Disney’s Animal Kingdom has expanded its winter holiday line up for 2019 and with it a whole new world of holiday decorations. Among the new additions are more Christmas and holiday decorations in human inhabited areas of Pandora, expanded DinoLand USA Christmas spirit, and a merry menagerie of puppet animals on Discovery Island that provide a beautifully cute up close encounter to warm even the coldest of hearts.
We gathered a few highlights on our first visit to Animal Kingdom this season:
In the menagerie are reindeer, foxes, polar bears, penguins and more in the form of life-size, artisan-sculpted puppets, each designed and hand-crafted using natural materials and fabrics. They’re frequently accompanied by a live musician. We saw a violinist and steel drum percussionist.
Make sure you walk down the path from Discovery Island to Pandora to see this beautiful mural inspired by the Tree of Life and the Merry Menagerie.
The talented team at Disney Parks Live Entertainment have also shared this video with a look at how they created this collection of cute puppets:
The stores of Discovery Island have received an upgrade to their holiday decorations. There’s an emphasis on white themed holiday decorations with animal-inspired luminaries.
In Pandora – The World of Avatar, the areas occupied by humans helping to restore the area back to its natural setting, have decorated their part of the planet in remembrance of holidays on Earth. We like Santa Mecha and the Na’vi Nutcracker, toy versions of both we hope Disney stocks in the Windtraders store next year.
DinoLand USA is still hosting Donald’s Dino-Bash, which means that part of the park has two overlays at once. The holiday services team has done a great job merging diverse storytelling into one cohesive whole.
Even the Africa section of the park has some seasonal decorations up. The resourceful people of Harambe Village have turned whatever they have on hand, bottle caps or bicycle parts for instance, into a holiday decoration. Here’s a small taste:
Disney’s Animal Kingdom has stepped up their game when it comes to celebrating the winter holidays. If you were thinking of skipping a visit this holiday season, you may want to reconsider.