Hi,
animal kingdom is one of my fave parks i love going so much to see and do but people overlook the beauty and animals within this park and just focus on the rides.
so here are some of my opinions for your upcoming trip.
well for your family I would look at reviews for tough to be a bug and for dinosaur. the 2 year old may find the tough to be a bug a little intimidating especially with Hopper interupting the show and the spiders coming from the roof it makes even some adults cower in their seats. it is fun but i have heard alot of kids scared.
same with Dinosaur, the tag line for the ride is "its fast, a blast and from the past" or somthing to that effect. basically you board a dark ride style vehicle which has enhanced movment to create the feel of very offroad terrain. the vehicle does throw you about and with the added noise and lighting effects with the giant animatronic dinos it does become quite a scary attraction for small children,
i would maybe advise riding alone first before you send your elderly family and child on the ride just to make sure it is somthing you want to do. i know my grandads heart would suffer on that ride lol
anyways that out the way lets get on witha ll the fun your gonna have at Animal Kingdom...
over in Camp Mickey Minnie you have the lion king show, a fantastic festival feel with some light audience participation a real fun show, the show runs at half past every hour, i always heard their towards the end of the day, make sure you arrive on the hour and spend a bit of time before the show to see mickey and minnie before heading in to the show.
first thing to do at Animal kingdom if you are heading their early is killimunjaro safaris the animals seem more awake if you go first thing , they have just been fed and are wide awake and moving around to get the best pictures and get the most of your experience.
on my last trip it was quite cool and the lions were moving around alot, with the cooler air the animals wander more often.
after kilimunjaro i always chow down on a fruit pack from the african style market laid out. it contains strawberries, crackers and cheese and grapes. nice and refreshing.
i then head over to the treks, the treks arent that long in my opinion, me and my wife tend to get through them quite quickly, it depends how long you want to spend in the area.
in the asian trek you have tigers and the lovely bird house encllosure to see. in africa you have the meerkats, african cattle and the Gorilla enclosures.
near the expedition everest you have the Nemo Musical, a really fun musical version of the finding nemo story, complete with puppets and songs.
im sure heading out of the theatre you will be singing along with Crush and the gang.
Kali River Rapids, dont forget to store your eletronics in the lockers provided you will get wet, people from the bridges above can also shoot you with water jets now too. i would leave this ride as either the last ride of the day or the ride that you go on to cool down during the heat of the day. ive seen people wearing ponchos and they still get wet you cant escape that water lol