Animal Kingdom - A bit naff really

[Viki]

Hi, all! This is my first time posting on this board and it's nice to meet you. I'm not British but my best friend, Danny, now living in OK (gasp!) is. Does that help?

I adore AK. In fact my DP and I for our 20th anniversary are staying in AKL and planning to spend long mornings alternating our attention between what used to be called Ride to Exinction (Dinsosaur), and sitting around the village sipping colorful drinks, while soaking in the "local" culture and catching glimpses of that delightful vine creature. Or, as another poster put it, working (though not TOO hard) the details, where in this park almost all of the magic resides. Our only quarrel with the place is that it's not open at night!

 

[jjpenguin]

I love AK, the theming is so wonderful: all the little details, the colourful paintings on the houses, the Tree of Life! I love going a bit later in the day, when people are starting to leave. I just wish it would be open later, the lighting is wonderful as well!!

Of course I do love animals, which helps, but I think it shouldn't be seen as a park with rides, it's more of a world to explore, and sometimes there's a ride at the end of the trail.
The first time I went I was just blown away by Asia, it's so authentic (except for the dirt & smells) in it's details, how the 'electric cables' are attached, the posters & tin signs... I also love the animal enclosures, the gibbons in the ruins and the deer just over the hill from the tigers.

On the other hand I don't get the fuss about Epcot, it's great to stroll around in the evening (and that's usually when we go as it's the only park open that late) but if I had to miss one park Epcot would probably be the one. Maybe it's because we can/have visited most of the countries themselves it's more like a great themed mall than a park. I mean it only has 2 non thrill rides ; )

 

[nicknsara]

i agree with you penguin.its just a shopping mall and please show me the rose and crown in england like the one in epcot.(maybe they should change the name to the hogs head).

surely the magic of disney is the choice it gives for everyone old or young?.if we all liked the same the ques would be even longer.

for us disney is about fun and experiences and AK does that for us.

nick n sara

 

[Kris & Steve]

Just thought I would post my 2 cents about AK here. I absolutely love AK. It is my favorite park...ever. I am an animal fanatic so I guess that helps. I was there about 2 weeks after it opened in '98 & I spent 3 hours in the petting zoo with the little goats. I was so happy just being there. I can't wait to take the Backstage Safari while we are there in January.

To the person who posted that they don't like animals at all...how can you say that...your on the Disney board...Mickey is a mouse...a mouse is an animal...so on & so on.

I can't trust anyone who doesn't like animals. To me that is just weird but to each there own.

I would get rid of my husband, even as much as I love him, before I would get rid of any of my animal children aw: .

 

[Amyrlin]

One think that a lot of people overlook at AK is the shows, I love them!

 

[jjpenguin]

Kris, you'll love the backstage safari!

 

[julieannbabe]

I love AK and happily spend a whole day there. I am not a fan of rollercoasters so the new ride will not attract me. On the animal front I can see no comparison with Busch Gardens where I feel that the animal walfare is sub standard. The picture of the elephants in a small enclosure just standing rocking whilst kids were allowed to throwthings at them will always haunt me.

Wow - i didn't see that there. I thought Busch Gardens really looked after the animals.
London Zoo is APPALLING - the tigers were in a closure no bigger than my bedroom and they looked bored out of their brains.

I thought that Busch Gardens cared...

 

[Laurajean1014]

Planning my Disney return trip and looking at my photos, I came to the conclusion Animal Kingdom is not that good a theme park. I would say it is the worst park in Orlando I have been to.

Granted, the Kilimanjaro Safari ride is good if the animals are out and about but thats about it. Kali River Rapids is okay, but just the same type of water ride in every theme park. Dinosaur is fine, but its just a copy of the much better Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland.

Overall the park looks nice. Tree of Life is fine, but DinoLand U.S.A is awful. Even the shops seem to have the worst merchandise.

A plus for the park is, I found it was easy to get a lot of photos of the characters.

In order of parks I love MGM, Island of Adventure, Magic Kindgom, EPCOT, Universal Studios, Sea World, then AK. (Have not been to Busch for years!)

I can almost hear the hardcore Disneyfans sharpening their pitchforks, but am I really alone here in my thinking?

My first assumption is that you have not been to many parks in the Orlando area. My next assumption is that you may not have given this park it's full attention. It's a great park, so, maybe we will not be seeing you there.

 

[Booknut]

Please don't hate me but I agree with Soprano, my husband and I didn't enjoy AK as much as the other parks, bad lay-out, safari was not very good either. Maybe we are spoiled in Britain but it was pretty pants compared to say Longleat or even Whipsnade.

We will go back one day when we have kids but until then we won't be returning, sorry!

I did love It's a Bug's Life!

 

[lucy_love_]

hi

we liked ak. the least favourite of the four disney parks for us was epcot, we were all on agreement about that. i doubt we will go there this trip. its just not our thing. each to their own. we cant all like the same thing.

magicgirl i have never been to busch gardens but you should have seen the poor old elephant that was at flamingo land for years. i think the poor old thing must be dead now as its no longer there. everytime we went when we were little one of us always ended up in tears over the lonely old elephant.

lucy

 

[Kris & Steve]

hi
magicgirl i have never been to busch gardens but you should have seen the poor old elephant that was at flamingo land for years. i think the poor old thing must be dead now as its no longer there. everytime we went when we were little one of us always ended up in tears over the lonely old elephant.

lucy

Oh, now I am in tears over the lonely old elephant. Stories like that are heartbreaking & I can't stand to hear about how badly some places treat animals.

I know this is off the topic...sorry

 

[Viki]

Oh, now I am in tears over the lonely old elephant. Stories like that are heartbreaking & I can't stand to hear about how badly some places treat animals.

I know this is off the topic...sorry

No, I am absolutey the same way. We do border collie rescue here in the states and feel the same way about all animals, which is one of the reasons we ADORE AK.

 

[TandCmum]

I must admit of the 4 disney parks AK was our least favourite. I don't know what it was because we agreed the themeing is fantastic and on the whole it is a very beautiful park, however i think it was down to the days we went, both days we ended up with a very humid sticky day with loads of rain and thunderstorms, AK is humid enough without these conditions aswell, also it always seemed so much busier than the other parks, probably because the pathways are narrower. All in all we spent both our days there very hot and damp and pretty uncomfortable. Unfortunately we were at the end of our holiday so we didn't get a chance to give it another go.

However the safari was fantastic (even though we got caught in the most horrendous torrential downpour halfway round!!!) and the FOTLK was amazing and we got loads of character meetings for the kids.

When we go back we will definately be giving it another go, especialy as everest will be open by then

Suzanne
xxx

 

[Munch]

To be honest Animal Kingdom didn't really do it for me which surprised me as I'm so obsessed with animals we stayed at AKL for the two weeks we were there.

I'm not sure what didn't grab me about it - I was a bit disappointed that whilst doing the safari the guide didn't stop the jeep even for a few seconds so that we could try and take pictures - we just had to point and snap and hope that they came out (when I get them tomorrow I'll know if it worked or not!). I thought that the River Rapids was pretty naff compared to a couple of the other similar water rides we went on.

We were done by 1pm and I don't think I'd rush back there.

 

[disneyholic family]

the problem with Animal Kingdom is the excessive heat (due to the way the park had to be built to comply with the authorities) and the tight areas (a big mistake in my opinion).
Anyone in the park during peak crowds and the summer heat will tend to hate it. Even those of us who love the park tend to hate it in the summer and when it's crowded...which of course, is much of the time..
however if you can manage to get there when it's not crowded and the heat isn't oppressive, the park is absolutely wonderful...
that is, assuming you enjoy the outstanding landscaping, the excellent shows, and the various rides...
when i was there with my daugther in september we spent more time in AK than in the other parks just because it was so pleasant to be there (unlike in July when it's just this side of Hell)....

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We have only visited the once, and spent just over half a day there.

I agree that it is one of hottest parks to walk round, we find Sea World a bit like that too.
As we take a stroller with us we found it hard work round AK, it did seem a bit up and down, almost bumpy at times.

I think overall the park gets mixed reviews, only by going and trying it out will you find out whether you like it or not - I must admit though we didn't visit in August and I am not sure we would do next August either.