Walt Disney World is currently experiencing an unfortunate, yet historic time as for the first time ever, all of its parks have now been closed for over a week. Yes, that includes all four parks: Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Kingdom. All resorts and transportation have also closed and/or come to a standstill due to concerns over the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

We did our best to cover what was accessible on the ground leading up to the full closure, but when it comes to aerial photos, no one does it like our friend @bioreconstruct, who’s taken to the skies to cover the closure from a birds-eye view. (For more amazing aerial photography of all Disney Parks and beyond, make sure you check out his page and give him a follow for some very unique content!) Let’s take you around and show you a rare look into some now-empty parks. We’ve already covered Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, but now we’re taking the chopper over to the wild side: Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Parking and Entrance:

First off, we have an eerie sight of a fully empty parking lot. Not one van or tram in action!

Moving over towards the entrance, we have a view of the new entrance enhancements at the park, which include the new parking tram loading area, new Purple Martin houses, and an expansive new security screening structure.

Pandora – The World of AVATAR:

Over in Pandora, no visitors passed under the floating mountains, and there was no slightly-burnt smell of freshly roasted meats from Satuli Canteen.

Expedition Everest:

The area surrounding Expedition Everest is more often than not crowded, and a hub of activity, but today, the yeti is likely in S-mode… for Sleep.

Kali River Rapids:

Kali never got to reopen before finishing its refurbishment.

A barn full of rafts for the attraction can be seen here on the left.

Kilimanjaro Safaris:

Moving over to the safari, it seems oddly desolate, but given that these were taken on a hot, sunny day, it’s likely that the animals are hidden under the shaded shelter of the shrubbery.

Here, we see the one instance of human activity at the park: this Cast Member is seen running maintenance on the safari. Note the flamboyance of flamingos huddled by the center of their island.

And lastly, we leave you with this adorable sight of two (according to @bioreconstruct, three if you look very closely) elephants on the savanna. Thankfully for these guys, it’s just another day… albeit an oddly quiet one.

As a reminder, all Walt Disney World Resort parks and hotels are currently closed, as is all resort transportation. While the current re-opening date for Walt Disney World is still set at April 1, many analysts are expecting an extension of the closure, but nothing is official until confirmed or announced by Disney. We hope to be back trekking through the safaris very soon!

Featured Image: @bioreconstruct on Twitter

Jessica Figueroa