Conservation Station and train at AK?

[Cameo]

Does anyone have any information about Conservation Station and the train ride over at AK? I don't even see any info about it in the Birnbaum's guide. My 3 DS loves trains and I thought this might be a nice break for us while at AK? Does the whole trip take quite a while? Can you bring strollers on the train? Any comments would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[Dan Murphy]

http://www.wdwig.com/ak_rpw.htm

It is great for young kids. Petting type 'zoo' area. Lots of hands on things to do. Kids love it. Train ride is maybe 10 minutes or less. Strollers are fine, if they fold up I think. Don't tnhink you could get a non foldup on. Fun thing to do, don't pass it up.

 

[slp87]

We had not been over there until our last trip. The train ride was interesting in that you saw some of the backstage areas for the animals. Once arriving at CS, you'll have to walk a little back to the area. It's not far and there are some things to see along the way. There is a petting zoo area off to the left with some goats and a building to the right that has some different things to see inside. We did the "Sounds of the Rainforest" 3-D sound booths and saw Pocahontas & Meeko. We hit it fairly early in the morning so there wasn't a lot of activity. Others have said they've seen them operating on animals. We saw someone with a big snake walking around for people to pet and the highlight for my DD was seeing the talking trash can when we left.

 

[Prince Eric1]

The train ride is short with no rental strollers that don't fold up allowed, but i saw people with folded up strollers. They have a petting zoo there, and usually the characters Rafiki, Pocahontus, and Meeko or another from Pocahontus are there. They also have some educational displays. It doesn't take long to do so its worth the short train ride.

 

[disneysteve]

I agree with all the previous posters. We enjoy CS. The train ride is relaxing and its neat to see where the animals are cared for. One fun activity when you get to the building - there is a huge mural of every imaginable animal. There are several hidden Mickey's in the mural.

The one thing lacking over there is food - there are no restaurants so eat before you go.

Steve

 

[Cameo]

Thanks for all the responses. I finally found it in the Birnbaum Guide and it is now called Rafiki's Planet Watch. Guess that's why I missed it!! Sounds like fun. I bet my kids would enjoy it.

 

[Ronda93]

The ride would be great for a train enthusiast.

At Conservation Station we've seen a possum (I kid you not) being neutered. Another time we saw a large bird having a pin removed from its wing (it had been implanted following a broken bone).

It's cool. I wonder if you can get a schedule of what will be going on?

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by Cameo
Thanks for all the responses. I finally found it in the Birnbaum Guide and it is now called Rafiki's Planet Watch. Guess that's why I missed it!! Sounds like fun. I bet my kids would enjoy it.

A few things at AK have changed names since the park first opened in 1998. For example, what is now Paganini (sp?) Trail used to be called Gorilla Trail. They changed the name because apparently many guests complained when they walked through and didn't get to see a gorilla. Just can't get those big guys to perform on cue.

When the park was young, there was a much more blatant emphasis on conservation efforts. Apparently, this turned off a lot of guests who didn't like the socio-political message, so Disney backed off a bit - hence the new name for Conservation Station. And bringing in the Lion King name probably helped things along.

Steve