AK Florida Oct 2020 Animal News

[DisneyPossible]

For all the people watching the animals on Disney plus+ and hope to see them in person, I have a few updates from my visit this month.

1. The crocodiles were surprisingly missing from the safari ride. I did see one in the Dinosaur area. Note: the boneyard playground was closed and you get both wilderness explore stickers close by the dinosaur ride. Went to wild florida on another day to get my gator/croc excitement fulfilled.
2. There was an above ground fabric fence around cheetas, Dakari, and the other lionesses instead of just the moat. It was really hard to see them especially the child viewers, I hope this is just temporary.
3. After taking the train, we got to the petting zoo area but we could not pet any of them due to Covid. Asked about Popcorn the chicken. Sadly she had another follow-up surgery and passed away. Did not see Orange. The drawing class was still fun for the group.
4. Asked about Gino the lead Gorilla, but he does not come out of his cave much so if you do get to see him it is a real treat. We ran over here around 9:40am to caught most of them still feeding. There are other bachelors that are about the same size as Gino that are much larger than his sons so nothing to be disappointed about.
5. We did see Sohni Tiger in the afternoon and she was actively pouncing and licking the ground. I wonder if they only have her right now? In years past I have seen at least 2 tigers each time but they were usually always sleeping in the hot afternoon sun.
6. Did see big Mac and a few smaller probably female african elephants.
7. I did not see the baby zebra nor can tell any of the giraffes apart.
8. If you go early you may see the fruit bats feed, it is nobody's top priority but if you don't by afternoon they are sorta hanging out trying to not to move.
9. The bird show was good again. Sorry Russell you just are not that entertaining. Two preditor beauties at the end of the show with the Macaws. Will not say more, go watch it. You can also caught the Macaws leaving just past the tiger habitat to go to the tree of life for their flyby on the 15s and fly back. One flew into a tree for a pitstop before going back to home/cage (cannot see habitat).
10. I did see the black rhinos very close to the safari ride. In the past I had the pleasure of seeing white rhinos. They may have passed away since they are on the brink of full extinction. Let me know if they are still around? There is a pen with the name white rhino viewable from the train but did not see any animals in it.
11. Lastly the aquatic animals that are shown are from Epcot. I did see the sea cow and plenty of sting rays after the Nemo ride. No turtle time with crush. I can still imagine hearing him telling me totally dude...

All in all it was an ok C rating, but not what it once was at AK an A+. Maybe a visit or support for your local zoo or aquarium will suffice for now.

 

[rteetz]

1. The animals are not always on exhibit. They are constantly changing things and you could’ve been on during a cleaning or something. To my knowledge the crocs are still there.
2. Again constant changing, fencing is temporary.
5. I don’t believe that’s the only tiger. Again animals are not always on exhibit. This happens at local zoos too.
7. The zebras are moved pretty frequently. The giraffes have had so many babies recently I can’t tell them apart either. There was one just a month or two ago born.
10. The white rhinos are not gone. They had 3-4 last time I was there. They had an entire tour based around them. They were working on breeding them as well. They keep the white and black rhinos separated.
Animal Kingdom is still very much an A+ in my book.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Thanks so much for the update. I have been watching that show on Disney +, since AK is by far my favorite park. So sad to hear about Popcorn. I can't remember the name of the elephant with the hole in his mouth, but hopefully, he's still OK.