The Lost 'Cageless-ness' of AK

[RandySavage]

I'm a big fan of AK and have followed its evolution since my first visit (a month prior to its grand opening).

In an earlier time, the most striking thing about the park to me was its Cageless-ness. Walking the Maharajah Jungle and Pangani Forest trails, with nary a man-made fence noticable in many areas, I was in awe... the tigers and gorillas were right there beyond waste-high railings. No (visible) chain link backing the habitats. No nets obstructing the views into the paddocks (outside of the aviaries).

As important as the lack of typical zoo barriers, was that the animal overnight buildings were completely invisible, hidden behind rockwork, berms or vegetation. One's imagination easily soared into the romanticized wilds of India and Africa. It was like no other zoo on the planet (and I've been to many of the best), in that the villages of Anandapur and Harambe set the tone and convincingly "natural & wild" habitats delivered on the promise of being transported these far away locales.

This image sums up my feelings towards the AK experience versus a municipal zoo:

It's a pretty phenomenal place when running on all cylinders.

Then came Colglazier and Disney Legal and things began to change (I first began to notice during Colglazier's reign). Vegetation was removed and not replaced exposing overnight buildings behind exhibits (on Maharajah behind the Banteng (now Water Buffalo); the new Zebra cages on Safari finale). Tall netting went up on the Tiger paddocks (must be Legal, right?). More surveillance cameras were installed. Worst of all, coinciding with the Wild Africa Trek, many more chain link fences became visible on the Safari and Pangani attractions.

I had hoped vegetation would be allowed to grow to help hide these, but having visited a couple weeks ago, I noticed even more visible fencing, most egregiously right behind the tigers from the first elevated viewpoint:

Long story short, the Cageless-ness, the thing that made Animal Kingdom so special and, as I argued in the past, the best animal park on the planet, has been needlessly diminished.

The park is currently experiencing a Great Renaissance, which has me very excited. I only wish Joe Rohde or those running the park would see all these now-visible eyesores and do something about it. It strikes as being quite simple and relatively inexpensive to fix (if rockwork is too expensive, bamboo and other veg (real or fake) can do wonders). Restoring this unique feature of the park to its former glory would make a world of difference in its overall impact on the guest... it did on me.

 

[Slowjack]

Long story short, the Cageless-ness, the thing that made Animal Kingdom so special and, as I argued in the past, the best animal park on the planet, has been needlessly diminished.

You make excellent points, and I couldn't agree more. What really sets AK apart from my local zoo (and I love my local zoo, don't get me wrong) is the cleverness of the animal enclosures. I remember the first time I was on the Maharaja trek and feeling like I was in the cage and the tigers had free run of the land. Great stuff.

I have to wonder, though, if the increased visibility of enclosures and other infrastructure is deliberate, a way to alter the theme and maybe save a few bucks in the bargain. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the Harambe safari's explanation has been altered from an open, essentially unmanaged nature preserve to something closer to what it actually is, a series of separate animal enclosures. In the past, the driver spiel had suggested that we were driving in the hopes of finding animals but that the driver knew where the animals were commonly found. Most recently, the spiel sounds more like what you would get from a typical zoo train. E.g., on my last trip, the driver pointed out the African dogs, and told us they were being acclimated to their enclosure. This seems to be the fallout from losing Miss Jobson and the previous poaching storyline--at the time we were told this would make the experience more "real," but this is not the reality most of us were expecting. More realistic sets, yes; having the backs of sets in plain view, no.

 

[wdwmagic]

The vegetation took a bad hit around 2009 with a really cold winter (give or take a few years, I can't remember exactly). It never really recovered, and it has looked sparse in comparison to its early years ever since.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

The vegetation took a bad hit around 2009 with a really cold winter (give or take a few years, I can't remember exactly). It never really recovered, and it has looked sparse in comparison to its early years ever since.

But that's seven years ago. When it opened, DAK didn't need eight years to look densily vegetated.

DAK's visuals are dependent on plant growth, on foliage. This comes with a pricetag, which can be budgeted. Just like paint for Main Street and machine parts for the monorail.

A winter might be the cause, but it is not the reason for insufficient foliage. The reason is lack of budget and will. In what universe are periodical colds and storms over Florida unexpected and not budgeted for anyway?


Great thread, BTW. Managing the world's most visited zoo requires more than raising prices and slashing costs, something which DAK'S gorillas could do just as well but for a few crates of bananas instead of six digit numbers.