The Animal Kingdom was an exciting place to be this week! We saw Kevin from Up for the first time, menu and construction updates, and new merchandise for fans of The Lion King, Up, and Mary Poppins!

We’ll start our Animal Kingdom Adventures off on Discovery Island.

What’s New on Animal Kingdom’s Discovery Island

Construction is still underway on some new exhibit areas around Discovery Island.

We don’t know who will be calling these new areas home yet, and will keep you posted on our visits to the park and the progress on these areas.

Tiffins introduced two new entree choices on their Lunch Tasting Menu. Along with the Roasted Chicken Breast, your new options are Carne Asada and Fisherman’s Stew. The new items replace the Wagyu Beef Tagine and Paella options.

We’ve been waiting for her arrival for several weeks, and now Kevin from Up has landed on Discovery Island.

Be sure to see all the photos of Kevin in Animal Kingdom and a fun video of her meeting Russell and Dug here!

If you would like to take a huggable souvenir home to remind you of this fun character there’s a brand new Kevin plush that’s available on merchandise stands on Discovery Island. See all the photos of the Kevin plush here.

What’s New in Animal Kingdom’s Shops and Stores — New Merchandise!

We made a discovery in Discovery Trading Company! These new Lion King Plastic Sipper cups feature Timon, Simba, and Pumba. We’ve spotted these in the Magic Kingdom and in Disneyland as well, so if you’d like one of your own, they’re pretty easy to find.

How fun are these three friends all stacked up together?

Will you be adding this new sipper cup to your Disney collection?

If you’re more of an Epcot fan than a Lion King fan, then you’ll be happy to see these new “Spaceship Earth” Sipper Cups. These were first spotted in Disneyland (which means, of course, they’re not technically “Spaceship Earth” cups, even though they do really look like the famous geodesic sphere in Orlando), and now we’ve seen them pop up at several resorts and parks in Disney World, too.

We spotted a new Animal Kingdom Backpack and Hat in the passport collection.

We are really into the muted colors and almost vintage look and feel of this merchandise.

This shirt is how we feel every night — low on battery and Sleepy!

This shirt declares the wearer’s single rider status.

There are some new “practically perfect” Mary Poppins dish towels for your kitchen.

Fans of the film will remember Mary’s tape measure, which is also on this dish towel.

You can pick your favorite quote or song title from this patterned towel that comes in the set of two towels.

What’s your favorite thing to do in the Animal Kingdom? Meet super-tall birds, go on safari, ride the rides, eat, or shop? Let us know in the comments below!

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