? about Sanaa Animal Specialist Dinner

[mshanson3121]

1. Is this actually in Animal Kingdom, or outside the park?
2. Has anyone done it? What was it like? How long did it last? What was the turtle interaction like?
3. How's the food?
4. How much does it cost?

My son is 8, and he is a HUGE animal lover. As in, he sits and reads animal encyclopedias for fun, watches adult-level nature/animal shows etc... and has for the last 5 years, said he wants to be a vet when he grows up. I am considering doing this as a Mommy/Son date while we're at Disney. Thoughts?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

You may wish to ask on the resort or restaurant board.

Sanaa is actually located at Kidani Village, the DVC portion of AKL. Based on photos in this link, it is at that restaurant which is not in Animal Kingdom.

But this is a nice review that may assist in your decision: http://www.extrawdwmagic.com/?p=7322

 

[kmb584]

It's at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. A fantastic review can be found here: https://www.undercovertourist.com/blog/review-lunch-animal-specialist-disney-sanaa/

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Looks like. $49 for you and $29 for your son:
http://characterlocator.com/images/map.php?map=Animal Kingdom Resort Recreation Activity Guide-1.jpg

 

[greentea]

We did this last year in September (2 adults). Our group was all adults, but based on your description of your son, he'd have a great time. It lasted at least 2 hours I think? We had a great time.

You eat lunch at Sanaa, and you can check out their menu to get an idea of the food, but it's a set menu. Our table split 2 bread service trays, then we each got a sampler of 3 salads, 3 hot entrees, and 3 desserts. It was lots of food and very good. (We booked dinner there the next day so we could come back and eat more of it.) Chef David was very nice and also great about dealing with any allergies. He modified a few of my husband's dishes for allergy reasons, and I got a separate vegetarian meal, which was very good!

Our animal specialist was fantastic. He was so interesting, and explained a ton about the way their animal care works, unique behaviors and facts about the animals, what it's like working with them, just about anything you could think of. I had some questions -- one was why a zebra on the Savannah was behaving a certain way, and we got an in-depth explanation of what they have to do to introduce a new zebra to the herd (because they're so aggressive). Even if no one had asked questions though, our specialist talked non-stop and I don't know if he even ate a bite of his food. So you get a ton of info, and it was all great! You're seated at a large table by a window so you can see some animals during the meal.

When we went, there was no turtle interaction. Instead, we were taken outside to the animal viewing area and got to see a bird training session, which was also very cool. After that, there was some more talking, a chance for last-minute questions, and we were done. We will definitely be doing it again. $49 per adult ($29 for children) for that amount of food and a couple hours of really interesting animal and park info was definitely worth it. The price includes taxes and tip, and is paid in advance when you book. I think your son would love it!

 

[Lancer]

1. Is this actually in Animal Kingdom, or outside the park?
2. Has anyone done it? What was it like? How long did it last? What was the turtle interaction like?
3. How's the food?
4. How much does it cost?

My son is 8, and he is a HUGE animal lover. As in, he sits and reads animal encyclopedias for fun, watches adult-level nature/animal shows etc... and has for the last 5 years, said he wants to be a vet when he grows up. I am considering doing this as a Mommy/Son date while we're at Disney. Thoughts?

We did it last month(5 in our group plus 7 others) and overall, I thought it was good especially for the price. While there was a lot of food much of it was just a bit too spicy or different tasting that I did not care for much of it. The 2 kids in our group, did not eat much of theirs so you may want to inquire at the table if there are more kid friendly options (They usually do). With that being said, I do love Boma's buffet though! Probably the biggest complaint that I had was that the restaurant was so noisy that it was hard to hear our specialist talk at times. Unlike Dine with an imaginer, where you have a private room, at Sana, you are amongst the other diners. Our animal expert was fairly new to Disney and specialized in Rhinos but gave a lot of great information on all animals and their care. The turtle interaction consisted of about 10 minutes with a small turtle(about an 20" shell) just outside the restaurants back door. Although I new it would be a turtle going in, I was kind of hoping they had changed it to something bigger like a Giraffe or Zebra. No luck. Our caretaker did spend about 45 minutes outside with us at the lookout in back of the restaurant giving us more trivia and answering all our questions.

I would definitely do it again knowing that, like with dine with an imaginer, you would probably get a different specialist with a new specialty and different info.

 

[ZoZo]

My friend and I did the lunch last year. We really enjoyed it. Our lunch was just the two of us, plus one adult couple, and our animal specialist. He was very interesting! We did enjoy the food, although my friend didn't enjoy it as much as me (I think it was a little too "exotic" for her). We got to do the tortoise interaction after lunch, plus got to watch a bird training session (with our animal specialist explaining what the keepers were doing). The two descriptions listed in this post (see links) are very thorough, and give a good idea of what happens during the lunch.

I had a different point of view than than others in my group. I've been volunteering at my local zoo for sixteen years, and am lucky enough to work hands-on with radiated tortoises at my zoo (the same type of tortoise featured in the animal encounter part of the lunch!). As you can imagine, I had pretty high expectations regarding the quality of the experience. I was quite impressed. For about the same price you'd pay to have a regular four-course meal at Sanaa, you get the added bonus of having a true "animal expert" to answer all of your questions, and give you a rare behind-the-scenes view of animal care. I thought it was excellent.