Trip Report: Animal Kingdom

[Disneynutcase]

It's hard to believe that we were in this park nine days ago on April 4th. It seems like it was just a day or two ago. Our vacation went by so fast. Up first as a comment: this place was strangely more humid than the rest of Florida. I guess it's because of all the water at this park, all the jungle vegitation, and all the animals sweating and panting. But it's weird that it has so much increased humidity, isn't it?

This was our first trip to AK. All the adults in our party were apprehensive about it before our tour and walked away from the park very impressed. Nice details everywhere--my Mom-in-law remarked that it reminded her detail-wise of Disneyland Paris which she visited years ago.

We arrived at 8:00 and met with a friend who works at Downtown Disney. Our strategy was to get thru the Oasis and go opposite from where the early arrivals were heading. Two out of three people seemed to go left towards the Safari, so we went right into Dinoland USA.

The new rides were up first. At first glance, it didn't seem like Triceratops Spin was operating.. We soon found out that it was, but was lacking for customers. Our party of 11 and one other family got to ride twice. It's a nice ride, kind of cute, but pales in comparison to Dumbo and the new Aladdin ride at MK. Might not be worth standing in a huge line for, though.

Next we attempted to ride Primeval Whirl. Separation anxieties out of the smaller kids only allowed four of eleven of us to ride.

Now here's a major note for all you potential Primeval Whirl riders. NOT EVERY CAR SPINS. We found this out the hard way because the car in front of us was going crazy with spins and ours just did the wild mouse in a set position. We never saw any signs while in line that indicated that some cars won't spin. And none of the CM's running the ride asked us nor indicated to us that we would be in a non-spinning car. It would be nice if they did because we wanted to spin.

Needless to say, it wasn't worth getting back in line for. My seven year old liked it, but even she felt gyped by the non-spinning ride.

While some of us gathered Fast Passes for the Safari ride, the remainder headed for que for the Lion King Show and ran into a gold mine of characters--Baloo, Brer Bear, Brer Rabbit, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Terk, and Daisy Duck.

I will say that we saw more costumed characters just sitting out in the open signing books and posing for photos "old school" meaning w/o a que at AK than any other park.

Lion King Show in one word: Excellent! A must see unless you really hate Lion King. Very innovative. Great performers.

As we headed to the Safari ride, some of us ran ahead and got Fast Passes for Kali River Rapids.

The Safari was cool, but they can lose the poacher script. Just didn't work and distracted from us actually seeing real animals on a ride as opposed to robotic ones.

We had a bit of time before our next Fast Pass so we ventured into Pangani Forest. Very nice displays. We even had a gorilla up at the glass. Not too crowded, although Grammie lost brownie points for getting too far ahead and forcing the rest of our party to find her.

First rule in our group was no one wanders off without telling someone. Bad Grammie!

Kali River Rapids was fun in places. Why do they have a forest fire? Why so much PC ecological crap? We just wanted to get wet...well, all except for my brave little one (who was on her last day of being three years old).

Guess who was in the "hot" seat when the raft went down the falls? Gillian and Mom got dunked real good, making one semi-sad, wet little girl.

But tears soon dried, faster than her shirt.

We headed to our rent-a-home for a break and ate burgers from the nearby BK, returning at 3:30 for the Jammin' Jungle Parade.

Great parade. Second best to Spectromagic in everyone's opinion. Here's hoping that AK keeps it or some version of it after the 100 Years Of Walt Celebration.

From there we hovered around Dinoland. We saw Tarzan Rocks! The band was mediocre but the Tarzan/Jane aireal stuff and some of the skating stunts were cool. I personally can't stand Rosie O'Donnell so when Terk came out to rap, I was done. But it was shady and cool in the theater so I can't complain much.

We then dropped the kids off at the Boneyard--great playground--while some of us bigger types got chased by Dinosaurs. We then switched off and those in our party who weren't from California went to see It's Tough To Be A Bug to great reviews (we have the Bug 3-D in DCA so we Californians were happy to skip it).

We left at about 6:15 and headed over to the Contemporary Resort to eat at Chef Mickeys. Along the way, we learned that MK was sold out--no parking, but the parking guards let us thru to go to our dinner.

We had to wait 35 minutes for our PS, but the bonus was that Chip and Donald Duck were hovering in the waiting area at Chef Mickeys and the CM's ended up giving us a huge round table to seat us (we were originally told that we'd have to split into two tables). Nice food. Nice character interaction. The kids were in bliss.

And the last bonus was that our delay in eating got us outside of the Contemporary just as fireworks went off in MK.

A perfect and surprisingly very fun day.

If you're hesitant to do AK, go. It's fun, very Disney, and has a lot to do. We actually missed a few things that we wanted to do because we ran out of time. My recommendation, go early when park opens at 8:00am to avoid crowds. And definately see the Lion King Show and the Parade.

 

[Invero]

Originally posted by Disneynutcase
If you're hesitant to do AK, go. It's fun, very Disney, and has a lot to do. We actually missed a few things that we wanted to do because we ran out of time. My recommendation, go early when park opens at 8:00am to avoid crowds. And definately see the Lion King Show and the Parade.

Thank you. All too often I overhear guests saying that they'll just skip AK, or that there is nothing to do there, etc. And that couldn't be further from the truth. Personally, I love AK. It's more than just "Rides" per se. There's a lot to explore and see, and hopefully more people will realize that.

 

[jcmayid]

Re: Re: Trip Report: Animal Kingdom

Originally posted by Fantasia Boi


Thank you. All too often I overhear guests saying that they'll just skip AK, or that there is nothing to do there, etc. And that couldn't be further from the truth. Personally, I love AK. It's more than just "Rides" per se. There's a lot to explore and see, and hopefully more people will realize that.

AMEN TO THAT!!!:sohappy:

 

[SilentRascal]

Re: Re: Trip Report: Animal Kingdom

Originally posted by Fantasia Boi
Thank you. All too often I overhear guests saying that they'll just skip AK, or that there is nothing to do there, etc. And that couldn't be further from the truth. Personally, I love AK. It's more than just "Rides" per se. There's a lot to explore and see, and hopefully more people will realize that.

Truth be told, most people should see AK at least once....but there really is very little worth going back to see. The truth is that Animal Kingdom is, so far, the lamest of the parks in WDW. I couldn't care less about their shows....I go for the rides and the rides there are pretty weak, though Dinosaur is ok.

 

[AkiraRaptor]

Re: Re: Re: Trip Report: Animal Kingdom

Originally posted by SilentRascal


Truth be told, most people should see AK at least once....but there really is very little worth going back to see. The truth is that Animal Kingdom is, so far, the lamest of the parks in WDW. I couldn't care less about their shows....I go for the rides and the rides there are pretty weak, though Dinosaur is ok.

Now, this is exactly what Fantasia Boi just said. Some people just don't get AK. If you "just come for the rides", why don't you go to Universal? It would leave more room for the people who do like AK.

We visited the park twice on our last vacation cos' we didn't have enough time to enjoy the entire park. We took the tour, Backstage Safari, did all the nature walks, and actually stopped and TALKED to CM about, dare I say, the animals.

I live close to about 4 amusment parks, all within about 2 hours drive. Never go to them much. Thrill rides, while I still like them, cannot hold a candel to the enjoyment I get out of a place like AK or the World Showcase at Epcot.

I want more experiances out of Disney, not more rides.

Sorry about "going" off. But like Fantasia Boi said, the park, while it does have a few "thrill" rides, is not a replacement for a Universal. I guess people just hated Sea World until they put in there rollercoaster...and by that logic, who would want to go to Discovery Cove, no rides at all. Sorry, still venting off.

Just enjoy the park, and let people decide if they like it or not. Don't begin with "it doesn't have any good rides, so it sucks" mentality.

Oh, great trip report Disneynutcase. This should give a good feel for anyone who hasn't experianced AK yet as to what to expect.

My $.02, I guess I'll get flamed for this.

 

[ToTBellHop]

If you are going to Animal Kingdom not for the animals and not for the lessons in ecology, you don't belong there. The THRILL rides are not what makes this park what I would consider Walt's favorite. It's the True Life Adventures aspect. Animal Kingdom is my favorite park of them all. The attention to detail is incredible, the animals are beautiful. As for the poaching...THAT is the point of the ride. You need to realize what a problem poaching is. Perhaps you don't care, but African Elephants will be extinct in the wild by 2020 due to poachers. Ecological crap? Well, when we torch all the rain forests on the planet and you suddenly can't get half the medicines we have now because they are only found in rain forests, perhaps your view of this will change. I don't honestly know how the poaching theme could keep you from seeing the animals...they use separate senses...and the poaching portion of the ride is quite separate from the safari portion...if you don't like animals...well...that's your problem, but this park comes the closest to any part of Walt's visions of any of the parks. This park is filled with disney magic.

 

[Maria]

Thank you so much for that trip report Disneynutcase!
It was excellent! You just made me go around the park with you with GREAT memories of it!
It´s such an amazing park!! :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[Disneynutcase]

Thanks Maria, Fantasia Boi, and Akira Raptor. It's nice to have my efforts to recreate my family's trip validated.

I, too, don't get why some people won't enjoy this park. It's probably closest to Epcot--at least to me--in that it's not just about the rides (and the rides are very good and the ones rumored to be in the works for AK sound great). Just being there is fun. I would've been content just walking around and looking at stuff. Then again, two of my most favorite places on the planet are the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Smithsonian National Zoo. Great settings that are totally dependent upon the exprience of being there rather than shows or rides.

And again, Lion King Show was the best live show I've ever seen at any Disney park. But hey if dazzling song, dance, stunts, and neat sets aren't your bag, I can respect that. And I won't angrily tell you to go to Universal or Six Flags, either.

As for Dogsrule's comments: I'll be happy to respect your opinions if you'd try to respect mine. I felt that for the Safari ride, the experience of just being out in the relative open viewing animals as we came upon them was spectacular enough. To have a script forced upon us (that really isn't that good) didn't do much to enhance the ride to me. It's not that I'm ignorant nor insensitive to what is going on with the African Elephant. But why can't our Safari tourguide mention the plight of the Elephant as we see an Elephant rather than have a hackneyed script thrown at us?

Oh yeah. B.T.W.--the collapsing bridge didn't seem to work.

As far as the "buring rain forest" on Kali River Rapids, I thought that deforestization via fire mostly happens in South America, and not so prevalent in Asia. The media sure has played it up like it's almost exclusive to Brazil. And it isn't exactly like we're riding thru a rain forest ever in this ride--even the Jungle Cruise has defacto sprinklers for a rain forest effect.

I personally found the burned out trees jarringly ugly. And although perhaps that's the point, it really kind of bothered me that they broke up the beauty of this ride by doing this. And yes, I consider both this and the poacher script to be hackneyed forced PC crap. There's a way to say the same message and to do it succinctly. In my opinion, the way they do this on these AK rides is more of an after-thought/jam some kind of psuedo educational message down people's throat approach.

But if it works for some of you, then that's great. Just please try to repect that it didn't work for me.

 

[Maria]

I agree with you on the poacher´s script... I don´t like it... Sometimes you get a good cm to play along with it sometimes you don´t... Being AK my favorite park along with Epcot, we did the Safari many times.... my bf teased the cm once by repeating those recorded lines and making fun of listenning to the same tunes on the radio... (we were all cm´s in the truck, don´t worry ) , because we were all fed up with that! I agree there has to be another way to send the message to us! ...and who hasn´t made fun or comments about the guy standing with his riffle at the end of the ride?
:animwink:

 

[SilentRascal]

Originally posted by DogsRule!
If you are going to Animal Kingdom not for the animals and not for the lessons in ecology, you don't belong there. The THRILL rides are not what makes this park what I would consider Walt's favorite. It's the True Life Adventures aspect. Animal Kingdom is my favorite park of them all. The attention to detail is incredible, the animals are beautiful. As for the poaching...THAT is the point of the ride. You need to realize what a problem poaching is. Perhaps you don't care, but African Elephants will be extinct in the wild by 2020 due to poachers. Ecological crap? Well, when we torch all the rain forests on the planet and you suddenly can't get half the medicines we have now because they are only found in rain forests, perhaps your view of this will change. I don't honestly know how the poaching theme could keep you from seeing the animals...they use separate senses...and the poaching portion of the ride is quite separate from the safari portion...if you don't like animals...well...that's your problem, but this park comes the closest to any part of Walt's visions of any of the parks. This park is filled with disney magic.

If you want animals and ecology....go to your local zoo. Animal Kingdom does no better in teaching about either than a regular zoo does. I would expect Walt to be pretty disappointed with this park as it doesn't have nearly the mix of different sort of attractions as MK or even EPCOT. "This park comes the closest to any part of Walt's visions of any of the parks."......yeah, that's a crock. That quote is best defined by the Magic Kingdom. AK has a ways to go.

 

[jcmayid]

Unfortunately, Silent Rascal cannot appreciate the beauty of AK. :brick: I think comparing this park to a regular ol' Zoo is just plain absurd. :hammer: If I lived in Orlando I would visit this park every weekend. We've gone about 3 times & absolutely loved & enjoyed it every single time! From the animals, to the shows, to the fun rides...My compliments to Disney on such a great new park!!!
:sohappy:

 

[AkiraRaptor]

Originally posted by jcmayid
Unfortunately, Silent Rascal cannot appreciate the beauty of AK. :brick: I think comparing this park to a regular ol' Zoo is just plain absurd. :hammer: If I lived in Orlando I would visit this park every weekend. We've gone about 3 times & absolutely loved & enjoyed it every single time! From the animals, to the shows, to the fun rides...My compliments to Disney on such a great new park!!!
:sohappy:

:sohappy: My thoughts exactly. To each there own I guess. I never thought of AK as a zoo. And to be honest, the first time I even saw anyone compair it to a zoo was here at this site.

If they wanted to create a zoo, it would have rivaled most zoos in the world. But that's not what AK is all about. It's about living with the animals and eccosystems of the world. They are educating us. Most of the rides do it too. Poaching, burning down rain forests, even the bugs have afew words about it. :lol:

If you really want to have a good time at AK, you have to learn to slow down and take in the park. Walk around and look at stuff, don't just rush around to each ride, then leave.

I bet most people who dislike AK never even did the nature walks, and if they did, then walked right through. My wife and I spend a considerable amount of time in both Africa and Asia nature walks. Heck I must have 10 rolls of film from AK, mostly in these two areas.

And they probebly went to the Conservation Center and looked at the petting zoo then left. We spent over an hour just talking to one CM at the vet window alone, plus we took the Backstage tour and got a wealth of information on how they take care of the animal and everything that goes on in a park like this.

I love this park. I can understand you don't like the park SilentRascal, and I'm not in any way tring to convice you to like it. Heck, I don't care much for MGM, I'm always bored at that place and usally never spend more than half a day if I can't avoid it all together. So I do understand, but that's my opinion. But I think the view of AK is slightly skewed if you think it's a zoo.

The comments you make are the ones that ussaly get to Disney and get them to put an attraction like Test Track into the middle of Epcot. Now I like Test Track as a ride, but IMO it's doesn't "fit" into what Epcot has been in the past. Next well see a new pavilion at World Showcase for the Carribian with one of theose swinging pirate ships. :lol:

Must stop ranting on like this....:animwink:

 

[MinnieFan]

I just wanted to say that I love Animal Kingdom. That place makes me happy.

 

[BradleyJ]

Originally posted by AkiraRaptor
I bet most people who dislike AK never even did the nature walks, and if they did, then walked right through.

So true,

I had a friend who was doing park survey's for a while.

And I was there once, and heard her doing an interview, the family complained that they didn't see the gorillas.

And when asked, they admitted they didn't do the "Pangani Forest."

When she asked them why they didn't, they said they didn't feel like walking down a nature trail, and when pointed out that that's where the gorillas were, they basically blamed Disney for not just having them, stuck out in the middle of the park for everyone to see.

 

[njchris65]

SilentRascal... no offense, but you don't seem to like much about the Disney parks unless it has thrill rides. Don't get me wrong, I *love* thrill rides, but there are MANY ways to enjoy yourself in life, that's just one of many.

I didn't go to AK on the two trips after it opened. I thought there was nothing to do there. On my third trip after AK was already open, I went and am glad I did! It's now part of my parks to visit when I go to orlando (I go to MK, EPcot, MGM, AK, IOA, USF)

I loved the safari and the animals. I got closeups of the gorilla and baby gorilla on my camcorder. I was in awe. How could you not appreciate these amazing animals? I don't see the same theming at a zoo. Nor any of the shows/rides either. So to compare it to a zoo is silly.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Watch some of the old True Life Adventures. You will see that Walt was an ecologist. He didn't even WANT the Magic Kingdom to be built here, Epcot is nothing like what he imagined, and I don't recall him ever wanting studios here in the first place. I'm sorry if you don't like the ecology, but it is the point of the entire park. The poaching and deforestation plots were not thought up at the end. The deforestation plot is pivotal to Kali River Rapids. As you said, the abruptness of this situation was planned on. You are supposed to be disgusted with it. And yes, people are burning down rain forests in southeast Asia. As for the poaching, if you want to see the best way they are educating people about animals and poaching, watch the two preshow videos in the queue line. They tell you first of all which animals to look for and then they show you dead animals--again, this is supposed to shock you. Then you board your vehicles and see everything the preshow called for. The poaching plot completes the story--first you see all the beautiful animals and then you hear about people killing them--it's supposed to anger you. This park is setting out to teach you something, just like Epcot and MGM. If you can't appreciate Disney trying to teach you things...I'm sorry. Disney is not superficial enough to just put up rides that are meaningless. As for the script...I actually think it's amusing just hearing their VOICES! It's great! "TOMMIES! TOMMIES!" They could, however, pick like 10 different songs and cycle through them...I don't honestly think the poaching storyline deteriorates from the safari storyline, they are very much separate and the earlier is roughly the last 3 minutes of a 25 minute ride. While you are watching the animals, all you hear is Dr. Jobson (a real zoologist, I might add) give you some information about everything you are singing...and the "TOMMIES!!!" guy who is just plain funny! Your experience certainly varies based on the Cast Member, but I'm pretty sure this is the case on every disney ride. Some bellhops are better than others on the Tower of Terror, some Cast Members are better than others on the Great Movie Ride, and some skippers are better than others on the Jungle Cruise.

Done ranting.

 

[jcmayid]

Originally posted by DogsRule!
Watch some of the old True Life Adventures. You will see that Walt was an ecologist. He didn't even WANT the Magic Kingdom to be built here, Epcot is nothing like what he imagined, and I don't recall him ever wanting studios here in the first place. I'm sorry if you don't like the ecology, but it is the point of the entire park. The poaching and deforestation plots were not thought up at the end. The deforestation plot is pivotal to Kali River Rapids. As you said, the abruptness of this situation was planned on. You are supposed to be disgusted with it. And yes, people are burning down rain forests in southeast Asia. As for the poaching, if you want to see the best way they are educating people about animals and poaching, watch the two preshow videos in the queue line. They tell you first of all which animals to look for and then they show you dead animals--again, this is supposed to shock you. Then you board your vehicles and see everything the preshow called for. The poaching plot completes the story--first you see all the beautiful animals and then you hear about people killing them--it's supposed to anger you. This park is setting out to teach you something, just like Epcot and MGM. If you can't appreciate Disney trying to teach you things...I'm sorry. Disney is not superficial enough to just put up rides that are meaningless. As for the script...I actually think it's amusing just hearing their VOICES! It's great! "TOMMIES! TOMMIES!" They could, however, pick like 10 different songs and cycle through them...I don't honestly think the poaching storyline deteriorates from the safari storyline, they are very much separate and the earlier is roughly the last 3 minutes of a 25 minute ride. While you are watching the animals, all you hear is Dr. Jobson (a real zoologist, I might add) give you some information about everything you are singing...and the "TOMMIES!!!" guy who is just plain funny! Your experience certainly varies based on the Cast Member, but I'm pretty sure this is the case on every disney ride. Some bellhops are better than others on the Tower of Terror, some Cast Members are better than others on the Great Movie Ride, and some skippers are better than others on the Jungle Cruise.

Done ranting.

WOW!!! BRAVO!!! :sohappy:

 

[Disneynutcase]

Dogsrule, although I still differ with you about the way they do the ecology stuff (and it's totally cool with me that you like it), you make a great point when it comes to the enthusiasm and acting ability of the CMs.

We had a great guide on the Jungle Cruise. It ended up being my daughter's favorite ride for the day. Helped that us and another family were laughing at her jokes, but, overall, this gal was good with delivery and didn't make it seem like she was reciting a script.

The bell hops on ToT and the "staff" at Haunted Mansion were equally fun with their droll haunted expressions and delivery.

We actually didn't enjoy the scripted "abduction" parts of the Great Movie Ride. Our tour guide was over the top and the gal playing the Mobster was kind of a really bad actress. Again, I question if the fault lies in the script or in the performance.

This past weekend we watched about 2 hours of the 3 1/2 hours of video we shot at the parks and I will say that our CM for the Safari was excellent at pointing out and giving facts on all the animals but tended to ignore and not give us much delivery on the "Poacher" script. Therefore, yes, the poacher thing seemed tacked on.

We also Fast Passed the ride and only caught a glimpse or two of the pre-show video, therefore perhaps spoiling the point of the poacher bit.

On a side-note, we rode with a friend who works at WDW who hadn't been on the Safari for a while who told us that they orignally had a way too jarring end effect with an actual dead elephant (apparantly "Little Red" once bit it). But our friend claimed that a lot of people found it very upsetting, therefore the dead elephant was removed and the poachers are now just caught in the end before damage is done.

And the former presentation is exactly what I feel they're kind of doing wrong at AK--educate us but please don't beat us over the head.

I had similar negativity this time to American Adventure (and I had seen in twice before). I went in thinking it will be a big "Yea, America!" because I remembered it as such, and found myself dismayed over how much negative stuff about America that they have in the show.

Don't get me wrong. I like Chief Joseph--think he's a pivotal part of American history. And I know the point is that Americans come from all over the world and that we percevere (sp) like crazy. Hey, the WWII female welder could be my Grandmother. This is what Grandma did at the Richmond, California shipyards to put food on the table from '42-'45. But overall, I felt that Disney brought out that ol' educate or bust 2x4 to beat me over the head.

I dunno. I guess I go to Disney Parks to shut my brain off and de-stress. Therefore having to ponder species extinction, deforestation, and how badly we treated blacks and indians just isn't my kind of mind-numbing fun. Yet I love Epcot and I love AK because they aren't just mindless entertainment but great environments for exploration. Does that make sense?

 

[njchris65]

Maybe it's me, but I don't understand how anyone can go on one of the rides with the CMs doing a bit and not enjoy it even if they are bad actors/actresses. For me, it's a matter of letting go of the cynical eye and just enjoy being on vacation!

As for the American Adventure, AK and messages... I didn't feel beat over the head with anything. Again, I suppose it's all in your perception and expectations. I have yet to get stressed over a ride/show presentation.

I never take my work home with me and I never take my stress with me on a vacation. There's got to be balance in life, and a time to let go of things.

 

[Disneynutcase]

Okay, wait...

It's not that I didn't enjoy these attractions. I actually have never had an experience at any Disney park that I didn't enjoy in some way.

Wait, not true! I totally freaked out the first time I rode Haunted Mansion. Of course, that was back in 1970 and I was only five years old. I DID NOT like that the "ghosts would follow me home."

Other than that, I can't really complain about anything other than some things are perhaps more uneventful (if not boring) than other things. And similarly, some attractions go over better than others. I think that's why they have more than one attraction.

And the beauty about Disney parks, very prevalent at WDW, is that if you didn't completely enjoy an attraction, there's probably one you will fall in love with just a few steps away.

Also please notice that I'm not demanding that Disney alter any attraction. I'm just saying that, to me, some attractions worked better than the others.

Hey, when they spoil us with perfect presentations like Spaceship Earth (even though the new warning junk inside the ride is annoying), RnRC, ToT, Buzz Lightyear, Lion King Show, Fantasmic, and such, then when something doesn't come across as perfect, you are kind of left going, "bummer..."

But seriously, guys. I'll take Disney's imperfections over anything in the real world any day.