Animal Kingdom a major Flop!

[kaytieeldr]

First of all, it’s a ratio.

You're right. "Ration" was a typographical error that I'm not going to fix, since you've already quoted it. My apologies.

(see, I don't disagree with you ALL the time )

 

[kaytieeldr]

MK) All, except for Stitch and Carousel of Progress.

Oh, NO! I LOVE Carousel of Progress! I've loved it since the first time I saw it, and I've loved it every time I've seen it since then! It's amazing! You need to give it another chance! Look at all the 'little things'

Okay, seriously - I do love it. I was in a PANIC when there were rumors it was being closed permanently - but at least with CoP, I undertand why/how others don't feel the same way. As much as I do love it, I wish when they did the update, they'd spread out the timing better - instead of 1900's, 1920's, 1940's, and the twenty-first century, maybe do every twenty-five or thirty years... ending with the more or less current technology.

Does anybody have a voice-activated oven yet?

 

[hookedonears]

So I'm assuming you are trying to compare the parks and therefore still saying you don't like AK compared to the others.....

but You cannot compare AK to the others. In MK, Epcot and DHS you go, enjoy the rides and shows and get as much done as you can.
In AK, you cannot take this approach which is why i feel like you misjudged the park.
It's fun to do the "big stuff" in AK (everest, safari, tough to be a bug, etc), but you probly don't like it because this is all you did there.
Like it has been mentioned, AK is a park to slow down, take in all the little details, enjoy the animals and not rush. You really need to spend more than a day there. This is truly the only way to really enjoy this park. When they created AK, they did not create it the same as they did the other parks....they wanted people to slow down here and I truly believe this is the only way you will truly appreciate this park.
I really don't think people should have a bad opinion of AK unless they really spend quite some time there and if you did and you still don't enjoy it, then that is fine with me. Some people don't like certain things, but unless you have really given it some time, you can't say "its a flop".
I really think had you spent a good amount of time there and really tried to do some other things besides the bigger well known attractions, you might change your mind. You may still not love AK, but you probly won't call it a flop anymore.

Sorry, but there's no comparison to the other parks. When you pay $$$$ and you only come to WDW once every year, or other year, and your stay is only for a few days, we don't have time to slow down. Besides, it's too hot at AK to slow down. We've done everything at AK. It's the largest park of them all, with the fewest enjoyable things to do, or things to do period. Unless you consider strolling casually gazing at the concrete carvings, major attractions. We've got a real nice zoo fairly close to our city that we've been to many many times. When we want to see animals, we go there.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I'm looking to take one of these in September-out of the two, which did you prefer?

To be completely fair, I didn't take the Backstage Safari. I like the animals, but I'm interested even more in "how things work". I'd seen the History Channel special on how some of the Walt Disney World attractions were concieved/built, and the base used for the Tree of Life was fascinating - so I opted for Wild by Design. Getting the Tour Guide all to myself was just icing on the cake

Speaking of which, in the last few years I've been on two 'private' Kilimanjaro Safari rides, again, completely by accident. Both times were late in the day. One was actually semi-private; it was actually two friends and me. We'd boarded via the wheelchair loading platform, and when we got back and the other people on the truck exited and there was nobody else waiting, we asked if we could go again. When nobody showed up by the time the truck was scheduled to leave, off we went!

The Cast Member driving said she wasn't going to bother with the script (since we could probably recite it to her ), and just to ask her ANYTHING we wanted to know about the park.

The other time, I was solo, again with other Guests in the truck. It POURED! We got back to the platform, and again the other Guests exited - only the rain had stopped. Again I asked if I could go around again. I found out later this was THE last trip of the day... while riding through the preserve, I also discovered - through observation and CM input - that the animals are especially active immediately following heavy rain

But I digress... I would absolutely take Wild by Design again; I'd also do un-DIScovered Future World in Epcot; and my ideal tour (even though I've heard it's not as good as it used to be) is the three-park Backstage Magic. Oh, and Lunch with an ImaginEar. And Behind the Seeds. That's it. Unless Walt Disney World creates more tempting tours

 

[kaytieeldr]

Besides, it's too hot at AK to slow down.

Respectfully, this doesn't make sense. When it's too hot is the PERFECT time to slow down.

Unless you consider strolling casually gazing at the concrete carvings, major attractions.

Strolling through the cool, shaded queue on one's way to It's Tough to Be a Bug, seeing what/how many fiberglass animals one can identify, can be a nice diversion.

Have you tried looking at the REAL animals? Not just the ones on the Safari, but the other 200 or so species throughout the ANIMAL Kingdom park (number courtesy of melly and others, thank you all by the way, estimating without counting about 50 species on the Safari itself ) Do you even know where to LOOK for all the animals?

 

[TillyMarigold]

I'm looking to take one of these in September-out of the two, which did you prefer?

I've done Keys to the Kingdom, Un Discovered Future World, and Wild by Design.

Wild by Design was by far the best, Keys to the Kingdom was also very good, UFW wasn't great but I used to be an Epcot CM so it had sentimental value, plus we got priority viewing for Illuminations. *But* I would recommend KTTK to anyone who doesn't know a lot of Disney history, and UFW to anyone who wants a *lot* of backstage time. (KTTK has some, WBD has one, UFW is almost half backstage, IIRC.)

 

[tink_n_pooh]

I'm not a big fan of DAK, it's probably my least favorite of all of the parks but we were just there today and had a good time. I do love EE and Kali and DH loves to take the train to Rafiki's to see whats going on in that building, today they had the match the feces to the species set up again, that is great

 

[SereneOne]

We last went when my daughter was four and she LOVES AK! It is her fave park.

Then MK and Epcot--she loved making the mask and getting different charms put on it from different countries and the passport and collecting the signatures. I would say DHS is last.

Different Strokes, Different Folks

 

[melly]

I still maintain that the attendance numbers don't tell the whole story. People who go to WDW are most likely to get the multi-day passes and they are then likely to visit all the parks even if AK (or DHS or whatever) isn't a particular favorite. This is not to say that AK isn't popular but I think that it's impossible to judge popularity by attendance.

I dissagree.

Your logic is sound in as much that you are right, people do buy multi-day passes etc. However all you have to do then is compare AK's attendance with the other 3 Disney parks and guess what? Its the lowest.

Surely this suggests that on average the park people are most likely to cut out of their trip if forced to is the AK?

Again, I just want to clarify that I personally dont think the park is a flop, far from it. Such a comment is going over the top IMO.

 

[Natasha&Matt]

Me and my Dbf think Animal Kingdom is the best park we loveeeee it

 

[Evi]

hrm do you get out of the city much lol sorry couldn't help it.. I love animal kingdom its like a zoo but more entertaining. But then again I like going to the zoo. Maybe if your not a nature lover or a animal lover then an animal based kingdom would not be your cup of tea. I don't think its a flop though I think that it does have a little bit of something for everyone. Hrm but then again there are actually some people who just don't love everything disney. I don't know any of these people personaly but I've heard of there existence from other people.. lol

 

[WDSearcher]

I dissagree.

Your logic is sound in as much that you are right, people do buy multi-day passes etc. However all you have to do then is compare AK's attendance with the other 3 Disney parks and guess what? Its the lowest.

Surely this suggests that on average the park people are most likely to cut out of their trip if forced to is the AK?

Not necessarily. The way WDW attendance works is that the first park of the day to get a park-hopper "gate click" is the only park counted that day for attendance purposes. So if a guest goes to MK for half a day and DAK for half a day, only MK gets credit for the gate click. Otherwise, it would unfairly inflate numbers at all the parks. The thing, though, is that the gate doesn't know if you stayed at MK only long enough to pick up a t-shirt at the Emporium and then headed out to DAK for the next 8 hours, or if you spent 7 hours at MK and then went over to AK at the end of the day for an hour before dinner. While I'm certain Disney is well aware of exactly how many people are in any given park at any given time, as far as public information goes, it's all estimated based on gate clicks.

While AK might be the lowest attendance of the US Disney parks (except for DCA), it comes in less than 100,000 fewer guests than DHS (DAK shows 9.54 million for 2008 while DHS shows 9.61 million). So I think it's pretty much a coin toss as to which park folks would be most likely to cut out of their trip if forced to -- DHS or AK. So ... does that make DHS just as unpopular? Most people here probably wouldn't say so, but it's pretty much on par with AK attendance.

If AK were really such a disappointment and if so many people truly did not like it, then you would expect to see people cutting their Disney vacations by a day or two and opting for SeaWorld, Universal or elsewhere. That doesn't seem to be happening. It is in California, where people are definitely choosing other parks in lieu of a day at DCA, which is why Disney has been forced to pump money into the park to up the numbers.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

If all you care about is ride, yes Animal Kingdom can be disappointing. But if all you care about is rides, why the bleep aren't you going to Universal Studios?

 

[tttessa]

<snip>

If AK were really such a disappointment and if so many people truly did not like it, then you would expect to see people cutting their Disney vacations by a day or two and opting for SeaWorld, Universal or elsewhere. That doesn't seem to be happening. It is in California, where people are definitely choosing other parks in lieu of a day at DCA, which is why Disney has been forced to pump money into the park to up the numbers.

Hiya - we do exactly that - but since we are from the UK, we don't want to miss all the wonderful, bounteous gifts Florida has to explore - there is more to the world than just Disney (you do all know that - right........).

Tessa

 

[Planogirl]

Hiya - we do exactly that - but since we are from the UK, we don't want to miss all the wonderful, bounteous gifts Florida has to explore - there is more to the world than just Disney (you do all know that - right........).

Tessa

What?!

Seriously, we do the same. We try to see it all, impossible in only a bit over a week.

 

[Planogirl]

I dissagree.

Your logic is sound in as much that you are right, people do buy multi-day passes etc. However all you have to do then is compare AK's attendance with the other 3 Disney parks and guess what? Its the lowest.

Surely this suggests that on average the park people are most likely to cut out of their trip if forced to is the AK?

Again, I just want to clarify that I personally dont think the park is a flop, far from it. Such a comment is going over the top IMO.

How many of those people that do go just decide to go to AK because they have the multi-day passes? Maybe many people decide that they need to see each park however they feel about AK. But that is true of each park except MK I think.

I also believe that most people probably go to AK in the morning since it closes early and if that is true then AK would get the gate count numbers. The first park of the day way of counting attendance makes me wonder how many people actually do go to MK each day.

I also don't think that AK is a flop whatever the true numbers would be.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Sorry, but there's no comparison to the other parks. When you pay $$$$ and you only come to WDW once every year, or other year, and your stay is only for a few days, we don't have time to slow down. Besides, it's too hot at AK to slow down. We've done everything at AK. It's the largest park of them all, with the fewest enjoyable things to do, or things to do period. Unless you consider strolling casually gazing at the concrete carvings, major attractions. We've got a real nice zoo fairly close to our city that we've been to many many times. When we want to see animals, we go there.

It's not that much hotter than the other parks. Around 3 degrees is what I remember reading.
I don't see how there isn't much to do. I spent a whole day there and only did the attractions and character greetings listed on the park (and stop for a lunch break). We didn't even do the smaller stuff and didn't get to finish. We were a family of 3 with a 3 year old in a stroller and went on a average pace. I don't understand how you could possibly run out of stuff to do.
Again, AK is much more than a plain old zoo so I don't understand how you can compare the 2 but if you say so.

Respectfully, this doesn't make sense. When it's too hot is the PERFECT time to slow down.

Strolling through the cool, shaded queue on one's way to It's Tough to Be a Bug, seeing what/how many fiberglass animals one can identify, can be a nice diversion.

Have you tried looking at the REAL animals? Not just the ones on the Safari, but the other 200 or so species throughout the ANIMAL Kingdom park (number courtesy of melly and others, thank you all by the way, estimating without counting about 50 species on the Safari itself ) Do you even know where to LOOK for all the animals?

I agree with you completely. If its too hot, then you shouldn't be rushing around.
I also want to know if the Op has really "done everything" as stated. There are lots of small details around the park, animals and paths to explore that make the park more enjoyable which it seems like the OP has not done (the response above states that she doesn't have time when she goes there only once a year or every other year) which is probly why she is not appreciating what AK really has to offer-- a wonderful theme park experience full of education, fun and adventure.

If all you care about is ride, yes Animal Kingdom can be disappointing. But if all you care about is rides, why the bleep aren't you going to Universal Studios?

Thankyou. My point exactly...........The op did state that she likes some other things than rides though, but mostly the big draws at each park. This is understandable for MK, epcot and DHS, but you cannot do that at AK.

 

[BumpkinsOwner]

now that evrest is at AK who gives a crap about anything else LOL

 

[Cherinva]

I think Animal Kingdom is a beautiful park and I love walking around there.....however, I don't ride the rides (Kali, maybe) but that's about it. It's my least favorite park, but I do like spending at least half the day there. I don't think it's a flop or a disappointment at all. This year, while my family is on EE, or Dinosaur......I plan on going to a show....

 

[minnie mum]

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