Studios Fan
Active Member
I agree Lee.
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Big Kilimanjaro Safaris Changes on the Horizons?
- Thread starter jt04
- Start date
Hakunamatata
Le Meh
My 2 cents:
More backstory, please. I dig it.
Automated speil? No thanks.
I want an adventure, not a ride through a zoo.
I agree. I have a drive through safari two hours from my house.
Give me CM interaction, a good story line, Disney touches like the hidden mickey flamingo pond, and do it so I keep wanting to come back. In other words keep doing it like only Disney can do it.
JWG
Well-Known Member
1) I was absolutely kidding.
2) See #1 and hilarious... love this link.
I'm fairly certain you missed the sarcasm of that post.
3) This.
4) You have a string of bad luck. In each of our safari's we've gotten great views of something. Not always a lion, giraffe or elephant, but something.
Captain Hank
Well-Known Member
Really? It does depend a bit on what time you go on safari. Lately, animal visibility has been really excellent with just a few exceptions. Generally 12:00-3:00 is the worst time for animal visibility (but it can be the best time to see things like elephants taking a bath, if you're lucky), though it's also the time the line is longest--go figure. The last couple safaris of the day can also be hit-or-miss, as the animals are more active, but wanting to go back to their barns. Go during a light to moderate rain--you'll see everything.
Captain Hank
Well-Known Member
My 2 cents:
More backstory, please. I dig it.
Automated speil? No thanks.
I want an adventure, not a ride through a zoo.
There will be a ticket for that.
But seriously though, I think the ride will still have an adventure backstory but it will also serve to provide a sampling of what the seperate ticket offers. I think it may go in that direction.
Either that or it is getting a Pixar overlay. Perhaps from "UP". :lol:
DisneyHeather
Member
Could not agree more. We hit up KS just as a massive storm was ending - best safari we have done (and we have done this many times). Well, I could have done without the attacking ostrich, but that's another story
I will be quite disappointed if they go automated. It would take so much away from the experience, IMO.
IWant2GoNow
Well-Known Member
They are removing the poaching at the end. Now as you round the corner the ending is a little more breathtaking and climactic. I think it ties all of AK together nicely:
Dino-Riders should most definitely take the place of C&H. :lol: I used to love that show!
Tom
Beta Return
The thing about going automated on the KS spiel is that it won't always be identical, and shouldn't be.
I loved that they went automated on the backlot tour at DHS, since you could NEVER understand the guide because they either had a thick accent or were eating the microphone, or both. And since nothing EVER changes on that tour, it's very simple to pre-record a spiel.
For KS, while you may pass the same exhibits and habitats over and over, you're never guaranteed to see the same animals. If they do this, I hope they still allow the drivers to chime in to point out critters and comment on the ones that come up to investigate the truck.
Other than that, any technology added would completely ruin the attraction. And after reading all of this, I'm in complete agreement that they should just get rid of the "story" altogether, and simply say, "it's a safari".
I loved that they went automated on the backlot tour at DHS, since you could NEVER understand the guide because they either had a thick accent or were eating the microphone, or both. And since nothing EVER changes on that tour, it's very simple to pre-record a spiel.
For KS, while you may pass the same exhibits and habitats over and over, you're never guaranteed to see the same animals. If they do this, I hope they still allow the drivers to chime in to point out critters and comment on the ones that come up to investigate the truck.
Other than that, any technology added would completely ruin the attraction. And after reading all of this, I'm in complete agreement that they should just get rid of the "story" altogether, and simply say, "it's a safari".
jakeman
Well-Known Member
More importantly, there is no cost savings for going automated.
It wouldn't decrease training time. You learn the spiel as you learn the ride path.
They would again have to reprogram the pucks, which are still going to be reliant on the drivers hitting them correctly. Some are more hard than others.
Even if you took every mention of poachers out, there would still be no reason to automate the spiel.
KSR is to fluid for an automated spiel. Stranger things have happened but I would be very surprised if it went automated.
Tom
Beta Return
Agreed. Driver is already there, so you're not saving any money (because you can't automate the trucks, period).
They'd probably need to ADD pucks and more checkpoints along the route so the spiel doesn't get ahead of itself (like the monorail from MK to Contemporary does - talking about BLT in front of the train station).
I also don't think they would do any of this, but hey, they're ruined far better attractions :lol:
MiklCraw4d
Member
They are removing the poaching at the end. Now as you round the corner the ending is a little more breathtaking and climactic. I think it ties all of AK together nicely:
Dude. I had totally forgotten about those.
MiklCraw4d
Member
There seems to be a split on this, but I really just don't see how having some elaborate story helps the attraction. It's an intrusion for me. A really irritating one.
If you're talking about re-rideability, how is that enhanced by a static and never-changing canned story when the animal experiences themselves are actually dynamic and different every time? How is it not the animals that keep us wanting to come back?
The whole point of KS is to see real animals up-close in a "natural" environment. Whether that might seem old hat to people who have been to fancy zoos or on real safari, I don't know. But as long as Disney ensures that the experience is highly themed (which they do), I think it does a great disservice to the entire purpose of the park to reduce the animals to set dressing for some little morality play about poaching. Have Warden Wilson on the radio, fine. Talk about poaching, fine. But when I have a chance to look at real animals and you yank me away to chase some mannequins through a few empty show scenes, I start to resent the philosophy of story uber alles.
MiklCraw4d
Member
Hey I was once one of those "willowy young girls"! That was my favorite position. We used to try and weasle our way into getting that position. We had a special hat and everything.I was known as The JC Penny Warden because I always had my hair fixed just so and had a special stance.
Awesome!! I love it. I always thought that would probably be a fun position, holding the rifle on the bad guys. Did they ever explain to you guys why it was like that? I'd love to hear how they explained it away haha... And it did always seem to be a female CM out there with the rifle, which I always found amusing. Big Red is fine! Little Red is OK!
I hate I missed your JC Penny stance haha...
EXACTLY! If you don't want to look at live animals, then why are you bothering with the attraction? The lame story is such an insgnificant part of the attraction, no one of any level of sanity rides it for that purpose.
IWant2GoNow
Well-Known Member
Yea I find it pretty annoying also. I was riding one time and everyone had a great picture op for an elephant and a newborn and just as everyone put their cameras up, myself included, the driver said "Hold on, everyone! We gotta go meet up with the Warden!" and floored it.
I don't blame the driver because I know they have certain time restrictions where they need to follow the story to keep the lines moving but the story really interupted a cool moment of seeing an elephant with its baby "in the wild". This is just a small instance where the story was kind of a hinderence.
Our KS driver this past June was awesome! She was slowing down for just about every exhibit and we even got a little bit longer of a ride because a rhino was blocking our path for about 5 minutes.
Tom
Beta Return
Yea I find it pretty annoying also. I was riding one time and everyone had a great picture op for an elephant and a newborn and just as everyone put their cameras up, myself included, the driver said "Hold on, everyone! We gotta go meet up with the Warden!" and floored it.
I don't blame the driver because I know they have certain time restrictions where they need to follow the story to keep the lines moving but the story really interupted a cool moment of seeing an elephant with its baby "in the wild". This is just a small instance where the story was kind of a hinderence.
Our KS driver this past June was awesome! She was slowing down for just about every exhibit and we even got a little bit longer of a ride because a rhino was blocking our path for about 5 minutes.
Excellent example. It's sad how the "story" can often ruin the entire purpose of the attraction: to see animals!
IWant2GoNow
Well-Known Member
Yea it is. I for one would love KS to still have a story but not one that is based upon chasing anything and rushing the overall experience of being able to go on an African safari.
IMO, if they were to rework the story into a more relaxing theme it would be for the better. Just trying to think of what that could be without something as lame as "we're looking for Little Red". Then it just becomes Nemo & Friends.
Tybee
Member
Not a myth. I saw it with my own eyes when my mom, a travel agent, won a trip to WDW in '98 during the AK sneak preview open only to travel industry folks and cast member families and I got invited along as a college graduation present. I had no problem with Big Dead Red and found it refreshingly blunt and un-kid-friendly for Disney, but it did distract a bit from the real heart of the KS, which is to see and admire the real living animals. And I could see how it might upset the little 'uns a good bit. But maybe that was the point.
In general, it seems like Disney opens parks with a high-concept, more nuanced intent, then things get more themed over time as it tries to accommodate guests with a very narrow conception of what Disney represents (i.e., princesses and iconic characters). Sometimes this is a bad thing (the dumbing-down of Epcot, the increasing absence of "Hollywood" in Disney Hollywood Studios), but other times it can be good (California Adventure has only been improved since its opening through injection of more traditional Disney theming). These forces are certainly at play in Animal Kingdom. It remains to be seen how they will affect KS.
Have a trip booked Jan. 3 - 10, so hoping any potential refurb waits until after that!