Conservation Station
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With a building design much like that of Rafiki's Planet Watch's version of the attraction, the Conservation Station at Disney's Wild Kingdom serves as an educator's hub as well as a great place for children young and old alike to learn and experience some of the amazing animals we share our planet with.
Guests who take the left-hand path before the Tree of Life Gardens walk down the path a short ways and soon come face to face with the
Conservation Court, a small open courtyard featuring benches, planters, and a small waterfall that spills into a wishing pond. A plaque by the pond reads that every coin tossed into this pond will be donated to the
Disney Conservation Fund, a non-profit conservation charity run by Disney and found at many of their parks worldwide.
While the courtyard is mostly peaceful, it does, occasionally, liven up, with multiple sporadic shows and performances that occur throughout the day. Passers-by may spot a character meet-and-greet that wasn't on the times guide as random characters come out to visit all the time. While there's no set list of characters that appear, some of the more common characters include Scrooge McDuck, Jiminy Cricket, Chip and Dale, Stitch, and even Stanley from the old Playhouse Disney show the same name.
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Another common (yet random) occurrence in the Conservation Court is the appearance of Disney's Wild Kingdom animal caretakers and a special animal or two. Caretakers will bring out animal ambassadors and showcase things like training behaviors and discuss natural history, biology, and conservation. While it'll never be anything dangerous, many of the animals found in the ambassador program may appear. While this list is by no means comprehensive, some of the animals guests may get to see include Kunekune (a breed of domestic pig from Hawaii that Pua from Moana is based on), different species of parrots, owls, vultures, or even a bald eagle, different reptiles, chinchillas, goats, ponies, and more.
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Heading into the Conservation Station, guests walk down the Hall of Animals; something pulled straight from Rafiki's Planet Watch. The immediate entrance features a changing board as well as black walls painted with hundreds of photorealistic animals. However, unlike the Animal Kingdom version, there are no bathrooms here. Those will make an appearance later. Instead, this room has a few benches and not much else. This serves as the entrance to Conservation Station, so we go down the hall of animals that winds through until we get to the building's main hall.
The main hall (Conservation Station proper) looks similar to the design from Rafiki's Planet Watch, with fake trees building a massive canopy covering the ceiling, giving the feeling that you are in a jungle. There is a large planter that also serves as a stage for more animal and keeper performances. However, these are scheduled and posted at the stage and mainly feature reptiles and amphibians found in exhibits throughout Conservation Station. There are benches made of recycled plastics facing the stage with a large open space on the floor where children can watch and even get to touch the animals.
Throughout the main hall of the building, fake trees yield terrariums and habitats for species like lizards, frogs, snakes, and even an exhibit for giant land snails. These habitats switch out every so often, so you never know which animal will occupy a particular habitat at any given time.
There are also multiple exhibits throughout Conservation Station, serving different themes and ideas. The biggest one that guests get excited over is the large viewing window into the
Wild Kingdom Veterinary Hospital. Here, guests get the rare opportunity to see the veterinary department care for all of the animals at Disney's Wild Kingdom. Scheduled surgeries are posted so that guests who are interested in seeing medical care done can plan to be there to see. However, there may also be emergency surgeries or check-ups that are not posted that guests may be lucky enough to see. In certain situations where veterinary staff needs privacy, a curtain can cover the main viewing window. Still, cameras remain on so that guests can watch whatever is taking place on large screens posted just outside the vet area.
Nearby the veterinary hospital is the
Wild Kingdom Animal Care Center, a few educational windows that look into different rooms. One of the rooms is the Animal Nutrition Center, a large kitchen-style room where diets for certain animals are prepared. This isn't the only nutrition center in the park, but it is the only one guests get to see. This nutrition center mainly serves the animals of the Gardens of Life, Earth Center, and Primordia. Often there is a nutrition specialist or docent that can answer questions while preparing the diets.
Another one of the rooms is the medical labs. Right next to the vet hospital, this lab is full of different equipment that can test feces, blood, and more. There is also a large incubator where guests can see eggs being reared from birds or reptiles. On a table by the window is a display featuring different microscopes with slides of actual animal blood on it. This blood has already been tested (and safely contained), and guests can pop them into the microscopes to test it for parasites themselves. The samples and microscopes themselves are fixed to the table so they cannot be taken, but guests interested in completing studies at home can pick up a microscope kit that comes with samples from Disney's Wild Kingdom at the gift shop nearby.
Farther down from the Animal Care Center, guests approach the
Habitat Heroes Headquarters. Habitat Heroes is an educational initiative found throughout Disney's Wild Kingdom and her sister park next door that focuses on educating guests about the environment, animals, and culture found throughout the different continents and countries of the world. These headquarters have alternating exhibits replaced every quarter of the year to keep up to date with current conservation initiatives. Each exhibit often has a tie to the upcoming DisneyNature film of the year. Some artifacts always remain on exhibit, including an interactive Radio Telemetry game where guests are given radio trackers that they have to use to locate one of a few radio collars hidden throughout the Conservation Station. The collars are switched up every day to give returning players a challenge every time they play.
The Habitat Heroes initiative is made to be an interactive and educational program that is present in every land of the park with an exhibition center. Guests looking to maximize their time and get to try out some awesome interactive games should make sure to visit all of the Habitat Heroes Exhibition Centers throughout both parks.
At the door right next to the Habitat Heroes Headquarters, guests can go outside and upstairs (or up an elevator for mobility-challenged guests) into a large clubhouse. This is the
Habitat Heroes Clubhouse, a gift shop that sells all kinds of souvenirs related to the Habitat Heroes Initiative. This is the location where guests can purchase the aforementioned microscope kit, as well as t-shirts, hats, toys, souvenir pins, and more, all related to the Habitat Heroes.
Also with the Habitat Heroes is their mascot; Globey Globe! Globey is the Earth who wears a Safari Hat and Hiking boots and is found throughout all of the exhibition centers. Globey can be found on merchandise and has his own app, Globey Globe's Pledge, an app where users can check products they buy to see if they are sustainable and eco-friendly and play minigames. Globey Globe has a special meet and greet location in the clubhouse where guests can line up and take a picture with him. While perhaps not being the most creative parks' original character, Globey Globe symbolizes unity and environmentalism and will surely become a guest favorite!
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(He would be much cuter in real life, not this horrid clip art abomination I concocted, I just figured I'd subject you to it)
Back down from the Clubhouse and across the main center area, guests will reach a hallway with a very familiar sign...
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Yes, the first attraction of the park is a new version of the classic attraction "Soarin," but with a unique twist. Rather than flying over man-made structures and civilizations, this version of Soarin' (titled Soarin' Over the Wild) is a unique version of the attraction where guests will get to experience biomes and areas we may never get to see in real life.
The queue for the attraction features different exhibits and artifacts from famous zoological expeditions around the world. Artifacts belonging to famous zoologists and researchers from Charles Darwin to Jeff Corwin to Dr. Jane Goodall, and more can all be found. Some screens play footage from scientists and their journeys throughout the queue, showcasing some of the amazing expeditions that people have been on.
The preshow no longer features Patrick Warburton, but instead, another famous voice: Sir David Attenborough. Attenborough explains that you are a part of a brand new eco-tourist test, allowing people to safely visit some of the world's most hostile and treacherous environments and witness the wonders of wildlife on our Planet Earth. He does, however, still make the "these little beauties" joke in reference to a pair of Mickey Ears, this time with a safari hat as the base.
Once onboard, guests will take to the skies to an updated and more exotic version of the Soarin' theme (once again composed by Jerry Goldsmith). Guests will be able to fly over the Himalayas to witness Snow Leopards hunting, then over the Serengeti to see a massive migration of wildebeest, zebras, elephants, giraffes, and more. Other sequences include flying down through the canopy and following the Amazon River, soaring over the Australian outback, and even diving below the sea and exploring the Great Barrier Reef. The ride mechanism, score, and idea remain mostly the same, but this new version of Soarin' will surely delight at the Disney's Wild Kingdom resort!
Nearby the Soarin' exit is a famous and beloved attraction in its own right: the Lavatory Laboratory! This highly-themed bathroom features stalls with plenty of educational facts about poop, as well as special toilets that are made to use as little water as possible. The sinks in this bathroom are also eco-friendly, using as little water as possible as well.
Outside the bathrooms themselves, the Lavatory Laboratory features a few educational exhibits, including a classic game of Match the Feces with the Species! Where guests can look at (models) of animal feces and attempt to guess what animal they came from. There is also a table where an educator will provide guests with harvested (and cleaned) owl pellets to dissect, allowing guests to learn a lot about what happens during digestion and how certain animals clear waste that they can't digest.
Of course, while the educational displays may be fun and cool, nothing is more popular than the world-famous Hippo Splatter Wall. This icon of Disney Imagineering is a famous Instagram wall that has a twist that a hippo has kindly splattered with plenty of poop! This comedic photo wall is also educational, showcasing one of the ways that animals clear excrement,
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The Lavatory Laboratory may be a funny experience where guests can look at tons of poop, but it is also an educational exhibit about one of the most natural processes our bodies take place in. The area also features a habitat for dung beetles where zookeepers will provide fresh, uh, samples, from the petting zoo for the beetles to go to town with. It's always an exciting and gross experience that kids love to partake in.
Nearby the Lavatory Laboratory is the small gift cart, The Happy Hippo, a cart that sells merchandise related to the Hippo Splatter Wall. While it is mainly cute hippo plushes (or even the odd dung beetle plush), guests can pick up some sillier merch, including the famed Hippo Splatter Wall Ears (created by famed Imagineer @Pi on my Cake).
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The final area inside the building is a series of sound booths. These are dark and private booths that feature headphones that guests can sit and listen to Sounds of the Planet, a sequel to the original (and lost) Sounds of the Rainforest. This attraction has guests listen to the sounds of four different biomes on Earth: The Amazon Rainforest, the Serengeti savannah, the polar ice caps, and the Chinese bamboo forests. This attraction often has no line and provides a relaxing 10-minute experience in the dark in a soundproof booth. Dame Judi Dench narrates this attraction.
With that, we exit out the back doors of the Conservation Station to the outdoor area behind the main building. The main feature immediately outside is the Affection Section, a large petting zoo that features rare heritage breeds of common livestock. Here, guests can interact directly with San Clemente Island goats, Florida cracker sheep, and Kunekune pigs, with separate habitats where guests can safely interact with Poitou donkeys, miniature highland cattle, alpacas, and miniature ponies, as well as multiple breeds of chicken, turkey, ducks, and geese.
The Affection Section does not offer feeding in order to make it, so animals are not competitive or aggressive with guests or each other. Instead, guests are provided brushes where they can brush the animals, providing a pleasant experience for the animals as well as the guests. There are also displays within the exhibits discussing sustainable animal agriculture, such as how to best sustainably and ethically harvest eggs and dairy. Lucky guests may also get to experience a rare sheep shearing when Disney's Wild Kingdom animal caretakers and vet staff shear their sheep and teach people about how the process is done.
The Affection Section is one of the earliest attractions to close, but just before it does close, guests are given an opportunity to say goodnight to the animals before an entertaining experience where the whole herd runs behind the scenes back to their night quarters.
Walking by the Affection Section and rounding around the building, guests may notice Animal Junction, a large educational stage that is modeled after the location of the same name from the old show Zoboomafoo. Well, with the opening of Disney's Wild Kingdom, Disney partnered with the Kratt Brothers to reboot the series for Disney+ and film it right at Disney's Wild Kingdom. While it's not often guests get to see a taping of the show (it is generally taped while the park is not open), this space does serve as the stage for the Wildlife Live experience. Much like the smaller performances found in the Conservation Court and within the building proper, this is a half-hour stage show where animal trainers bring out ambassadors to perform natural behaviors. This is where some of the more exotic ambassador animals appear, including servals, sloths, wombats, penguins, and more! The animal rotation is always unique as it depends on what the animals want to do, showing that zoos, and especially Disney's Wild Kingdom, aren't about making the animals do things, but instead giving the animals the happiest and healthiest home possible.
Once done with Wildlife Live, guests have a few minutes to meet the keepers and ask questions or walk around and explore Animal Junction a bit before the next show. On very, very rare occasions, one or both of the Kratt Brothers may even be the presenters in the show. One constant, however, is the original Zoboomafoo puppet is always in a display case by the exit of the theater, in the perfect place for guests to take a picture with the lemur that inspired so many future conservationists, and will do in the future with the Zoboomafoo reboot!
With that, I've completed the Conservation Station sub land. I hope everyone enjoyed this update. Rafiki's Planet Watch is my absolute favorite part of Animal Kingdom, so I wanted to honor it here with an even better version (without a stupid animation academy, that does NOT belong there). It may be a bit similar (and you'll see direct ports from AK as well), but I think I did a great job here and I'm very proud of it.
I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you in the next update!
