Your Complete 2020 Guide to the Holidays at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

I think we can all agree that the year 2020 has been a weird and difficult year. If you’re planning to visit Disney this holiday season, you’re probably wondering how to make the most of your trip; especially since you already know that there have been so many changes at Walt Disney World this year.

As Orlando locals and Disney Annual Passholders, we’re very fortunate to be able to visit the parks just about every week. We recently hopped over to the Animal Kingdom to check out how they are handling the holidays this year.

In this post, I’ll be sharing the different types of holiday decorations you can find, seasonal treats, and character experiences that you can expect to find on your visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 2020.

Ready to experience the wild side of Christmas? Let’s do this, friends!

Animal Kingdom’s Christmas Tree

Even before you enter Animal Kingdom’s gates, you’ll be welcomed by the giant Christmas tree that’s on display. Right away, you’ll notice the unique ornaments and the eclectic design style of the tree.

The ornaments and decorations beautifully represent the essence of the Animal Kingdom. Painted animal masks, wooden instruments, colorful mosaics, and other artisanal adornments reflect the different nationalities and cultures found throughout the park.

Surrounding the tree are brightly colored presents. You’ll also spot a train set, classic Disney figurines such as the characters from Winnie the Pooh, and The Lion King.

Discovery Island

As you enter and make your way to Discovery Island, you’ll notice beautiful swags of greenery and lush wreaths. Natural and earthy embellishments give a subtle but joyous vibe.

As Animal Kingdom’s hub, Discovery Island is where you’ll find the majority of the holiday decorations. The shop awnings, balconies, and lamp posts are decked out with holiday garland and greenery. White twinkle lights are entwined throughout adding a warm and festive glow in the center of Discovery Island.

In addition to the twinkle lights, whimsical animal lanterns flicker along the tops of merchandise locations. These are breathtaking and add to the curated feel of the Animal Kingdom.

Similar to Discovery Island, the other lands of Animal Kingdom have holiday decorations on display as well.

Indigenous to the lands they represent, the holiday decorations are almost so perfectly themed, you might just miss them if you’re not paying attention.

Africa

In Africa, you can find holiday decorations around the Harambe market and Tamu Tamu Refreshments. These are subdued and blend perfectly with the theming of the West African village of Harambe. Christmas trees and decorations appear as if they are handmade from recycled materials. Brightly colored Christmas lights are also strung throughout.

Asia

While walking the streets of Asia, you’ll feel as if you’ve traveled to India to celebrate the holiday of Diwali – The Festival of Lights. Colorful lanterns hang from above and ignite the sky as the day fades into dusk.

DinoLand, U.S.A.

The gigantic dinosaur at the entry to Donald’s Dino-Bash got a festive overlay. His Christmas makeover includes a covering of holiday lights that twinkle and change colors throughout the night. Looks like he also got an addition of his very own Santa beard and hat!

Pandora – The World of Avatar

There are already so many gorgeous sights to behold while visiting the planet of Pandora. For the holidays, the bioluminescence is embellished with strings of bold colored Christmas lights, almost as if the human visitors added their own decor to ring in the holidays. At the giant robot and Pongu Pongu Snacks, you can find the robot wrapped in large holiday lights and topped off with a Santa hat. Look close – you might also find Menorahs and nutcrackers stashed around Pongu Pongu.

Holiday Treats and Snacks

Like most of you, we always look forward to the new signature treats that come out each holiday season.

Pictured above, Disney shared their holiday goodies that you can enjoy during your day in the Animal Kingdom. Don’t these look amazing?!

Here’s where you can find ’em…

Satu’li Canteen: White–Chocolate Peppermint Cream Cheese Mousse is a white chocolate peppermint cream cheese mousse with peppermint sauce and chocolate cookie crumbles. (Dec. 20 – Jan. 2)

Creature Comforts & Flame Tree Barbeque: Menagerie Cupcake – a gingerbread cupcake with cream cheese frosting topped with a white chocolate bear. (Dec. 1–30)

Creature Comforts: Santa Mickey Mousse – White chocolate peppermint mousse dome on a brownie base, snowflake sprinkles, and chocolate Mickey ears. (Dec. 1– Jan. 2)

Our visit to the Animal Kingdom was in mid-November, so these weren’t available just yet…but we did end up finding some late fall goodies to try!

Tree of Life Cupcake

Just look at this cupcake!!! This is the Tree of Life Cupcake from Creature Comforts. It’s a pumpkin spice cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting. If that wasn’t enough, the inside is filled with cream cheese frosting too! The mini Tree of Life is made of white chocolate while the pumpkins are fondant.

Everything about this cupcake was so delicious and made for the perfect fall treat! With all that frosting and toppings, we were able to split this in two, and we still had plenty more to share. It’s very rich!

Pumpkin Mickey Dome

We also just had to grab this adorable Pumpkin Cheesecake Mikey Dome. This is a dome of pumpkin cheesecake atop a rich chocolate brownie bottom. The sides are finished with chocolate frosting and sprinkled with fall-shaped sprinkles. The cheesecake is nice and fluffy, almost like a mousse. The bottom is rich and dense. We liked the flavor combo…plus those chocolate Mikey ears were an adorable finishing touch. This was a really fun treat to try!

When you’re in DinoLand, head over to Dino-Bite Snacks and pick up the Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s a vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two pumpkin cookies decorated with fall sprinkles. This is available from Nov. 1-30th. Sometime in December, Disney usually switches this over to the Peppermint Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich which is the same premise, but with chocolate cookies and rolled in crushed peppermint candy. YUMMY!!

Christmas Character Flotillas

To keep compliance with health and safety measures, character meet and greets are not happing in the ways we quite remember. Instead, Disney has rolled out Character Cavalcades throughout the parks.

In the Animal Kingdom, character cavalcades are known as Flotillas. These are where you can find your favorite characters floating by on beautifully decorated boats down the Discovery River.

Here’s the holiday themed flotillas that you can try and spot during your visit…

• Donald’s Dino-Bash Festive Flotilla featuring Donald, Daisy, and Scrooge McDuck
• Chip & Dale Festive Flotilla – the adorable Chip and Dale are dressed in their Dino costumes along with added holiday sparkle. Goofy is also along for the fun!
• The Discovery Island Drummers – entertaining guests with festive holiday beats
• Mickey and Friends Festive Flotilla – with Minnie and Pluto all dressed up for the holidays
• Santa Claus Festive Flotilla – featuring Santa in a gorgeous holiday boat

Tree of Life Awakening – Holiday Edition

As the sun begins to set in the Animal Kingdom, you’ll want to make your way to the Tree of Life. Here you’ll be able to watch the Tree of Life Awakening-Holiday Edition. These are beautiful projections mapped out onto the tree. The projections tell the story of an adorable fox setting out on a snowy adventure to give gifts to the animal citizens of the forest. A bright music score also accompanies the show.

The first awakening begins at dusk and continues every fifteen minutes or so until close. Once the park is closed, the tree remains lit but the projections are no longer playing.

Don’t forget to take your picture in front of the Tree of Life Mural. This can be found on your left, across from Tiffins Restaurant as you’re making your way to Pandora. The artwork is stunning and does a fantastic job at capturing the spirit of the Tree of Life Awakening Show.

Holiday Banners

A final element that we noticed on our trip were there festive banners with snowflakes. We saw these at the entrance and around the ticket counters welcoming guests as they arrived. If you look closely, the snowflakes are made from the shape of animal silhouettes!

The Magic is Still There

Even though Disney World will be different this holiday season, we were SO pleased to find that it still felt pretty magical! With the holiday decorations, festive treats, and the Tree of Life Awakenings, PLUS the Christmas character Flotillas…We ended up having a really AMAZING day! I loved hearing all of the holiday music, seeing the holiday lights twinkle throughout the park, and being able to wave to Santa was a really special moment for my son.

Would I recommend visiting Animal Kingdom this holiday season? ABSOLUTELY! With the reduction of park capacity, you’ll be able to see and do some much more…which in the end might make it feel even more magical!

Do you have any questions? Please feel free to drop them below. If you’d like to get a better idea of our park experiences, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram. I post park days every week in my stories. Don’t forget to check my highlights for past visits. You can do that {here}.

If you’ve been to Walt Disney World during the holiday season, please share your experiences below. These are so interesting to me and they help other readers out as well!

Merry Christmas!!