Review of Animal Kingdom Tour ‘Caring for Giants’ (photos included)

Review of Animal Kingdom Tour Caring for Giants

By Julie

Today I had the opportunity to check out this brand new tour offered at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Caring for Giants gives guests the opportunity to get a closer and longer look at elephants while getting facts about their care and the conservation efforts from caretakers and cultural representatives.

The 1 hour  tour is offered several times a day, it can only be booked by calling the WDW-PLAY line or if there is availability you can also book it in person at the park, it costs $30 which is payable at moment of booking. There is a 15% discount for Annual Passholders and DVC members. Cancellation policy is 2 days prior to your date. The great thing is that 100% of the costs goes to protect and take care of African Elephants in South Africa.

I booked my tour for 3pm. They ask you to check in about 15 minutes before your time to sign your waiver and get your lanyard and nametag. The check in location is just across from the entrance to Kilimanjaro Safari.

The tour group consists on only 14 people, once everyone was checked in and with their proper nametags we went backstage where we are given the warning that no photography or recording of any kind can be done. We were escorted to a van and off we went. While on board the van our driver gave us facts about Animal Kingdom park and Kilimanjaro Safari. In about 10 minutes we were at the gates of a stone road and shortly after we were dropped off with an animal caretaker and our first viewing location.

Once here we were encouraged to take as many pictures and videos and ask any questions that we liked. Our first encounter was with the entire family of elephants including baby Stella, she’s 3 months old and weighs 389 lbs. While looking at the elephants we were given more facts about their care and the Cast Member shared funny stories about them. 10 minutes after that we were moved to the second viewing location where we met 2 cultural representatives from the South African region, they went more in depth about different techniques they are using in Africa to take care of the elephants and their efforts to end poaching. I won’t go into details about all the facts but I can tell you I learned a lot of things I didn’t know about elephants.

In total we spent about 30 minutes I the viewing locations, we boarded the van and back to the park we went.

I think this tour is worth it if you love animals, especially elephants. The fact that all the money goes to conservation is a big plus in my book. The tour was very informative and I didn’t feel rushed at all. The viewing locations were great but you do have to keep in mind that the elephants are roaming free, they can go hide behind a boulder or a tree, but during our 30 minutes we always had an elephant in our sight.

Our keepsake was our nametag, made from 85% elephant poop fibers. How can you not love that?