Favorite Animal Kingdom Attractions

[Teebin]

Hey Teebin, since you appreciate a lot of the little things that go into creating these attractions, at allears.net there is a blogger by the name of Jack Spence who continually goes in depth into a lot of the attractions, how and who made them, and why. He usually does an excellent job, and he actually just did a couple of blogs on the Kilimanjaro Safaris, its always a fun read, check it out:

http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/

Thanks Virus. My word, the dates are all messed up... a post I made 3 weeks ago is coming up as brand new as of March 1, 2011.

Jack has some new ideas that I had not read before. I bought the book "The Making of Disney's Animal Kingdom" back in 2004. While it is a Disney publication, it is quite telling if one reads between the lines. It is not coincidental that the finest design art of any park in the USA is both AK and IOA as they were often created by the same designers and artists. The contractors of the WW went and took all of this knowledge, research of technique, and expense to a whole new level yet again. It is very expensive to create utter perfection (rip it apart, redo, rip it apart, redo) and many parks just cannot afford to spend the ridiculous amounts of money on such detail. Thank goodness we all got to witness this behavior again in the past year.

I need to start a blog, I am so lucky to have learned what I have learned and I want to tell everyone the back-story to the back-stories and details of why what and how. Stuff I have not seen spoken of anywhere on the internet; actually nowhere but from the folks who were there.

 

[Vyrus]

Hey I'm open to read about it. I'm a theme park junkie in the sense of not just riding the rides, but also how they are created, and what goes into the creative process behind them. I'm always "Mr Fun Fact" when I got to a park cause I read up so much on stuff

 

[samuraiblue]

Heh... Rafiki's still has 0.

 

[Mr MudFish]

1.Everest (Sure, it's short and that Yeti is obsessed with disco music. I still think it's a very fun ride)
2.Dinosaur (ToT and Dinosaur are the only rides that truly scare me)
3.Safari (Again, animal park...)

 

[Octobers Fade]

This park needs two more big rides!

 

[TheDecemberists]

This park needs two more big rides!

It needs a new land. Hopefully within the next 15 years lol.

 

[JungleSkip]

This park needs two more big rides!

I disagree. It needs one more big addition and 3-4 more smaller rides. As it stands, it's all E-tickets and no smaller draws, which is what really fills out a park experience.

 

[Jakemeister]

It's irrefutable that this park needs more. I feel like Hollywood Studios (despite being billed as the other half day park) is significantly more well rounded. I could see someone spending a whole day at DHS, Animal Kingdom not so much. I've never spent more than a couple hours at this park, and it seems like it'd be hard.

 

[Vyrus]

Agreed with all above because all are very well made points.

Too many e-tickets, and 2 big shows to try and fill out your day just doesn't do it. Granted you can go on Kilimanjaro and get stuck for an hour and help fill out your day, but otherwise, it needs more stuff.

 

[TheDecemberists]

Both times I've been, honestly, I wish I had more time.

Just depends if you want to stop and smell the monkey poop.

 

[Friar Tuck & Roll]

Favorite Attractions
1. Maharajah Jungle Trek - love the tigers
2. Countdown to Extinction (dont like many of the subtractions since the name change)
3. Kilamanjaro Safaris (would be number 1, but I still miss the original story of Big Red and the use of live cast members at the end of the ride near Little Red (this is also one of the reasons I think the pre show to RnRC is much weaker without "Chris"))

Also, the Animal Kingdom is the only park at WDW, other than Discovery Island which I never had the pleasure of experiencing, that I have not spent an entire day from park open to close (and I include the water parks and DisneyQuest in that statement).

 

[Octobers Fade]

Both times I've been, honestly, I wish I had more time.

Just depends if you want to stop and smell the monkey poop.

Also depends on how crowded it is.
I was there at opening in early December and rode everything, I saw Bugs Life, took the tour ride, ate, Walked around offering to take pics of people, and snapped hundreds of my own photos and left at 2:30.
I walked right on to Extinction twice and waited a total of ten minutes both times I rode Everest. I could have stayed longer to watch the animal, people watch, or take more pics just to kill the rest of the day but I wanted to beat the I-4/Tampa traffic.

 

[TheDecemberists]

Also depends on how crowded it is.
I was there at opening in early December and rode everything, I saw Bugs Life, took the tour ride, ate, Walked around offering to take pics of people, and snapped hundreds of my own photos and left at 2:30.
I walked right on to Extinction twice and waited a total of ten minutes both times I rode Everest. I could have stayed longer to watch the animal, people watch, or take more pics just to kill the rest of the day but I wanted to beat the I-4/Tampa traffic.

I've been during spring break both times, so that's probably why lol. The first time I went, though, they hadn't opened the fast pass queue for Everest yet. And. It. Was. WONDERFUL.

Never had traffic issues in Orlando, though.

 

[Hatetofly]

I was at Animal Kingdom last night, which was my very FIRST time being there at night. For anyone who has passes you must visit this park at night its simply incredible. IMO the best park at WDW better yet Orlando at night. Now I don't mean rides or animals because there aren't enough rides and the animal exhibits close down before sunset. I am simply referring to the atmosphere. Its like a new park once the lights go out. Oh and EE at night is uh AMAZING!

 

[Octobers Fade]

I can imagine it is pretty great, I love coasters at night it feels like a totally different ride.
Probably alot like BGT at night.

 

[Hatetofly]

I can imagine it is pretty great, I love coasters at night it feels like a totally different ride.
Probably alot like BGT at night.

Most of the ride is in complete darkness giving it a greater sense of speed and a more out of control feeling. Also the yeti flash literally made me jump because you never knew when he was coming and I have been on this ride a lot. There are only a few rides I consider to be VASTLY superior at night and this is one of them.

Other notables,
Big Bad Wolf, Apollos Chariot, Volcano, Flight of the Hippogriff, and JPRA.

 

[TheDecemberists]

Big Thunder is pretty epic at night

 

[Jakemeister]

Big Thunder is pretty epic at night

THIS! One of my faves is Dragon Challenge and Montu at night. B&M Suspended Inverts at night for some reason are just great. Alpengeist at night is great too.

 

[Octobers Fade]

THIS! One of my faves is Dragon Challenge and Montu at night. B&M Suspended Inverts at night for some reason are just great. Alpengeist at night is great too.

Loved Dueling Dragons at night!
I have nt rode it yet as DC, so to me it is still DDs/.

 

[ChristopherSE]

Kali River Rapids is my least favorite Disney attraction of all time. There were no rapids. There was one very minor drop fluffed with several minutes of nothing. I was actually dissapointed.

My favorites, in order, are (1) Everest and (2) Dinosaur. But at the moment they may be tied. The Disco Yeti is underwhelmming to anyone who knows what the yeti's full potential is.