Boat Ride at AK?

[zuly]

...I have read somewhere of a certain boat ride at Animal kingdom
..Is this a new ride?
..I also saw a picture of the boat but it does not said what or where it is located...
It look nice and interesting
my curiosity its killing me
Does anyone knows what it is?

Wishing to see a lot af lime green on July

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[jcemom]

There used to be a boat ride, but it is no longer there.

 

[Dznefreek]

Discovery River boats were a mode of transportation at DAK much like the Friendship launches at Epcot. The only problem was that people thought it was an attraction unto itself. Lines got as long a 90 minutes and people got off saying, "That was it?"

There were several things tried with them but it was decided just to retire them.

 

[sunking]

i believe that while they have not reopened the boat ride at animal kingdom, they are making use of portions of it...if i'm not mistaken, disney is putting musicians on the boats and floating them thru the "rivers" out towards the new expedition everest area...can anyone confirm this???
sunking

 

[Luv2Roam]

We don't go there often, but I have never seen or heard about this.
Not to say it is not true though. I just saw the talking tree recently!

 

[Dznefreek]

It was operating when the park first opened.

 

[Daryl]

There was also a fire breathing dragon on the river (blowing fire periodically from his lair) but that went away around the same time as the boat.

 

[candykisses]

We rode the boats about a month after AK opened. When we went back the next year the boats were gone.

 

[rangebob]

They did have the boats with a band on them for a little while. I believe that was a trial thing and it has since stopped. I know that they do run the boats from time to time on the waters to circulate them. If they didn't operate the boats the waters would really become stinky and green.

 

[Disney Fool]

ON the Disney promotional video, "Four Parks, One World" you can clearly see the boats at AK. I always wondered what happened to them.

 

[Poohbear123]

Someone else that remembers the- Boat- ride-that-is-no-longer! We went to AK one month after it opened, and rode this ride ALL around the tree. While waiting, we had a quiz with the CM to see HOW many Animals we could Spot in the Tree of Life! It was a neat ride. Flash forward a year later, and it was GONE! I asked a CM what happened to the Boatt ride, and she had NO IDEA what I was talking about! This past Feb. I took Pictures of the Dock area, from the bridge, as it is Painted very colorful.

 

[candykisses]

Poohbear123....the same thing happened to us. A year after opening, Brad asked where the boats were and the CM said they never had boats!!!

 

[tjkraz]

I recently came across some info on the history of the Discovery Boats. I will give forewarning that the info is an exceprt from an upcoming e-book called Disney Whirl: A Cynic's Perspective. You can read the entire excerpt here if you wish, but don't expect anything uplifting:

http://www.parkoutlet.com/ak.htm

Here's the info relevant to the boats:

Discovery Boats opened with the park in 1998. It was a credibility killer. As one of the park's inappropriately named rides, guests soon realized that the only thing to discover on the Discovery cruises was that they had just wasted a good chunk of time floating around on a boat ride with nothing to see. Yes, there was a malfunctioning fire-breathing dragon tucked away in a cave and the serenity that filled up the void of nothingness may have been appreciated by some if it wasn't for the pointless wait for the intermittent boats.

Thankfully riders were forced to get off after experiencing only half of the journey around Discovery Island. In a tribute to bonehead architecture and a wink to Jungle Cruise comedy the park had set up a pair of docks paradox. While it would take one roughly five minutes to walk around Discovery Island to get from one dock to the other, the transportation attraction itself would run you an inconvenient half hour at least to accomplish the same thing. If the first half of the ride didn't completely snooze you, get off, get back in line, and complete the roundtrip of boredom.

Disney tried to make it work. It tied it to its Radio Disney brand as an excuse to pump out bubblegum pop music while animal handlers boarded the boat with small critters to showcase. The message was clear. Guests were being told to look inside the boat and listen to tinny AM music because there was nothing to see or hear outside of the boat.

Realizing that docks can also serve as character greeting areas the Discovery attraction was axed. Failure was put out of its misery but the same can't be said for many of the park's other shortcomings.

 

[Horizons16]

Well thats one persons take on the park...

 

[Dznefreek]

There was also a large Dinosaur statue anchored in the water.

 

[Uncle Albert]

When more attractions are opened maybe they will reopen the boats. I think they add caractor to the park. Like the Disney Railroad in MK.

 

[patriciauk]

Gosh, that article tjkraz posted is awfully strong...I LOVE AK, it's my favourite park, I've never really understood why people call it a half day - I spent 2 full days there in Feb, opening til closing, and still didn't want to leave.

shame they don't have the fire breathing dragon anymore, the dragon at DLP in the castle dungeon is one of the best things in the whole park.

 

[catsrule]

I rode this also the first year AK opened. I always wondered what happened to it.

 

[snyderla]

I can confirm that Easter Week 2004 the boat with the band playing on it was indeed floating around in the area where Expedition Everest is being built. (Actually, it was on the other end of that body of water, kind of going around the lake in circles). We saw and heard it and have photos of it, too!2004 We thought it was pretty neat!

Lori

 

[BadgerBruce]

We also saw the boat the week after Easter. It had a band & Mickey & Minnie on it. I liked it when they put the CM's with the small animals on the boat ride, but the Disney Radio thing was pretty bad, and I say this as someone who loves AK!