What's New at Animal Kingdom: Holiday Decorations, Festive Drinks, AND NEW Character Flotillas!

Hello, DFB friends!

Expedition Everest

We’ve been enjoying the start of the holidays at Disney World, and we LOVED seeing all the decorations at Animal Kingdom recently! But what else is new in this wild park?

Animal Kingdom Food Updates

Creature Comforts

Creature Comforts is the Starbucks location at Animal Kingdom and with the holidays officially arriving — so do new holiday drinks! W e tried almost all of them, as well as a cute Snowman Cake Pop!

Snowman Cake Popf

This little guy is vanilla cake dipped in white chocolate. He was so much fun to look at and tasted GREAT! You can get one of your own for $2.29.

Read our holiday Starbucks drinks and snacks review

Nomad Lounge

When we first discovered Lobster Mac & Cheese at Nomad Lounge, it wasn’t listed on the menu, but it’s now officially on the Specials menu!

Nomad Lounge Specials Menu

This is the same Lobster Mac & Cheese you can get from Tiffins and it is delicious! It’s $22. Note that this is still considered a limited-time option.

Read our full review of the Lobster Mac & Cheese

Zuri’s Sweet Shop

So many sweets, but so little time. But we still took time to pop into Zuri’s Sweet Shop to see what was new. This is the first time we’ve seen the Blueberry Mickey Scones here! The scones are $3.99 each.

Mickey Blueberry Scone

Anandapur Ice Cream Truck

There’s a new sign in front of the Anandapur Ice Cream Truck advertising their ice cream cones. However, we didn’t discover any new flavors.

Anandapur Ice Cream Truck

Animal Kingdom Merchandise Updates

Riverside Depot

Riverside Depot has the Nightmare Before Christmas Pins we spotted earlier this week at Hollywood Studios. We also saw the Interactive Groot there!

Interactive Groot

You can even put this toy on your shoulder! It has the same shoulder mechanism that the Banshees over in Pandora use. It’s $59.99.

Learn more about the Interactive Groot

Animal Kingdom Attraction Updates

Another game booth has opened up at Fossil Fun Games in DinoLand, U.S.A. Fossil Fueler is now open and ready for business!

Fossil Fueler

Pandora

The robot suit outside Pongu Pongo got a Christmas makeover! He’s now wearing his Santa hat and beard and is decorated with holiday lights!

Pongo Pongo Robot Suit

Animal Kingdom Other Updates

Holiday Animal Mural

The holiday animal mural is back! It’s so pretty and the PERFECT spot for a great photo opp!

Holiday Animal Mural

Character Cavalcades

The holiday character cavalcades have arrived (referred to in this park as “flotillas!”). And the characters are wearing their holiday best! Although Pocahontas and Meeko, along with Rafiki and Timon, were the same, the drummers had festive new costumes and boat decor.

Drummer Cavalcade

Chip ‘n’ Dale, Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, and Scrooge McDuck all had their holiday wear on, too.

Chip, Dale, and Goofy

And then there was SANTA who came out on a gorgeous boat!

Santa Cavalcade at Animal Kingdom

WE KNOW HIM!

See more photos of Animal Kingdom’s holiday cavalcades

Entrance

We noticed banners up on some of the light poles at the entrance, as well as on the touchpoint gate.

Animal Kingdom Entrance

There’s a new Lion King-themed Photo Op area for guests, too,

Photo-Op

It was a fun day at Animal Kingdom, especially now that the holidays have arrived. We can’t wait to return!

You Can See Naked Mole Rats and Snakes Again at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!

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