Caring for Gentle Giants

[Amw1064]

Just wondered if anyone had done the Caring for Gentle Giants tour and if you recommend it or a certain time of day to go? Thanks!

 

[disneyseniors]

Hi Amw:

Yes, my husband and I did the tour March of 2018. It was a nice informative tour, and our tour guides were great. No complaints there.
However, it just wasn't what we expected. We were taken to an area backstage to see the elephants roaming. We could see the safari vehicles passing in front, and we were in the back of the fields. We were disappointed that we did not get up close and personal at all. The view, at times, was better from the safari vehicles across the way.
I might have misunderstood the advertising, but we thought we would see the care and handling of the elephants. I assumed this meant watching the actual care of the animals (in the enclosure used for checking the animals, bathing, giving food and meds, etc) This did not happen. We got photo opportunities from a distance, no up close encounters.
I know you can't get "close", but thought it would show the actual care of the elephants on a daily basis by the caregivers.
I still don't know if we were wrong in expecting that, or not. The CM's were excellent, funny, with a wealth of information, but we came away disappointed.

 

[Amw1064]

Hi Amw:

Yes, my husband and I did the tour March of 2018. It was a nice informative tour, and our tour guides were great. No complaints there.
However, it just wasn't what we expected. We were taken to an area backstage to see the elephants roaming. We could see the safari vehicles passing in front, and we were in the back of the fields. We were disappointed that we did not get up close and personal at all. The view, at times, was better from the safari vehicles across the way.
I might have misunderstood the advertising, but we thought we would see the care and handling of the elephants. I assumed this meant watching the actual care of the animals (in the enclosure used for checking the animals, bathing, giving food and meds, etc) This did not happen. We got photo opportunities from a distance, no up close encounters.
I know you can't get "close", but thought it would show the actual care of the elephants on a daily basis by the caregivers.
I still don't know if we were wrong in expecting that, or not. The CM's were excellent, funny, with a wealth of information, but we came away disappointed.

I think you had the right idea, that is how I took that the tour would be. I will have to think about it now. Maybe not worth the time or money? The site says 80-100 feet from the elephants and yes definitely want to see the care of the elephants. Thanks for your review.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We took the tour on Monday and found it both informative and enjoyable. Three female elephants were interacting with each other and two of the younger elephants chased each other around, one with her trunk on the others' back. It was quite a show. 100% of the $30 tour cost goes to elephant conservation. I would highly recommend it, however realistically, animals are animals and each viewing will be unique so set your expectations accordingly.

 

[LaurenT]

We enjoyed it and got lucky because the baby and mama spent some time back where we could see them.
But if you want to be really close to big African animals, do the Up Close with Rhinos tour!! You even get to pet one! The only disappointment on that one is that, because it’s all backstage, we weren’t allowed to take pictures.

 

[Best Aunt]

You have no idea if the elephants will come close to the viewing area - or even be visible at all.

 

[disneyseniors]

You have no idea if the elephants will come close to the viewing area - or even be visible at all.

That's true. The elephants were all at least 100 feet away, close to the safari area. No close up at all.
We were aware of that; however, it says caring for elephants. We assumed we would actually experience the caring by the CM's, but that was not the case at all.
It was fine, but not what we thought it would be. The cost is really small and I'm happy it goes for Elephant conversation. They had a native African lady who described life in her native land and the conversation efforts in Africa. That was all fine, but we were kind of disappointed and wouldn't do it again. However, if you actually do get up close and are able to pet a rhino, we would be all in for that one

 

[disneyseniors]

I think you had the right idea, that is how I took that the tour would be. I will have to think about it now. Maybe not worth the time or money? The site says 80-100 feet from the elephants and yes definitely want to see the care of the elephants. Thanks for your review.

Sounds like you thought the same way we did about the tour specifics. Read what I wrote to Best Aunt. We might try the Rhino tour, as it sounds like what we were looking for. It would be great to pet a rhino
I can break the CFE tour down for you.
We met our guide close to the Safari entrance. He talked with us for a few minutes and then we were led backstage to a small van/bus. It took us to a raised embankment and let us off to climb up to view the elephants. This is where we stayed for the whole tour. The elephants decided to stay way far away from us, but that's animals. We had the Africa lecture, took a lot of pictures of far away elephants (which I deleted because you really couldn't see much), and went back down the steps, onto the bus, and back to where we started. Like I say, it was okay, but not what we expected.

 

[holden]

We loved the tour. We went shortly after baby Stella was out in public. She was just adorable following her mom around.

It really depends on where the elephants are. They were very visible and entertaining during our tour. We had a much better view of them than the people on the safari ride. The guide was excellent too.

 

[Best Aunt]

What I tried to say was that you could end up paying to go, not see a single elephant, and Disney thinks you got what you paid for because somebody talks to you and brings a few things to show you. We did get to see Baby Stella and mom, but I would have been disappointed if we had not been able to get good photos of the elephants. The little talk is certainly not worth the cost of the ticket, in my opinion.

 

[Miffy]

I've done the tour twice and enjoyed both times and saw elephants both times. But I wasn't expecting anything other than what occurred, so I wasn't disappointed.

 

[zavandor]

Good review from Easywdw:
https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/review-caring-for-giants-elephant-tour-at-disneys-animal-kingdom/

 

[Amw1064]

I guess we will give it a try when we go in January. If nothing else, we will contribute to the care of the elephants, but hopefully we can see some "up close & personal" haha.