Figment632
New Member
The TDO apologist.
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Poor DAK! Recent Trip Observations
- Thread starter jmuboy
- Start date
The TDO apologist.
captainkidd
Well-Known Member
Everest has become an embarrassment to the company. Take some pride in the attraction, close it down for a month or 2, and fix it.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
Walmarter!
Sweatshirt Mom!
Fanboi!
D&G!
Pixie Dust Snorter!
Other unoriginal cliche insults that don't add anything of substance to the conversation!
Figment632
New Member
Walmarter!
Sweatshirt Mom!
Fanboi!
D&G!
Pixie Dust Snorter!
Other unoriginal cliche insults that don't add anything of substance to the conversation!
I just don't pretend the parks are perfect because they are DIsney :shrug:
jakeman
Well-Known Member
Then perhaps you should join in the discussion instead of throwing out an overused "insult"? :shrug:
Figment632
New Member
Ok I agree with the idea that DAK has fallen greatly from what it once was thematically. Ride wise there has never been much in DAK.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
captainkidd
Well-Known Member
I guess I must have blinders on. While I think Everest has turned into a joke, the rest of the park is stunning.
Figment632
New Member
Well DIno-rama comes to mind but that has been there a very long time.
But recently all of the effects that are broken on almost everyride in the park kind ruins some of the once great theme.
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
I think there is a simple solution for animal kingdom, but for whatever reason TDO is unwilling to throw the fund in this direction. All that is needed is a people eating attraction. Just something to hold down the fort while they are able to take down E:E for a refurb, then Dino, then KS. These attractions need help, but without a new attraction, they will not be able to take them down.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
Dino-Rama may aesthetically be offensive to some, thematically it fits perfectly with the story of Chester and Hester and The Dino-Institute.
As far as I know there are only two attractions that have major elements missing at the moment: E: E and Dinosaur. While unacceptable, it is far from "all of the effects...on almost every ride in the park".
Figment632
New Member
There are several effects missing from KS from what I have heard.
DAK has had crap operations for a while now. It really started under Val Bunting, the hopelessly inept operations executive that shares some of the responsibility for so thoroughly running MK into the ground. Gradually under her tenure cuts were made to practices such as street washing, painting, light replacement, maintenance of show elements in rides, etc. The practices are nothing new but the park is really starting to show some wear and tear.
None of the Disney parks in FL do a great job maintaining show quality anymore, but DAK and MK are almost always the worst. DHS is actually surprisingly well maintained all things considered, but the relatively small size of that park (smallest operating footprint of any park in FL by a mile) makes the $$$ go further.
What really kills me are the absolutely retarded creative changes that have been made to Kilimanjaro Safari. Cutbacks suck but at least I can understand why a pencil pusher can justify the change. In this case Disney actually SPENT money to turn a jewel of an attraction into a bore with no payoff at the end.
None of the Disney parks in FL do a great job maintaining show quality anymore, but DAK and MK are almost always the worst. DHS is actually surprisingly well maintained all things considered, but the relatively small size of that park (smallest operating footprint of any park in FL by a mile) makes the $$$ go further.
What really kills me are the absolutely retarded creative changes that have been made to Kilimanjaro Safari. Cutbacks suck but at least I can understand why a pencil pusher can justify the change. In this case Disney actually SPENT money to turn a jewel of an attraction into a bore with no payoff at the end.
captainkidd
Well-Known Member
The thing is, the rides are secondary for me at AK. The park is so beautifully landscaped, and there are so many diversions, I'm not overly concerned. The only reason I bring Everest up is because they spent so much money on an attraction that is still a baby, and are letting it basically turn into a mess.
captainkidd
Well-Known Member
I actually thought the MK looked pretty good in january, and I'm very over critical of that park in particular. The only issue I really noticed were several light bulbs out along Main Street.
What changes have been made to KS? Granted, timing of day can make or break the experience, but it doesn't seem much different to me than it has in the past. I just wish they'd get rid of the AA elephant at the end. Doesn't fit in with the rest of the ride at all.
They've completely overhauled all of the audio playback on the ride, removing the African soundtrack and most of the references to the Big Red/Little Red storyline that the ride used to carry. With regards to the spiels that the driver's give, honestly my driver was so awful that we stopped paying attention and started making jokes amongst ourselves.
"Crikey! Its a wild CAT!" - Spoken as a CAT front end loader was seen driving on a service road in the middle of the savanna.
Figment632
New Member
I agree with you but the theming of DAK is not enough for me. While it is amazing and the best Disney has in the US, there is just not enough to do in that park for me so that is why I put a greater emphasis on the ride effects.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
If you have read this thread you would see where I explained exactly what is missing and why.
I'm not an insider but I worked at KSR for 3 summers over 4 years so I like to think I know what I'm talking about in this very small corner of WDW.
There have only been two things removed without an explanation: the Warden Plane and the actual Warden Post cast member position.
I don't know why the plan was removed, but the cast member playing Warden would work for 2 hours and then have about a 1 hour break if they were fully staff.
I feel just the opposite having seen both scripts in action.
They both have their flaws, but at least there is a chance now that guest will know what is going on.
In my literally thousands of safaris under the old script a vast majority of them had no clue that we were going to chase poachers because those important bits of dialogue always came when their were rhinos, elephants, or lions within view.
While you may peronally not like the change in the script, from a guest interaction stand point the movements of the dialogue are good.
When it comes down to it, most guest don't want to chase poachers. They didn't before the script changes and they don't after the script changes. They just want to see animals.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
They haven't done any of that.
The African soundtrack was moved to come on right before the bridge where, beside an occasion male elephant and the even rarer Mandrils animal interaction is lower.
While different, references to Big Red and Little Red still drive the story. Little Red just gets lost now and picked up by poachers rather than Big Red being shot.
If you felt that you had a subpar driver then I hope that you spoke to guest relations about it. It does sound like you had a bad driver that missed several of the audio pucks. The one that now triggers the African music can be tricky to hit sometimes.
So thematically the park is fine for you then?
captainkidd
Well-Known Member
Did they get rid of the spiel with Wilson and the radio station? I thought they still had that in January.