AK tours

[jann1033]

we want to take a tour of some kind for animal kingdom..I would like to hear opinions of all the ones (other than the conceirge one since we aren't going to be at akl.) offered!

thanks for the imput!

one daughter is a vet tech so are especially interested in any "behind the scenes" in that area and any animal interaction.

 

[nativetxn]

I've never experienced any of the tours. I'm going to bump this back to page one for you so that some of our veterans can offer advice.

Katholyn

 

[Hippychickali]

Although I have not taken any AK tours, I can provide you with the list that is found on disney.com, specifically http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/parkListing?id=AKToursListingPage . This is just what I've copied and pasted. Others may be better able to offer you their experiences.

"Backstage Safari
Take a backstage walking safari for an insider's look at the innovative ways that Disney's Animal Kingdom® cares for its special inhabitants.


Wild By Design
Discover how Disney's creative wizards looked at a huge Florida swamp, envisioned it as an exotic and untamed wild animal wonderland and led the effort to turn that dream into Disney's Animal Kingdom® Park.


VIP Tour Services
Put your focus on family, frolic and fun when Disney's VIP Tour Services customizes a vacation experience that maximizes the magic!"

Ali

 

[Armadillo4]

I took the Backstage Safari tour in the Spring of 2000 and can HIGHLY RECOMMEND it! Two thumbs up! If your daughter is a vet tech, then she will really like this tour. In addition to seeing animals in the backstage areas, you get the opportunity to talk to several trainers and keepers. I found this interaction to be one of the many highlights of the tour. There is an age limit to the tour (16 yo) as there is for many other backstage tours.

There's a page here on the DIS that has a nice matrix and descriptions of the tours at WDW. Another page on Allearsnet.com also has descriptions of the tours, and in addition, there are several reader reviews of the tours, so you can get more detailed descriptions from first-person perspectives.

Hope this helps! There are a few other regulars here on the boards that have posted about the tours previously. Perhaps they'll pop in again, or you can try the Search function for "Backstage Safari." Enjoy your trip to the World!

 

[n2mm]

I have a friend who took the backstage Safari tour and loved it. I have not heard anyone say anything bad about either of the tours. I know the backstage tour involved the Animals and their care. While the Wild by Design mostly deals in the making of the AK park. We plan to do the Wild by Design tour during our May visit this year. There is a wonderful 30% discount for AP holders until May 1 for the AK tours. This is a great discount, because there are seldom discounts on either of these tours and when there are discounts, it's usually 15% (excluding CM discounts).

 

[diswedwish]

We took the Backstage Safari tour this Jan. and loved it! We plan to try Wild by Design next Jan. Wild by Design is all on-stage, Backstage is mostly as the name says

We had Paul as our guide and he was wonderful! We began by walking backstage near Rainforest and then took a van back to the elephant barn. We got to see one of the bull elephants (they keep 1 out of the 3 backstage on a rotating basis) and talked about elephant care for a while. Then we walked to the rhino barn. Here we got to speak to one of the rhino trainers, and got to pet Sammy (a rhino) one at a time for a few minutes - this was the only time you actually got to touch an animal, and only because Sammy chose to follow the command of the trainer to come next to the fence. We walked to the giraffe barn and got to see their one Rothschild giraffe (he's just a visitor at AK so they're not sure how long he'll be there). More fun stories from his trainer and we got drooled on from the giraffe (does that count as interaction?)

Then it was back to the van and we drove behind Conservation Station. We got to go on-stage here - the area where they do operations that are open to whoever happens to be in Conservation Station and spoke to one of the vets, but no operation at that time. We got a brief cookie/brownie/coffee/water break and got to speak to a reptile handler and touch a snake (oops, more animal interaction). We got an AK guide that isn't sold in the parks anymore (they changed the name from Discovery Island to Tree of Life Gardens), and bags with a conservation theme. Then we walked over to where they do food preparation, this was also neat.

We were driven back to the front of the park and walked on-stage and back to Kilimanjaro Safari. Paul took us on our own personal safari, no waiting involved. He told us many stories and pointed out several interesting facts. Then it was off to Tusker House where we filled out a survey and received our pins.

We'd highly recommend it, and we can't wait to try the other tour

Hope this helps