-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Conservation Station
- Thread starter jg.s
- Start date
CoffeeJedi
Active Member
It's kind of like an Epcot pavilion actually, with various exhibits and activities. I think its worth it. The train ride there is nice, and you get to see the animal facilities. In the building, there are various exhibits about endangered animals and even remote camera stations that let you watch the gorillas on the gorilla trail. You can also get a look into the veterinary clinic through a large window, where the vets will actually talk to you and explain what they're doing.
Disneyfanman
Well-Known Member
We went back in 1998 and never returned. It was a very hot day and we waited in line for about 15 minutes for the train. You sit facing sideways and go slowly past the back of the animal care facilities. Not very interesting really. In about 10 minutes you get to the next train station, where you travel along a winding, hilly, uphill path to Conservation Station. You pass butterfly bushes and some inspirational artwork along the way. The walk takes about 10 minutes and we arrived very hot and irritated at the exibit area. There you will find a number of things to look at and to do. There is a vet hospital, petting area, films dealing with conservation, and a number of interactive exibits. The area made me think of the Wonders of Life pavillion, in that it was designed kind of like a museum. Anyway, we spent about 45 minutes there including getting a snack and took the 10 minute walk back to the station. We waited for several trains and would have left on foot if we weren't trapped. (You have to take the train back). The sights were even less interesting on the way back.
Time invested:
Wait for Train 15 minutes.
Train ride. 10 minutes.
Walk to C.S. 10 minutes.
Time at C.S. 45 minutes.
Walk to Train Station. 10 Minutes.
Wait for return train. 25 Minutes. (due to many more leaving than arriving)
Return Trip. 5 Minutes.
Thats 120 minutes (two hours!) invested in your day. You can't leave if you don't like the place. We thought it was interesting and would like to go back, but it's really poor design because you cannot just stop in to see things for a few minutes. So we have avoided it since. My kids still joke about it and it was 8 years ago when we went. My wife said that we were trapped in hell. And we all like the Animal Kingdom, in general, very much.
To get us back to C.S., Disney would have to allow us to walk there and back without wasting almost an hour on transportation. This family's opinion is that Conservation Station is a great idea that was poorly executed.
Time invested:
Wait for Train 15 minutes.
Train ride. 10 minutes.
Walk to C.S. 10 minutes.
Time at C.S. 45 minutes.
Walk to Train Station. 10 Minutes.
Wait for return train. 25 Minutes. (due to many more leaving than arriving)
Return Trip. 5 Minutes.
Thats 120 minutes (two hours!) invested in your day. You can't leave if you don't like the place. We thought it was interesting and would like to go back, but it's really poor design because you cannot just stop in to see things for a few minutes. So we have avoided it since. My kids still joke about it and it was 8 years ago when we went. My wife said that we were trapped in hell. And we all like the Animal Kingdom, in general, very much.
To get us back to C.S., Disney would have to allow us to walk there and back without wasting almost an hour on transportation. This family's opinion is that Conservation Station is a great idea that was poorly executed.
Lucky
Well-Known Member
We've been to AK 8 or 9 times, and on our last visit finally went to Conservation Station for the first time. We spent about half the time at the petting zoo, and the rest at the indoor exhibits. There are sometimes other activities going on, e.g. we just missed a Pocahantas meet-and-greet my daughter would have liked. We'll probably never go back, but once you've done everything else at AK, it might be worth doing once.
Our experience getting out there and back on the train wasn't bad at all. We barely missed one train there, but the next one left 6-7 minutes later. Things may be very different during peak-crowd season however.
Our experience getting out there and back on the train wasn't bad at all. We barely missed one train there, but the next one left 6-7 minutes later. Things may be very different during peak-crowd season however.
I have been several times and like the other exhibits and AK is is what you make of it. If you are the type that likes to stop and smell the roses you can have a great time there. If you are the type that needs the rose to jump in front of you and scream "smell me!" then I would skip it.
CoffeeJedi
Active Member
Is that the binaural audio where the snake slides past your shoulders and the chainsaw revs up in your ear? Inside the Magic actually put it in a past show.
http://www.distantcreations.com/insidethemagic/archive.html
Download show 55 to listen to it
col
Well-Known Member
every time i go to AK i normally go to the conservation station.
its a train ride that goes past the pens that house the animals that feature on the safaris such a rhinos and such. as you pull into the station there are posters that say what disney wildlife and the disney conservation fund has done over the years and what it progresses to do. when you exit the train station you follow the path past all trees and birds and there are CM's ready to give you facts about these little monkeys and such. from there you follow the path and come to the conservation centre inside it there is a operating room which has x-rays of animals on the walls and an operating table. behind very thick glass are dangerous spiders and snakes and other reptiles.
by that area there is a place which sorts out the feeds for the animals and you can ask the person doing that question about what the animals eat and how often and such.
outside there is a petting zoo which has goats or something like that and i think they have other animals. there is also a shop where you can buy stuff like educational books or toys and word cards.
as i said i normally go when im in AK. if you have never been before then i would say go and experience it for yourself and then decide whether you like it or not.
click on the link:
http://www.allearsnet.com/tp/ak/ak_rpw.htm
its a train ride that goes past the pens that house the animals that feature on the safaris such a rhinos and such. as you pull into the station there are posters that say what disney wildlife and the disney conservation fund has done over the years and what it progresses to do. when you exit the train station you follow the path past all trees and birds and there are CM's ready to give you facts about these little monkeys and such. from there you follow the path and come to the conservation centre inside it there is a operating room which has x-rays of animals on the walls and an operating table. behind very thick glass are dangerous spiders and snakes and other reptiles.
by that area there is a place which sorts out the feeds for the animals and you can ask the person doing that question about what the animals eat and how often and such.
outside there is a petting zoo which has goats or something like that and i think they have other animals. there is also a shop where you can buy stuff like educational books or toys and word cards.
as i said i normally go when im in AK. if you have never been before then i would say go and experience it for yourself and then decide whether you like it or not.
click on the link:
http://www.allearsnet.com/tp/ak/ak_rpw.htm
Lucky
Well-Known Member
You see the variety in these responses. An earlier one called Conversation Station a waste of space. I think this variety shows it's worth trying everything at WDW at least once, unless the guide books or WDW's own web site provide enough info to convince you that something just isn't for you.
A week or so ago a poster who is 17 years old called the new Winnie the Pooh toddler playground at MK a waste of space. OK, but he would have thought differently 14 years ago, and may think differently again 14 years in the future.
The variety of views on WDW attractions, in my opinion, shows what a terrific job Disney does of providing something for everyone.
DigitalDisney
New Member
If you can wing it, it's worth a trip once. You can spend as much or as little time there as you want.
They've made a ton of improvements to it since the park opened. The path from the train station to the building itself now has a lot of things to look at. Everything else is basically the same.
One nice thing is that the train narraration is done by a live person, much like how MK's railroad used to be.
They've made a ton of improvements to it since the park opened. The path from the train station to the building itself now has a lot of things to look at. Everything else is basically the same.
One nice thing is that the train narraration is done by a live person, much like how MK's railroad used to be.
Mecha Figment
New Member
It's the one and only place you can meet Stanley
3IAlienKid
Member
As for the train ride, the reason it's there is to give a sense of emerging from beyond the berm to the backstage area, rather than just walking there. I do enjoy the ride itself, and it's interesting to see some of the backstage areas, but I agree w/ some of the other posters here that it seems a bit needless as the ONLY way to get to Rafiki's, and having to wait at a train stop several minutes just to get back to the rest of the park is admittedly irritating. The pathway from the stop to the Rafiki building is unnecessarily long.
On the other hand...
On the other hand...
Master Yoda puts it very well. Rafiki's itself reminds me of the Wonders of Life Pavilion at Epcot where there are some interactive exhibits. If you buy into the whole edu-tainment concept (like I do), it will definitely be worth it. I enjoy taking my time fiddling around with the animal cams, pushing every single button on the endagered species list, handling the grubs (animal food), and I thought the Rainforest was the best use of 3-D sound technology so far at WDW. I would love to have witnessed a veterinary operation in progress, or at least a routine physical.
C&D
Well-Known Member
Excellent post; try it, you don't like it? Okay, but don't poo poo it for others.
PhilharMagician
Well-Known Member
We go every time. The petting area is great for kids. My DD loves to pet and brush the animals. Also if you get there first thing in the morning you can possibly see animals in the hospital having medical proceedures done and you may even catch an operation.
During the day there are many CM's doing presentations inside the building about animals and all kinds of animal facts. It is a very interesting and educational place, but the addition of a walk path and a restaurant would be nice.
During the day there are many CM's doing presentations inside the building about animals and all kinds of animal facts. It is a very interesting and educational place, but the addition of a walk path and a restaurant would be nice.