22 Years of Animal Kingdom!

[Little Green Men]

Even Epcot in its current state is better than the hodgepodge of a park that is DCA. Not having an eyesore in the likes of Pixar Pier automatically makes it better.

Edit: Even DHS has a better sense of identity than DCA.

Correct

 

[smooch]

Didn't say they couldn't but epcot is by far the worst park even worse than DCA when it first opened

I enjoyed my time at EPCOT last March much more than I enjoy my time at DCA nowadays. If you just care about rides and shows then I could see your stance on the issue, but rides are not the only thing that matters. I was there during the Flower and Garden Festival with both my parents and we all kept going back to EPCOT each day we were there. We had so much fun walking around the World Showcase, we would explore the shows and shops throughout the different countries and ate a whole ton of food.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Today is Earth Day and it's been 22 years since the opening of Animal Kingdom! It's an incredible park with an interesting history. In honor of that, I've posted Part Eight of my series on the True Life Adventure of the creation and evolution of the place over the years. It's a historical journey with trip reports, concept art, ads, and more. You can read it here- with a list to the first seven chapters in case you've missed it. Enjoy!

Nice series!

I'm going to pick one random quote: 'The Safari was next, and the experience landed with a collective thud. I miss the opening days when drivers from the African continent were present. I miss the days I couldn't see so much chain link fence'

So it is not just my imagination. I too have the impression that the real world keeps infringing ever more on the safari. Chain fences abound. The forest part feels more geared towards the $200 Trek than the lowly $129 day guest. There are always people having a drink in the savannah lookout. The elephant enclosure is an upcharge event. All that's missing is a zip line over the savannah and a few jacuzzis.

The exhilirating evocation of vast, infinite space is lost bit by bit, currently at the tipping point between an escape into the African wild and an Oklahoma zoo enclosure.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

In Memoriam:

DAK is the one part of WDW where I don't have the permanent frustration of feeling its best days were in the past.

I really don't miss much from your pictures. Except Pocahontas, which I think is neat in its unassumingness. And a tiny bit the nice walk into CMM. Although Pandora is obviously superior.

 

[networkpro]

No a troll is someone who is being an airhead. My opinion is that epcot in present day is worse than DCA on its first day.

Your comment isn't even tangentially close to the topic of Animal Kingdom reaching 22 years of operation. Thats trollish.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Glad you’re enjoying the series!

 

[DisneyYogini]

DAK was not always a favorite, in fact we considered it a half day park. After moving to the area, this park quickly became my favorite. I utterly enjoy roaming the walking paths and just lingering in the little alcoves no one takes the time to go in.

 

[Jon81uk]

DAK is the one part of WDW where I don't have the permanent frustration of feeling its best days were in the past.

I really don't miss much from your pictures. Except Pocahontas, which I think is neat in its unassumingness. And a tiny bit the nice walk into CMM. Although Pandora is obviously superior.

I agree, it feels that every addition has added to the park has expanded it in a good way, as you say none of the removals are particularly missed. The only minor is the style of the animation experience at Rafikis is a bit amateur looking. The only majorly bad addition was Up a bird adventure.

 

[FettFan]

How on earth can epcot be your favorite park? Its a horrible mess with nothing. Laughable

I could easily say the same thing about Animal Kingdom. Might as well just make the hour drive to Busch Gardens; they do the blended zoo/theme park concept much better.

 

[Raineman]

Your comment isn't even tangentially close to the topic of Animal Kingdom reaching 22 years of operation. Thats trollish.

If you want to discuss differing viewpoints on a subject on this forum, do not do it with the person you just replied to. They will continuously sound like a troll with their "opinions" and not listen to reason and logic-see the "Florida Resident Disney Vloggers On YouTube" thread. It's like bashing your head on a brick wall when you try to have a reasonable discussion/debate with them.

 

[networkpro]

I agree, it feels that every addition has added to the park has expanded it in a good way, as you say none of the removals are particularly missed. The only minor is the style of the animation experience at Rafikis is a bit amateur looking. The only majorly bad addition was Up a bird adventure.

The Animation experience is a direct transplant from Disneyquest.

 

[Jon81uk]

The Animation experience is a direct transplant from Disneyquest.

Yes but it is done on temporary looking chairs rather than in a nice permanent setting. If they could make it look more professional it would be a better looking experiance.

 

[Getachew]

I've grown an appreciation for AK over the years.

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

My first trip was in Feb 1997 on a school trip and I remember my teacher getting a ‘one-sheeter’ of AK park literature talking about its eventual opening when Disney sent our tickets, etc. to the school in late 1996. But being that this was really pre-Internet*, so these few paragraphs were all the information we had. I remember thinking that since AK wouldn’t be open for our trip in ‘97, that I might go back to Disney one day lol.

*Note: I still consider this pre-Internet being that webpages we’re not updated very often and did not contain a whole lot of information due to dialup speeds.