World of Color Making It's Way to Animal Kingdom?

[twebber55]

First of all, there are experts/insiders here saying never going to happen. Most people liked my original post and he wanted to call me out on it and be snarky, I was giving my opinion. If I can't give my opinion w/o him having a say in it, why can't I reply.
Doesn't mean I have a condesending attitude. It's a message board. Get used to it.

"Its a message board get used to it" =being snarky what are you 15. I was just giving an opinion and saw nothing wrong with what he said post what you want i truly could care less

 

[mouse_luv]

"Its a message board get used to it" =being snarky what are you 15. I was just giving an opinion and saw nothing wrong with what he said post what you want i truly could care less

LOL you are calling me 15 which I'm not, yet you are continually bringing things up? So you can give opinions and he can give opinions but I can't? Hmmm doesn't quite make sense. How about you continue to care less about things?

 

[twebber55]

LOL you are calling me 15 which I'm not, yet you are continually bringing things up? So you can give opinions and he can give opinions but I can't? Hmmm doesn't quite make sense. How about you continue to care less about things?

Ok

 

[Funmeister]

That's the point. Right now DAK can't stay open late enough because there's not enough to do. With the extension of park hours and the addition of Avatar, there will be more to keep guests entertained after dark when the animals have been brought in.


I'm not commenting on the credibility of the rumor but Animal Kingdom is THE place to put WOC if a WDW park were getting it. Magic Kingdom has a parade and fireworks, Studios has Fantasmic, and Epcot has IllumiNations. The business purpose of nighttime spectaculars is to keep guests in the park for dinner. Table service dining is highly profitable and Animal Kingdom is missing this revenue stream entirely. Extending park hours will keep guests dining and spending long into the evening.

Tim, Tim, TIm...the animals are not "brought in" every night. That is the beauty of DAK is that the animal handlers allow the animals to decide if they want to go in at night or not. The animal handlers make one attempt to bring them in and will only force them inside in the event of major storms or anything to prevent them from getting injured. After the one attempt they let them stay out on the savanna. If you remember...they used to offer night time safaris. Mind you some of the animals on the safaris were fake (fiber optic lightning bugs, illumiated eyes in the grass, speakers with animal noises to name a few...a lot was removed for the safety of the animals once one of the hippos ingested some of the fiber optics over their pool) but there were real animals that you could see during your safari.

The main reason DAK has not had a lot of night time activity is because the park never had a lot of infrastructure to operate at night. Yes, over the years they have added lighting and wider clearer walkways to stay open after dark.

Please do not confuse the short business hours on having to "bring the animals in" and not on the fact that it was not guest ready at night due to lack of lighting and some offerings to serve guests. Hell DAK was a little off on numbers when it opened so who could afford to hire a whole another shift of CM's to operate the park? DAK is THE MOST expensive park to maintain. Think about the food bill alone each day for animals? When you are not hitting numbers...you keep labor and operation to a minimum.

Remember too that Future World at EPCOT closes at 7pm (for the most part now) and just about all of Fantasyland has to close during fireworks...yet they still manage to stay open.

Unless they do an animal or environmental based version of WOC it does not fit into the brand of DAK.

There were rumors shortly after the park opened of possibly doing a laser show on the Tree of Life like they do/did with Stone Mountain in Georgia. It was basically a show done with lasers outlining animals that would "come to life" during certain portions of the show. Of course this technology is WAY outdated compared to 1997 leading into 1998. I am not sure (dont think so) if there was any serious discussion about that as they were so focused on "ARTimals" and other entertainment.

 

[TP2000]

I live in Orlando and last year when I was at Rafikis Planet watch I overheard 2 cast members discussing exactly this. World of Color coming and they want to make it an all day park. I heard it with my own ears one year ago.

While I can understand the interest in their conversation... Frontline CM's wearing uniforms and performing basic customer service jobs are not "being told" anything about DAK's future by anyone of authority.

These CM's are just discussing amongst themselves rumors they heard/saw on the Internet on boards like this. The same goes for those CM's managers in the parks wearing barely-ironed Dockers and dangling pin lanyards making sure the lunch breaks are going out on time. None of those types of CM's know anything more than what's found on the Internet. It's just a parroting of info found on unofficial online sources like this one.

When the senior management does tell the frontline CM's something important about a park's future, it happens on the same day they have a major press announcement to announce it publicly with WDI artwork for the specific project. Anything else is just online rumor bouncing around the break room by CM's who pretend to have authority on a topic they don't.

 

[Californian Elitist]

While I can understand the interest in their conversation... Frontline CM's wearing uniforms and performing basic customer service jobs are not "being told" anything about DAK's future by anyone of authority.

These CM's are just discussing amongst themselves rumors they heard/saw on the Internet on boards like this. The same goes for those CM's managers in the parks wearing barely-ironed Dockers and dangling pin lanyards making sure the lunch breaks are going out on time. None of those types of CM's know anything more than what's found on the Internet. It's just a parroting of info found on unofficial online sources like this one.

When the senior management does tell the frontline CM's something important about a park's future, it happens on the same day they have a major press announcement to announce it publicly with WDI artwork for the specific project. Anything else is just online rumor bouncing around the break room by CM's who pretend to have authority on a topic they don't.

So true. When I was a DL CM, my buddies and I would talk about Iron Man and the third gate all the time during lunch breaks. Didn't mean Iron Man and the third gate were coming soon or coming at all. Just interesting discussion, that's all.

 

[Funmeister]

While I can understand the interest in their conversation... Frontline CM's wearing uniforms and performing basic customer service jobs are not "being told" anything about DAK's future by anyone of authority.

These CM's are just discussing amongst themselves rumors they heard/saw on the Internet on boards like this. The same goes for those CM's managers in the parks wearing barely-ironed Dockers and dangling pin lanyards making sure the lunch breaks are going out on time. None of those types of CM's know anything more than what's found on the Internet. It's just a parroting of info found on unofficial online sources like this one.

When the senior management does tell the frontline CM's something important about a park's future, it happens on the same day they have a major press announcement to announce it publicly with WDI artwork for the specific project. Anything else is just online rumor bouncing around the break room by CM's who pretend to have authority on a topic they don't.

Exactly. I had "off the record" conversations with then VP of DAK Bob Lamb about the future of DAK. At that time (1998) he himself told me that the next animal area expansion (after Asia at the time) would probably be South America.

There were also plans set in motion to build a butterfly pavilion halfway between the train station and Conservation Station as it was called then. The chrysalis had to be ordered months and months ahead of when the pavilion would even be built so they could be...bred so to speak. This plan was killed because they then had a plan to add and reroute the train to actually go on the savanna and move the train station at the actual entrance to Rafiki's Planet Watch.

My point is even though some of these projects were "confirmed" they still never happened. They were not CM watercooler rumor talk. The sources were executives in the know. Things change...plans change. Never believe it even when it is built*.

*See Test Track 1997

 

[djlaosc]

Exactly. I had "off the record" conversations with then VP of DAK Bob Lamb about the future of DAK. At that time (1998) he himself told me that the next animal area expansion (after Asia at the time) would probably be South America.

South America could be a good land - lots of animals available (Amazon/Rainforest) - I would put it on the lower part of the land between Asia and Rafiki's Planet Watch, with a North America area linking to Conservation Station (Pocahontas and Grandmother Willow)

 

[Cliff Racer]

"Its a message board get used to it" =being snarky what are you 15. I was just giving an opinion and saw nothing wrong with what he said post what you want i truly could care less

You are giving an answer that, if what people have said about the lake beds and show's requirements is true, can literally never happen and got smacked down for it. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Funmeister]

South America could be a good land - lots of animals available (Amazon/Rainforest) - I would put it on the lower part of the land between Asia and Rafiki's Planet Watch, with a North America area linking to Conservation Station (Pocahontas and Grandmother Willow)

I think it was going to have one of the largest aviaries ever built. Not sure whatever happened but I agree it would have been neat.

 

[twebber55]

You are giving an answer that, if what people have said about the lake beds and show's requirements is true, can literally never happen and got smacked down for it. Nothing wrong with that.

Honestly have no idea what your talkin about

 

[Cliff Racer]

Honestly have no idea what your talkin about

Sorry, I meant that Tim_4 gave an answer that, if what people have said about the lake beds and show's requirements is true, can literally never happen and got smacked down for it.

 

[twebber55]

Sorry, I meant that Tim_4 gave an answer that, if what people have said about the lake beds and show's requirements is true, can literally never happen and got smacked down for it.

gotcha... my idea was maybe thats why avatar was being down sized to make room for a water night time show

i know it wont happen just throwing ideas out there

 

[FrankLapidus]

Exactly. I had "off the record" conversations with then VP of DAK Bob Lamb about the future of DAK. At that time (1998) he himself told me that the next animal area expansion (after Asia at the time) would probably be South America.

I really wish that they had stuck with this plan and brought a South American-themed land into the park and then maybe gone on to add Australia or perhaps a land based on mythological and fantasy creatures. With Africa and Asia already in place it seems like it would have been logical to go down that route and bring in South America which has such diverse and vibrant wildlife; it would have been very interesting to see what they might have come up with for that.

 

[NoChesterHester]

I really wish that they had stuck with this plan and brought a South American-themed land into the park and then maybe gone on to add Australia or perhaps a land based on mythological and fantasy creatures. With Africa and Asia already in place it seems like it would have been logical to go down that route and bring in South America which has such diverse and vibrant wildlife; it would have been very interesting to see what they might have come up with for that.

It could still happen.

I want them to integrate the mythical animals into the individual continents. Much like the Yeti in Asia. It adds that sense of deep culture and supernatural to a world otherwise rooted in reality.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I want them to integrate the mythical animals into the individual continents. Much like the Yeti in Asia. It adds that sense of deep culture and supernatural to a world otherwise rooted in reality.

But even the yeti is based in a reality. It may not be a scientific reality, but it is a cultural reality. I think that's the big difference between Beastly Kingdom or Expedition Everest and the ideas based in purely fictional animals.

 

[FrankLapidus]

It could still happen.

I want them to integrate the mythical animals into the individual continents. Much like the Yeti in Asia. It adds that sense of deep culture and supernatural to a world otherwise rooted in reality.

It could still happen but I wonder what we would get now as opposed to what we might have gotten then, when WDI was churning out concepts like Beastly Kingdomme and the vision for Animal Kingdom's future was so different. It's all hypothetical and if they announced a South America land tomorrow it might end up being amazing but whenever I'm at AK, seeing what became of the BK plot and Dinoland I can't help wondering what might have been had the original vision for AK been achieved.

 

[Tim_4]

Okay expert. If you would like to explain to me where you are going to put this magical night time spectacular in AK? B/C the current water areas in the park aren't going to cut it.

Well that's just is, isn't it? It doesn't exist yet... So yeah, they'd have to build it.

Also, where are these wonderful TS restaurants to generate revenue from this?

There could be other options to keep it open longer that would work with the existing dining options etc, but sorry WOC isn't it.

They wouldn't be limited to "existing dining options." Making DAK an all-day park would require more than just bringing in a nighttime show. They would also need more dining and more attractions. Avatar will cover some of the need, but there would be additional work as well.

I'm not going to sit here and speculate, but MK needs something newer than Wishes.

Wishes is one of the highest rated entertainment options in guest surveys. If it changes, it will likely be a reworked fireworks show but will still probably be "traditional" fireworks sans any water effects, special projections, etc.

 

[Tim_4]

Tim, Tim, TIm...the animals are not "brought in" every night. That is the beauty of DAK is that the animal handlers allow the animals to decide if they want to go in at night or not. The animal handlers make one attempt to bring them in and will only force them inside in the event of major storms or anything to prevent them from getting injured. After the one attempt they let them stay out on the savanna. If you remember...they used to offer night time safaris. Mind you some of the animals on the safaris were fake (fiber optic lightning bugs, illumiated eyes in the grass, speakers with animal noises to name a few...a lot was removed for the safety of the animals once one of the hippos ingested some of the fiber optics over their pool) but there were real animals that you could see during your safari.

A few things.

1. They're not called "animal handlers." It's not a circus. They're "keepers." (I'm nitpicking because you've been busting my beans for two threads )
2. The animals absolutely DO come in every night. Every single one of them (except the crocodiles). Interestingly, the animals at Animal Kingdom Lodge do not come in at night, which is why a lot of the DAKL keepers work third shift.
3. The animals aren't forced in. They get in a routine and know when it's "dinner time" so they go to their doors to backstage without even being called, for the most part.
4. "Sunset Safari" is coming. Backstage at DAK is being torn up for the infrastructure. Construction is the general contractor.

 

[mouse_luv]

Well that's just is, isn't it? It doesn't exist yet... So yeah, they'd have to build it.



They wouldn't be limited to "existing dining options." Making DAK an all-day park would require more than just bringing in a nighttime show. They would also need more dining and more attractions. Avatar will cover some of the need, but there would be additional work as well.


Wishes is one of the highest rated entertainment options in guest surveys. If it changes, it will likely be a reworked fireworks show but will still probably be "traditional" fireworks sans any water effects, special projections, etc.

I rest my case.