*Saturday Spotlight on Animal Kingdom*

[Hilary]

Saturday Spotlight is aimed at helping you get a little bit extra from your trips to Orlando. The tips mentioned here may already be known to you, but perhaps you can contribute a tip of your own which others might not know.

We’re not trying to rewrite the guide books and web pages dedicated to the nuts and bolts information, but hope we can add a little bit of our own icing on the cake.

Check out the Saturday Spotlight 'sticky' thread at the top of the board where we're collecting all the tips from each week's threads covering the different topics.

Here are this week's starter tips for Animal Kingdom, so please join in and add your own favourite(s)!


Animal Kingdom

• One for the children - in the Boneyard, look for some fossils set into a wall. Try hitting one of them!

• Don't want to ride Kali River Rapids? Have just as much fun as those on the ride by using one of the elephants on the bridge to help you 'cheer' them along.

• The Tree of Life has around 320 animals 'carved' into it. Try to take some time to look at the detail of these, they really are amazing.

• It's tempting to rush straight through the turnstiles to find the 'action'. There are often meet-and-greet stops here at the very front of the park where CMs will introduce you to some AK residents, so if you have members of your group (especially children) who are animal lovers, it's worth taking time to look around here before heading for the rest of the park. If you're not keen on 'creepy crawlies' this may be an area to miss!

• If the lines are long at the main turnstiles, go into the Rainforest Cafe and try the park entrance at the rear of the shop - there's very rarely a long line here.

• If your itinerary allows you a couple of visits to AK, try visiting at both ends of the day. The early morning and evening experiences (when the park is open late) in AK are very different.

You can find all the theme park details for Animal Kingdom here on the main DIS pages.

Who's next with their AK tip?

 

[KayleeUK]

Look out for DeVine You will find her hiding in the bushes. She is a lady on stilts who is camoflaged so be on the look out.

 

[Hilary]

Oh, and don't forget we'll be continuing the AK theme in Sunday's Chat!

 

[Miffy2003]

The Boneyard is a great place for children to let off some steam. My children loved digging in the sand for dinosaur bones.

If you are a fan of dinosaurs Lucky will be making an appearance at AK for the 50 years of Magic celebration. He is a huge interactive audio animatronic dino who wanders round pulling a cart and interacting with guests.

Avoid Chester & Hester's Dinorama like the plague if you hate carnival style stalls that require money to be enjoyed! We always have a little go but the dollars run away with you easily here.

There is not a great deal of shade at AK (we find) which makes this park a tough one on a blisteringly hot summer day. We always like to combine it with a visit to Blizzard Beach which is very close. Nothing short of heaven to get into the Lazy River at Blizzard Beach when you are hot and bothered!

If you only have time for one show, don't miss Festival of the Lion King! You will be glad you saw it

 

[vernon]

Tip #1 in my book is TAKE YOUR TIME (I'll say that again later because in this park it is vital) if you want to get the most out of this park. Look for the small touches in the park (like the butterflies that Disney breed then release into the park at regular intervals) almost everywhere you look, you will see micro details that add just a little more to the whole image.

I'd agree with Miffy that AK can be one of the more uncomfortable parks in the summer. I think the lack of shade is one factor, I think another is that the way the park is designed, i.e it limits your view of the horizon (the benefit of this is that you can't see many of the surrounding buildings of WDW so it allows to to believe you aren't in central Florida) it also limits the air flow through the park, added to the fact the higher levels of vegitation in the park make for a more humid environment. IMHO AK is a park better done as two half days, as opposed to one whole one. In the real heat of summer I would suggest going in the mornings as I have found it seems the heat and humidity builds up through the day and 4.00 in the afternoon is the most uncomfortable time of day to be there.

Things to make sure you don't miss (and many people do ) are the cute little bird gardens in Africa and Asia. Many people think they are just going along a walkway and don't realise they are actually in an attraction because they don't take the time to notice their surroundings. I've lost count of the number of people I've seen asking why they have these funny, inconvenient gates on a walk way. TAKE YOUR TIME AT AK TO TAKE IN YOUR SURROUNDINGS There are so many little touches to notice, whether it's all the different animals in the Tree of Life (you see different animals at different distances, even at the same angle), small animal enclosures around the park or the easy to miss bird gardens.

In Africa the bird garden is in the area where the gorillas are. They are situated just after you walk through the family of naked mole rats are located.

In Asia they are just after the tiger walk.

You will find plastic coated bird guides at the entrance to the gardens ( they are netted so the birds can't escape). Kids have a lot of fun identifying the different birds and there are a couple of benches in each garden so it is a really nice place to take a 5 minute break. IMHO to make the most of the bird gardens one needs to take that 5 minutes break once you get into the enclosures. You need to slow yourself down a little, get used to the pace of the place, tune your eyes and ears to that environment and soon you will notice all sorts of birds hopping, running and flying around.

IMHO what separates Disney from all other park operators is Disney's attention to detail, what many people (who love Disney) miss about AK is that they don't take the time to notice those details. In AK Disney has perhaps been just TOO GOOD at sliding those details into the park, whereas at other Disney parks they are obvious and meant to be seen immediately, at AK the designers have weaved so many touches into the park the guest actually has TO WORK to notice them.

To me, the Disney difference is that attention to detail, in Animal Kingdom I think Disney have excelled itself in that respect, if anything they have done too good a job. It all blends in together so successfully that many people don't even notice those touches because the touches compliment each other so well, that the total effect is so efficient it's easy to ignore the individual componants of the picture that has been painted for you.

In a way I guess I'd liken AK to a Dali painting, you can look at it from a distance and see one wonderful image, but if you look up close at what makes up the total image you will find dozens of individual stories and images that are wonderful on their own. It's when you wonder (I admit I am in wonder of their work) at the thought and creativity to weave all those individual masterpieces into the larger image.

 

[wils]

For those of you who 'have' to meet the characters Camp Minnie-Mickey is a must! When we were there we saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy & Donald in their safari gear. To avoid the queues be there when the characters first arrive (ask a cast member when this is!)

I have only spent one day here (so far!) but I would echo the previous advise to take your time a keep your eyes open!

 

[kevin harrison]

Vernon

I'm glad you mentioned the humidity, I noticed it was worse there than other parks also and thought it was something to do with the vegitation, I thought I was imagining it !!!

 

[Latte Lover]

Our tip would be to do the Kilimanjaro Safaris early in the day ( and all the other out-door animal attractions) as the animals are more lively and interesting before it gets too hot.

 

[mandymouse]

What brilliant tips.

My little tip would be that when watching the Jammin' In The Jungle parade, we stood on the bridge leading out of Africa (towards Camp Minnie-Mickey) and the crowds had to stand on one side of the bridge, therefore all the characters came towards us. It was loads of fun and we had lots of interaction with the characters.

mandymouse

 

[KayleeUK]

Don't forget the talking tree outside the entrance of AK