Animal Kingdom is in the middle of an incredible 25th anniversary and winding down Earth Day celebrations as well, but that isn’t slowing down the changes happening at this park!

Now that we’ve had a chance to digest the news about a new sipper cup, a highly anticipated character meet and greet, and new menu offerings celebrating the Asian American Pacific Islander heritage month all through the month of May, there’s still lots to explore around Disney’s Animal Kingdom! Come check out what we’ve seen recently that’s NEW in this park.

Animal Kingdom Food Updates

Restaurantosaurus

With the ongoing Asian American Pacific Island Heritage celebration, we saw a few new menu items pop up around Animal Kingdom!

The Spicy Asian Chicken Sandwich can be mobile-ordered at Restaurantosarus for $11.59. It’s a chicken sandwich coated in Korean spices with spicy pickles and pickled red onions as toppings.

Nomad Lounge

Over at the Nomad Lounge just outside of Tiffins restaurant, we spotted a new appetizer!

The Bangkok Crispy Chicken Wings are now available for $16. These are crispy fried chicken wings tossed in fish sauce and topped with chopped peanuts and cilantro.

Tamu Tamu Refreshments

A new dessert has popped up on the menu at Tamu Tamu Refreshments in Africa!

The Pineapple Crisp Sundae is now available for $6.79. It’s made of a warm pineapple crisp cake topped with vanilla ice cream, pineapple caramel, and crispy streusel topping. This new snack has replaced the Gorilla Falls Brownie Sundae that was available for a limited time during Animal Kingdom’s Earth Day celebration for April.

Click here to read our reviews of all 3 of these NEW offerings!

Terra Treats

Terra Treats welcomed a new pizza offering as well!

The Barbecue Chicken Pizza is now on the menu for $7.29. It’s a slice of pizza with barbecue sauce, red onions, chicken, and cheese. This one really surprised us when we tried it and can’t wait to show you our review!

Click here for our Review of the Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Animal Kingdom Construction Updates

Tree of Life Hidden Crane

You may not know what to expect when you make your way around the backside of the Tree of Life but our eagle-eyed reporter spotted this in hiding.

We spotted this crane trying to hide with a camouflage covering. Its purpose wasn’t immediately apparent to us but we can bet it’s stored there for a reason.

Animal Kingdom Merchandise Updates

Discovery Island Snack Carts

“Hakuna Matata” means no worries, while Timon holds your drink!

Disney has now debuted a Timon Sipper Cup available at select locations and snack carts around Discovery Island of Animal Kingdom. This sipper with bottled water will cost you $18, and with a bottled soda the price bumps to $19.25.

The back half of Timon’s head flips up to reveal the straw sipper and the large circle can be unscrewed to refill the cup. We think he’s super cute and a great addition to the recently released Pumbaa popcorn bucket and the older Simba popcorn bucket — if you can remember back that far– and glad to see him join his lifelong pals in snack holder form.

Discovery Trading Company

Disney100 is creeping into all kinds of merchandise and now they’re taking over pins!

This new mystery pouch of the Disney100 Unified Characters cost $39.99 and features multiple characters that can come in the pack!

Animal Kingdom had a wild celebration for its 25th anniversary with lots of unique merchandise but we found one more you should take notice of.

We noticed this cute Animal Kingdom 25th Anniversary Bucket Hat priced at $34.99. 

If you’re looking to warm your voice up in the mornings we’ve found just the mug for you!

This beautiful mug was spotted for $19.99. It’s part of the new live-action Little Mermaid collection that we’ve been seeing popping up in multiple parks and releasing new products slowly.

A new line of Disney100 desk items put a smile on our faces.

This Disney100 Finding Nemo Artificial Succulent is priced at $24.99 and would make a great addition to your shelf or desk.

We also spotted this Disney100 Spider-Man Pencil Holder.

Priced at $19.99, it seems a bit pricey for a slim pencil holder but makes up for it in its Marvel design.

There’s also a Disney100 Chewy Trinket Box.

This box is priced at $29.99 and the top of Chewy’s head serves as the lid.

A new National Geographic 100 Disney Adventures of a Lifetime book is also available.

For $100 you can flip through the history of Disney adventures and reflect on how far Walt Disney animation has come.

And to round out this collection, we saw a Disney100 Dumbo Oil Diffuser.

This cute diffuser can be picked up for $19.99 and might make a great diffuser for a small space.

Island Mercantile

Encanto merch seems to be spreading just as much as the Madrigal magic!

We saw this Luisa Encanto “fuerte” shirt priced at $39.99.

Riverside Depot

We’ve got a few new keychains and pins to talk about!

This super cute Toy Story keychain priced at $14.99 follows the new Summer Splash theming and makes for a fun way to show off your Disney side.

We also spotted this Joey Chou Cinderella castle keychain for $14.99.

It follows a similar design as the rest of the Joey Chou collection and was a neat find while we’re celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month.

Pixar Pals can help you celebrate Mother’s Day this year with this new pin!

This pin features Mrs. Incredible and Jack-Jack and you can grab this one for $17.99.

Disney100 Eras continues its pins with Daisy Duck!

We spotted this one featuring a 1940’s animated version of Daisy for $19.99. This pin is also an Annual Passholder exclusive.

We have a new mystery pin set!

The Ducktales mystery pin set offers 10 new designs in jigsaw puzzle pieces. You can add one to your pin collection for $19.99 each mystery box.

Star Wars May the 4th merch can also be spotted at Animal Kingdom!

We saw this year’s May the 4th pin design available for $17.99 so you don’t even have to hop over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to get in on the celebration!

There’s also a new blind pin box for Star Wars fans.

The Start Wars Endor Blind Pin Box features several designs from the forest planet. You can pick up a box for $24.99 each.

Avatar: The Way of Water continues to add to its merch lineup. This new straw hat features the phrase “Water Connects All Things” swen into its brim and is perfect for a bright sunny day. These are priced at $34.99.

There’s also a woven bag that can match the hat!

This woven bag has a small tag to designate it as part of the Avatar line of merch and is quite spacious. This one can be found for $39.99.

Mombasa Marketplace

This shop has tons of new merchandise we went wild over! First up we saw this “Stand Tall” giraffe youth shirt for $21.99.

Next, we spotted this “Live Like a King” lion shirt for $29.99…

…this “Livin’ the High Life” giraffe shirt for $29.99…

…and this “Wise Elephant” shirt for $29.99.

Also, we found the “Respect the Locals” zebra shirt for $29.99…

…this “Life in the Fast Lane” cheetah shirt for $29.99…

…a “Stand Tall” giraffe adult shirt for $29.99…

…this neat Giraffe hat for $29.99…

…a Lion hat for $29.99…

…and an “Owl Good” shirt for $29.99.

Shew, that was quite the new lineup of merch!

Dino Institute

We spotted a few interesting finds here too! All National Geographic items are currently discounted at 50% off making a pretty hefty discount on lots of merchandise!

If you’re looking for something for hours of fun, check out these 3-D puzzles we found!

They come in two different dino designs: T-Rex…

…and Triceratops. They can be yours for $7.99 each.

Animal Kingdom Miscellaneous Updates

Moana Meet and Greet

Moana was announced for meet and greets a few weeks back and Animal Kingdom’s 25th anniversary celebration kicked off her warm welcome to the park’s characters you can now meet.

What we’ve found interesting is her line. We’ve been out a few times to attempt to meet with Moana — some times more successful than others — and what we’ve seen is that the line to meet Moana can be HOURS long! Not only can you expect a 2.5+ wait time most days but that seems to be fairly consistent across the board even from the early morning rope drop. Our best advice to meet with Moana is to make this your priority in the morning as you’re rope-dropping this park for the shortest wait time. You’ll want to act fast as we’ve also seen Cast Members have to rope off the line to meet Moana within 3 minutes of opening it because it had already reached full capacity!

Tree of Life Garden Walk

It seemed like just a few days ago we were finally able to walk through the amazing tree carvings in the Tree of Life Garden Walk and now, unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a bit to do that again.

We noticed that after its brief reopening during the Animal Kingdom 25th anniversary celebration, the Tree of Life Garden Walk is now closed again. This comes on the heels of a lengthy refurbishment and waiting for the Tree of Life to be repainted. We’ll keep a close watch over this one though for when it reopens again.

The Boneyard

The garden walk isn’t the only closure we noticed, though.

The Boneyard in Dinoland U.S.A. is now currently closed. This one closed pretty quietly, but if you were relying on its use to run out your kiddo’s energy you’ll want to pivot your plans. Don’t worry though, the Dig Site is another spot that is still open.

Kids playing here can put their paleontology skills to the test while parents can sit in the shaded area for a relaxing break. It’s just across the street and around the corner from The Boneyard.

Thirst River Bar & Trek Snacks Refreshed

Two places that we like to stop by on our park walks received a small refurbishment!

We noticed fresh stickers around Thirsty River Bar…

…and Trek Snacks in Asia.

These stickers might give you a chuckle if you lean in for a closer look!

They’re full of references to the Yeti and you may even spot a familiar beverage spot on one!

A Popular Animal Kingdom Attraction Will CLOSE for a LONG TIME in Disney World

Wow, that was quite the round-up of new things we’ve spotted just within a few days at Animal Kingdom. As you can see, there are lots of changes big and small happening constantly at the parks so make sure to stay tuned with us at DFB for all the latest!

The BIG Announcement We’re Dreaming Disney Makes Soon

What has been your favorite update at Animal Kingdom? Tell us in the comments!