Animal Kingdom walkway!

[hakepb]

Forget the walkway, I want a zip line!

 

[Longhairbear]

OOOH! A Kilamanjaro Safari truck-wouldn't that be fun!

I love that idea!

 

[locodemickey]

I don't think that it's limited to AK...we were at blizzard beach and watched 8 Pop Century buses, 3 Contemporary buses, etc go by for an hour while we were waiting for our SSR bus. A transportation CM said that they switched to a new GPS system instead of the old dispatching system, so they never knew where they were going next and it was causing all kinds of havoc while they are trying to get the kinks out of the system.

When we were coming back from Hollywood Studios one night, they had at a minimum of 2 chartered busses to pick up the Pop Century guests. Oh how I wished that they wanted to take care of the AKL guests as much

 

[hakepb]

It would be awesome to take a Safari "Jeep" to AK,
but they have a much lesser capacity than busses (you thought current lines were bad), They'd canibalize sales of the am and sunset safari's, park (not just AKL/AKV) guests would abuse that "ride" and the current AKV/AKL safari illusion would be ruined by a constant stream of Jeeps.

[Conspiracy alert !]

I was wondering why the park most promoting the conservation message exclusively used Dino-based transportation, no sustainable transportation, then it dawned on me Animal Kingdom is really about oil. How the dinosaurs of the past made today's oil and today's animals will make tomorrow's oil.

It's been well documented that the "tree of life" used a recycled oil rig as its superstructure!

[/ Conspiracy alert] , back to reality.

 

[xipetotec]

When staying at AKL in March for three nights, I too wondered why there is no walkway. Walking to EPCOT is one of the joys and pleasures of staying at the Beach Club or Boardwalk, and I would think adding a similar experience for AKL guests would add value.

Not only add value, but I can attest that if there WERE a walkway, I would be more inclined to repeat-visit AK! I DO go to AK every trip. But usually once per trip ( while I go to Epcot/MK and sometimes MGM MULTIPLE times ). If I could walk there from my resort, no doubt I would hit that park more often.

 

[snowwhitemom]

Ah a walk way.......so nice even though I must admit we rent a car so I would not enjoy it daily but I would be more likely to leave valet alone and stroll if the option was there.

 

[dvcdisney]

We were at AKV in March and we always saw a CM monitoring the buses. This is a great idea until I realized they can't do anything at that point. We were waiting for the Epcot bus when a few families came up to the CM and asked why it has been almost 30 minutes wait for one of the buses (sorry not sure which one). But instead of going on a cell phone and calling immediately for a bus, she wrote it down. Now, I don't know how much longer they waited since our bus came.

(I did overhear them complaining about a few buses coming one in front of another for the same park...I have seen this once in a while but mostly at the parks themselves so I didn't think much of it because I thought it was a great idea for them to add additional buses at closing time.)

 

[dvcdisney]

I love that idea!

I think we're all in favour of a Safari Ride!

Although, I'd be happy with a walkway! Anything so we don't have to wait 20 minutes for a 3 minute ride!

 

[Greg K.]

... looking at the Google map of the area, it's do-able, but man it would be a loooooonnnnng hike.

I suspect it's much longer than the one between any of the Epcot resorts and DHS.

How about trams? Didn't they use to run trams between the Epcot resorts and the Intl Gateway?

 

[Doc CW]

Forget the walkway, I want a zip line!

Yeah

 

[lisareniff]

... looking at the Google map of the area, it's do-able, but man it would be a loooooonnnnng hike.

I suspect it's much longer than the one between any of the Epcot resorts and DHS.

Had to go play with google maps. I outlined two paths that would be fairly easy to put in, no moving of ponds, etc. The red one goes along the road the whole way and is under a mile (0.9). The yellow one cuts the corner and goes through the field making it slightly shorter (0.8).

In comparison the walk from the entrance to Luna Park to DHS is about 0.6 miles with the walk from BCV (villa entrance) to DHS is approx. 1.2 miles. The AKL-AK path would be a bit long but would be a nice option and would then allow jogging/walking at the resort. Personally I would rather walk a mile then wait in line for 20 minutes.

Google map of AKL/AK

 

[locodemickey]

Cool! It seems like it would not be too hard for them to put one in. I wonder if it's a liability thing

 

[SamSam]

Had to go play with google maps. I outlined two paths that would be fairly easy to put in, no moving of ponds, etc. The red one goes along the road the whole way and is under a mile (0.9). The yellow one cuts the corner and goes through the field making it slightly shorter (0.8).

In comparison the walk from the entrance to Luna Park to DHS is about 0.6 miles with the walk from BCV (villa entrance) to DHS is approx. 1.2 miles. The AKL-AK path would be a bit long but would be a nice option and would then allow jogging/walking at the resort. Personally I would rather walk a mile then wait in line for 20 minutes.

Google map of AKL/AK

How cool! I would definitely rather walk a mile than wait for a bus. Hopefully the 'powers that be' are paying attention and at least considering the possibllity of a walkway.

 

[jade1]

Amazing. Only in America do we have people begging for a path to walk on, but are restricted to using fuel burning buses.

 

[Greg K.]

Thanks for that! It's not as far as I thought!

When you look at it, there really seems to be no good reason why they don't have a walkway...unless there are concerns because AK itself, due to its size, involves so much walking to begin with.

But that really seems like a relatively simple and cost-effective enhancement -- and one that could solve a lot of problems.

 

[Chuck S]

Since it would be relatively flat ground they are traversing, maybe they could re-purpose an old, removed ride system, like Disneyland's old Peoplemover. They could re-theme the cars with animal prints instead of bright colors. They could build it just slightly above ground level and a slight embankment, saving the high cost of elevating the track, though it still would be a major expense. But given the rising cost of gas....

They would need to put a rain cover over the track for FL, the covered cars wouldn't keep guests dry in an area that gets that much rain. And there would be no A/C. They would also need to build it on the perimeter of the Savannahs, not thru them. This would increase travel time, but at least the guest would be in motion instead of waiting at a bus stop. Tey would also have to allow spacing between the cars, so the whole system wouldn't have to stop and start to load disabled guests in wheelchairs. They could have two or three w/c access peoplemover trains that stop on side tracks, then are blended back into the regular track, after the wheelchair guest loads or exits. All relatively simple technology from the 1960s, but costly for the initial build out. If more resort rooms are added to this general area, it may be a viable option.

 

[lisareniff]

The only concern I could see from Disney is for the safety of the people and the animals. Having the walkway in the open by the road may help but it may have a different feel then waking next to a canal at night. I know walking on that under pass on the way to DHS at night is a little creepy. As far as the animals (which I think they would be more concerned about) having people walking by the fences to the savannas, the barn and back entrance could be inviting trouble. They would have to step up security both for the people and for the animals.

Putting a path in would be good in so may ways.
- another transportation option
- a recreation option (jogging/walking trail)
- fuel savings

I know a mile of path isn't necessarily cheap, but I think it might be worth the expense.

 

[locodemickey]

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who thinks they need a walkway. With Kidani Villiage opening up next year, I can only imagine what will happen to the bus waits! We should do an onslaught of emails making the suggestion. Maybe they will listen!!

 

[jana]

I was disappointed that Disney didn't put a water taxi option in from AKL to AK park. Looking at the excellent map Lisa was kind enough to put up it doesn't seem to present any major technical problems, although I guess we can't see if there is a major change in elevation between the two ( although to the best of my knowledge I believe it's pretty flat). I guess there may be planning or land usage issues that we're not aware of , but as has been said it seems a viable option. Maybe the cost was the stumbling block the cost of the animals on the resorts savannah means AKL already has an unusually high costing for those aspects.

As far as a walkway, again it seems there are no major stumbling blocks, it would be a much nicer walk if it were alongside a canal as opposed to just through a field and next to a road but at this time when America is facing obesity and runaway energy use/costs issues it would seem to be an option that fits in with the ecology message that AK is meant to be all about.

If a canal proves to be too costly or not viable for other reasons I think a maglev train shuttle like the blue line at MK would be another option that would fit into the ecological messages that Animal Kingdom is trying to send.

 

[hakepb]

A water taxi would also be an oustanding idea. I still wonder what is up with the water around the Tree of Life.

It’s not attractive, “Look kids, stagnate, muddy water!”
It does not provide any transportation benefit (Other than an occasional character boat), and in fact the limited bridges increase park congestion.
It does not provides entertainment value, nor a unique wildlife viewing experience. Now if it were a giant clear blue reef…