Disney’s Up Close with Rhinos Review – Is It Worth the Extra Cost?
There are plenty of things included with your admission to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, particularly if seeing animals is one of the reasons you love the park. Kilimanjaro Safaris gets you surprisingly close to wildlife, there are walking trails to explore and Disney’s animal care and conservation work runs throughout the park.
So, is it really worth paying another $49 per person, plus tax, for a 60-minute experience with the rhinos? For our family, the answer was yes.
We’ve visited Walt Disney World before, and on this trip we wanted to add something different rather than simply repeat everything we’d already done. Disney offers several additional animal experiences at Animal Kingdom, and we considered both Caring for Giants, which focuses on the elephants, and Up Close with Rhinos.
The girls particularly wanted to do the rhino experience, so that’s the one we went for. It also turned out to be one of the hardest reservations of our trip to secure. And yes, we actually got to touch a rhino. That was undoubtedly the highlight, but having done the experience, there’s considerably more to it than those few seconds.
What Is Up Close with Rhinos at Animal Kingdom?
Up Close with Rhinos is one of Walt Disney World’s Enchanting Extras and takes guests backstage at Disney’s Animal Kingdom for a guided experience with the park’s white rhinos and the people who care for them.
At the time of writing, the experience costs $49 per person plus tax, with regular Animal Kingdom admission required separately. It lasts approximately 60 minutes and guests must be at least four years old. Anyone under 18 must participate with an adult.
This isn’t another version of Kilimanjaro Safaris. On the safari, you’re viewing the animals as you travel through the attraction. Up Close with Rhinos takes you into a backstage area and gives you access to the keepers who work directly with the animals. For us, that was where much of the value came from.
Our family at Disney’s Animal Kingdom for Up Close with Rhinos.
How Difficult Is Up Close with Rhinos to Book?
This was one of the more difficult reservations we secured during our Disney stay. We were staying at Disney for ten nights and booked Up Close with Rhinos in advance. Even then, the only availability we could find was on the final day of our Disney stay. There wasn’t another suitable slot available during those ten nights.
That obviously won’t mean every date is equally difficult, but based on our experience, this isn’t something we’d leave until we’re standing in Animal Kingdom and hope to book on the day. If this is something you particularly want to do, we’d make it one of the experiences you look for as soon as you’re able to book rather than trying to fit it in at the last minute.
In fact, we specifically went back into Animal Kingdom that day to do Up Close with Rhinos. It wasn’t something we happened to squeeze between rides; the experience itself was the reason for that visit to the park.
Checking In for Up Close with Rhinos
Guests are asked to check in at least 15 minutes before their scheduled experience at the Curiosity Animal Tours kiosk opposite the entrance to Kilimanjaro Safaris. The tour starts promptly, so this isn’t one we’d recommend cutting fine.
We all needed to be present at check-in and at least one of us needed government-issued photo identification.
Once we’d checked in, completed the necessary forms and received our passes, we waited for the rest of the group before being taken backstage. From there, we boarded transport that took us further backstage and towards the rhino enclosure.
The group itself was small — from memory, there were around 12 of us — and that matters to the experience. You’re not trying to listen to a keeper alongside a huge crowd of people or fighting to get close enough to see what’s happening. It felt controlled and personal.
What Actually Happens on Up Close with Rhinos?
I don’t want to describe every detail of the backstage areas, partly because discovering the experience is part of the appeal and partly because Disney deliberately restricts photography and filming during the tour.
The important part is what happens once you’re with the animal keepers. This is where Up Close with Rhinos became much more than simply an opportunity to see a rhino at closer range.
The keepers talked about the different species of rhino, the individual animals at Animal Kingdom and which of them we might normally see while riding Kilimanjaro Safaris. They explained how they care for them, their behaviour, the threats facing rhinos in the wild and the work involved in breeding and conservation.
More importantly, you can ask questions. And when you give a family the opportunity to ask animal keepers pretty much anything they want about rhinos, the questions don’t necessarily remain very sophisticated.
How big are their feet? What do they eat? How big is rhino poo? How long have the individual animals lived at Animal Kingdom? What are their names? How does the breeding programme work?
The keepers knew the animals extremely well and were excellent at explaining both the serious conservation issues and the everyday details of caring for something considerably larger than any animal most of us will ever encounter at close range.
One of the rhinos we photographed on Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Photography isn’t permitted during the backstage Up Close with Rhinos experience.
Do You Actually Get to Touch a Rhino?
We did. Obviously, there are substantial safety precautions involved. You aren’t walking freely into a rhino enclosure and neither are the keepers casually standing alongside the animals.
The interaction took place through substantial protective barriers, and it was very clear that everything was being done in a controlled and respectful way. The keepers work with these animals regularly, understand their behaviour and manage the encounter accordingly. That allowed the rhino to come remarkably close.
Being able to reach out and actually touch a rhino is something none of us is likely to forget. You can see rhinos from Kilimanjaro Safaris — sometimes extremely well — but this is an entirely different type of encounter.
It was unquestionably the best moment of the experience for us. However, I wouldn’t judge the value of the entire hour solely on whether you get those few seconds of contact. The keeper interaction and everything you learn before and around that moment are what turn it into a proper experience rather than simply an expensive photo opportunity.
Can You Take Photos on Up Close with Rhinos?
This is an important one to know before booking. Cameras, video equipment and mobile phones can’t be used during the backstage tour. That means we don’t have a YouTube video taking you through Up Close with Rhinos, and you shouldn’t book it expecting to spend the hour filming the experience for social media.
During our experience, Disney did take a small number of photographs for guests, which were included as part of our tour. Policies and what’s provided can change, so we’d treat that as our experience rather than a guarantee of what will be offered on every future tour.
Personally, the lack of phones didn’t detract from the experience. For an hour, everyone was simply there listening to the keepers and watching the animals rather than trying to record everything that happened.
Is $49 Per Person Good Value?
For a family of four, $49 each plus tax isn’t an insignificant extra, particularly when you’ve already paid for Walt Disney World tickets. However, we thought Up Close with Rhinos represented good value for what we experienced.
Part of that comes down to the limited group size. If something like this were offered as a standard attraction available to everyone in the park, the nature of the experience would fundamentally change. You couldn’t have the same access to the keepers or such a controlled animal encounter with thousands of guests wanting to participate.
During our tour, we were also told about the connection between the experience and Disney’s wider conservation work. Disney supports wildlife conservation projects around the world through the Disney Conservation Fund, including work involving rhinos. Knowing that conservation sits behind much of what Animal Kingdom does added another dimension to an experience that is very much centred on learning about the animals rather than simply getting close to them.
For us, though, the value ultimately comes down to the experience itself: a small group, knowledgeable keepers, access to an area of Animal Kingdom we wouldn’t normally see and an encounter with an animal we would otherwise only ever observe from a distance. At $49 plus tax, we’d pay to do it.
Is It Worth Doing on Your First Visit to Animal Kingdom?
This is where our answer becomes more nuanced. If you’re an animal lover and the cost comfortably fits into your holiday budget, there’s absolutely no reason you couldn’t do Up Close with Rhinos on a first visit. It’s an excellent experience.
However, if you’re making a genuine once-in-a-lifetime trip to Walt Disney World and have limited time or budget, we wouldn’t necessarily put this ahead of experiencing Animal Kingdom itself. There is already a lot to see and do in the park, and Kilimanjaro Safaris, the animal trails, shows and headline attractions are likely to be where we’d concentrate first, particularly if we didn’t know whether we’d ever return.
For repeat visitors, the calculation changes. We’ve already done those classic Animal Kingdom experiences, so dedicating a visit to something completely different made sense. Up Close with Rhinos gave us a reason to experience another side of a park we already know well rather than simply repeating exactly the same day.
That’s one of the things we increasingly enjoy about returning to Walt Disney World. Once you stop feeling that every visit has to be about fitting in every ride, there are a lot of other experiences to discover.
Up Close with Rhinos or Caring for Giants?
We considered both. Caring for Giants is Disney’s additional elephant experience at Animal Kingdom, while Up Close with Rhinos focuses on the white rhinos. The girls were more interested in doing the rhino experience, which ultimately made the decision for us.
The experiences are also different. Caring for Giants focuses on observing and learning about the elephants from a dedicated viewing area, whereas Up Close with Rhinos is designed as a more intimate encounter with the white rhinos and their keepers.
We haven’t done Caring for Giants, so we’re not going to pretend we can tell you which experience is better. We can only say that we chose the rhinos and were extremely pleased that we did. In fact, we’re already considering trying a different paid-for Disney experience when we return to Florida.
Practical Things to Know Before Booking
At the time of writing, Up Close with Rhinos costs $49 per person plus tax, with Animal Kingdom admission required separately. The tour lasts approximately 60 minutes, guests must be four or older and under-18s must be accompanied by a participating adult.
You should arrive at the Curiosity Animal Tours kiosk at least 15 minutes before your scheduled time because late arrivals aren’t permitted to join. Comfortable closed-toe shoes are strongly recommended, and the experience takes place outdoors, normally operating in rain but not severe weather or lightning. Cameras, video equipment and phones can’t be used during the tour.
Disney currently operates a 24-hour cancellation policy, with the full price forfeited for cancellations inside that period or no-shows. If anyone in your party has accessibility requirements, we’d also recommend checking the latest arrangements directly with Disney before booking, as requirements can vary depending on the mobility device being used.
As with any Disney experience, prices and policies can change, so check the current details when you’re planning your own visit.
Would We Do Up Close with Rhinos Again?
We loved it, but we probably wouldn’t immediately repeat the exact same experience. That’s not because it wasn’t worth doing; it’s because having done something so different at Animal Kingdom, we’d be more inclined to use the money on another experience next time and discover something else that we haven’t done before.
For animal lovers, repeat Disney visitors or families looking to add something genuinely different to an Animal Kingdom visit, Up Close with Rhinos is very easy for us to recommend. The moment we touched the rhino will inevitably be the thing we remember most, but the hour was about much more than that. The small group, time with the keepers and opportunity to learn about the animals at such close range gave us something Kilimanjaro Safaris simply can’t provide.
Would we prioritise it over experiencing Animal Kingdom properly on a first and potentially only visit? Probably not, unless rhinos or animal experiences were particularly important to you. Would we pay $49 plus tax to do it as returning visitors looking for something different? Absolutely.
When we return to Florida next year, we’re considering another Disney experience that takes us beyond the usual rides and attractions, so Up Close with Rhinos certainly hasn’t been our last encounter of this kind.
And if animals are a big part of what you enjoy about Florida, there are experiences beyond the Disney parks worth considering too. However, from this trip and YouTube series, Wild Florida Drive-Thru Safari was one of the real surprises of our trip, combining a drive-through safari with much more to explore once you’re out of the car. We were particularly impressed by the experience and it’s an easy way to add something completely different to a Florida itinerary.
We’ve also got a full video from our visit, so unlike Up Close with Rhinos, where filming isn’t permitted, you can see much more of what the Wild Florida experience is actually like before deciding whether to add it to your own trip. Subscribe to your YouTube channel for that and all of our upcoming Florida series.
Prices, availability and Disney’s tour policies can change. The practical information above was correct when checked for this article, but always check Disney’s latest details for your own dates.