Animal Kingom poll

[steve2wdw]

DAK is not a zoo. While it does showcase animals (like your normal zoo does), the extent to which the Disney Imagineers have gone to simulate their environments knocks them out of zoo category. Strolling through the tiger area of the Maharajah Jungle Trek, one feels they've left central Florida and have actually been transported to Asia. I believe DAK invents a whole new category of themed experience. DAK is my favorite of the Disney parks if only because of it's subtleness. While I'm excited about the on again-off again Beastly Kingdom land, my reasons are probably far different than most of yours. Beastly Kingdom would obviously drive attendance at DAK up a few notches, which would in turn would create the need for more areas like Africa and Asia. Sure I want a few more thrills, but give me more animals too. I'd love Disney to take me to Austrailia and South America. The possibilities are endless.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I hate zoos and Safari parks, animals belong in their natural enviroment not in cages. I still think the general concept of captive animals as exhibits is wrong but at least Disney has gone someway to ensuring a natural habitat and some space for the creatures to roam. Its very well presented and it forms only part of the park. Still think its strange that a park geared to Ecology is the only one with a McDonalds.

 

[tmm7899]

happy snapper,
DAK is AZA accredited and the animal care staff there is one of the best that I have ever seen, so the animals get the best care possible. The animals that are at DAK were not taken out of the wild and are all from other zoos. In some cases the animals are better off now at DAK then they were at the other places that they were at, a good example of this is the American Croc in Dinoland, he was obtained from another Florida attraction that will remain nameless, I think that you will be able to figure it out. As for the "McDonalds" it is not anymore of a McDonalds then any of the other locations that serve french fries and chicken nuggets. Sorry that this post sounds a little preachy, but I am very passionate about DAK.

 

[Tramp]

Yes....it's a ZOO....it's licensed and controlled by the same state and federal agencies that govern all zoos. And Disney, in many articles, refers to it as a ZOO.....and they've sucked national zoos dry by hiring the TOP zoo professionals from around the country to run it...and where do you think they got the animals from....ZOOs.

I know many of us, including ME, see MORE than a zoo in the AK especially with all the research, education and cutting edge technology.....but you can dress it up with all the fantasy you want and call it a 'theme park with a conscience' if you want, but it's still a zoo....maybe it's not your run-of-the-mill type zoo but, nevertheless, it's still a ZOO....:lol:

Just cuz it doesn't walk like a duck or quack like a duck, doesn't mean it isn't a duck.

OK......there....now ya got someone to argue with.

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by Tramp
Yes....it's a ZOO....it's licensed and controlled by the same state and federal agencies that govern all zoos. And Disney, in many articles, refers to it as a ZOO.....and they've sucked national zoos dry by hiring the TOP zoo professionals from around the country to run it...and where do you think they got the animals from....ZOOs.

I know many of us, including ME, see MORE than a zoo in the AK especially with all the research, education and cutting edge technology.....but you can dress it up with all the fantasy you want and call it a 'theme park with a conscience' if you want, but it's still a zoo....maybe it's not your run-of-the-mill type zoo but, nevertheless, it's still a ZOO....:lol:

Just cuz it doesn't walk like a duck or quack like a duck, doesn't mean it isn't a duck.

OK......there....now ya got someone to argue with.

The way you put it... I agree with you. I voted "no" because I, like you, see a lot more than a zoo in it. I do take my hat off for Disney in what concerns to AK. Before I went to Orlando, my cousins had taken a vacation and went to AK the first week it opened... they hated it and came back speaking bad about it. I had to see it for myself. Two months later, I moved to Orlando and during training, they showed us all the park and its "hospital" and backstage areas and explained to us where they get the animals from, etc. I was amazed. The park was not only beautiful in my opinion, but it was also a great job what Disney was doing in it. It became my favorite park, and after Epcot, the one I visited the most during my 15 month stay.

 

[SilentRascal]

In all honesty, I had to vote "yes", that Animal Kingdom is just a zoo. I say that because it except for less than a handful of attractions, that's all it is.....a pretty zoo. I feel it's one of Disney's least 'Disney-like' parks. I can see all that I feel is worth seeing in that park within 2-3 hours at the most, then I head back to the more interesting parks. The only things I feel worth going to AK to see are It's Tough to be a Bug, Dinosaur, and going to see Tree of Life up close. I think Disney should have waited until AK was complete (including Beastly Kingdom) to open the park. The safaris are ok, but really aren't any better than those you see at a state zoo. I feel AK has quite a ways to go before it can compare to the other, much better parks.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Disney does not call this park a zoo. They call it a theme park and specifically write "Nahtazu" on their guidemaps. Remember when the park opened? The slogan was "Disney's Animal Kingdom: A New Species of Theme Park". That is what it is. An innovative theme park. If you want to say it's part zoo in that it showcases animals, fine. I will go along with that. But that is all I will go along with--I will not go along with the "dressed-up" idea because that seems to indicate that zoos are dirty and cruel toward their animals (this has been the general view of zoos) and disney is simply covering this up by making the animal habitats look authentic. That is not the case. These animals are as close to being in the wild as they could possibly be. Any closer and they would die as they were bred in other zoos or at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I might add the breeding rate at Animal Kingdom is at or above that of animals who live in the environments these animals are native to. I might point out elephants. For those of you who do not like zoos, I might share with you that by about 2020, elephants are expected to be extinct in the wild. If it weren't for zoological facilities, they would be completely extinct at that point, but Animal Kingdom can isolate the animals from poachers (a massive theme at the Park) and yet keep them happy. The animals are quite simply not tortured there and they actually are fed food of higher quality that what you find in disney restaurants. Okay...now that I've got that off my chest...much of Animal Kingdom does not exhibit living animals(dinos and soon to be mythological creatures). Those areas do not qualify as a zoo at all, not even a DRESSED-UP zoo--a zoo must display living animals to the public. However, these parts of the Park are connected with the live-animal counterparts. So, you could say the Park is half-zoo half-theme park, but I say it's all theme park. The fact that it is also American Zoological Association-accredited and participates in the Species Survival Plan certainly speaks highly of their practices (as well as the fact that Jane Goodall did Disney the honor of becoming a part-time Cast Member). So..if you want to say it's a zoo, fine. Just don't attach the traditional zoological stereotypes to it--it is unlike any zoo on the planet, as they are not exploiting animals as many zoos do (I will admit they are changing, but even the zoo I worked at still had about 1/2 nice, new exhibits but 1/2 caged space...). Sorry for being so impassioned, but this is my favorite park and the work they do to preserve some EXTREMELY endangered animals is incredible (about 1000 white rhinos in the wild...). In my opinion, this is the Theme Park that comes the closest to Walt's visions...

 

[steve2wdw]

In an earlier post I said that DAK was nahtazu, but if we're getting technical about it, I'd have to change my vote to, it is a zoo. I say yes it's a zoo only because it is an accredited zoo in the U.S., but my heart says it's beyond the term zoo. So like my wife and I always do in national elections, I guess I just canceled my own vote out.

 

[DrMouse]

I can't beleve that this is an issue. Of course anything that houses animals can be called a zoo but you have to keep one thing in mind, Disney does not do any thing without adding its own "touch" to the design and development of its own parks. What Disney touches turns to gold eventually. This is a new park and in time it will develop into much more than it is today. Would you perfer that Disney only open a park every 15-20 years so you can have the "perfect" park? I feel that they are going to add so much to the park over the next several years and they will continue to improve it. Give me and them a break.

 

[ToTBellHop]

the question was originally asked due to it coming up in a past thread where people were saying it was "just a zoo". That is where I have a problem with it--when people attach stereotypes to it or even try to compare it with other zoos as it is not at all like any other zoo in the world. It's an amazing Park...

 

[Strawberryblond]

I've only been once, back in '99, and it was a great day out I got to see a baby hippo nursing on its mama - unbelievable!! I think Dinosaur was still called Countdown to Ex. then, and it is the first time as an adult that I had the pants scared off of me, my terror was for real.

 

[SilentRascal]

AK certainly has the potential to be an amazing park. Right now it's barely adequate. Let's just wait and see if Disney can bring it up to the standard of its other parks.

 

[tenchu]

It all depends on how you classify a zoo. To me, a zoo is somewhere where animals are kept in cages, in small exclosures. To be allowed to roam around in larger enclosures would make it a safari park for me.

 

[FutureCEO]

everyone has their different opnions (sp) about everything but AK does not come close to being a zoo. If AK's a zoo, what is BUSCH GARDENS, a zoo with roller coaster and raft rides, i guess. A zoo does not have thrill rides and shows.

 

[SilentRascal]

Originally posted by FutureCEO
A zoo does not have thrill rides and shows.

Sounds like someone's never been to the Bronx Zoo, San Diego Zoo, or even Sea World (which is basically an aquatic zoo).

 

[FutureCEO]

Originally posted by SilentRascal
Sounds like someone's never been to the Bronx Zoo, San Diego Zoo, or even Sea World (which is basically an aquatic zoo).

I've only been to the zoo in Rhody but i go to Sea World, thats not a zoo in a book

 

[ToTBellHop]

Everyone needs to remember that Animal Kingdom is still a young park...Remember MGM at age 4? There was very little to do there...but then at age 5 it got the Tower of Terror and was suddenly the place to be! Well...Beastlie is supposed to open when Animal Kingdom is 5 too!

 

[DixieBelle97]

Animal Kingdom is great, don't get me wrong, but it needs some looping coasters!!!!

It's definetly not a zoo.

AK is beautiful though.

 

[Bdis86]

Originally posted by Tramp

I wonder if the polar bears think it's not a zoo? Disney replicated their living environment fairly well but do you think it's the Alaskan tundra?

Where can you find polar bears at Disney's Animal Kingdom? What Alaska are you talking about?

 

[Tramp]

Originally posted by Bdis86


Where can you find polar bears at Disney's Animal Kingdom? What Alaska are you talking about?

sorry Mr. Nye....LOL....I prepared this in WORD and, at one point, was comparing the hippo viewing area in AK with the polar bear display in Seaworld and edited parts out and what you got was the above....how stupid!