Disney Animal Kingdom's Caring for Giants Animal Tour

On our recent trip to Walk Disney World, we did several animal-related enchanting extras, including Starlight Safari, Up Close with the Rhinos, and Caring for Giants. Caring for Giants is a backstage tour that offers a closer look at the park's African elephants. It is a 60-minute tour at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park and valid theme park admission is necessary.  This tour takes you through some of the backstage areas of Animal Kingdom and the actual elephant viewing area is in the back of Kilimanjaro Safari. 

Checking In

The tour meets at the Curiosity Animal Tours kiosk, which is next to the entrance of Kilimanjaro Safaris. Be sure to check in for your tour before the start time. 

After checking in, we were given name tags which were made out of 85% elephant poop fibers. The tour started promptly at 2 pm.  It’s good to note that this is not an up-close encounter tour.  There is no petting of elephants in the Caring for Giants tour. Still, you do get to go to a separate viewing area (again going backstage) where you can see the elephant area closer and for longer than on Kilimanjaro Safaris. 

Tour Time

The tour started with a short walk to a passenger van which was going to take us to the elephant observation area. Luckily, the waiting van was waiting with the air conditioning on, because it was mid-afternoon and very hot. As we made our way backstage with our tour group, the cast member who is an animal specialist, talked about the Disney Conservation Fund. The proceeds from the tours in Animal Kingdom go to help Disney's conservation efforts including helping the preservation of wild populations of the Majestic African Elephants. After a short drive in a tour van, arrived at the new viewing area, which is the other side of the elephant habitat seen on Kilimanjaro Safari. This tour is not guaranteed to see the elephants, as if they are in a different part of the habitat, you will not be able to view them. 

Viewing Area 

When we first arrived at the viewing area, there were no elephants to be seen. However, after about 5 minutes they came walking by and stayed in view for the remainder of our time on the tour. We got a great view of the elephants up close and were able to see baby Stella walking around with her mom, aunt, and grandma. I would say, the vantage point is approximately 80-100 feet from the elephants. The time spent at the viewing location was close to half hour, which was a perfect amount of time. While at the viewing location, you can see the safari trucks going by on the other side of the elephant habitat. While on the Safari ride, you may get a glimpse of a Caring for Giants tour if you look to the other side of the elephant habitat. 

The knowledgeable guides gave us lots of information about the day-to-day- care of these amazing animals. The care of the elephants is a massive effort from Disney. The tour guide also passed around elephant dung and an elephant tooth, which my kids thought was very cool. 

Reservations are needed for this tour and can be booked 60 days in advance in the My Disney Experience App. Sometimes there is same-day availability, but it is not guaranteed. The minimum age for this tour is 4. 

Overall, this particular tour provided a unique experience to view these gentle giants for a longer time in a small group. If it fits into your schedule, I would say it is a worthwhile experience. However, it was not my favorite of the in-park experiences we did on this Disney trip.  if you need to pick between Up Close with Rhinos and Caring for Giants, I would pick Up Close With Rhinos because you get to actually pet the Rhinos.  You feel the Disney magic petting those Rhinos. To learn more about our Disney vacation check out "Our Magical Experience on a Disney World Vacation". To learn more about how we scored our Walt Disney World trip for $1,414 check out "A Guide to Planning Your Disney World Using Reward Points".