unpopular one. The ride roster was not adversely impacted, especially once Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure opened.
During the Disney’s Hollywood Studios expansion, several attractions closed in order for construction to occur. The attraction count dropped dramatically, but the construction at DHS didn’t significantly impact the atmosphere or guest experience. It was all out of the way, on the periphery of the park.
This brings us to the Animal Kingdom construction project, which is more like the Disney’s Hollywood Studios expansion. The work is out of the way, so the park doesn’t feel like an active construction zone, but the already limited ride roster has now down 2 more attractions.
Animal Kingdom’s overhaul will likewise no doubt weigh on the park experience for the next couple of years. The question thus becomes, should you skip Animal Kingdom? Spoiler alert: the answer is “it depends.”
This article ending in anything but a full-throated, unequivocal endorsement of Disney’s Animal Kingdom is going to anger some fans. Now that old school EPCOT Center has been gone for a couple of decades, those purists (my people!) have been replaced by DAK diehards or defenders.
For many such fans, Animal Kingdom is misunderstood. They believe that the park is underrated and underappreciated with the general public, and that if people just gave it more of a chance, it’d win them over. Honestly, I am receptive to this perspective, as I am one such person who DAK has “won over.”
If you’re a DAK diehard, that’s fantastic! But you should also understand that the target audience of this post is not people who already love Animal Kingdom. If it’s your favorite park at Walt Disney World, you should not skip Animal Kingdom. If you think it’s an exemplar of themed design, you should not skip Animal Kingdom. But you already knew that.
For everyone else, Animal Kingdom already was highly skippable even before the construction began.
Animal Kingdom is the worst performing park at Walt Disney World. During the last year for which data is available (2024), it was #8 in the United States, also behind both Universal Orlando parks. It was the only domestic Disney Park not in the top 10 worldwide.
Globally, Animal Kingdom ranked #15, with 8.8 million annual visitors. That’s up by 0.3% year over year, but down considerably from the 13.9 million guests it hit in 2019. Animal Kingdom is the only Walt Disney World park that didn’t hit the 10 million mark, and it had less than half the annual visitors of Magic Kingdom, the #1 theme park in the world.
This gap will continue to grow in the next ~2 years. Animal Kingdom is the park most removed from its last development cycle, and it has lost more than it has gained since March 2020.
Animal Kingdom will be hurt by its own lack of offerings and construction, and is the park far and away most likely to lose attendance to Epic Universe at Universal as that new park (maybe?!) starts to find its footing in 2026.
The next few years will be tough for DAK, before it starts rebounding with Tropical Americas in 2028. That new land is expected to open in late 2027, and will bring with it an all-new Encanto Madrigal Casita family-friend ride, Indiana Jones Adventure (as a reimagining of DINOSAUR) and a critter carousel.
It’s possible that Tropical Americas opens in phases to get the critter carousel spinning earlier, and maybe even Indiana Jones Adventure. It’s also possible the Encanto attraction slips into early 2028. We would not bank on the ‘meat’ of Tropical Americas being open before November or December 2027. Everything covered here will be valid until (at least) then.
Walt Disney World guests are already voting with their wallets and feet and skipping Animal Kingdom, and have been for the last 5 years. If you simply want the consensus answer and not my opinion, it’s yes, Animal Kingdom is skippable–and increasingly so. But you’ve read this far, so hopefully you’re after commentary, and not just statistics.
With that said, I’m presenting the statistics because they speak for themselves and, frankly, do a lot to rebut the argument among fans that Animal Kingdom is just misunderstood. Maybe it is to an extent, but not by every single one of the 9 million people who visited Magic Kingdom but not Animal Kingdom.
There’s a reason (or several) why it’s less popular, and fans are doing themselves and the park a disservice by pretending that Animal Kingdom is just one more big “Nahtazu” marketing campaign away from ~14 million guests again. The park has real problems; there are valid reasons why guests would skip it.
I’ve had conflicted feelings about Animal Kingdom since the park opened. My family went opening year, and it was our least favorite park at Walt Disney World. When Sarah and I returned during college, Animal Kingdom had improved, but it was still the park we visited least often in the aughts.
At some point, Animal Kingdom started to “click” for us. As we visited Walt Disney World more often, we had time to slow down and take the parks at a more leisurely pace. We became more interested in Imagineering, design and details, which is where Animal Kingdom truly shines. That led to the post, “I Was Wrong About Disney’s Animal Kingdom” back in 2013, which has since been updated several times as the park continues to evolve.
A strong argument can be made that Disney’s Animal Kingdom is the best theme park in Florida. When you emphasize the theme in theme park, we’d rank it #1 at Walt Disney World. Animal Kingdom is an exemplar of themed design, and arguably Disney’s most “pure” park when it comes to coherent storytelling. This is true even after the Avatar addition, which was weaved into the park’s overarching ideas masterfully.
The problem is a lack of rides. Walt Disney World embarked on an infamous Nahtazu marketing initiative following the debut of Animal Kingdom. For those unfamiliar with that, it was pronounced “not a zoo” and I’m sure you can surmise from that what it entailed.
Guests were skipping Animal Kingdom because they viewed it as not too dissimilar from their local zoos. Why pay Disney’s prices and spend limited vacation time to experience something they could at home? The thing is, the ad campaign was tacit admission of the issue. Guests were right, there were too few rides and not enough daylight between Animal Kingdom and a really nice zoo.
This isn’t to say guests were completely right. Animal Kingdom is miles above the average zoo, or even a standout one like the San Diego Safari Park. Nevertheless, the ride count was (and is) way too low and the park leaned (and leans) too heavily on animal exhibits and walk-through trails. Those were (and are) great enhancements, but they were (and are) called on to carry too much of the load.
Animal Kingdom’s lack of rides problem has never been fully addressed. Attractions have been added over the years, with Expedition Everest and Pandora – World of Avatar being huge assets, among the best rides in all of Walt Disney World.
Even after those additions, Animal Kingdom has by far the lightest ride roster of any park at Walt Disney World. And that has only gotten worse in 2026, with the closure of two traditional theme park style attractions. The park is now down to 5 rides. Expand that to include major shows and experiences, the attraction count is 8 or 9. Even once Tropical Americas opens, DAK will only have 8 rides–still the lowest of any park at Walt Disney World.
This massively understates the totality of the guest experience at Animal Kingdom, as it doesn’t count several major animal exhibits (like Maharajah Jungle Trek or Gorilla Falls) that will be among the highlights of a visit. It also doesn’t take into consideration characters, atmospheric entertainment, or numerous other things that Animal Kingdom does so well.
For us, the biggest blow has been the closure of DINOSAUR, which is now extinct as of Spring 2026. That was one of the park’s headliners, one of the top 5 rides in the park as measured by wait times. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good campy fun.
Same goes with the rest of Dinoland USA, all of which is now closed. Substantively, the only other attraction this area offered prior to closure was a spinner, and the land itself was hideous. Whereas most of Animal Kingdom is meant to be slowly savored, Dinoland was pretty much a ‘get in and get out as quickly as possible‘ kind of deal.
DINOSAUR was the main draw, and losing it is far and away the biggest blow to Animal Kingdom. Ride-wise, the park is now down to just the two Avatar attractions, plus the superlative Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest. That’s 4 good-to-great rides, plus the so-so Kali River Rapids, which is a borderline ride for many guests due to the soak factor.
It also doesn’t help that the new Zootopia: Better Zoogether, which replaced It’s Tough To Be a Bug, is not very good. Families with small children might find this to be passable, and it’s certainly worth seeing once. Regardless, this is “only” a 3D show, so it doesn’t really move the needle much (good, bad or otherwise) on whether or not you should skip DAK.
On the other hand, there are several other shows that are excellent. Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo: The Musical are among the best overall attractions in all of Walt Disney World. There’s also the underrated Feathered Friends in Flight, as well as many animal encounters, trails, and more that can easily round out your day in addition to those 4-5 rides. But that requires being satisfied with only 4-5 rides! Many guests do Disney for the rides, and that’s simply too low of a number as contrasted with the other parks.
We can spend a full day at Animal Kingdom and have an immensely satisfying and well-rounded experience on par with any of the parks at Walt Disney World. You can too, so long as you go in with the right expectations, know where to look for the park’s hidden gems, and pace yourself so as to avoid “animal fatigue.”
When it comes to construction impact in terms of visual blight or navigational issues, there really isn’t much of one. Dinoland is entirely walled off, and is easy to bypass. The tacky roadside carnival was ugly even when it was open. The construction walls are less of an eyesore than Dino-Rama, if you ask me.
Even so, we recommend Animal Kingdom to anyone with 4 or more days at Walt Disney World that enjoys wildlife and wants an immersive theme park experience that involves exploration and savoring the little things, and not just bouncing from ride to ride.
The fact that most guests treat Animal Kingdom like a half-day park and attendance will further decrease through late 2027 could be viewed as an asset to savvy guests, especially those with Park Hopper tickets. Go first thing in the morning or in late afternoon, and you’ll be able to enjoy low to moderate crowd levels ~300 days of the year. No need for Lightning Lanes!
You can routinely finish every ride in Animal Kingdom before 11 am! If you have Park Hopper tickets, it’s easy to do less than a half day at DAK and 1.5 days at Magic Kingdom, which is arguably a full day-plus park.
You can also easily spend a full day at DAK. Animal Kingdom is a lot like World Showcase–light on rides but heavy on environment and atmosphere–and guests rarely complain about World Showcase. Most everyone views that area of EPCOT as an asset, and enjoys making their way around the world. Animal Kingdom is very similar to that, but grittier and less romanticized…plus animals!
Recent highlights on the animal front include Bakso, the park’s adorable Sumatran tiger cub in Maharajah Jungle Trek. He’s already over one year old, but is still adorable. There’s also a new giraffe named Tucker in Kilimanjaro Safaris, who was born roughly a year ago.
Rounding out the trio of new animals is a trio: Butternut, Biscuit, and Potato are the newest Asian small-clawed otter babies to debut in the Otter Grotto habitat on the Discovery Island Trails. (Do not miss Otter Grotto–it’s another of the fantastic animal trails that’s often overlooked!)
While we very much would love for everyone to appreciate Animal Kingdom as much as we do, we’re also realists. There’s a reason why the the park has lower attendance, an afternoon exodus, and gives guests “animal fatigue.”
Then there’s the elephant in the room: Epic Universe.
Ride-oriented guests with limited vacation time wanting to “make room” for Universal Orlando’s new theme park might want to cut Animal Kingdom from the plans. Epic Universe has 11 rides and two major shows, plus atmospheric entertainment, play areas, and more.
For those keeping score at home, this is more rides than Animal Kingdom. Once you expand that to all attractions and compelling offerings (minus animal exhibits), the rosters are arguably comparable. I’m nevertheless convinced that the average guest will prefer the attraction slate at Epic Universe to that of Animal Kingdom.
The type of person who felt the need to read this post (and not hate read, but for planning purposes) might be better suited by Epic Universe. Both parks have high points and are incredibly compelling in their own ways, but there are more major rides that are must-dos at Epic Universe.
However, Epic Universe also is not perfect! The park is having a ton of growing pains, which are likely to continue throughout 2026. Wait times at Epic Universe are worse than any other park at Universal Orlando or Walt Disney World; the averages at Epic Universe are frequently as bad or worse than the peak week of Christmas to New Year’s Eve at the other parks.
Even more problematically, the high wait times at Epic Universe are due to ride reliability and operational efficiency (or lack thereof), and not overwhelming demand. Visit on a rainy day and you’ll find over half the park out of commission since most rides are (inexplicably) outdoors.
As much as I enjoy Epic Universe personally, there’s next-to-nothing for our toddler to do there. So I would go alone (and have, several times) to Epic Universe on a less busy day, it’s a non-starter for our whole family. Epic Universe might be a compelling alternative to Animal Kingdom for some guests, but definitely not for plenty of others. (See Why You Should Skip Epic Universe.)
Ultimately, Epic Universe is probably the outcome-determinative factor on the titular question for some guests, not anything about Animal Kingdom itself. From our perspective, the construction walls aren’t particularly impactful, and the attraction closure that’s been a big blow is DINOSAUR. Even so, it’s still possible to have a great day at DAK, especially if you have Park Hopper tickets.
It’s nevertheless an externality that gave rise to this post and also makes the answer “yes” for some guests. That externality is Epic Universe, a new theme park that competes for the limited vacation dollars and time of tourists.
This type of comparison has long been possible with Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, but it’s more pronounced now with Epic Universe. If your family skews older and if you can visit during a less busy time and if you avoid rainy days, Epic Universe can be fantastic. Obviously, that’s a lot of caveats.
Again, it didn’t have to be this way. Walt Disney World could have launched a new nighttime spectacular featuring drones, added entertainment, fun ride overlays or seasonal events–anything to help buoy Animal Kingdom and make it more competitive for the next couple of years.
That wouldn’t have made the answer to this post an across-the-board “no,” but it would’ve made “no” a more common answer. Staying on-site and visiting all 4 of the Walt Disney World theme parks is the cheaper and easier option–the path of least resistance.
Puncturing the Disney Bubble is more of a hassle that increases costs and logistics–but it’s an option that’s worthy of consideration for many guests in 2026 and 2027 for the sake of seeing Epic Universe. Just keep in mind that Epic Universe can also be a massive hassle, so weigh your options carefully and be as flexible as possible!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Will you be visiting Animal Kingdom in the next couple of years? If you’re skipping DAK, are you doing so to avoid construction and closed attractions, and waiting until new rides and Tropical Americas opens? Or are you taking your limited vacation time and reallocating the day from DAK to Epic Universe? Agree or disagree with our take? Questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!