The Animal Kingdom Debate

[Nwall81]

So my wife and I are taking our 6 children to Disney World next year and are wondering why some people say Animal Kingdom isn't worth it and it's just an overpriced Zoo. We will have a five day pass so we definitely will have the time.. but also we are a big family so we will need more time to spend at the other parks...So what are your thought on Disney AK?

I've never been to any park but Epcot, and my wife has been to the other 3, but not AK

 

[Meriweather]

Love it......close to being my favorite Disney park.
It is beautiful, well themed.....and definitely NOT just a zoo!
We always spend time there.

 

[countrymommy]

We have 9 kids and we really liked it. We would split up for some things that the little kids couldn't do. I was surprised how much we liked it. Give it a try!

 

[nugov2]

You will get mixed reviews. I say go and do everything else first and if you did it all then go to AK on your last day. If I had to pick between another day at MK and didn't do everything there b/c of crowds I for sure do that.

 

[Tonyz]

Throw "over priced zoo" out of your vernacular... because 10 seconds after you're there you'll realize just how wrong you were.

Animal Kingdom is a treasure. Absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous sights and sounds. Fantastic way to explore and appreciate nature and our animal brothers and sisters. Plus, it's got some of the most entertaining and detailed attractions in all of WDW.

I used to take AK for granted as well. I think most people do. So it might take a couple visits to truly appreciate.

Go go go... you're gonna absolutely love it! (Just make sure it's not too hot of a day... because that will ruin everything.)

 

[DisneyMommy9]

I never skip AK, we love all the lands. The safari, the train to Rafikis Planet Watch, Tusker House Restaurant, Expedition Everest, Dinoland, Lion King....

 

[OKW Lover]

Anybody dismissing AK as an "overpriced zoo" have really missed something. Actually, they've missed a lot.

There is so much to see/do at AK that we find it well worth it. We do enjoy viewing the animals, especially on the Safari and the two walking trails. We also enjoy the pathway around the Tree of Life and the animals you'll see there. But there are also some great shows, like Festival of the Lion King, that you shouldn't miss.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My favorite by far!

 

[Aurora0427]

Love Animal Kingdom. We have skipped it the last two trips- first due to time constraints and the second trip I wished we hadn't skipped it. Going back in December and we are definitely going this trip. DD will be 3.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Here's my suggestion, go to YouTube, enter in any of the attractions you think your family might be interested in and see if it looks good for them based on their preferences. People kill me on here because for me AK is breakfast at Tusker, Kilimanjaro safari and book it over to Epcot (Hopefully hitting EE as a solo on my way out)

It's a beautiful place and I could see it being a full day park for some families, my kid is just more likely to be interested in Epcot.

 

[jco_direwolf]

So my wife and I are taking our 6 children to Disney World next year and are wondering why some people say Animal Kingdom isn't worth it and it's just an overpriced Zoo. We will have a five day pass so we definitely will have the time.. but also we are a big family so we will need more time to spend at the other parks...So what are your thought on Disny AK?

Well Animal Kingdom is Nahtazu.

I really like the park. It's very well designed and has some very awesome theming. The Up!/Wilderness Explorers stuff is great. The nature walks are very cool. Love Everest and the safari, I think the FotLK is simply the best show in any of the parks (Yes I like it better than the Nemo show which is also in AK.)

That said ..
o The park is unfinished. And not in the Walt "always updating always changing" way.
o A whole "land" was left out of building, Mythic Creatures. You can see bits of it though the park, the Dragon in the Logo, Unicorn parking lot, the Dragon head under/next to the bridge.
o The number of hands-on up close animal interactions is limited.
o Two major attractions are broken, EE and Kali. EE the Yeti hasn't worked right since the first year of operation. Kali is super short because it wasn't built as designed.
o The park is huge. And because the theming a lot of the paths meander, and are uneven. So lots of walking and you'll be tired.

 

[sharonped]

Favorite park; brought BIL, SIL, 2 nephews and a niece last summer - it was all of their favorite park as well.

 

[momofboyz3]

I would never skip AK, it's a must do for us. But,not a full day (I do see it being full day for many) we can have an early breakfast at Tusker House and then enjoy the park for about 4 hours. Last time we saved it for our last full day, went back to our resort and had a dinner ADR at 'Ohana later that night

 

[kikiq]

AK has over the years become my family's favorite park. All my DGD4 talks about her trip in April is returning to AK so she can finish her Wilderness Explorer badges, go on the Safari again and see the animals. The character interaction is not as chaotic and spread out over the park.

Not knowing your children's ages, I would say AK is worth at least one day starting early to ride the safari first. The Wilderness Explorer program will take you through all the areas of the park. In April, we started early, the adults rode EE while we stayed with my DGD to explore Dinoland, and left at 5 for a dinner reservation. As a family group, we rode the Safari twice, Dinosaur, Kali Rapids, rode out to the conservation station, watched Finding Nemo and the Birds of Flight show. Since then the new Lion King show has started and we didn't explore either of the trails with animals.

 

[nat8199]

AK is a two day park for our family. Last trip my kids were 2.5, 2.5, and 4. We spend two full days, open to close, and could have done a third. It was by far their favorite park. We will definitely be planning on spending another two days there on our next trip.

 

[Planogirl]

What's wrong with being a zoo? I love good zoos and this one includes rides and shows and lots of other things that our local excellent zoo doesn't have.

I never get the comment that the park is "just a zoo". And?

 

[itchin2go]

Ok - I am fully prepared to be educated. We did AK once, found nothing remarkable about it and have never been back.

While there, we did:

Safari
Primeval Whirl
Pangani Trail
It's Tough to Be a Bug
Flame Tree

It was January so no one wanted to do Kali. The riders in our party didn't want to do Everest or Dinosaur either. We looked through a gift shop and I think we had some chai somewhere. We left after lunch.

Nothing was compelling enough to go back.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

I would say that most people who dismiss it as a "zoo" haven't ever been there! It's really so much more than that. We usually go in August and the park closes at 6:00. We have a tough time fitting in all we want to do by then! We wouldn't spend another full day there because of our limited vacation time, but absolutely can't imagine skipping it altogether.

 

[PinkBudgie]

We did one and a half days there on our end of June trip. First time. I have to say it is the best themed park. The details everywhere are just incredible! That said, it was the hardest to tolerate because it is the most hot and humid of all the parks and has the least amount air conditioned opportunities. We did everything except taking the train out to the animal station. Otherwise, we did all the walks, shows and rides. Oh, and as two adults we didn't feel the fossil dig was appropriate. It seemed like that was just for children so we didn't go in there. I really liked that park but couldn't take that much heat for that long. Even many of the stores were hot! It would be wonderful during a cooler time of the year.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Ok - I am fully prepared to be educated. We did AK once, found nothing remarkable about it and have never been back.

While there, we did:

Safari
Primeval Whirl
Pangani Trail
It's Tough to Be a Bug
Flame Tree

It was January so no one wanted to do Kali. The riders in our party didn't want to do Everest or Dinosaur either. We looked through a gift shop and I think we had some chai somewhere. We left after lunch.

Nothing was compelling enough to go back.

Well, eliminating Kali, Dinosaur, and Everest is taking out three of the biggest draws. Kind of like going to Epcot and not doing Test Track or Soarin'!

But there's also:

Festival of the Lion King
Flights of Wonder (Live bird show that is amazing and fun!)
Finding Nemo show
DiVine (if you've never seen her, it's soooo worth it!)
Boneyard (depending on ages of your children)
Wilderness Explorers game
Other nature trails
Rafiki's Planet Watch/Conservation Station
Tusker House for breakfast
Drummers and other performers in Africa

That's what I can think off of the top of my head!