Guide to Celebrating Earth Month at DAK

As you get ready to trek into the parks next month be ready to head into some limited-time experiences celebrating Earth Month just announced by Disney Parks Blog. You read that right: Earth Month! This year DAK will hold celebrations for Earth Day (April 22nd which fun fact: is also DAK’s anniversary April 22, 1998!) ALL MONTH LONG! If you can’t make it for Earth Day, fret not, you have plenty of time to explore and celebrate all the fun things.

Get ready to experience all things celebrating our beautiful plant starting April 18th-24th. Celebrations include fun learning opportunities, unique Disney character appearances, specialty merchandise, a new Wilderness Explorer activity (my favorite thing to do! Great for all ages!), and saving the best for last: themed food and beverage.

Fun Learning Experiences

Sharpen your pencils and get ready to bring your favorite characters to life! You can learn to draw some of your favorite characters like Dumbo, Terk from Tarzan, Squirt from Finding Nemo, Shere Khan from The Jungle Book, Simba and Scar from The Lion King, and Heimlich from A Bug’s Life. As you draw and bring these characters to life you’ll get to learn about their real-life counterparts! Your Disney animator not only guides you step-by-step on this drawing experience but you get to hear about their experience in conservation work! The Animation Experience at Conservation Station is located in Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Be sure to check out the schedule here! Check out my experience below! I LOVED drawing Simba! I even made a time-lapsed video of the experience! When I say they walk you through each step this video is proof because I can’t draw if my life depended on it!

Character Experiences

While you’re strolling the Animal Kingdom be sure to keep your eyes peeled to catch some of your favorite Disney friends on the Discovery River Character Cruise. Catch them jamming out to some awesome tunes and don’t forget to wave hi! Don’t forget to have your camera ready to snap a socially-distant selfie with some of your faves!

Wilderness Explorer

One of my absolute favorite pastimes (although the age range is set for preschoolers and kids adults can join in as well! I do it whenever I can and love learning so much!) is earning my adventure badges around the park. This is a self-guided activity that includes animal observations and learning some vital wilderness skills. There are over 25 badges to earn and during Earth Month you can earn a limited-time Earth Day Nature badge.

New Merch with a Cause

One of the things I admire most about Disney’s Animal Kingdom is how so many of their products support the Disney Conservation Fund. One of those items is a cuddly plush inspired by some of Disney’s Animal Kingdom very own species! This year Disney is also releasing a limited-edition Te Fiti Moana trading pin. Disney Parks Blog also announced there will be some fun new eco-friendly water bottles, tumblers, and reusable bags (all promoting sustainability! We love to see it!) over at Island Mercantile.

Disney Photopass

Don’t forget to stop and make some memories with Disney’s Photopass service! During the celebrations there will be some special in-park Earth Day backgrounds and Magic Shots! Disney Park’s Blog said this will include an all new photo opportunity so be on the lookout for what that may be and I will update you on here when I find out! Don’t forget to head to your My Disney Experience app and in your PhotoPass gallery you can download some Earth Day screensavers AND Zoom backgrounds!

“Secrets of the Whales” Sculpture

Want to know what you can do with 40 tons of sand? Make one phenomenal sand sculpture! Earlier in March we were able to experience the amazing Raya and the last Dragon sand sculpture (you can see the process in the video above) and now we’ll get to see these amazing artisans do it again! It will be a sculpture celebrating National Geographic’s “Secrets of the Whales”, an original series on Disney+ streaming THIS EARTH DAY 2021! You can find this masterpiece located on the Discovery Island Stage until April 20th, 2021.

Ranger the Rhino & Kilimanjaro Safaris

Animal Kingdom recently welcomed one of it’s newest little cuties: Ranger the rhino. The best way to see this new calf and his crash is by grabbing your safari hat and jumping on the Kilimanjaro Safaris, a personal first and last stop of the day for me! Check out THE cutest video of Ranger right here!

Photo Credit Disney Parks Blog

Earth Day Eats

I told you I saved the best for last because you know from reading my articles food is my favorite part of experiencing Disney! Be sure to sample these limited-time specialty cupcakes: the Creature Comfort’s Honey Bee Cupcake, the strawberry-flavored Flamingo Cupcake at Flame Tree Barbecue, or the absolutely adorable Sea Turtle Graham Cracker Cupcake (plus they’ll be introducing something called the Crave the Wave cocktail!) at Restaurantosaurus Lounge

Photo Credit Disney Parks Blog

Trust me you want to try the cupcakes! I had this back at the 2019 DAK Earth Day celebration and it was DELICIOUS!

Learn More About Disney and how they care for animals and to protect species in the wild by visiting DisneyAnimals.com, checking out this informational piece called “Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom” on Disney+, Disney Park Wild Sights: a mini-series exclusive to your My Disney Experience, or following along Disney’s Animals, Science, and Environment social pages on Instagram (@DrMarkAtDisney) and Facebook (@DisneyASE).

Action is inspired constantly on Disney Parks Blog through educating readers to protect the environment and care for the world around us so be sure to keep up for even more Earth Month news and excitement on their page!

What are you most looking forward to doing/tasting/seeing?!

XOXO,

Zeinab