Up Close With Rhinos vs Caring For Giants

[Yodasnuggs]

Has anyone done one or both of these tours and if so, would you be willing to provide some feedback?

Per the descriptions, it appears the rhino encounter is more of an actual encounter (up close) vs just sort of looking at and talking about elephants from a distance.

Based on animal preference alone I was automatically leaning towards the elephants but the rhinos probably seem like a more exciting time? If I can, say, touch a rhino that would for sure outweigh my general love for elephants.

 

[Minthorne]

You can touch a rhino. You can’t get that close to an elephant. I’ve done both and I preferred the rhino experience myself.

 

[RememberWhen]

We did the rhino experience a couple years ago and it was fantastic. Not too expensive. Not too long. Got to touch a rhino! Excellent. 10/10 would definitely do again.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Rhino is the way to go. It was amazing to touch one. It is hard to get though it books fast. The elephant tour was nice too but if I could pick between the two it would be Rhino all the way.

 

[StarshipDisney]

We did the Caring for Giants tour in 2022 only to be disappointed by not having any elephants to see in the backstage pen they took us to. The cast member said they must be sleeping somewhere out of sight but that our tour fees would go to a good cause. That was of very little benefit, and she did not offer a future tour or any form of payback. So, all we got was a bus ride, seeing an empty pen along with an elephant tooth and elephant poop the cast member had in a bag with her.

I am sure this may not be typical of this tour. It has to be better than what we experienced. But be aware that you could get ripped off like we did, and Disney could not care less if you do.

 

[Yodasnuggs]

Thank you all!! This is exactly the feedback I was looking for. AKA, I just really want someone to tell me that yes, I can touch a rhino.

 

[NelleBelle]

We, too, are looking at one of these tours. I know that we'd have chosen the elephant tour initially but hearing you can get that close to a rhino has tipped us in the opposite direction. My mom really wanted to do the Wild Africa trek but given her balance issues, I don't think she could manage that tour very well. Just the fact that you're in harness made it a hard pass for her. But I think she'd love the rhinos!

 

[PSUDisney77]

Good to know the rhino tour is better. Hoping we get to do this four our trip in late April as my 5 year old is very much into animals. With 6 people in our party though, it sounds like this may be difficult to secure being limited.

 

[Swissmiss]

We, too, are looking at one of these tours. I know that we'd have chosen the elephant tour initially but hearing you can get that close to a rhino has tipped us in the opposite direction. My mom really wanted to do the Wild Africa trek but given her balance issues, I don't think she could manage that tour very well. Just the fact that you're in harness made it a hard pass for her. But I think she'd love the rhinos!

If I recall properly that they can make an accommodation for someone with mobility issues on the Wild Africa trek - she would have to be in the harness for safety reasons while walking in certain backstage areas but rather than going over the bridge she could get in the truck that eventually picks up the rest of the tour on the other side. If she really wants to do it, you should ask about that possibility because it was a great tour.

 

[RememberWhen]

Did the elephant tour a few weeks ago. I thought, for the price, it was lovely. As said above we’ve also done the rhino tour. If given the choice I would do either again. Definitely a “try for rhinos, but take elephants if that’s all that’s available” situation. Plus side of elephants was being able to take pictures.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Has anyone done one or both of these tours and if so, would you be willing to provide some feedback?

Per the descriptions, it appears the rhino encounter is more of an actual encounter (up close) vs just sort of looking at and talking about elephants from a distance.

Based on animal preference alone I was automatically leaning towards the elephants but the rhinos probably seem like a more exciting time? If I can, say, touch a rhino that would for sure outweigh my general love for elephants.

Our experience with Caring for Giants was exactly like you described. They stayed way across the field closer to the Safari trucks than by us. We were really disappointed not only in that but that there was no "caring for giants" on the tour. I actually thought they would take us into their enclosure and show the daily "care" given to the animals. I didn't expect to watch them from afar. I could have done that on the safari. Maybe someone else had a wonderful time and that's great, but we won't do it again.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

We did the Caring for Giants tour in 2022 only to be disappointed by not having any elephants to see in the backstage pen they took us to. The cast member said they must be sleeping somewhere out of sight but that our tour fees would go to a good cause. That was of very little benefit, and she did not offer a future tour or any form of payback. So, all we got was a bus ride, seeing an empty pen along with an elephant tooth and elephant poop the cast member had in a bag with her.

I am sure this may not be typical of this tour. It has to be better than what we experienced. But be aware that you could get ripped off like we did, and Disney could not care less if you do.

We were never even taken to a backstage pen!!! We never even got to see an elephant tooth or some poop, LOL.
We were taken directly to the field for viewing, and the only views we got were the elephants on the other side of the field close up to the safari trucks. Very disappointing. Maybe they changed the tour when we were there to no more backstage viewing. Even that would have been more exciting than our "tour".