Disney’s Animal Kingdom is the newest Walt Disney World theme park at only 23 years old. As such, it has seen the fewest changes and refurbishments. However, it still has plenty of those classic Imagineering nods and attention to detail that often goes unnoticed. It’s entirely possible to go an entire day in the park and miss every one of these Animal Kingdom secrets.

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Safari So Good

It’s a major theme park and a major zoo. You can bet that Disney’s Animal Kingdom was designed by people who knew and understood the challenges John Hammond was up against in Jurassic Park. One of those challenges was getting the animals to show up on schedule. This was a problem Walt Disney struggled with when he wanted to build a Jungle Cruise with live animals. It didn’t work then, but over 40 years later, Disney “found a way.” When you take the Kilimanjaro Safari, you may not even notice how easy it is to see animals that should be hiding. That’s because strategically placed food troughs and air-conditioned rocks are among some hidden tricks Disney uses to keep the safari animals out in view of the guests.

No Zebras Allowed?

Actually, yes. Yes, there are. I read somewhere that Animal Kingdom does not have any Zebras and I had to follow that up. I don’t know where the original story came from, but it turns out that it isn’t true. In fact, there are not only Zebras at Animal Kingdom, but a baby zebra was just born last year to very little fanfare. This was right when the COVID pandemic was beginning to shut down the country, including Walt Disney World, so with no one to notice the Zebra’s birth became an unintentionally kept secret.

The Prehistory of Dinoland

When sharing the best kept Animal Kingdom secrets, you have to look to Dinoland USA. This intricately designed two-part land is despised for garish first impressions. But there is so much more to it than you find at first glance. There is an entire backstory to Dinoland that comes to life all around you when you know what to look for and it really becomes the most fun place to be in the entire park. It all starts with the Dino Institute, Which has its own crazy history involving buyouts and investors.

The institute houses students in a facility that also serves food to Institute visitors. This area has some of the most amazing detail and exceedingly high levels of immersion. Next to the institute a pair of opportunistic gas station owners set up a Dino themed roadside attraction called Dino-Rama. The fuel theme pervades the carnival atmosphere and the gift shop is as dazzling a display of commitment to a gag as I have ever seen! On top of it all it satisfies the need for an American section to the park as well as a section for Dinosaurs.

This area of the park is also where you’ll find a living dinosaur. Okay, it’s a crocodile. But it’s a surprise viewing opportunity that most people fail to notice. find the location near Dino-Bite Snacks.

Exposition Everest

Another intricately themed section of the park is Expedition Everest, the E-Ticket ride in the Asia section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As Animal Kingdom secrets go. This is less about finding a secret reference to the park’s opening day or a nod to an Imagineer. There are plenty of those around. This is more about the clues Disney Imagineers left for guests to pick up on that few ever truly do.

The whole queue area for Expedition Everest sets up the story for this quick ride. If you don’t look around you miss out on key elements that put you at the center of the events about to unfold. The train is not a rollercoaster but a passenger train that once carried tea through the Himalayas to the base of Mount Everest. There is a lot of mystery surrounding the railways past and its fate, so keep alert as you approach the station.

Fake Tree, Real Chimp

There are hundreds of relief carvings in the “bark” of the Tree of Life at the center of Disney’s Animal Kingdom park. But one cherished figure is that of a chimpanzee named David Greybeard. This real-life ape was the first specimen Jane Goodall observed in the wild. It was a visit by Goodall to the park prior to its opening that inspired the carving which pays homage to the chimpanzee responsible for teaching humans so much about the intelligence of other primates.

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Disney’s Hollywood Studios has yet to complete its transition from Disney MGM into a totally different and more immersive park. For the last decade, the 32-year-old park has had a bit of an identity crisis. Many of the old secrets are dead and buried. However, there is still a lot to discover about this unique park even in the internet age. To begin with, Hidden Mickeys are huge at this park. The craze was just picking up when Disney-MGM Studios was being built. So you’re likely to see mouse ears in a lot of places. Here are five more Hollywood Studios secrets you might not know.

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The Chinese Theatre Was Built to Exact Scale

In a rare move, Disney Imagineers built the Chinese Theater at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to exact scale. Typical Disney structures are built to a 5/8 scale. This approach along with forced perspective and other artistic tricks helps give Disney parks their magical feel. However, When they set out to create the Great Movie Ride facade, Imagineers used actual blueprints from the Hollywood original. While other architectural references to real Hollywood structures exist within the park, none of them are built at full scale. That puts the Chinese Theater among the stranger Hollywood Studios secrets most people never notice.

A Weenie is Not an Icon

True to tradition, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has a weenie. The term coined by Walt Disney himself refers to a large eye-catching structure that draws people deeper into the park. While weenies exist at the end of nearly every avenue of a Disney park, the main ones become park icons. You instantly recognize Cinderella Castle, Spaceship Earth, and the Tree of Life as theme park icons.

However, The icon for Hollywood Studios has changed from the Earffel Tower (a water tower with mouse ears), The Hollywood Tower Hotel, and the Sorcerer Hat from Fantasia. Why the Chinese Theater has never been considered as the park’s icon remains a mystery, but it may have to do with its non-Disney origins. Either way, it’s never talked about, ever. By anyone. It’s just one more of those Hollywood Studios secrets centered around the mysterious theater.

Each Train on Rockin’ Rollercoaster Plays a Different Aerosmith Song…

Or two. There are five trains and the attraction features 8 songs. One of the songs: “Love in an Elevator” was rerecorded to play “Love in a Roller Coaster” but that’s not a suggestion. You can get a hint of what song your “limo” will play by the license plate if you catch a glimpse of it. 1QKLIMO plays “Nine Lives”. UGOBABE plays “Love in a Roller Coaster” and “Walk This Way”. BUHBYE Has the most tracks: “Young Lust”, “F.I.N.E.”, and “Love in a Roller Coaster”. H8TRFFC (which refers to the dislike of being stuck in traffic, not trafficking hate) will get you either “Back in the Saddle” or “Dude Looks Like a Lady”. Finally, lucky riders of 2FAST4U will get a live recording of “Sweet Emotion”.

Dok Ondar Has the Ark of the Covenant

How The Ark of the Covenant got into this hammerhead’s hands, in an outer rim spaceport on Galaxy’s Edge is a story worth telling. Whatever took place in this massive Lucasfilm crossover event has yet to be revealed. It’s possible that the Ark was simply left there by Imagineers as an Easter Egg (After all, airing the Ten Commandments is a long-held Easter tradition). But considering that Batuu is meant to be a real planet and not a theme park location, it’s only reasonable to assume that that is the real Ark of the Covenant and Indiana Jones 5 just got really interesting… Whatever the case, this rare antiquity is quite a find in the Black Spire Outpost if you have a sharp enough eye. There are plenty of other Hollywood Studios secrets to discover right within the shops at the Black Spire Outpost.

Echoes From the Past

There is so much to play with here. Firstly, Echo Lake is a real place. It was a handmade body of water where silent films used to be shot. The irony of shooting silent films in Echo Lake is fun enough, but the Echo Lake in Disney’s Hollywood Studios has even more fun with the name because the lake itself makes up the left ear of an enormous hidden Mickey you can only see from a bird’s eye view. Of course, this is no secret. You can see it right on your map. What you may not know is that this area is a special part of the park.

One of the only original sections, it’s also one of the only places that continue to pay homage to old Hollywood with (shall we say?) echoes from the past. The architecture around this area is all inspired by Hollywood structures, including studio sound stages and some references to film pioneers. The most Legendary is Gertie, the dinosaur on the lake. This ice cream shack is a reference to the earliest known theatrical animation. Gertie was part of a vaudeville act where the animated screen character did tricks and reacted to a live performer.

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