A Review of Disney’s Animal Kingdom
The first time I visited Walt Disney World last fall, one of the parks stood out to me as a lifelong fan of zoos was Disney's Animal Kingdom. Out of all of the zoos and theme parks that I have visited, Disney’s Animal Kingdom is a prime example of what occurs when both zoos and theme parks are combined to create a magnum opus of Disney Imagineers. Animal Kingdom consists of six different themed areas: The Oasis, Discovery Island, Pandora: World of Avatar, Africa, Asia, and Dinoland USA.
The Oasis: A “Main Street equivalent” that transitions you from the outside world, to the natural and animal world. The Oasis achieves this by using a large amount of foliage that blocks out the outside world mentally as the guest will now only care about how dense the vegetation is here and visually as the trees and plants all do a very good job of blocking out the outside world and obscuring it from view. Then it transitions into Discovery Island over a wooden bridge.
Discovery Island: This land is an island that serves as the “hub” for this park as the hub is the center of Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. At the center of the area, there is the Tree of Life: a 145 foot tall and 50 foot wide artificial baobab tree that serves as the park’s icon and is home to the show “It’s tough to be a bug”. Both of these lands serve as great introductory lands, not unlike Main Street, USA, but unlike Main Street, the guest is taken into the world of animals instead of fantasy.
Pandora World of Avatar: A land that is themed to the planet from the movie Avatar that depicts the Valley of Mo’ara. This land is world renowned for its floating mountains, bioluminescent plants and unique attractions such as Flight of Passage, which allow you to fly on the back of a banshee. Every land in this park also has a backstory. The backstory for Pandora is that you are an ecotourist visiting Pandora by way of the Alpha Centauri Expeditions. This is my favorite land at DAK because it is visually stunning because of its “floating” mountains and its authenticity as the area looks as if it was pulled straight out of the world of the movie.
Africa: Like a zoo, DAK is broken up into lands that are themed to continents. Africa is the one that is home to Kilimanjaro Safaris, an realistic African safari experience that features African wildlife in a recreation of their natural savannah habitat. Animals that can be seen on the tour are zebras, giraffes, and lions. In Africa, the town depicted is an East Africa village called Harambe which makes its money off of ecotourism. This area is very photorealistic, as if taken from a National Geographic magazine, and is one of the best areas to view animals from both the animal trails and Kilimanjaro Safaris.
Asia: Unlike Africa, this land does not include a safari ride. Instead the main focus of this land is a roller coaster called Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, where you take a train up from the foothills of the Himalayas and are attacked by the Yeti who does not enjoy the company. Asia is also home to a long walking trail that features tigers, komodo dragons and many birds of various species. Asia’s backstory is set in the fictional kingdom of Anandapur which is also open to ecotourism. Asia is also very photorealistic, and I can attest as I have been to Bali, Indonesia, which was one of the inspirations for the Southeast Asian kingdom of Anandapur and is home to Expedition Everest, the best roller coaster I have ever experienced.
Dinoland USA: Finally, Dinoland USA is supposed to represent the extinct creatures that once roamed the earth through a recreation of the roadside attractions that once populated the US highways. This land’s backstory is very complicated, so just to summarize, some dino fossils were found here and now the place is swarming with both tourists and scientists. This area also is home to a carnival midway meant for the park’s younger guests. At the back of the land is the central focus of it, The Dino Institute is where guests may go on a ride called Dinosaur which takes you back in time to save an iguanodon right before the extinction of the dinosaurs. This ride uses the exact same ride system and layout as the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.
Animal Kingdom was the first non-castle Disney park that I have visited. I have to say that I am impressed with it, because it goes above and beyond the call of duty for a themed zoo. I believe that zoo and theme park enthusiasts will love this unique, Walt Disney World only offering.