Disney’s Animal Kingdom Awakens With New Dining and Entertainment
Disney's Animal Kingdom has kicked off the summer season in a big way with a new lounge and restaurant, a reimagined attraction, and new nighttime entertainment — all of which add a whole new layer to the park.
The largest, or should I say "lion's share," of the additions take place after the sun goes down. There is one new experience that will have all the Disney foodies talking and that is the new Signature Restaurant, Tiffins, and its companion bar area, the Nomad Lounge.
Tiffins is located behind — actually, connected to — Pizzafari along the path that will lead guests to Pandora: The World of Avatar next year and is modeled after Carthay Circle restaurant at Disney California Adventure as an upper scale restaurant which is reflected by the menu options and price points.
Guests are greeted at the front desk and issued a pager and invited to sit in the lobby area or enjoy the Nomad Lounge. The check-in desk has a beautiful carved wood map of the world with small castles representing each location of a Disney Park including the soon to be open Shanghai Disneyland.
Tiffins has three distinct dining rooms, each with their own theme. The Safari Gallery, the former Camouflage Room of Pizzafari, is the largest of the three with beautiful light up animals that reminded me of Discovery Island and the Tree of Life.
The Grand Gallery has some of the details that influenced the design of the nearby village of Harambe.
Last is the Trek Gallery that's influenced from the Asia part of the park with its prayer flag wall art.
For me the highlight of this new location is the Nomad Lounge.
It is a perfect place to take a break from the busy day in the park and relax and enjoy a wide variety of libations or small plate options.
For those that enjoy private label beers, Tiffins and Nomad Lounge are home to the Kungaloosh. If you are a Pleasure Island fan, I am sure you are saying to yourself that drink sounds familiar. Well, it is not the former signature drink of the Adventurers Club but a spiced excursion ale draft beer brewed only for this location.
There is also a wide variety of options to keep any bar crawler busy for days.
Now for the main draw of Disney's Animal Kingdom at night head to the next page.
As the sun goes down night comes alive with the Tree of Life Awakens shows. Every 15 minutes or so, the Tree has one of four different shows projected on it, much like the Celebrate the Magic show at Magic Kingdom.
For those of you looking for a new way to look at a classic attraction, the Kilimanjaro Safari now extends into the dark. While not as exciting as the day trips, it does provide a chance to see some of the animals, if they are in the right spots along a shortened route (some more active but most in the dark).
But the main attraction of Disney's Animal Kingdom after dark is the Jungle Book: Alive With Magic. This new nighttime show takes place in the new river amphitheater that will soon be the home of Rivers of Light and incorporates some of the elements that will be used for that show. 
While this show has been met with less than stellar reviews, I really enjoyed it. The music is pulled from the new live action film with scenes projected on the mist screens and a mix of live vocalists and dancers are located all around the three stages, along the banks and floating in the river. But don't take my word for it — watch the first official performance:
Be sure to visit Disney's Animal Kingdom this summer while hours extend as late as 11 p.m. to see this park truly glow and maybe catch a view of fireworks from Disney's Hollywood Studios.