Up Close with Rhinos
Have you ever thought about adding an Animal Kingdom tour to your Disney trip? Earlier this month Cam and I took our first ever Disney tour, Up Close with Rhinos. I wanted to share my spoiler free review of the tour. Read on to see what we thought of Up Close with Rhinos and if we felt like Up Close with Rhinos was worth it!
Up Close with Rhinos is a fairly new tour, I believe it was announced sometime this past fall. Cam booked this tour as one of my Anniversary presents back in October. This was the first available date they had open.
The cost of the tour is $40 and you get 15% off for booking with your annual pass. We were also told while we were on the tour that 100% of the cost goes to Rhino conservation, so that was super awesome! The cost is due up front at the time of booking. They also make it pretty clear they aren’t going to send you any sort of reminders when you book. This tour does not come up in your My Disney Experience app either so if you book it make sure you add an alert to your phone! Since the tour takes place inside Animal Kingdom Park, you will also need to pay for park admission for the day (or use your annual pass!)
Side note: If you are looking for a tour that you can take on a non-park day, check out Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.
The Up Close with Rhinos tour is an hour long tour. You check in near the Safari entrance at the back of Animal Kingdom. You need to arrive early, they tell you this on the phone when you book, to sign a waiver and get your lanyard.
Once it’s time for the tour to begin, the tour all meets together near a backstage entrance. Since the entire tour is backstage, there are no phones or cameras allowed.
Side note: If not being able to take photos is a deal breaker for you, it shouldn’t be because this tour is amazing, try the Caring for Giants tour! The cast member told us some photos are allowed on that one.
I don’t want to give too much away about the actual tour because I think part of the reason we had so much fun was because we didn’t know what to expect. But here are the basics:
There is one Up Close with Rhinos tour per day. You are in a group of about 8-10 people, I would guess that is the max that can go on the tour at one time because of the way you are taken to the White Rhino Barn. When you arrive at the barn, you meet with some of the care takers. They tell you about the Rhinos, and answer any questions you may have.
Then we had the chance to interact with two of the female White Rhinos. It was seriously so special!
Was it worth it:
From start to finish the Up Close with Rhinos tour takes an hour and costs $40 per person.
Cam and I thought it was more than worth it, especially when you take into consideration that your money is going to help Rhinos. The hour really went by super fast, you spend a solid 40 min with the Rhinos. The tour is at 11am, which gives you plenty of time to get to the park ride something and grab a snack before you check in. I don’t think you will regret your spending your time here.
At the price, I think it’s also a great way to get a feel for doing a tour at Disney!
Now that Cam and I have done this tour, we are already trying to figure out what tour will be next!
