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Little Red, the Baby Elephant Pulled From Kilimanjaro Safaris in 2012, Is Back on View, but Only on Animal Kingdom's $39 Elephant Tour
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Little Red, the Baby Elephant Pulled From Kilimanjaro Safaris in 2012, Is Back on View, but Only on Animal Kingdom's $39 Elephant Tour

Michael Travels
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Published

Little Red spent more than a decade backstage, out of view for most guests. Now the baby elephant from the original Kilimanjaro Safaris is standing in the greenery along a backstage tour route, ears out, with a name card planted in front of it.

WDW News Today published photos on Tuesday, September 22, confirming that the Audio-Animatronic figure is back in a guest-facing spot at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The catch: it is visible only to guests on the Caring for Giants tour.

A life-size baby elephant figure with its ears spread wide stands facing the camera among green fern-like plants, in front of a wire fence and wooden posts with trees behind

Little Red on display at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Photo: WDW News Today

Who Little Red is

Little Red was part of Kilimanjaro Safaris back when the ride told an anti-poaching story. That storyline was cut in 2012, and Little Red went backstage with it. WDWMagic reports the figure turned up in 2013 behind Pride Rock, outside a cast services building, where most guests never saw it.

Where it is now

Word of the return surfaced in April, when a post on X on April 19 said Little Red could be seen on Caring for Giants and "at the back of the 2nd elephant yard." WDWNT and WDWMagic both reported it then, each embedding that post. What is new today is WDWNT's own set of photos, and the outlet says the figure has "been placed on a viewing platform."

Those photos also show a small Walt Disney World sign in the mulch in front of it, reading "Little Red" Audio-Animatronic Figure, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, Walt Disney World Resort. The same sign is visible in the photos attached to the April post on X.

The baby elephant figure stands at the back of a bed of fern-like plants and pine straw, with a white Walt Disney World placard on a stake in the foreground

Little Red and its Walt Disney World placard. Photo: WDW News Today

In an April follow-up, the same poster said the figure may be "on loan" to the tour team, Inside the Magic reported, which would make this a temporary placement rather than a permanent reinstall. Disney has not said how long it will stay.

How to see it

Caring for Giants is a guided, 60-minute tour focused on Animal Kingdom's African elephant herd. Disney lists it at $39 per person, plus tax, and guests watch the herd from roughly 80 to 100 feet away. Guests must be at least 4 years old, and anyone under 18 must be accompanied by a participating adult. Theme park admission is required and is not included.

No report so far has it returning to the safari ride. For now, Little Red is a backstage bonus for tour guests.

Side view of the baby elephant figure among fern-like plants, head in profile facing right, trunk hanging down, with a wire fence and Spanish moss covered trees behind

A side view of Little Red in the backstage greenery. Photo: WDW News Today

Sources

Image credits: All photos by WDW News Today.

Mentioned in this story

Check out our guides for more on each place in this story:

Animal Kingdom Kilimanjaro Safaris

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