We Were Wilderness Explorers at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!

We’ve been to Walt Disney World a few times now and we’re really starting to savor the balance of returning to old favorites and trying new things. This time around, we tried something new at Disney’s Animal Kingdom… we completed the Wilderness Explorers program!

This attraction isn’t fast or flashy, but it is definitely a must-do!

Wilderness Explorers at Animal Kingdom

Wilderness Explorers is an interactive game/scavenger hunt at Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Park admission is required to participate, but the program is free! Like Russell from the film Up, Wilderness Explorers of all ages can earn badges by completing tasks throughout the park.

The badges are stickers which can be placed in the Wilderness Explorers handbook. The badges represent the topic explored at that station, such as a boot for the hiking badge.

We picked up our handbook at the first Wilderness Explorer station we came to, which we found by the bridge from The Oasis to Discovery Island. This is the “main” station, but all Wilderness Explorer badge guides have copies of the handbook in case you miss the first station.

The handbooks are free to anyone, child or adult, who wants to participate.

The Wilderness Must Be Explored!

While picking up our handbook, we pledged to uphold the Wilderness Explorers motto:

A Wilderness Explorer is friend to all, be it plants or fish or tiny mole.

After we finished our pledge, we made our way through the park, stopping at Wilderness Explorer stations as we made our way to other attractions.

Wilderness Explorer Stations

Multiple badge guides were stationed in the areas of the park (Africa, Asia, Dinoland USA, Discovery Island, Oasis, and Pandora). Each of these locations could be found on a simplified map in the front of our Wilderness Explorer handbook. It was easy enough for the children to follow and we didn’t have any trouble finding the Wilderness Explorer stations.

My 5-year-old really surprised me with his love for reading the map and leading us to the next station. He was very eager to collect our badges.

All three kids used their eagle eyes to find the “WE” symbol at the next stop!

At each Wilderness Explorer station, a badge guide led us through an activity designed to deepen our understanding of the natural world and how human interaction affects it. These activities were related to the land we were in and its plant and animal residents. Badge guides used props, asked intriguing questions, and helped us work through our handbooks.

Other badge guides had activities for us to do, like animal hunts for backyard buddies! The animals in this activity weren’t live ones, but it was still a lot of fun.

All of the badge guides did well keeping my three children interested in the topics they were discussing. Considering the wide range of ages in our family, that’s an accomplishment!

We were able to complete each station in just a few minutes. We didn’t need to wait in line for any of them, either! (That’s always a plus at a theme park.) A couple times we arrived at the Wilderness Explorer station just as another group was approaching. In those cases, we did need to keep our distance from both the badge guide and the group. We could still hear and we could interact as needed.

Our Favorite Stations

It’s hard to pick a single favorite of all the Wilderness Explorer stations, but one of the many stations we really enjoyed was found near the entrance to Expedition Everest. There we learned about the Yeti and other cryptids, like Nessie and the Chupacabra, and it sparked conversations about yet-to-be-discovered animals all day long. It was the most intriguing and inspiring station.

Other stations featured items used by the residents of Animal Kingdom, like their old toys! And we loved those, too.

Can you guess which animal played with this ball? Look closely to see if you’re right!

We guessed it belonged to an elephant… we were wrong!

One of the Wilderness Explorer stations was all about plants and included live specimens. We quickly identified the carnivore in the bunch: a Venus flytrap!

My son absolutely loved the Wilderness Explorer station near Dinosaur and was able to successfully match 3 out of 4 dinosaur teeth to a model of the dinosaur it came from! He was very proud of himself.

Earning Wilderness Explorer Badges

All stations coordinated neatly with the pages in the Wilderness Explorer handbook. Each focused on a specific topic. The badges were made specifically for those pages and fit neatly into icons on the top right or left of the page.

To fill the Wilderness Explorer handbook entirely, we needed 32 stickers from badge guides around the park.

If you can’t finish all of the badges in one day, you can still achieve a Wilderness Explorer ranking. Wilderness Explorer rankings are provided based on the number of badges earned. Earn 5 badges to reach the Tadpole ranking, 10 for Minnow, 20 for Fish, and all 32 to obtain the rank of Senior Wilderness Explorer.

When we earned our final badges, we obtained the rank of Senior Wilderness Explorer! We also received a small reward!

(Spoiler alert: the reward is a large Senior Wilderness Explorer sticker. My kids loved it!)

We managed to get all of the badges it in a single day, but it was exhausting. We worked on it all day and finished right at 5:00PM, park closing time.

It doesn’t have to be done in one day, though. You can bring your Wilderness Explorer handbook back anytime to complete the program. We’d probably have chosen this option if we had planned another Animal Kingdom day during this trip. Spreading this scavenger hunt out over at least two days would be my recommendation for other families, especially if you have any little legs in your group.

Our Overall Experience

We absolutely loved this program! The badge guides were knowledgeable and excellent at working with children. Kind and patient, they answered all of our questions about their topics and then some.

We also felt that the Wilderness Explorer handbook made a great souvenir. It also gave us more focus when moving around the park.

The handbook also has a few spaces for drawing and a few pages for notes (a field journal) at the end. These activities kept my kids busy while waiting in lines and for lunch, which was an unexpected benefit.

We’ll definitely do it again. Even though we earned all of the badges, a difference in travel party or badge guide will make for a unique experience on each visit!

Plan Your Visit

Animal Kingdom
551 Rainforest Road
Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32830
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