Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World

[DarthKao]

I've never been to Animal Kingdom but will be going the Tuesday of Thanksgiving break. Are their any rides or attractions that you recommend from your past experiences?

Thanks in advance for any advice which can be given.

- DarthKao

 

[jamescorey]

IMHO, Ak is probably the least fun of the parks in WDW. There are some good attractions in the park, but overall I think the park is a let down. Expedition Everest is probably one of the best attractions on Disney property, but aside from that, no other rides to mention. The Safari is pretty neat, and the Lion King show is very good, but otherwise the park is a let down!

 

[DarthKao]

IMHO, Ak is probably the least fun of the parks in WDW. There are some good attractions in the park, but overall I think the park is a let down. Expedition Everest is probably one of the best attractions on Disney property, but aside from that, no other rides to mention. The Safari is pretty neat, and the Lion King show is very good, but otherwise the park is a let down!

Thanks for your suggestions, jamescorey. I'll be sure to check out those shows that you've mentioned and Expedition Everest. Also, I'm sorry to hear it was a let down for ya.

Any more thoughts or opinions about Animal Kingdom?

 

[ILuvCrush]

I'm the opposite of the PP. AK is my Fave park..second only to MK itself. If you love the thrill rides, EE and Dinosaur are musts. FOTLK is probably my fave show on property... I like Nemo, but will NOT miss FOTLK, so Nemo often gets skipped due to time restraints!! The Safari is awesome...everytime you do it, it is a different experience.

The Bugs Life 3D show is very neat too. And the trails (especially Pagani) are beautiful. The animals are more active in the AM before it gets too hot.

AK is a photographers DREAM...if you like to take pics (like me) take an extra flash card...you'll need it!!

There are quite a few characters around too, if you're into that. We've met the 'fab 5', Lilo and Stitch, the brother bears, timon, rafiki, pocahontas, baloo, and turk.

Have fun!!

Paula

 

[BradyBz12]

I love thrill rides (and rides in general) as much as anyone, and even though there aren't a lot at AK, it's definitely one of my favorite parks because of the animals.

For rides, Kali, EE and Dinosaur are pretty impressive.

Personally I could spend all day just wandering around watching the animals - and along that vein, Flights of Wonder is great.

Agree with PP about photos. One year I shot 2 rolls of film on the safari along (pre-digital) and ended up making my nephew an entire animal scrapbook for Christmas.

 

[DarthKao]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and comments!

You've all been very helpful.

 

[SGMCO]

AK is my Favorite Park.
I love just about everything in the park, beautiful landscaping,
architecture that really makes you feel like you've traveled to
Africa, Asia-with CM that are really from that country and love
to talk about there home.
Going on the Safari Ride first thing in the morning is great because
all of the animals are alert and you get to see all of them.
Love the Nature trails--they are absolutly beautiful, very relaxing.
My favorite Nature trail is Maharajah trails with the Tigers--
really feels like your in India Ancient Ruins--very detailed murals,
which looks like an ancient civilization.
Absolutly LOVE both AK Shows:
The Festaval of the Lion King--I've must have seen at least 10 times
and look forward to it every trip.
The Finding Nemo Show is just Amazing with how the actors manipulate
those Puppets and keeps me glued to there every move--I bought the
CD Music last trip and listen in the car.
I also find the Parade to be really fasionating because of the Unique
vehicals and giant puppet type costumes that move really cool.
The Tree of Life in the Middle of the Park--I have spent hours looking at
how many diffent animals I could spot--like one of those hidden pictures
where you have to find all the missing things--the "Bugs Life 3-D Movie"
is inside of the Tree and it is alot of fun.
There is a Bird show that is very educational and a train that goes
to conservation station (you learn about how to be environmentally
green and how the animals are taken care of).
You have to visit AK with an open mind because there is so much
more there than a just a typcal thrill ride park- I feel sorry for those
how can't slow down enough to truely enjoy all that AK has to offer--
they are really missing out on a wonderful experiance.
We go at least 2 times to AK each trip and love it.

 

[forgop]

The Lion King show was really good. I thought Nemo was pretty lame. Dinosaur was pretty good as was the safari. Bug's Life and Flights of Wonder was pretty cool. We didn't do the water ride and I'm not a huge roller coaster adventurer, so I didn't do that, but my wife said it was good. This is a park that you could start off with early morning hours and be done before dinner and hop to another park for the evening though.

 

[DarthKao]

AK is my Favorite Park.
I love just about everything in the park, beautiful landscaping,
architecture that really makes you feel like you've traveled to
Africa, Asia-with CM that are really from that country and love
to talk about there home.
Going on the Safari Ride first thing in the morning is great because
all of the animals are alert and you get to see all of them.
Love the Nature trails--they are absolutly beautiful, very relaxing.
My favorite Nature trail is Maharajah trails with the Tigers--
really feels like your in India Ancient Ruins--very detailed murals,
which looks like an ancient civilization.
Absolutly LOVE both AK Shows:
The Festaval of the Lion King--I've must have seen at least 10 times
and look forward to it every trip.
The Finding Nemo Show is just Amazing with how the actors manipulate
those Puppets and keeps me glued to there every move--I bought the
CD Music last trip and listen in the car.
I also find the Parade to be really fasionating because of the Unique
vehicals and giant puppet type costumes that move really cool.
The Tree of Life in the Middle of the Park--I have spent hours looking at
how many diffent animals I could spot--like one of those hidden pictures
where you have to find all the missing things--the "Bugs Life 3-D Movie"
is inside of the Tree and it is alot of fun.
There is a Bird show that is very educational and a train that goes
to conservation station (you learn about how to be environmentally
green and how the animals are taken care of).
You have to visit AK with an open mind because there is so much
more there than a just a typcal thrill ride park- I feel sorry for those
how can't slow down enough to truely enjoy all that AK has to offer--
they are really missing out on a wonderful experiance.
We go at least 2 times to AK each trip and love it.

Wow, I haven't realized Animal Kingdom has that much to offer! Thanks for that personal introduction of your past experiences. I'll be sure to keep those thought and ideas in mind for when I visit the park.

 

[DarthKao]

The Lion King show was really good. I thought Nemo was pretty lame. Dinosaur was pretty good as was the safari. Bug's Life and Flights of Wonder was pretty cool. We didn't do the water ride and I'm not a huge roller coaster adventurer, so I didn't do that, but my wife said it was good. This is a park that you could start off with early morning hours and be done before dinner and hop to another park for the evening though.

Thanks, forgop! I will make sure to look for those shows you have requested. Seems like their are quite a number of them which is good because I'm not much of a roller coaster adventurer either.

 

[itschile]

Thanks for the great insight into this park. I am going to Disney for the first time and we are definately going to MK, but not sure which other parks out of the other 3. This was very helpful.

 

[Hootch]

time to walk around the Tree of Life and look at the carvings. I took my nearly eight year old son to DAK last trip. We spent probably thirty minutes just walking around and identifying the different carvings. You'll see a number as you walk through the paths to the It's a Bug's Life show but there are many others that you'll need to stop and look to pick out.

 

[starann]

If you have little ones with you, Dino Land has a ride with dinos jsut like Dumbo (and Aladdin carpets).

It's a relaxing park to me, there are many things to distract you (animals, staff holding animals and giving talks about hte animal) so it's easy to get off the beaten path.

I enjoy that park more and more each time (plus it's shady with all the trees so it seems cooler than the other parks on hot days) and wish that we would have spent mroe time there last time (hence the reason I want just dh and I to go, to be able to see the shows and such without the kids...oh well)

 

[Sibahan]

I agree-- least favorite park in WDW. The only rides that i would say are must do's are the Nemo musical, the everest, and lion king...the others are not much worth it....
The safari here in Six Flaggs NJ is better i believe than the one in disney....

 

[PJAY]

I've never been to Animal Kingdom but will be going the Tuesday of Thanksgiving break. Are their any rides or attractions that you recommend from your past experiences?

Thanks in advance for any advice which can be given.

- DarthKao

For sure do: Festival of the Lion King
Kilimanjaro Safari
Expedition Everest
Dinosaur
It's Tough to be a Bug

The Nemo show was good but very long IMHO. It ran about 45 minutes.
The parade is also a must see.
As you can see, some people LOVE AK and others, not so much. It's not my favourite park but I do like taking everything in.

 

[storybookmum]

My DH doesn't like AK, and I've never understood that. I love it. It has a very, very different feel to it. When I'm in the other parks I have this wild, giddy excitement most of the time. At AK I just relax, and enjoy it - not to say that there aren't thrills - Everest wasn't there when we went last time, but I loved Dinosaur (unexpectedly - I'm a bit of a chicken on rides, and thought I'd hate it, but I just laughed and laughed through the whole thing, had a blast!). Kali River Rapids is a family favourite for sure. I'm so glad to read that FOTLK is still there; I'd misunderstood and thought that Nemo had replaced it. We'll enjoy them both. The AK parade is beautiful. There are several things we've missed at AK (Flight of Wonder, for instance) because DH doesn't like the park and usually only wants to stay a half day. I hope to change that this year, because we have eight days in the parks, so surely we'll have more time.

I hope we see Devine, that would be really neat.

My ten-year-old has blurry memories of the last trip, my seven-year-old doesn't remember it at all. But they love the zoo so much (we're members at the Toledo Zoo) that I know they'll cherish their time at AK, which is just so beautiful. I'm really looking forward to it.

The only remotely negative thing I would say, and it's no big deal, is that the characters at AK don't usually grab us. But at AK I don't feel like we need characters. I can't stand Lilo & Stitch, that's one of the banned movies at our house, and Mickey and Minnie feel different, and kind of wrong at AK in their different outfits. We've had fun with some Jungle Book characters, though. But that's a small part of the AK experience for us, I think. I think more about characters at MK and HS. Epcot and AK don't hit me in the same way, they're just different experiences. It's another dimension of Disney.

 

[Brad M]

It's interesting to hear the different opinions. I'm not a big fan of Animal Kingdom. For us it doesn't seem to have the magic that the other parks do. We gave it a 2nd chance on a later vacation after not being impressed the first time and still we were disappointed. We did like Lion King and It's Tough to be a Bug. Tried the Safari and it was okay. We'll likely devote a half day at AK to just hit the highlights next trip.

 

[Cadiewampus]

My DH doesn't like AK, and I've never understood that. I love it. It has a very, very different feel to it. When I'm in the other parks I have this wild, giddy excitement most of the time. At AK I just relax, and enjoy it - not to say that there aren't thrills - Everest wasn't there when we went last time, but I loved Dinosaur (unexpectedly - I'm a bit of a chicken on rides, and thought I'd hate it, but I just laughed and laughed through the whole thing, had a blast!). Kali River Rapids is a family favourite for sure. I'm so glad to read that FOTLK is still there; I'd misunderstood and thought that Nemo had replaced it. We'll enjoy them both. The AK parade is beautiful. There are several things we've missed at AK (Flight of Wonder, for instance) because DH doesn't like the park and usually only wants to stay a half day. I hope to change that this year, because we have eight days in the parks, so surely we'll have more time.

I hope we see Devine, that would be really neat.

My ten-year-old has blurry memories of the last trip, my seven-year-old doesn't remember it at all. But they love the zoo so much (we're members at the Toledo Zoo) that I know they'll cherish their time at AK, which is just so beautiful. I'm really looking forward to it.

The only remotely negative thing I would say, and it's no big deal, is that the characters at AK don't usually grab us. But at AK I don't feel like we need characters. I can't stand Lilo & Stitch, that's one of the banned movies at our house, and Mickey and Minnie feel different, and kind of wrong at AK in their different outfits. We've had fun with some Jungle Book characters, though. But that's a small part of the AK experience for us, I think. I think more about characters at MK and HS. Epcot and AK don't hit me in the same way, they're just different experiences. It's another dimension of Disney.

Devine now she is great. Especially when she steps right out of the trees in front of someone (as she did my wife one year). We were walking down the path and I just happen to look into the trees and saw her face. I thought to myself hmmm that sure looks real and boom she steps right out in front of my wife and she just freaked.

 

[brekin67]

AK is our favorite park. DINOSAUR is one of our favorite rides. We also enjoy the Kali River Rapids, EE, Bugs Life, the safari, and the Lion King Show. We do not care for the restaurants there, so we take a bus to AKL and eat at BOMA.

 

[Chedstro]

AK is my and my husband's favorite Park. Not sure if anyone has mentioned "Rafiki's Planet Watch"; but the ride on the train up there is very interesting. You can see the nighttime homes of the various animals.

The "Petting Zoo" is very relaxing. You can get a brush and groom the goats and sheep - they love it!

Inside, you can view the animal vets do medical work and sometime surgery on the animals. And the other exhibits are very interesting. The "Soundscape Booths" are also fascinating.

We can spend hours here.