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Kali River Rapids


Wallpaper pictures of "Kali River Rapids," a white-water rafting adventure in the Asia section of Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park - presented in 4:3 regular and 16:9 widescreen formats!


Set on the swift flowing and often turbulent Chakranadi River (Sanskrit for "river that flows in a circle") in the town of Anandapur, "Kali River Rapids" is a raft ride that takes passengers through a lush jungle set in south Asia.

Disney's Animal Kingdom - Asia - June of 1998

When Disney's Animal Kingdom opened to the public on April 22, 1998, one of the biggest problems was the lack of rides and things to do.  Like the early version of the Disney-MGM Studios theme park, it only took about half a day to see and do most of the activities in the park.  But with today's generation of theme park guests, how many of them wanted to sit through educational and innovating shows, and how many of them wanted to go on rides?  The Disney theme parks are world famous for their highly themed and quite entertaining rides, and Disney's Animal Kingdom was in dire need of more of them.

Luckily, the lack of rides problem was already noted back in the mid 1990s during final designing and initial stages of construction.  The "Maharajah Jungle Trek" animal trail and "Tiger Rapids Run" family river raft ride were approved for construction around 1996-97, and when the park opened in 1998 the construction on the first additions to the park were well underway.

Kali River Rapids - December 1998 - 01 Kali River Rapids - December 1998 - 02

By the Fall of 1998, the new rides in Asia were already on the park's guidemap.  At some point during the construction, the name of the raft ride changed from "Tiger Rapids Run" to "Kali River Rapids."  Then again, this wasn't the first time for an area or attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom to have its name changed.  "Dinosaur" was originally known as "Countdown to Extinction (a.k.a. CTX)," the "Pangani Forest Exploration Trail" used to be called "Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail," and even Discovery Island used to be known as Safari Village.

Kali River Rapids - March 1999 - 01 Kali River Rapids - March 1999 - 02

"Kalie River Rapids" officially opened to the public on March 18, 1999.  The ride originally had a minimum height requirement of 42".

Kali River Rapids - August 1999

The summer of 1999 saw the emergence of Disney's revolutionary FastPass system.  "Kali River Rapids" was quickly added to this system to help alleviate the brutally long lines that quickly formed during peak season and during the heat of the summer.

Kali River Rapids - late 2001 - 01 Kali River Rapids - late 2001 - 02

By 2001, the minimum height requirement had dropped to 38", allowing that many more of the smaller park guests to enjoy the ride.  A similar change happened around in 2000 when "Countdown to Extinction" was essentially tamed down to the current version of the ride known today as "Dinosaur."

Kali River Rapids - 2009 - 01 Kali River Rapids - 2009 - 02

Today, "Kali River Rapids" is an incredibly popular raft ride, especially during the summer and other peak travel periods.  The line for the ride between Christmas and New Year's Day will be just as long as during the Fourth of July.  The water effects are toned down during the cooler times of the year, so this is one outdoor water ride that is open year round.

"Kali River Rapids" starts out by going through a line queue that winds its way around the jungle landscape before going through several temples and shrines dedicated to creatures such as tigers, birds and even reptiles.  The line queue goes through the "Kali Rapids Expeditions" office before proceeding to the loading / unloading station.  The station is actually a pagoda on top of a giant rotating turntable, keeping the rafts in constant motion and allowing them to be loaded and unloaded as quickly as possible.  This is the same method of loading and unloading the rafts as used at "Popey and Bluto's Blige Rat Barges" at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure theme park.

After boarding the twelve passenger raft, we drift around a corner before making the slow climb up a giant lift hill.  A thick bamboo forest (hot and steamy in the summer) surrounds us as we climb higher and higher up the mountain.  Gysers and small waterfalls are waiting to get our raft wet at the top of the hill.  If you look closely at a certain waterfall on the left side of the river, you'll see that the rocky formation is actually a giant face of a tiger.

On top of the mountain we see that the jungle looks a little bit more sparce than it should be.  Sounds of chainsaws and people cutting down trees are heard as we see less of the jungle and more areas of deforestation.  A semi-truck full of logs has partially slipped into the river.  The bank of the river had become unstable and the truck is now stuck and on the edge of falling into the river.  The company responsible for the cutting down of the jungle is Tetak Logging Company.  On a side note, this part of the ride gives riders an excellent view of the neighboring Forbidden Mountain.

The river carries us around another bend and underneath a giant, recently fallen tree.  The tree is burning and we can feel the heat of the fire as we pass underneath it.  But waiting for us is . . . a waterfall!  The 30-foot drop is quick but fun, and after that we're riding through bigger waves in the river as we're back in the jungle.  The raft passes through a cave and then we're back in the town of Anandapur.  The Chakranadi River calms down and the rafts go past the Siamang temple filled with monkeys before going underneath a pedestrian bridge.

After the bridge is one last surprise --- a pair of elephant statues that squirt the raft.  Making the experience more entertaining to those watching the rafts from above, the elephants are controlled by people standing on the bridge.  After the elephants, the rafts arrive back at the pagoda station, ending the ride.

Overall, "Kali River Rapids" is a short but fun raft ride.  I certainly wouldn't call it thrilling, and the drop is not intense at all, but it's still a fun ride even if it doesn't completly drench the raft like its counterpart in Islands of Adventure.  This is a highly themed white-water raft ride that is still incredibly popular today.  Take advantage of using FastPass or risk waiting over 90 minutes during the hot months and busy seasons.


Note - Each picture can be opened in one of two styles - regular (4:3 ratio) and widescreen (16:10 ratio). You may download and share these pictures, but please, do not modify or alter them in any way!  All shared photos must be referred back to this website!

The above Disney's Animal Kingdom guidemap pictures are (c) The Walt Disney Company.


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Warning - There will be some slight variations between the regular and widescreen pictures!


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Disney's Animal Kingdom - Asia - Kali River Rapids - advertisement sign - 01 - Disney's Animal Kingdom - Asia - "Kali River Rapids" - advertisement sign - 01 - regular

Kali River Rapids - directional sign (old version) - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - directional sign (old version) - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - directional sign (current version) - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - directional sign (current version) - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - directional sign (current version) - 02 - "Kali River Rapids" - directional sign (current version) - 02 - regular

Kali River Rapids - temple - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - temple - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - temple - 02 - "Kali River Rapids" - temple - 02 - regular

Kali River Rapids - line queue - temple - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - line queue - temple - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - line queue - temple - 02 - line queue - temple - 02 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - line queue - statues - 01 - line queue - statues - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - line queue - 01 - line queue - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - line queue - Kali River Expeditions office - 01 - line queue - Kali River Expeditions office - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - line queue - Kali River Expeditions office - Jungle Jumparoo - 01 - line queue - Kali River Expeditions office - "Jungle Jumparoo" - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - line queue - Kali River Expeditions office - Rajah Run Around - 01 - line queue - Kali River Expeditions office - "Rajah Run Around" - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - line queue - Kali River Expeditions office - Trisuli Twister - 01 - line queue - Kali River Expeditions office - "Trisuli Twister" - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - line queue - loading station - 01 - line queue - loading station - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - bamboo forest - loading station - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - bamboo forest - loading station - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - Chakranadi River - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - Chakranadi River - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - Chakranadi River - 02 - Chakranadi River - 02 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - Chakranadi River - 03 - Chakranadi River - 03 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - Chakranadi River - 04 - Chakranadi River - 04 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - spraying elephants - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - spraying elephants - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - spraying elephants - 02 - spraying elephants - 02 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - spraying elephants - 03 - spraying elephants - 03 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - spraying elephants - 04 - spraying elephants - 04 - regular

Kali River Rapids - end of the ride - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - end of the ride - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - end of the ride - 02 - end of the ride - 02 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - end of the ride - 03 - end of the ride - 03 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - loading station - flags - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - loading station - flags - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - night - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - night - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - night - spraying elephants - 01 - "Kali River Rapids" - night - spraying elephants - 01 - regular, widescreen

Kali River Rapids - night - spraying elephants - 02 - "Kali River Rapids" - night - spraying elephants - 02 - regular, widescreen