Thirsty River Bar and Trek Snacks opening Dec 12 at Animal Kingdom

Smiddimizer

Well-Known Member
I love DAK but tend to agree. Once Pandora opens, though, I think it will be very close and really just needs a couple of C-tickets to fill out the roster. Or a major daytime parade/show. I'm a little disappointed that with all the improvements they are making with the park -- which I totally love BTW -- that they couldn't find some money to add a smallish dark ride or two somewhere.

I'm just disappointed that there's no money to fix the damn yeti.
 

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
I love DAK but tend to agree. Once Pandora opens, though, I think it will be very close and really just needs a couple of C-tickets to fill out the roster. Or a major daytime parade/show. I'm a little disappointed that with all the improvements they are making with the park -- which I totally love BTW -- that they couldn't find some money to add a smallish dark ride or two somewhere.
The biggest thing DAK needs after Pandora to truly compete with the best parks is get rid of Dinorama and replace it with something less garish and more in theme with Dinoland.
 

JeffBostock

Active Member
I'm just disappointed that there's no money to fix the damn yeti.

I don't think it has to do with money. It most likely has to do with a lack of E ticket attractions at AK. Until Pandora opens up, it's not in their best interest to close down EE to fix the yeti, which will be a lengthy repair. Once Pandora opens, hopefully Disney finally fixes the yeti.
 

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
I don't think it has to do with money. It most likely has to do with a lack of E ticket attractions at AK. Until Pandora opens up, it's not in their best interest to close down EE to fix the yeti, which will be a lengthy repair. Once Pandora opens, hopefully Disney finally fixes the yeti.
Has Everest ever been down for a refurb since it opened? Hopefully the additional capacity of Pandora will allow for an extended refurb of E:E.
 

Flippin'Flounder

Well-Known Member
I love DAK but tend to agree. Once Pandora opens, though, I think it will be very close and really just needs a couple of C-tickets to fill out the roster. Or a major daytime parade/show. I'm a little disappointed that with all the improvements they are making with the park -- which I totally love BTW -- that they couldn't find some money to add a smallish dark ride or two somewhere.
I think they should do an Asia expansion. Upgraded Kali, Jungle Book Dark Ride, Everest Refurb, and maybe, now that Disney is working with China, a Giant Panda Exhibit?
 

flyerjab

Well-Known Member
I'm curious to know if the night time show will be somewhat viewable from this bar. It is obviously in Asia and right behind the main seating area for RoL. Man, when this area, along with the theming of the RoL show area, is finished it will rival Harambe in overall immersion.
 

Marc Davis Fan

Well-Known Member
The biggest thing DAK needs after Pandora to truly compete with the best parks is get rid of Dinorama and replace it with something less garish and more in theme with Dinoland.

THIS!

DAK is takes the theme park experience to a new level of immersion, being absolutely groundbreaking in that regard in all other lands, and then features the most garish, un-Disney-like place in any Disney theme park in the world. The guest experience is holistic, such that the removal of this anomaly will cause people to be more impressed with the park, have a better experience, etc. It affects the overall perception of an otherwise astonishing, fully-absorbing theme park experience - which is exactly what Disney needs in order to maintain the perception of its uniqueness. Hopefully, once Pandora opens, they can work on things like (fixing the yeti and) replacing Dino-Rama with, say, a C-ticket family-friendly dig-site coaster, or something of that sort. Some more rockwork around the area like that at its entrance would also help give it a nice sense of place, so that it's not so visually and experientially lacking in comparison with every other area of the park.

Whether (when?) Disney replaces Dino-Rama might also be viewed as an indication of the extent to which Disney understands the significance of the holistic aspects of the guest experience. Guest surveys will not say "Dino-Rama affected my perception of the park as a whole," nor would people even likely say that if asked. Disney has to understand that it's an intangible, but that considering such intangibles has been an important part of what made Disney become so popular and successful.
 

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
I'm curious to know if the night time show will be somewhat viewable from this bar. It is obviously in Asia and right behind the main seating area for RoL. Man, when this area, along with the theming of the RoL show area, is finished it will rival Harambe in overall immersion.
It's a kiosk, so will be a grab and go affair.

It will sell alcohol though.
 

Smiddimizer

Well-Known Member
The biggest thing DAK needs after Pandora to truly compete with the best parks is get rid of Dinorama and replace it with something less garish and more in theme with Dinoland.

Yes, exactly. I love to imagine Lucky the Dinosaur on a huge scale, an elaborate walk through animal exhibit like the other lands have....but with dinosaurs.

In any case I certainly hope that $350mill for AK is headed in Dinoland's direction...
 

Fox&Hound

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't be surprised at all to see The Good Dinosaur take over Dinorama. Having Everest in the background also isn't far off from the Sawtooth Mountains.

This was indeed my biggest hope! I love AK but agree it needs a few more rides to round out the attraction line up. I also agree that Dinoland is horrific and ruins everything AK is trying to do.but after viewing The Good Dinosaur and seeing the lackluster box office I have a lot of fears. I wanted to love TGD but wasn't too impressed. Beautiful scenery in a movie with little story and characters not really fleshed out. I hoped it would be a huge hit and AK would see changes coming to Dinoland but unless things change for it really quickly, word of mouth seems poor. So sad- anyone else see it???
 

Castle Cake Apologist

Well-Known Member
Not sure what this has to do with a grab and go food location...

They were replying to a comment that talked about replacing Dinorama with something more well-themed to the land that it's in. So their comment was directly related to what they were replying to. Granted, neither comment was on topic, but I just can't figure out why you chose this one off-topic post of many to offer commentary on?

Either way, this looks great. More top-notch theming as usual in DAK.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
The biggest thing DAK needs after Pandora to truly compete with the best parks is get rid of Dinorama and replace it with something less garish and more in theme with Dinoland.

Disagree. They need to add more stuff before they worry about replacing weaker areas. WDW as a whole has been terrible in terms of constantly replacing when they should be expanding -- what's the point of the "blessing of size" if you don't use it?

I'd much rather see them add Australia or South America to the large undeveloped area in the north or fit in a cartoon based "Critter Country" somewhere before replacing an area that has some of the few rides in the park (including one of the two rides without a height restriction).
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
In any case I certainly hope that $350mill for AK is headed in Dinoland's direction...

I don't think there's any indication of additional money going to DAK beyond the current projects. The massive $3.2B that was reportedly approved for WDW was earmarked as:
$350M to Epcot
$350M to MK
$2.5B to DHS (a bunch of that going to infrastructure)

There was no (reported) additional funds going to DAK at that time, as the money for Pandora, RoL, night safaris, and general park enhancement (e.g. food and merch) was already allocated. After Pandora opens, we are probably looking at 2021 at the earliest for any additional significant investment (and then only if they want to put some money there as part of a general 50th anniversary budget).
 

Bolt

Well-Known Member
They were replying to a comment that talked about replacing Dinorama with something more well-themed to the land that it's in. So their comment was directly related to what they were replying to. Granted, neither comment was on topic, but I just can't figure out why you chose this one off-topic post of many to offer commentary on?

Either way, this looks great. More top-notch theming as usual in DAK.
So, yeah. It was off topic. As fun as it is to read creative ideas, it's a letdown each time you go to a thread you're interested in and there's nothing truly relevant to the subject matter. That's why I said that.
 

dreamscometrue

Well-Known Member
I don't think there's any indication of additional money going to DAK beyond the current projects. The massive $3.2B that was reportedly approved for WDW was earmarked as:
$350M to Epcot
$350M to MK
$2.5B to DHS (a bunch of that going to infrastructure)

There was no (reported) additional funds going to DAK at that time, as the money for Pandora, RoL, night safaris, and general park enhancement (e.g. food and merch) was already allocated. After Pandora opens, we are probably looking at 2021 at the earliest for any additional significant investment (and then only if they want to put some money there as part of a general 50th anniversary budget).
With all the work going on at DAK between 2014-2017, I'll be okay with WDW focusing on the other parks with that money. For our family, DAK has been a park where we spend many hours each trip. We slow down at this park to see and do absolutely everything. With all the new additions, it'll be no problem to spend 2 full days there each time we visit. Yep, spend that $3.2 billion where it is much more needed :)
 

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
Not sure what this has to do with a grab and go food location...
Because it's more exciting to talk about than a Fastpass location turned into a bar.

People go off-topic all the time and no one gets hurt. You've been around long enough to know that.
 

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