The Lion King Inspired Adventures at Zoo Miami

The Lion King is officially out on BLU-RAY and DVD and to celebrate this release, my family and I were invited to attend a behind the scenes tour of Zoo Miami.

We were up bright and early and though we were tired (having stayed up pretty late the night before), we were excited about The Lion King inspired adventures that awaited up at Zoo Miami.

Greeted by Ron, we kicked off with the event hearing some of his stories about working on the original film and attending the premiere for the film. He even showed us the poster he had signed by people who worked on the film. Want to know more about the original film? Check out these 7 The Lion King Facts I learned from the D23 Expo Panel

Once we were situated on the tram, we made our way around the zoo hearing about the animals and some fun facts along the way. The best parts were the animal interactions.

The Lion King Inspired Adventures at Zoo Miami

Fun fact: Camels don’t store water in their humps, they actually store fat.

The Giraffes

Our first animal interaction was getting to feed carrots to the giraffes. I am sure you spotted giraffes in The Lion King but getting so see them up close and personal and getting to feed them was quite cool.

Tip: Don’t turn your back to them if you don’t have food to give them, they may just nibble on your hair some. Yes, I am speaking from personal experience, LOL.

The Elephants

After searching for treats that the trainers put in various hay stacks, the elephants made their way towards us. One in specific showed off their various talents…showing us their ears, lifting up a foot and speaking.

The Chimpanzees

Recognizing Ron’s voice (and therefore knowing he came bearing snacks), 4 chimpanzees made their way in front of us. Despite occasionally intercepting snacks that weren’t meant for them, they were all so well behaved. One of them smiled for us (multiple times) and another one stood to catch her snacks. They are so smart!

The Lions

Most of the main characters of the film are lions (It can’t be a spoiler since the name of the movie is The LION King), so of course we made our way over there. While I have only really ever seen the lions laying around, one of the trainers came out to chat with us and to give them snacks (horse meat) so that we could see them interact. There at the zoo, they have 2 males but there is still one that is in charge. That is the one we saw getting the snacks.

Tip: get to the zoo right when it opens because that’s when you’ll see the animals the most active.

A Rhino

Even though the rhino isn’t a character in The Lion King, they happen to have one in the back that is older and suffers from arthritis, so they took us back there to feed him. As he slowly made his way towards us, I was excited because I have never fed a rhino before.

We hadn’t been to Zoo Miami in what feels like forever, so getting the chance to experience it in a way that allowed us to learn more about the animals while getting to engage with them was really fun. If you ever get the chance, stop by Metro Zoo and take the behind the scenes tour. It is totally worth it.

The Lion King is officially on BLU-RAY and DVD. Be sure to get your copy today…it is definitely worth adding to your collection.