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Disney's Animal Kingdom is all about nature and the environment and animals...
now, to casual readers of this blog, you may think I HATE this stuff, and thus would have hated DAK - but you would be wrong...
I love animals and nature, what I hate is to see this be preyed upon to fuel a political agenda, and also as a marketing tool...hell, these days they are not only using the "green wave" as an excuse for taxes and regulation and the general (failed attempt) to redistribute wealth...but also as a way to sell environmentally critical products (and I use the term WAYY loosely) like paper plates and breath mints...) give me a break, just like the low-carb and world population growth debacles of past decades...this too shall pass..
DAK was definitely more guilty of using the green theme for a marketing than a political agenda...hell - we paid $79 a pop just for the privilege of walking in the gate, but once that was past, they presented the animals and eco-systems in a pretty neutral and scientifically oriented manner...
My fave area of DAK by FAR was the Asia section, reeking with atmosphere and detail....little sampans and antique looking bikes and Buddha statues and conical straw hats scattered about everywhere...I have never been to SE Asia, and likely never will be, but I would imagine the backwaters of Thailand are pretty much like this, plus more snakes and bugs and dysentery of course, ingredients the thorough Imagineers at DW likely considered and decided to omit...
This park was harder to get around in as compared to MK - arranged like a wheel with the various areas on spokes around the central and iconographic Tree of Life...no easy path from one land to the next without going back through the middle...it was also hotter, as I had read - though there were lots of shady places, it seems I spent more of the day in the steamy and humid sun than at MK - less indoor attraction opportunities in which to avial oneself of some A/C is my guess at the reason for that perception..
A note on the Tree of Life...the (very realistic and fun, but to tots, very terrifying) "It's tough to be a Bug" attraction is located beneath the TOL - but other than that, you cannot actually access the Tree itself...you just look at it from pathways and watery overlooks belting it - despite the entreaties of one memorable (female) tourist...
She looked like she might be a Brazilian Supermodel, with a camera strung about her neck and nestled in her cleavage, and wearing the most amazingly tight pair of neon purple stretch pants over her perfectly plump hindquarters....Hey! Wait a Minute...I thought the camels where in the Serengeti area??? (don't go there Wilson - don't go there..)
anyway, she knew limited English...but that did not stop her from using an elaborate and animated and boob-shaking and very effective pantomime to ask me and a few other park goers how to get across the water to the Tree...I DID think briefly of using this as an opportunity to lead her into a secluded leafy pathway and....but G was with me and evidently immune to stretch pants on brunette supermodels, and grousing about something and heading in the other direction, so I was forced to shrug at her balefully and follow him off...sigh...
The Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids rides make the Asia section standout, but also the Maharajah Jungle Trek nature trail in this area was the best - far more engaging than the similar one - Pangani Forest - in Africa....
maybe that was because we were able to see the tigers out and prowling...I was able to point out to G how though they are 100 times bigger and heavier, literally, they still walk and prowl and move with the EXACT motions and habits as our six lb. Siamese...
Also the bat exhibit was engaging...they have all of these HUGE bats, literally hanging around, and I do mean HUGE - 6 foot wingspan...you see them preening and sleeping and eating, and even occasionally flying from one perch to the next...the kicker however is when you go to lean against the "glass" of the "windows" of the exhibit, and realize there ARE NO WINDOWS! This was the most shocking surprise I encountered at DW! There is NOTHING separating you from the huge bats! I guess bats are not interested in humans, or the deep pocketed folks at Disney would not risk such a close encounter...fun..
the other area of DAK we enjoyed, later in the day, was the initially overlooked Dinoland USA. The "Dinosaur" ride itself was incredibly well done and exciting...esp as G has often voiced this exact fantasy, of traveling back in time to collect Dinosaur DNA to bring back to clone (too many viewings of Jurraisic Park - 1-3)
He put me to shame by actually knowing differences between the Jurraisic and Mesozoic and Cretaceous periods, and which dinos inhabited each era...in talks with the cute freckled Dinosaur Tour Guide and Hands on Activity Leader who took him under her wing on spotting his ice cream besmirched orange dinosaur T-shirt (we went there just after dinner.)
Also - this area had the thematicaly unexpected but brilliantly apropos collection of rides from the dinosaur era of American Theme Parks...nostalgically dubbed "Chester and Hester's Dino-rama" it contained a wonderful old-time wild mouse ride - the "Primeval Whirl" which we rode with a couple of gangly Chicana teeny-boppers in braces talking rapid fire Spanish...we all had a grand time screaming and hooting in delight with each and every violent change of direction and rapid fall of the fiberglass and steel spinning dinosaur car...
As mentioned, DAK was home to some of the very best shows, including Finding Nemo and the Lion King.
My best friend John had taken his girls to DW back in February, and had warned me this was the "weakest" of all the Disney parks...maybe, but mostly just cause it closed so much earlier and there were no fireworks...all in all, I enjoyed the Animal Kingdom much much more than I had expected to..
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