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Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults

Walt Disney World isn’t just for the young, but also for the young at heart! Yes, a Walt Disney World Vacation has more to offer adults than Dumbo the Flying Elephant and spinning teacups. In addition to award-winning dining and luxury resort hotels, Disney World offers signature quality and service where everything is an experience.

I searched through our Lines 2.0 app and compiled a list of the highest-rated attractions at Disney’s Animal Kingdom according to adults. Will you agree with our users’ ratings? Let’s take a look!

5. Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults

The Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail is a self-guided walking trail located next to Kilimanjaro Safaris. Here guests encounter a variety of African wildlife including two troops of lowland gorillas.

According to the Lines 2.0 app ratings, adults of all ages enjoy this trail with seniors rating it slightly higher than young adults and those over 30.

Young Adults Rating: 4.2

Adults Over 30 Rating: 4.2

Seniors Rating: 4.3

Why Do Adults Love the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail?

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults
(c) Disney

Unlike rides and shows, this trail allows guests to experience it at their own pace and their own way. The lush and shady trail is also a welcome escape from the relentless Florida sunshine, and the variety of animals from gorillas to hippos to meerkats to exotic birds makes this trail well worth the trek.

4. Winged Encounters – The Kingdom Takes Flight

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults
Winged Encounters at Animal Kingdom

This mini-show features colorful macaws flying over Discovery Island and then landing in front of the Tree of Life! It’s a gorgeous, picture-perfect display seemingly straight out of a movie.

Young adults scored Winged Encounters a little lower than the other two adult groups, but what’s surprising is that Lines 2.0 users rated this brief show higher than some of the park’s attractions!

Young Adults Rating: 4.1

Adults Over 30 Rating: 4.5

Seniors Rating: 4.5

Why Do Adults Love Winged Encounters?

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults
Winged Encounters at Animal Kingdom

Winged Encounters is a photographer and Instagrammer’s dream. There’s nothing quite like seeing those bright, colorful birds swooping in front of the Tree of Life. Plus, once the birds have landed on their perch, guests are free to ask questions from Animal Kingdom’s bird care experts to learn more about them.

3. Expedition Everest

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults Expedition Everest
©Disney

Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is Animal Kingdom’s take on a runaway train coaster in a mountain. Think of it as a combo of Disneyland’s Matterhorn and the Magic Kingdom’s Big Thunder Mountain. This highly detailed coaster takes guests in and out of the snowy Forbidden Mountain to escape the legendary Yeti!

This masterpiece of a coaster is clearly a crowd-pleaser among young adults and adults over 30 years and rightly so. But it looks like Expedition Everest’s drops and backward movement contributed to its lower score from seniors.

Young Adults Rating: 4.9

Adults Over 30 Rating: 4.8

Seniors Rating: 4.3

Why Do Adults Love Expedition Everest?

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults Expedition Everest is a masterclass in Disney storytelling and immersion. Plus, it sends guests in and out, up and down, and even backward in a man-made mountain that’s the tallest attraction at Walt Disney World. It checks all the boxes of a thrill ride but keeps guests coming back for its atmosphere and experience.

2. Kilimanjaro Safaris

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults
Kilimanjaro Safaris Entrance

Kilimanjaro Safaris is an open-air safari through 110 acres home to 34 species of wildlife and designed to look like an actual African reserve. While aboard, guests are treated to views of African wildlife roaming free through forests, grasslands, and savannas.

Adults of all ages rewarded Kilimanjaro Safaris a high rating meaning this particular attraction truly appeals to everyone.

Young Adults Rating: 4.7

Adults Over 30 Rating: 4.7

Seniors Rating: 4.8

Why Do Adults Love Kilimanjaro Safaris?

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults This attraction is about the closest you can get to an actual African safari and is an experience guests remember long after they’ve left the park. Guests also enjoy a variety of terrains and wildlife ranging from giraffes to elephants to cheetahs to lions. But since these are live animals, you never know which animals you might see and what they might be up to.

1. Flight of Passage

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults
©Disney

Flight of Passage is Pandora – The World of Avatar’s signature attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This flight simulator attraction creates the exhilaration of flight from the back of banshee over and through the breathtaking landscapes of Pandora. Flight of Passage is often compared to Epcot’s Soarin’ Around the World as it effectively simulates the sensation of flight and uses a giant screen coupled with scents and water effects. What makes Flight of Passage unique from Soarin’ Around the World is its use of 3-D coupled with unique ride vehicles.

Both young adults and adults over 30 gave Flight of Passage the highest ratings of all the Animal Kingdom attractions. Seniors awarded it high ratings, but not quite as high as they did for Kilimanjaro Safaris.

Young Adults Rating: 4.9

Over 30 Adults Rating: 4.9

Seniors Rating: 4.7

Why Do Adults Love Flight of Passage?

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults Flight of Passage is a thrill ride where guests remain stationary throughout the experience. They may feel like they’re flying, dipping, and moving at high speeds; in reality, they’ve never moved from their bike. Not only does this fact comfort adults who are wary of typical thrill rides, but the tone of the attraction is something adults love too.

On a typical Disney attraction, the action starts when something goes wrong. But on Flight of Passage, it’s not about what goes wrong but what goes right. It also offers an uplifting, inspiring tone that some have compared to a religious experience.

Do you agree with our Lines 2.0 app ratings? Which of these attractions would you rate as the highest? Let us know in the comments!

Top 5 Highest Rated Animal Kingdom Attractions for Adults

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Filed Under: Adults, Attractions, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, animal kingdom attractions, Animal Kingdom For Adults, animal kingdom rides, disney world, Disney World For Adults, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Expedition Everest, Flight of Passage, Gorilla Falls, Gorilla Falls Trail, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Lines 2.0 app, pandora, walt disney world

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7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

At this time, Disney World hasn’t revealed what their virtual queue system will look like when the theme parks reopen in July. But it seems like it is all but certain Disney will implement SOME sort of virtual queue experience, but it’s scope and intricacies are unknown at this time!

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

World of Disney Virtual Queue sign

We’ve seen Virtual Queues already in place at some experiences like World of Disney for when crowds get large. At Universal Orlando, not every attraction had virtual queues, so we may not see EVERY ride and attraction at Disney World add one. That said, we have a few ideas for which rides we think TOTALLY need a Virtual Queue in Disney World.

One of the pros of Virtual Queues is that much of your “waiting” in line happens before you even step into the physical queue space! Much like FastPass+, you wait for your designated return time, and then you enter the attraction with an expedited wait time from there. That means that you would walk through the queue area at a much quicker pace!

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Universal queue

We’ve already seen Disney implement Virtual Queues with Rise of the Resistance, to mixed reviews. But most would say that the in-queue experience tends to be smoother and faster (well…most of the time)!

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Rise of the Resistance

There are SEVERAL rides at Disney World with less-than-stellar queue areas. They are either entirely outdoors (making for a super hot, super NOT fun experience), or they are just plain boring and long with nothing to do or look at! These are our first prime candidates!

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

The queue for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is entirely open-air, with relatively no air conditioning to relieve you from the Florida heat.

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Big Thunder Mountain in Disney World

While there are a couple of fun, interactive elements throughout the queue, like “blowing up” dynamite out on the mountain or checking out all the odd cages full of canaries, it’s not nearly as interactive as the queues for Peter Pan’s Flight or even Haunted Mansion. The “wildest ride in the wilderness” would definitely benefit from a Virtual Queue where we don’t have to stand in that line for an hour!

Space Mountain

While we appreciate great air conditioning as much as the next person, we’re including Space Mountain on this list because it is an incredibly LONG queue.

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Space Mountain

Space Mountain sometimes offers interactive games along the standby queue that give kids and adults something stimulating to do while standing in line. If this isn’t available, there are space-themed games you can play in the Play Disney Parks app. 

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Space Mountain

While interactive games on the Play Disney Parks app is a decent alternative to just standing in line, we would much prefer a Virtual Queue where we can just walk right on to the ride, more or less, when our return time comes up. And while the Star Tunnel’s music is among our favorites, it already takes several minutes just to walk through the entire hallway. That’s plenty of time for us!

Flight of Passage

Some folks love certain aspects of the standby queue for Flight of Passage. Much of the queue is indoors, and there are some pretty interesting things to look at! But to get there, you still have to stand in a long, and we mean LONG, outdoor queue.

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Flight of Passage

Years after the attraction has opened, Flight of Passage still frequently has a wait time of two or more hours, so a virtual queue could be a very welcome change for this ride!

Slinky Dog Dash

Slinky Dog Dash is another attraction in high demand, meaning that it is HARD to snag a FastPass for the attraction. And if you can’t snag a reservation, you have to resort to standing in the standby queue, and let’s just say…it’s miserable!

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Slinky Dog Dash Wait Time

You would think that with all the innovations and improvements made to the rides and attractions over the years, the queue experience would grow and evolve with them! But Slinky Dog Dash is your typical 100% open-air, outdoor switch-back queue. And with wait times regularly well above one hour, that’s a LOT of time to stand around in the Florida heat!

Soarin’

Soarin’ also offers interactive games that are projected on the walls of the queue area from time to time through the Play Disney Parks app.

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

The queue area for Soarin’

But if you don’t have the Play Disney Parks app, Soarin’ can be one pretty uneventful queue experience. While the app is a good boredom-buster while you’re waiting in line, like Space Mountain, we would rather walk onto the ride when it’s time to hop in line!

Kilimanjaro Safaris

If you’re looking for a quintessential Animal Kingdom experience, there’s nothing better than Kilimanjaro Safaris. This is a truly one-of-a-kind attraction, not just at Disney World, but around the world!

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Kilimanjaro Safaris Wait Time

The ride has seen some updates throughout the years. Its original version dealt with the dangers of poaching, and during the middle of your tour of the Harambe Wildlife Reserve, you would find yourself in the crosshairs of poachers! The ride has since been updated to just be a tour of the Reserve.

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Kilimanjaro Safaris Lions

The queue area for Kilimanjaro Safaris is long and entirely outdoors. The pre-show video is a fun preview of the animals that you’ll see on safari, but we would much rather skip to the good part: the live animals themselves!

Rock N Roller Coaster

Our final attraction that we would love to see get a Virtual Queue is Rock N Roller Coaster! Until you reach the pre-show room where you have your encounter with Aerosmith, there is quite literally nothing to do in the queue.

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Entrance

Most of it is outdoors in a traditional switch-back configuration. And while much of it is shaded, the extended queue can easily stretch around the front of the building, creating a very unpleasant, sunny experience.

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster line

Virtual queues for Rock N Roller Coaster could also make for an easier way of planning your trip to the far end of Hollywood Studios, where many guests will often try to get back-to-back FastPasses for Rock N Roller Coaster and its neighboring attraction, Tower of Terror.

7 Disney World Rides That NEED A Virtual Queue This Summer!

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

With FastPass+ temporarily suspended, guests will need to come up with another way of easily experiencing these two rides, and Virtual Queues may be just the solution!

There’s no question that the queueing experience at Disney World is already going to change drastically with the temporary suspension of FastPass+. And with a more-than-likely Virtual Queue system on its way, everything we know about planning your day around what rides you want to experience could look TOTALLY different! These changes are necessary as part of the new health and safety protocols, but we think some of these attractions will really benefit from having a new way of “waiting” in line!

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What queue at Disney World do YOU think needs an upgrade, or could really benefit from having a Virtual Queue? Let us know in the comments!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: Animal Kingdom, disney parks, disney’s hollywood studios, Featured, magic kingdom, Walt Disney World, big thunder mountain railroad, Disney World, disney world virtual queues, flight of passage, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Slinky Dog Dash, soarin’, space mountain, splash mountain, virtual queue, virtual queue system