AK Attraction changes. Why?

[Figmentation]

KS still focuses on conservation and the dangers of poaching in the queue.

The story was removed because Disney felt it took away from the experience. Which I believe to be true. I honestly could of cared less about the poaching storyline. You also still have elements in place from the story though as well, like the guys flying overhead and the music on the radio (To give the cast member talking a good 5 minute break from speaking)

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

The changes being cheaper were just a wee bonus.

 

[Figaro928]

You also still have elements in place from the story though as well, like the guys flying overhead and the music on the radio (To give the cast member talking a good 5 minute break from speaking)

The CM tour guides on KS have to some of the hardest working of the bunch.

 

[fosse76]

When I first rode KS, it still had the plot. After riding, my first reaction was the plot was unecessary. Not all rides have to be treated like a movie, where you need a plot with a resolution. I thought "guests on a safari to see animals" was all the plot that was needed. It didn't really add anything to the experience, because the reality is people ride KS to see the animals (similarily, people ride Kali River to get wet).

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

When I first rode KS, it still had the plot. After riding, my first reaction was the plot was unecessary. Not all rides have to be treated like a movie, where you need a plot with a resolution. I thought "guests on a safari to see animals" was all the plot that was needed. It didn't really add anything to the experience, because the reality is people ride KS to see the animals (similarily, people ride Kali River to get wet).

Perhaps let's put it this way, a real good storyline and impressive effects could have enhanced the experience of the safari, but the "save the baby elefant from the bad poachers" was nothing like that. The bus drove a little faster for a few moments, we heard some rather unconvincing dialogue over radio and then we saw the fake "baby elephant" (actually mostly its trunk) in the back of a lorry. It was neither interesting nor impressive and that's why no one misses it (I definitely don't). Include a different storyline with much more action and special effetcs and this could change everything.

 

[Phonedave]

The one thing that the old story did do was to give a reason (albeit a lame one) as to why your 2 week safari had to be cut to about 20 minutes.


-dave

 

[DABIGCHEEZ]

The CM tour guides on KS have to some of the hardest working of the bunch.

Elephants eat between 225 and 500 lbs. of food a day, just saying

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

This sign is still up in the queue line...

 

[EricJ]

Um..I sound really ignorant here but what is the KS plot? And there was a plot to Kali besides soaking you and destroying any electronics you didn't protect properly?

If you paid attention (ie. focused on the surroundings, to help avoid any thoughts of being splashed later), the "plot" of Kali was that you were traveling through an Indian forest that was being dangerously slash-and-burn timber harvested, and that caused the water runoffs to run more out of control.
Thus, like the poacher KS plot, providing the modicum of "Message".

(Yep, I'm the one who keeps his mind on such things. )

 

[BoarderPhreak]

This KS scene, near the end - is gone...



Part of the deforestation story on KRR...

 

[righttrack]

The KS story only really worked for the little ones. Adults and older kids just kind of looked at each other bemused. Disney needs to make these things appeal ages 6-60 with re-ride appeal too. I don't miss the story from KS, in fact it detracted from it's re-rideability, IMO. A Jungle Cruise on steroids, indeed, but no way to control the full outcome because sometimes the animals are out, and sometimes they aren't. By removing the story, some of the time elements are more favorable to watch the animals and go through where they are not more easily, I'm sure.

 

[Mouse_Trap]

Wasn't the original main feature of AK that conservation was meant to feature highly?

i.e it wasn't a zoo, Conservation Station, the theming of Kali and KS, environmental issues featuring highly.

It all seems to have been dumbed down over the years. The last time I rode, I felt it was shockingly obvious of the complete disconnect between the theming and videos in the queue and the entire ride.

I hope they bring it back closer to the original soon. Who cares if some people get a little upset, maybe it makes them think twice about some of their actions?

I think some people may have found being preached at after paying for a vacation to be a little much and in the original versions of both these rides the message was rather heavy handed and one sided and in some cases if the parents didn't like the message they wouldn't let their kids go. I went to AK about 2 years after it opened with friends who work on the conservation side of a timber company and they got upset enough about the preaching on Kali they left the park and I got to listen to a good long rant about the half truths, misleading innuendo, and factually wrong statements that they said were part of the "green nut job script". These are people who are actually environmentalists, who sacrifice and work to save the environment, and generally are not prone to the hyperbole you hear on both Fox and MSNBC so I have to assume they were at least partly correct and even if they weren't the fact that it turned part of my vacation into a political discussion was reason enough for me to be delighted when they started toning it down.

Is there such thing as conservation in a logging company? Their very purpose is the very opposite of conservation. Sure they may plant new trees etc but that's not conservation.

My whole family hunts. My wife shot Bambi's mother. No tears here.

I thought the story was silly at least the way they did it. My kids were young at the time and it didn't make any impression on them at all. I guess it's because we live in the country and seeing a dead animal is no big deal.

That's a shame, the story is about endangered animals i.e. of which there are hardly any left in the Wild and featured one being shot and the other poached. I thought originally it was quite a moving reminder of some of the horrible consequences man has had on the environment and certain species in particular.

 

[EricJ]

I don't miss the story from KS, in fact it detracted from it's re-rideability, IMO. A Jungle Cruise on steroids, indeed, but no way to control the full outcome because sometimes the animals are out, and sometimes they aren't. By removing the story, some of the time elements are more favorable to watch the animals and go through where they are not more easily, I'm sure.

It was a distraction, since you got the poaching message once, and afterwards, just wanted to see the live animal element in a more relaxed African-immersive environment--Which is what we have now.
I always joke about the one time, the driver had to take it slow, even though the pilot overhead was radio'ing, "You have to hurry up and catch the poachers!", a live ostrich was casually, indignantly taking its own time jogging along directly in front of the vehicle, paying no attention...Later, when the road widened and the driver tried to pass the ostrich and make up for lost story time, the ostrich got offended at being passed, and raced the vehicle to the end of the territory.
Such obvious unprofessionalism in one of their lesser CM's , but gives an idea of how hard it was to program a story with "Never work with animals".

Is there such thing as conservation in a logging company? Their very purpose is the very opposite of conservation. Sure they may plant new trees etc but that's not conservation.

Obviously not an Axe Men fan.
Responsible US-Canadian logging companies have to keep their sustainability, in order to keep their own business, and some businesses fell trees while others clean up the wreckage of other fallen logs--But the science is in keeping the general presence of trees there, to hold down the soil, stop it from being washed away by water and rainfall, and prevent large-scale damage to the ecosystem. Which, as the message points out, is a problem in smaller South American and Asian countries too interested in massively strip-mining the resources for short-term profit than in preventing the large-scale consequences. Tree-poachers, as it were.
(Not to mention clearing by fire, which deforests whole areas indiscriminately, and takes longer for the forests to naturally recover.)

 

[Bairstow]

Obviously not an Axe Men fan.
Responsible US-Canadian logging companies have to keep their sustainability, in order to keep their own business, and some businesses fell trees while others clean up the wreckage of other fallen logs--But the science is in keeping the general presence of trees there, to hold down the soil, stop it from being washed away by water and rainfall, and prevent large-scale damage to the ecosystem. Which, as the message points out, is a problem in smaller South American and Asian countries too interested in massively strip-mining the resources for short-term profit than in preventing the large-scale consequences. Tree-poachers, as it were.
(Not to mention clearing by fire, which deforests whole areas indiscriminately, and takes longer for the forests to naturally recover.)

As I understand it, most of the decisions about how much and what to cut aren't made by the logging companies, but by the landowners, which can often be government entities.
Due to the nature of real property, those who invest in such land aren't in it for the quick buck and aren't going to squander their assets with irresponsible clear-cutting.

Things may be entirely different in south(?) Asia where the attraction is set, but in the developing world most forest cutting is done to clear more land for farmland, essential for feeding nations already often on the edge of famine anyway.