Adventurers Outpost and Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom Now Closing Early

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is altering the operating hours of two of its attractions over the next few weeks.

Kali River Rapids will be open from 10AM-5PM on December 4th-17th, 10AM-7PM on December 18th-24th, and 9AM-7PM on December 25th-31st.

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The Adventurers Outpost (the only standard meet and greet which offers the pair together, by the way) will now operate from park open until 4:30PM daily. 

It is unknown if these changes will continue into the new year and if the imminent debut of Rivers of Light will bring these attractions back to their old original operating hours.

PHOTOS & VIDEO: Mickey & Minnie Move Into Adventurers Outpost at Animal Kingdom

With the closure of Camp Minnie-Mickey eminent, we were promised a new home for Mickey and Minnie somewhere in Animal Kingdom a few months ago. The location turned out to be the former Beastly Bazaar shop that reopened today after some delay as Adventurers Outpost, supposedly Mickey and Minnie’s exploration headquarters. Take a look:

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The entrance

A temporary sign in place until the entire experience is complete

The interior queue

There are many pictures of Mickey and Minnie out on adventurers through the queue

This is one fo the two holding rooms. There are two rooms where guests can meet Mickey and Minnie, however the second room was not ready for guests today

The actual meet and greet has Mickey and Minnie in front of a large map with some assorted travel gear and knick-knacks strewn across the room

The map is a really nice backdrop

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We were the very first guests to ever meet Mickey and Minnie here, so I thought I would break tradition and include a personal picture

Here is a very short video walkthrough of the queue and meet and greet we took as the first guests to enter Adventurers Outpost. Sorry if it seems a bit rushed, but we were the first to enter and there was no line to force us to stop along the way in the queue:

So, what do you think of Mickey and Minnie’s new home at Animal Kingdom?

Joe Hogarty’s 4/2/13 Animal Kingdom Photo Report

WDWNT Reporter Joe Hogarty visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom yesterday and has some newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

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Work being done on the bridge to Africa, believed to be connected to the work on the new Festival of the Lion King Theater

This could be extended queue for the show

We haven’t checked on the Tree of Life nets in a while

Seems most of the paths are covered now

There is one small section still not completed

Mickey-shaped snacks?

A look at the Africa bridge from the other direction

PINE CONE!!!

I am Batman!

Awwww, kitty!

They were being active

SLURP!

RAWR!

More…

Almost done…

The Adventurers Outpost still has not opened

Maybe soon…

Dirk Wallen’s 2/23/13 Walt Disney World Resort Photo Report

WDWNT Reporter Dirk Wallen takes us to all 4 Walt Disney World theme parks this time around, stopping to check progress on the Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train, the Tangled restroom area, the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, the Big Thunder Mountain interactive queue, and more! Let’s take a look:

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RFID entrance installation continues at the Studios

The large electronic scrolling sign at Sounds Dangerous is now gone, looks like we can finally officially say the attraction is dead

The new Disney JuniorL Live on Stage debuted a few weeks ago

Doc McStuffins was added to the show

As was Sophia the First

Whoops…

It was up there for some of the show…

The Epcot 30th reveal/conceal pin set came out recently

New Spring pins

85th anniversary of the Plane Crazy short

EASTER DUFFY!

New Muppet shirt

Moving over to Animal Kingdom

Kodak picture spots are still up…

RFID entrances still being installed at Animal Kingdom as well

More Kodak

Hard to believe, but they are still installing the nets at Tree of Life

This is taking forever…

Some areas look completed

Others look like no work has even started

Beastly Bazaar will soon open as the Adventurers Outpost, a Mickey and Minnie meet and greet

The Character Landing will soon host Donald and Daisy, Pooh and Tigger are heading to Camp Minnie-Mickey

Pocahontas has already moved out of Camp Minnie-Mickey

The old theater for Pocahontas and Her Forrest Friends is still stroller parking

Some walls up in Camp Minnie-Mickey

We believe they are installing FastPass+ behind these walls at Theater in the Wild

Moving to Epcot, Flower and Garden Festival preparation is in full swing

Some scrims still up near the Oz playground

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs near Germany

Toy Story characters in the American Adventure

Lady and the Tramp in Italy

All of the booths are up… it’s so weird to see these out so early in the year…

They are giving out seed packets to promote Oz: The Great and Powerful and the festival

The Mission: Space facade is being refurbished, the ride is open still

Don’t try to park at the Polynesian Resort, there is a ton of construction equipment sitting there…

Work continues on The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. There’s some strange tower rising on the right…

Another somewhat similar structure is rising outside the building on the other side

It’s starting to look like the Grand Floridian

Moving to the Magic Kingdom, Main Street Apparel is behind tarps again

Work continues on Princess Fairytale Hall

Work continues on the Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train

Work continues on the Tangled restroom area

You can see the tree-stump shaped charging stations gusts can use to charge electronics

Work is nearing completion on the exit of “it’s a small world” that has been behind tarps

Columbia Harbour House is still behind tarps

Work continues on Splash Mountain which is closed until mid-March

More and more progress is being made on the interactive queue at Big Thunder Mountain

I see Marc Davis and Blaine Gibson references…

The detail on the new props is stunning

A nod to Western River Expedition, the attraction originally designed for this space

Most of the work on the mountain looks complete

A few tarps still out there…

This looks like way too much fun…

YES… MUST BLOW STUFF UP!