Up Close with Rhinos-New Experience at AK

Chami · Mar 5, 2019

Disney Addicted said:
I read your review and thanks for posting it. I have been trying to figure out whether to do a tour and which one.

I really sat up when I read "... if you ride Kilimanjaro Safaris the enclosures are behind the cheetah area. Both the rhinos and cheetahs are housed in the same area. A guest on my tour asked if the two types of animals get along and the animal care specialists told us they get along just fine and often don’t care that one another are there."

Out of much curosity, do the cheetahs happen to be close enough there to see them while visiting the Rhinos?

I'd book a cat tour in a heartbeat if Disney offered it!!

We were there last week. They have 3 new young cheetahs that were in the enclosure right beside the rhino barn. Two of them hung out in the shade watching us most of the time we were there. The keepers put up a couple of orange cones to make sure guests didn’t get within reach of the curious cats.

TammyLynn33 · Mar 5, 2019

So excited to do this with Dd12 she wants to be a zoologist when she grows up. I feel lucky to have gotten a reservation for Easter week as I didn’t know about this until after the 180 days

SaintsManiac · Mar 5, 2019

rteetz said:
That's the male correct? He was fairly new in November so they weren't letting guests get too close to him yet.

Yes and he was so sweet! Also saw 2 new cheetahs and bonus viewing of elephants on the way in and out.

MonaMN · Mar 13, 2019

We did this tour last week. So. Freaking. Awesome!

We saw a cheetah who was hanging out in their enclosure. We met and touched Kiama (who recently had her 4th birthday) and saw her mom Kendi as well.

I nearly cried when we got to touch her. Such amazing animals!

There were 14 of us on the tour and that was as many seats as were on the bus - so I suspect that is the max number. Seeing the backstage areas was also really interesting as a big Disnerd.

Honestly, this may have been the highlight of my trip!

TammyLynn33 · Apr 11, 2019

Has anyone done this lately ?
Anything new to report? We go next week

HauntedMansionMom09 · Apr 13, 2019

MonaMN said:
When I booked, they asked about peanut allergies - which my kid has. Can you tell me what you saw/experienced? Wondering if there are peanuts everywhere or if it is more incidental. Any observations?

While I was booking this the CM mentioned this and I inquired about it due to allergies in our group. I was told that while there are NO peanuts given to the rhinos the concern is due to the peanuts given to the elephants as their enclosure is not far away. She said something about peanut dust being airborne and possibly traveling into rhino area. Now, I thought she said something about peanuts being crushed up for the elephants and that this was why there was "peanut dust." I may have totally misunderstood that, but I believe that was the reason. Maybe the dust is just from the peanuts being around in large quantities and not due to them being crushed. She did make it clear that while there are loads of peanuts in the elephant area the rhinos are not given this. The concern is for an AIRBORNE allergy, or the dust landing on something in the rhino exhibit and then someone touching it. I hope this helps!

MonaMN · Apr 13, 2019

HauntedMansionMom09 said:
While I was booking this the CM mentioned this and I inquired about it due to allergies in our group. I was told that while there are NO peanuts given to the rhinos the concern is due to the peanuts given to the elephants as their enclosure is not far away. She said something about peanut dust being airborne and possibly traveling into rhino area. Now, I thought she said something about peanuts being crushed up for the elephants and that this was why there was "peanut dust." I may have totally misunderstood that, but I believe that was the reason. Maybe the dust is just from the peanuts being around in large quantities and not due to them being crushed. She did make it clear that while there are loads of peanuts in the elephant area the rhinos are not given this. The concern is for an AIRBORNE allergy, or the dust landing on something in the rhino exhibit and then someone touching it. I hope this helps!

And we have already been on the tour now - so I can report back for anyone else that might have concerns that we didn’t see any peanuts at all - only hay (alfalfa, I think). We had no problems at all.

HauntedMansionMom09 · Apr 13, 2019

Thank you Mona for this report! I was a bit worried, but this makes me feel much better. :flower1:

ThePearlOfTheGrotto · Jul 23, 2019

This was the highlight of our trip! There were 14 people on the tour, and 2 vans drove us to the rhino barn. The Cast members were so knowledgeable and eager to share stories with you. In my tour, we saw 2 rhinos, a mom and her baby. They were very cute and patient. This tour was perfect, the whole family loved it!

Up Close with Rhinos-New Experience at AK

Chami

Mouseketeer

TammyLynn33

DIS Veteran

SaintsManiac

Wait for it.

MonaMN

DIS Veteran

TammyLynn33

DIS Veteran

HauntedMansionMom09

Earning My Ears

MonaMN

DIS Veteran

HauntedMansionMom09

Earning My Ears

ThePearlOfTheGrotto

Earning My Ears

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