Kilimanjaro Safaris

[LisaTC]

Just wanted to inquire if any who've recently been at the World (last few months) have had the following experience with the Safari at AK. We went on it first thing, just like always and there was no ride queue, trucks were only half full and it was just after park opening. Same circumstances as our last visit with regard to time of day, etc. Our driver was terrible. She tailgated the forward truck, stopped very little if at all, rarely slowed down and was really cranky. Everyone in the truck was disappointed. My daughter moved forward in her seat ever so slightly to adjust her jacket and she scolded her for not staying seated, which I did not appreciate, as it was not necessary, not true and embarrassing to her. She's 9 and very well behaved and didn't even know what she did. People were looking very sympathetically at her, so I knew I wasn't imagining the driver's ridiculousness. The lady behind leaned up and said "its ok, honey, she must've gotten out of bed cranky today!" The truck in front of us made stops seconds here and there and she was always on their tail to the point, where I wished for a seat belt! I could see those in forward truck looking back and shaking their heads at our driver.

Curious to see if anyone else has had this experience with KS at AK lately or, if she truly was just a cranky pants that day. I'm willing to give somebody a crank day every once in a while, but she was barking at us like we were idiots. The guy we had last year was so great, gave great information and trivia about all the animals and AK park in general. 15 seconds here or there wouldn't have mattered, since she was always having to stop for the vehicle in front of us anyway.

When we disembarked, I could tell the CM's at loading could see the look on our faces as if "they knew." Incidentally, upon arriving home, I received a very long, detailed survey about AK, so I'm wondering if there've been other complaints.

Glad to say that since it was 1st thing in the AM, we had ample time and opportunity to do things that made up the the lackluster KS...Festival of the Lion King, for one. What a great show! A little side story about a friend who had a 2 year old throw up on him (his kid) at Lion King and how they wisked him away, below...yes, below and take him in an electric car through a system of trails to First Aid. He said there were more people below AK than above.

 

[mommy2kwm]

We were there Dec 13-19 and we had a great driver. He stopped often and long enough to take pictures. He was very informative and was pointing out all the animals. The kids loved it. I think the experience varies depending on the driver. Sorry you had such a bad experience.

 

[MelissathePooh]

Probably just the CM that day. Good and bad to that. We rode December 15th and had an excellent driver. THe whole thing of letting the trucks stop now does make for a bit of a back up, hurry up and wait kind of experience though. Its nice that they will stop, but some CM's stop more than others and it took FOREVER to get through the attraction. That didn't equate to us getting the best views or pictures though...the truck in front of us took forever and by the time we moved up the animals had walked off.

 

[Robo]

A little side story about a friend who had a 2 year old throw up on him (his kid) at Lion King and how they wisked him away, below...yes, below and take him in an electric car through a system of trails to First Aid. He said there were more people below AK than above.

"Below" what?


.

 

[MIGrandma]

"Below" what?


.

There is an entire city "below" WDW, full of tunnels. They could take the child to first aid quicker by taking him "below" than trying to get through the crowds.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

While I dont think we've ever had quite the experience you describe, CM's are variable. That includes the safari ride.

Let's just say parts of the ride are fake. Some CM's stick to the script as if they weren't, and some like to skip overr the fae parts.

It also matters a good dela how the driver drives. Like on the scary bridge. If the driver does it right, it relaly feels like tehbridge is falling. If they don't, it doesn't.

It may not have been entirely the fault of the CM driving. They are always getting info from central command. I'm not excusing a less than stellar experince, just saying it isn't always obvious all that's happening. Maybe she was told to follow closely.

 

["Cinder" Ella's Mom]

There is an entire city "below" WDW, full of tunnels. They could take the child to first aid quicker by taking him "below" than trying to get through the crowds.

Yes, but the utilidors are not at Animal Kingdom, but rather at Magic Kingdom. There is no "below" at AK.

 

[disneygal55]

We have had great CM's driving for KS and some that were...not so great. We have had some who were fun loving, informative and sociable and then we have had a couple who mumbled, barely pointed out animals and acted like they would rather have been anywhere else. Some were great drivers and I felt secure as they manuevered the roads....some took the turns "way too fast" and jerked the passengers from side to side. The worst one ever was a female CM who was driving past the water area near where the baboons are. She quickly drove up on the large curb on the right, making the vehicle lean sharpely to the left and when she came down to the road off of the curb, forced the vehicle to land hard and bounced people off of the seats...and caused my then young DS to hit his face on the forward lapbar. We were lucky that she didn't flip the vehicle over! Thank goodness we were ok. This happened over 10+ years ago but I still feel apprehensive when the drivers reach that point in the ride.

 

[artemis908]

It sounds like she just wanted to get it over as quickly as possible since she was rushing. I've had good experiences thus far on KS (knock on wood). Disney usually takes customer service pretty seriously (unless it's the website, but that's an entirely different thread ) so it's good you got a survey. I would have even called that day back in my room to say something if it were bad enough.

 

[disnut8]

Just a bad experience with one driver at one time. Been on this attraction probably two dozen times. Had maybe, and just maybe, two drivers that weren't the best. But, we saw the animals, we had a good time, and then we went on.

 

[MJMcBride]

Sounds like you had a bad draw with drivers. If they are great, the attraction is just amazing. An average driver, and the ride is still fun. But this was below that

 

[casselsshopper]

We rode today and had a wonderful experience. Our vehicles were well spaced, and our driver stopped often. You just had a cranky CM.

 

[chartle]

There is an entire city "below" WDW, full of tunnels. They could take the child to first aid quicker by taking him "below" than trying to get through the crowds.

[QUOTE="Cinder" Ella's Mom;47100750]Yes, but the utilidors are not at Animal Kingdom, but rather at Magic Kingdom. There is no "below" at AK.[/QUOTE]

Correct only at the Magic Kingdom (I think most of it not all) and a few buildings are connected under Epcot. But not under the other parks and definitely not under all of WDW.

Also it require a major emergency to take someone through the utilidors.

 

[vcgirl925]

I have never had a bad driver. Sorry you did though. You should have definitely gotten her name and complained.

 

[LeahA]

We were there last week and we went on it 2 times and had great drivers both times. One purposely stopped at talked more so the people in front of us were out of sight. We saw the most animals on this trip, maybe because the weather was cooler. They both were pretty funny, I think he did tell someone they needed to sit, but wasn't rude about it.

 

[TwoCortWort]

Just wanted to inquire if any who've recently been at the World (last few months) have had the following experience with the Safari at AK. We went on it first thing, just like always and there was no ride queue, trucks were only half full and it was just after park opening. Same circumstances as our last visit with regard to time of day, etc. Our driver was terrible. She tailgated the forward truck, stopped very little if at all, rarely slowed down and was really cranky. Everyone in the truck was disappointed. My daughter moved forward in her seat ever so slightly to adjust her jacket and she scolded her for not staying seated, which I did not appreciate, as it was not necessary, not true and embarrassing to her. She's 9 and very well behaved and didn't even know what she did. People were looking very sympathetically at her, so I knew I wasn't imagining the driver's ridiculousness. The lady behind leaned up and said "its ok, honey, she must've gotten out of bed cranky today!" The truck in front of us made stops seconds here and there and she was always on their tail to the point, where I wished for a seat belt! I could see those in forward truck looking back and shaking their heads at our driver.

Curious to see if anyone else has had this experience with KS at AK lately or, if she truly was just a cranky pants that day. I'm willing to give somebody a crank day every once in a while, but she was barking at us like we were idiots. The guy we had last year was so great, gave great information and trivia about all the animals and AK park in general. 15 seconds here or there wouldn't have mattered, since she was always having to stop for the vehicle in front of us anyway.

When we disembarked, I could tell the CM's at loading could see the look on our faces as if "they knew." Incidentally, upon arriving home, I received a very long, detailed survey about AK, so I'm wondering if there've been other complaints.

Glad to say that since it was 1st thing in the AM, we had ample time and opportunity to do things that made up the the lackluster KS...Festival of the Lion King, for one. What a great show! A little side story about a friend who had a 2 year old throw up on him (his kid) at Lion King and how they wisked him away, below...yes, below and take him in an electric car through a system of trails to First Aid. He said there were more people below AK than above.

Sorry you had a bad experience. We only ran into this right before they closed the ride, and we understood that one, but still it kind of ruined the experience. We had 2 white rhinos that were in our path and our CM was hilarious trying to get them to move and no one was paying attention to the lions where two females were fighting. Some one caught that and brought our attention to it.

 

[LisaTC]

Just now getting back to this thread...back to work after a WDW vacation stinks!

I figured I'd query the Dis gang instead of actually 'complaining' officially because everyone has a bad day, but I had heard similar complaints from others at AK on that particular day, so was wondering if any had our experience. Perhaps she hadn't had her morning Java. My daughter was bumped out of the seat 2x, she's a Minnie Mouse even at 9, so I didn't think scolding her was appropriate and like I said, there was no ride queue and the cars were only 1/2 full. Even when we got off, there were only about 6 people waiting to get on. Perplexing, but nothing more. You do get spoiled when you have really exceptional CM's and then on another experience those who are just "meh."

However, we still loved our trip and AK and would recommend KS, for sure. As far as my story with regard to being swept below, I was repeating an incident told to me by a coworker who had a puking kid down his back who they whisked away at Lion King "downstairs..." That's all I know. Sorry folks!

 

[d-r]

We went on it first thing, just like always and there was no ride queue, trucks were only half full and it was just after park opening. Same circumstances as our last visit with regard to time of day, etc.e.

One thing is, with Little Red gone fewer people are riding DS. They figure "hey, if I'm not going to be needed to help stop poachers, why bother?" and they just skipi it. That probably makes some of the drivers cranky, too. Plus the drive is extra long now that they added the zebra part.

 

[Sweettears]

Sounds like she had a hangover. I've heard some pretty wild stories about the party life of some CMs.

 

[Sweettears]

One thing is, with Little Red gone fewer people are riding DS. They figure "hey, if I'm not going to be needed to help stop poachers, why bother?" and they just skipi it. That probably makes some of the drivers cranky, too. Plus the drive is extra long now that they added the zebra part.

I actually found it vastly improved without the story line. Much more emphasis on the animals. Can't wait to see the new zebra exhibit.