Animal Kingdom needing more?

[KumbaRider]

Enough with the shows.

 

[GenerationX]

We love the AK. Moreso than the Studios. That said, the AK needs two things:
1. A spectacular end-of-day show. Not fireworks, but something.
2. Sit down restaurants.

That's it. On the whole, the AK's attractions outdo the Studios' attractions. However, the Studios have great restaurants and a fantastic closing show.

 

[wickedfan07]

Camp Minnie-Mickey, it pretty much a waste other than FOTLK. I say make it a kiddie Toon Town like area. Add some North American animal exibits, some petting zoos, and more. It also needs some rides.

A kiddie coaster would do well, a wild character themed canoe boat ride, and a character themed dark ride.
FOTLK can be moved to make room for these rides ( and relocated to the Africa section where it belongs ).

Australia would be a welcome addition, and could go between Camp M&M and Africa where it could showcase new rides and animal exibits.

I think the train ride to the Conservation station concept should be scrapped. I think it would be nice if they could move it to the walkway area between asia and africa. Add loads more interesting exibits and displays. Also, add an MGM-like tram ride that gives a tour of the backstage animal keeping areas.
The old train ride ( love the themeing on those trains! ) can be expanded to simply go through the African veldt areas, and maybe though asia to give a calmer view of the animals.

Maybe the Camp Minnie-Mickey/North American section could be themed to Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred-Acre Wood? Ride ideas: bounce with Tigger, escape from the Hephalumps and Woozles (sp?) with Piglet, visit Rabbit's garden, Pooh's Honey Hunt (from Tokyo), etc.

I'd really like to see Australia come to AK as well. Why couldn't they put that section off on the right side of the park, with an entrance between Dinoland and Everest. Then they could incorporate the new Nemo show. Its a little off the beaten path, but with Everest right there and some good attractions inside Australia, I'm sure people would swing by.

I also like the idea of retooling the train, and the sit-down tour of the animal facilities. I'm sure something like that would interest everyone, especially kids. And it would always be changing because its a working facility, so there'd be some pull for return visits.

As for a nighttime show, could a show similar to Fantasmic be added? Some kind of theatre could be built away from the main animal areas. (In the Pooh section?) Perhaps it could incorporate mythologican creatures, and finally represent all types of animals: living, extinct and fantasy.

And as for Disney-MGM Studios, maybe they should just bulldoze it and start over.:lookaroun

Just some thoughts. :wave:

 

[ilovepluto23]

I agree. My family has been to AK only once...and we refuse to visit it again until more attractions are put in (more than just EE). It doesn't feel worth the ticket to me.

 

[MMP]

I think they need a few more small, simple attractions now that they've got a big E-ticket ride. Just a few simple things, maybe some dark rides or something along the lines of Universe of Energy, something that matches the theme and is educational. I would love to see something involving cold weather animals like penguins and polar bears. But they do have a lot of great entertainment there, Lion King, and now they're getting the new Nemo show.

 

[Blackie Pueblo]

I think AK is a park that has a lot of potential. But I don't think the Disney execs are unsure of what to do with the park. I thought when the park first opened it was going to be a Zoo. "Disney creates investes in the Zoo franchise" or something. Then no one was coming so they started to slap in some rides.

Now it almost seems like they are bouncing back and forth unsure if they should concentrate on the Zoo part, or concentrate on the Thrill ride potential.

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[Kaertos]

The biggest problem for me, and I know I'll get slapped with "notazoo" comments for this, is that most of the attractions are zoo exhibits, Kilamanjaro being the one thing I have been through that feels different. Maharaja Jungle trek, the gorilla trail, etc. are, in practice very similar to a typical zoo exhibit.

Why is this a problem? Well, I live within two hours of three of the best zoos in the country. If I want to see a zoo, I can do it pretty much anytime I want. When i am at Disney, I want to do things I can't do at home, so AK ends up being EE, TtbaB, Dinosaur and Kilamanjaro. Then it's off to another park.

Not to mention the last time I was there the people in the park (guests, not CM's) were very, very rude. It almost made me want to leave.

 

[pluto77]

We love the AK. Moreso than the Studios. That said, the AK needs two things:
1. A spectacular end-of-day show. Not fireworks, but something.
2. Sit down restaurants.

That's it. On the whole, the AK's attractions outdo the Studios' attractions. However, the Studios have great restaurants and a fantastic closing show.

I agree, I think it could also use a couple of smaller dark rides also to make the park more complete, but I can find more to do at Animal Kingdom than MGM too.

 

[figment1985]

I LOVE to see AK get "Australia"....a new land that highlights all the bizarre animals that live there. They could import Kangaroos, Koala's and even a platypus or two. I'd like to see some "close up" (behind plexi-glass underwater) displays of giant Crocks. (like 12ft and bigger)

Yes that would be awesome!


I also agree that it needs a huge indoor place like in Epcot.

 

[DigitalDisney]

Of course AK needs something. I'd say MGM is possibly more in need of something. Epcot is decent, but could still use more.

The only park that really doesn't need anything is MK, although you can certainly see just about everything on a slow day.

The thing that really hurts AK the most is the complete lack of a nighttime show. Most of the park can remain open at night, and only one major attraction doesn't operate past sunset.

Attendance-wise, AK is currently seeing the best numbers it's ever had, thanks to Everest. Everest fastpasses also disappear quicker than any ride I've ever seen, and it's a high-capacity ride. What does this say?

Here's my plan for AK. I hope they are listening and have already started construction:
- Add Flik's Fun Faire from DCA to Camp Minnie Mickey, and add a darkride to it. This will be a perfect addition because it further integrates the ABL characters into the park, it has a lot of stuff for kids to do, it can be open late, and it's extremely well themed. It's also very lush and shady, and includes a water playground area.
- Make the leap and add Dragon's Tower and Beastly Kingdom. This could even include an ampitheater for a nighttime show of some sort as well. The area could be located on the other side of the CM bridge to Discovery Island (near Pizzafari). Having more big attractions brings more people into the park, and lightens traffic to Everest and the other big attractions in the park.
- Create full-service restaurants in Asia and Harambe. They should be fun to eat at, and have live entertainment. It should also have standard food as well as exotic food, to please everybody.
- Add Australia to the park. This is a great opportunity to introduce exotic wildlife, great food, and people with awesome accents to the park. The land should also include things to do that can be open late.

That being said, AK is one of my favorite parks of all time. I love the overall theme (exploration, not conservation), the detailed theming in the park, and I love the attractions in the park. Not only that, but AK has the best counter-service food in all of WDW. It's always a pleasure to visit AK, and I can't wait to see what they're going to add next.

 

[bassman]

i think that the whole theme of dino-rama is tacky but the rides in there aren't bad,i love primevil whirl.
but i think that the carnival/fair theme only works for really little children.
IMHO.
i know that this has been floating around for like ever now but i would really like i mystical beast/animal themed area to AK,like the beastly kingdom idea.
to me it makes sense. why?,lets look at the facts .

if you look at the AK logo there is the tree of life,and along the bottom of it are a bunch of animal silouettes ,whats in the middle of those animals,a dragon like creature.
and there is the dinoland USA area of the park,now to me it seems as though disney has been planning a beastly kingdom ish type area for the park ever since it was built.
i think that the whole dinoland USA idea was to see what guests thought about mythical and extinct creatures being featured in a animal park.
and now just recently there has been the addition of EE which just so happens to have a mythical beast know as the yeti.
i think these are al,testers to see how the paying public react to such creatures in the AK environment,in other word to see how they go down with people,do they like them?.my answer ...yes,EE is the most popular thing in WDW right now and dinosoar has really had dreadfully short lines,at least not when ive been on it.

my guess is that if these 'creatures' seem to go down well with people then there will be a new land appear somewhere between dinoland USA and the everest area,that will feature things like dragons,beasts from ancient folklaw and greek myths and stuff like that.
im not saying this is going to happen im just saying that sometime in the future we could see this mystic land pop up.

 

[wdwishes2005]

I agree with you about the Dino-Rama.........tackiest thing Disney's ever done:hurl: , still don't know how that on got passed, someone was sleeping that day. Good money that could have been well spent elsewhere.

Agreed. Probably the same person that greenlit the HSM thing in TL.....

 

[Mark_E]

I love the Dino-Rama section at AK. My sister loves it too. We even won one of those giant turtles.

 

[brich]

I truly believe that if so many of us didn't go the parks so many times that we would not think the AK or any other park needed anything.... :wave:

 

[Shaman]

Besides, the Disney-MGM Studios have fewer attractions anyway. If you're going to complain about a theme park not having enough to do, I'd complain about that one. Plus they're losing Millionaire in a few weeks, so the only attraction they have that's even a little spontanious will be gone.

I agree. The Studios is weaker, in my opinion, than AK...especially after EE. If we're never going to get a "Beastly Kingdom" I wouldn't mind seeing an Americas section with all sorts of animals from this side of the world...Disney has lots of movies they could base attractions off of...including but not limited to Pocahontas, Emperors New Groove, Brother Bear...Home on the Range, The Wild....:lookaroun.....I'm sure they could come up with something for the kids...because in reality thats what the park lacks, things for the little ones. A good dark ride and another E-ticket would be great....but I agree with Tramp, wider walkways would be nice, if not NICER. But that's just my opinion.

 

[TakeMe2TheMagic]

IMO, AK could use a few new rides / attractions but I think MGM (or whatever its called now:lookaroun ) could use the attractions more than AK could. I find it hard to spend more than a few hours at MGM.

 

[meryll83]

I think the trouble is they would have to be careful what they put in there as it could lose its beauty and tranquility.

 

[CoffeeJedi]

They really need to do something with that river! I hate the way that it's just languishing there. i understand why they closed it down, but i think they could expand it out into an actual attraction instead of just themed transportation. they'd probably have to add a show building somewhere though.

I'd also like them to add a few AA tigers to Kali River Rapids. The original plan for Tiger River Rapids was to have live tigers appear (though how they planned on preventing them from jumping to the rafts and mauling people is anyone's guess.) But a few AA's would really help tell the story beyond the single scene of deforestation (while the fire is cool, the lack of characters really hurts it).

 

[kcnole]

While I agree that the Studios needs more help, I agree that DAK needs a few things as well. It was the only park we visited that we wanted to leave early. We were done by about 1:30 and were glad to have gotten the park hoppers. Granted this was before Everest, but I don't see that adding anything more than another hour or so to the trip.

1.)Expand the rapids ride. It's just too short to make it worth anything.

2.)Add 2-3 smaller C-D ticket rides. I like the suggestion of redoing Camp Minnie Micky which really just feels like a last second thing into something that's actually worth visiting. Add the smaller dark rides here. I'd love to see an arctic pavilion or something if it can be done well.

3.)Completely remodel Rafiki's planet watch. My wife and I absolutely hated that. We waited to take the train over and walked around for about 10 minutes before saying, "We came all the way over here for this? Get me back to the train."

4.)Add a nightime show, maybe some sort of float parade down the river which tells a great story about the animals of the world.

5.)This would be last on my priority list, but rebuild dinorama. I was really hoping for something closer to an archeological dig or something themed area where we discovered tons of facts about dinosaurs, etc... The carnival aspect just is ugly and doesn't fit in a disney park.

 

[amykissangel]

I think there's more to do in Animal Kingdom than in MGM.

MGM is the park in the most need of the help. Beyond Tower of Terror andRock 'N' Roller Coaster, that park is seriously lacking. From lame exhibits (Narnia?) to tired shows (Indy Stunt) to outdated rides (Star Tours), MGM is like a testament to early nineties Americana.

Animal Kingdom is beatufially themed and has some of the best e-ticket attractions in the world (Kilimanjaro, Everest, Dinosaur). Not to meniton, Kick Butt shows. Festival of the Lion King and Flights of Wonder rock.

While it still may be a half-day park, I think there's a lot more to do in AK than in MGM.

Since I LOVE MGM, and am not the biggest animal fan, I have to disagree (But not in the angry way some people feel the need to disagree.)

RRC and ToT are great, but MGM is made for shows. Like Fantasmic, Indy, the Stunt Show, Muppets, Beauty/Beast, etc. I will agree that Indy could use some new lines and a makeover, and B and the B could make way for a new show, but RRC, ToT, Fantasmic, AND the TGMR make the place for me.

AK, on the other hand...

Primevil Whirl is cute - they have one at Great America that's the same, and it's fun.

Dinosaur - I'm a weenie, so it's a little scary, but I really have fun riding it!

EE - CAN'T WAIT!

Love the Safari!

KRR - the worst ride in the history of the world besides 20,000 Leagues and Stitch. I was SO excited to finally ride this ride w/ friends, since the parents would never go on something that gets you soaked. I was expecting a rip-roaring RIVER RAFT ride. What I got was a quick moving water slide where one giant wave at the end of the boring trip got everyone soaked. SO not worth it for me.

But anyways, 4 rides and walking around in the burning sun all day with no relief in sight just isn't too much fun for me. People who like animals however are probably in heaven and I can completely understand those who like the quiet and nature. I think I would go to a zoo for that, but again, not an animal lover

At MGM, we have at LEAST three sit down restaurants we love, a HUGE spectacular show at night (can you tell I LOVE Fantasmic), TGMR, RRC, ToT, Indy, Muppets, Backstage Tour, Stunt Show, BatB, Star Tours (for those who enjoy it...sometimes I do), and a bunch of little tours of old Walt facts and animation. I guess I feel like I get my money's worth there.

But, this just goes to show it takes all kinds to make the world (WDW) go 'round....

(At least now that AK has EE, my 20 year old brother won't be such a stick in the mud about going there. If it's not Epcot, Adam ain't interested. Sigh.)