Animal Kingdom Height Requirements – What You Need to Know

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The more prepared you are for your Disney World vacation, the more you will get out of the experience.

One of the things that you do have to realize in advance, particularly if you are traveling with children, is that some of the Disney World rides have certain minimum height requirements that you must meet to ride.

Here we will discover which of Disney’s Animal Kingdom rides have height requirements and what you can do if someone in your party simply isn’t tall enough to experience the attraction.

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Why Do Some Disney World Rides Have Height Requirements?

There is a very easy answer to this.

Safety.

All of the Disney World rides which have a height requirement do so because there is a safety reason to do so.

What if your child is almost tall enough for the ride?

Should you buy them shoes with a thicker heel, pile their hair on top of their head, or just train them to stand taller?

None of these.

Just don’t do it. Cast Members have heard it all and seen it all before. If your child is not tall enough then accept it gracefully.

Don’t argue with the Cast Member. They have heard it all before and they don’t make the rules.

Just use one of the other tactics we tell you about in this guide.

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What are the Disney Animal Kingdom Height Requirements?

Disney’s Animal Kingdom has just 7 rides in the park. Only 4 of these have height restrictions.

There are many attractions in Animal Kingdom that do not have any minimum height requirement to experience.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom park only has 4 rides with height restrictions.

Here is a list of those attractions.

• Avatar Flight of Passage – 44 inches (113 centimeters)
• Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain – 44 inches (113 centimeters)
• DINOSAUR – 40 inches (102 centimeters)
• Kali River Rapids – 38 inches (97 centimeters)

Many of the rides and attractions at Animal Kingdom do not have any height requirements and are available for everyone to experience.

Additionally, here are the attractions at Disney’s Animal Kingdom that do not have height requirements:

• Affection Section 
• The Boneyard 
• Conservation Station 
• Discovery Island Trails 
• Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail 
• It’s Tough to be a Bug! 
• Kilimanjaro Safaris 
• Maharajah Jungle Trek 
• Na’vi River Journey
• Tree of Life 
• Wildlife Express Train

Here are those in that list that are rides rather than attractions and that you can experience whatever height you are:

• Kilimanjaro Safaris 
• Na’vi River Journey
• Wildlife Express Train

There used to be a fourth ride, Triceratops Spin, but this is now closed down.

However, you should be aware that just because an attraction does not have a minimum height requirement to experience it, does not mean that it will be suitable for all guests.

For example, It’s Tough to be a Bug! is open to all guests, but you really should think at least twice before watching this show. It is very intense and definitely not for everyone!

If you have any kind of animal-related fear or phobia this probably isn’t the attraction for you. I have had to leave the show quickly at least twice with a screaming child and haven’t ventured into the show for many years!

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What If Someone Doesn’t Meet the Animal Kingdom Height Requirement?

Fortunately, all is not lost if someone in your party cannot experience the ride as they do not meet the height requirement, or just don’t want to go on the ride for any reason.

You can use:

• RIder Switch
• Single Rider Line

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Rider Switch at Disney World

Sometimes called Disney World Child Swap, Baby Swap, or Rider Swap, the reality is not really a swap in the traditional sense.

Rider Switch is the option you can exercise if everyone in your group can’t ride an attraction at once because of a child who does not meet the height requirement or otherwise won’t ride.

Just because your child meets the height requirement to go on Expedition Everest doesn’t necessarily mean that he wants to!

What Rider Switch allows you to do is for part of your group to experience the ride whilst someone stays with the non-rider.

Once the first group has experienced the ride, they swap with the second party to look after the child. Then the second group goes on the ride, whilst the first group supervises the child.

Here is how Child Swap works in steps:

• Everyone goes to the Cast Member at the entrance to the ride and asks for a Rider Switch Pass.
• All members of the party get a Rider Switch Pass. This used to be a piece of paper, but now it is loaded into My Disney Experience by the Cast Member supervising the ride entrance.
• Group 1 experiences the ride whilst Group 2 looks after the child.
• Someone from Group 1 then looks after the child whilst Group 2 prepares to go on the ride. If anyone from Group 1 wants to ride again, the leading adult from that Group can bring up to 2 guests with them so they can experience the ride twice.
• Group 2 goes to the ride entrance and asks a Cast Member to validate the Rider Swap Pass. They then experience the ride.

Single Rider Line at Disney World

Using the Single Rider Line can also be an option at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Expedition Everest.

Here is a complete guide to all the Disney World attractions which have this:

Disney World Single Rider Lines – The Complete Guide

The Single Rider Line is a separate queue that is sometimes used at popular attractions to fill in available spaces and increase efficiency, thereby reducing ride wait times.

Single Riders can get through the line more quickly because Disney Cast members use them to fill spots rather than split up a group that wants to ride together.

Once the first riders are through with the ride, they can take over as the supervising party for the non-rider.

The waiting party will return to the attraction entrance, get their tickets scanned again, and then go through the appropriate entrance to bypass the regular line.

Using the Single Rider Line at Expedition Everest can be a good option. However, you do need to be aware of two things:

• If you use the Single Rider Line you will. be separated from the rest of your party and not be allowed to ride together. Think about it. If this wasn’t the rule then it simply would not make sense! The Single Rider system is designed to fill in gaps and make ride loading more efficient. This wouldn’t work unless you were seating only one person at a time.
• You can miss some of the interesting parts of the line. This is certainly true in Expedition Everest. The Single Rider Lane takes a different path from the conventional line, and you will miss some of the details in the line.

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