The Wilderness is Meant to Be Explored!

Wilderness Explorers FREE at Animal Kingdom!

Yes, I said FREE!!! Outside of all the typical attractions that you find at Animal Kingdom, one of the hidden gems is the Wilderness Explorers. Based on the movie Up, the Wilderness Explorers earn badges as they learn about and participate in nature activities, and what better place to do it than Disney’s Animal Kingdom…and best of all, its a FREE activity offered for the kids!

At the bottom of the bridge when you enter the park, is a little station for beginning the Wilderness Explorer journey. You have to recite the pledge and earn your first badge in your collector book. There are a TON of things to learn about inside your book from how to feed the animals, how plants grow, and even a little bit about poop…yes poop!

Reciting out pledge and getting our first badge!

Now off to our adventures!

Explorer Guides

Throughout the park you will see stations with the Wilderness Explorer symbol (the orange circle with a tree and W in the center). Here there is usually a guide that will teach you something about animals, nature, or conservation. After you complete the task-some as easy as circling the animals you saw on the trail, others having to make something at the station- you earn a badge for the corresponding page in your book.

In my opinion this is just another way that Disney does a great job of interacting with the guests and making children feel special.

Now, I’ll be honest, I think this would be a lot to do in one day, unless you get it right when you walk in and work on it from start to finish. Being annual passholders, we return to the park often enough where we are able to knock out a couple each trip. The girls really love learning about the animals on the adventure trails and they like to check off everything they have seen that day on the pages of their books. While a Disney vacation can be pricey, its nice to be able to take advantage of some of the FREE things they have to offer while you are there.

***Next up- a look at KidCot, a similar activity at Epcot