Saturday, 21 November 2015

Attractions at Animal Kingdom

Here are my thoughts on the attractions that I visited at Animal Kingdom.

Oasis

Oasis Exhibits - There are a few animals in this area near the entrance of Animal Kingdom, including the only Australia animals I managed to find, some black swans. There's nothing hugely important to see here, but I think it's fun to wander a little off the beaten track and see what you can find.

Discovery Island

Wilderness Explorers - I signed up for Wilderness Explorers but never ended up getting any badges beyond the first one. Although Wilderness Explorers has some similarities to Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom or Agent P at Epcot, I felt like it was less adult-friendly, and I always felt like it would be too awkward to go up to the stations.

It's Tough to be a Bug! - This 4D show is exactly the same as the version in Disney California Adventure except that the queue is cooler because it winds through the roots of the Tree of Life. Like I said in my Disneyland review I like the special effects of this show and it's fun if a little scary. FastPass is available but I don't think it's helpful as the show holds quite a lot of people.

Discovery Island Trails - These trails are a little bit more extensive than the Oasis ones. Unlike the walking trails in Africa and Asia, there is no set path, so it's difficult to find any specific animals or to be sure that you haven't missed any. I wish there were some signposts or maps around to use to navigate. My favourite animal on Discovery Island was the otter.

Africa

Kilimanjaro Safaris - This is a really fun way to see the animals and because many of the animals are free to roam around quite a large area, the experience is different every time. There were baby giraffes that were very cute and came quite close to the ride vehicle. One time when I rode the hippos were being fed and so they came all the way out of the water. Another time the animals weren't being co-operative (there was a rumour going around that the lions were mating) and so we got stuck in front of the kudu for about 40 minutes. That was a different experience again as we had time to look in detail at how the environment was set up for them. The wait is quite reasonable first thing in the morning (we also saw a posted wait of 10 minutes at lunchtime) or there is FastPass Plus available.



Pangani Forest Exploration Trail - This is a walkthrough attraction to view animals. This is definitely my favourite of the trails at Animal Kingdom. There are lots of gorillas including some cute young ones. I'm a fan of meerkats but there weren't a lot around when I walked through.

Wildlife Express Train - The main purpose of this train is to get back and forth from Rafiki's Planet Watch (and it's the only way to do so). You may also catch a couple of glimpse of animals in their "backstage" habitats. After having done the Backstage Tales tour it was fun to see some of the areas I had visited from the train.

Rafiki's Planet Watch

Habitat Habit - I'm counting this as an attraction only because it is listed on the park map. This is basically the path between the train station and Conservation Station. There are a few tamarins along the way.

Conservation Station - This building has a few exhibits about conservation, some small animals (mainly invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians) and some character meet and greets. But I think probably the only thing worth making the trip over for is the live vet exams. These usually take place in the morning - the safest bet is to take the first train over (usually at 9:30). Because I was doing the Backstage Tales tour I didn't try to make it to Conservation Station in the morning - in hindsight I probably should have. We visited in the middle of the day instead and didn't stay for long.

Asia

Maharajah Jungle Trek - This is another walkthrough attraction. The star attractions here are the tigers; I don't really care much about the rest of the animals here. The theming of the trail is pretty impressive though. In the aviary there were some birds just lying on the path and the CM had to explain that they were just sunbathing.

Kali River Rapids - This raft ride is very disappointing after having ridden Grizzly River Run in Disney California Adventure. There is only one big drop and I never got very wet. The theming in the queue is very good, but the queue seemed to move really quickly through the room where the backstory for the ride is explained. The merge between the FastPass and standby lines didn't seem to be handled well here and this was one of my longest waits with FastPass (about 15 minutes). The standby line wasn't any better though - we got in line at about 10am when the posted wait was 10 minutes and ended up waiting about 30 minutes.

Expedition Everest - I love this ride for its combination of thrills and theming. I liked it better when the Yeti was in full working order, but it's still pretty good. The queue for this ride is also pretty awesome but I'd rather ride with FastPass and skip the wait (the FastPass queue is actually pretty well themed as well). There is a Single Rider line too but the way my days were organised meant I had plenty of FastPasses to use at Animal Kingdom so I never tried it out.

DinoLand U.S.A.

Dinosaur - Although the general consensus is that this is not as good as Indiana Jones at Disneyland (which uses the same ride system), I actually enjoyed it more - perhaps because my expectations were not as high. I had a FastPass Plus for it but didn't need it even in the middle of the day.

Dino-Sue - This is not listed on the guide map, but it is listed as an attraction on Disney's website. Basically it's a replica T-Rex skeleton. It's a nice addition to this area of the park.

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