*(I've added pictures now.)
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| Entering the Animal Kingdom |
When Michael Eisner was the CEO of the Disney Company, He had a vision of adding two additional parks to the Walt Disney World complex. He is very fond of the Theme parks and was instrumental in the conception and construction both Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom. He started his tenure as CEO in 1984 and served until 2004. He continues to be on the board of Directors to this day. During Michael's reign as CEO, Disney went international with parks in Europe and Asia He expanded Disneyland by adding the Californian Adventure. It must be said that Michael loves theme parks and with his additions, made Walt Disney World what it is today. Many would agree that Michael's best creation was Disney's Animal Kingdom which opened on April 22 of 1998 and quickly became one of many visitors favorite parks. Disney cast members are quick to point out that the Animal Kingdom is not a zoo, and I agree with that assessment. Zoos don't have the wonderful shows and exciting attractions that are available at the Animal Kingdom; However, the Animal Kingdom is all about the animals. Visitors can see such a wide variety of animals there. Walt was always interested in nature. Many of his films were documentaries about animals, so I think that a park dedicated to celebrating the lives of animals is entirely appropriate. The Animal Kingdom does a wonderful job of Thrilling park guests as well as giving visitors glimpses into Nature.
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| Another Great Chrismas Tree From the Animal Kingdom |
As you enter the park, there stands a beautiful Christmas tree that is covered in animal ornaments Each park puts up a unique tree that is related to the theme of the park. All of these trees are artificial and kept in a huge warehouse until needed. Most of the work of decorating the park takes place at night and Setting up of the giant artificial trees are no different. The trees are stored as great rings that are stacked on a central support using a large crane. Before each tree is stored the previous year, the lights are checked and any broken or outdated ornaments are replaced making the job of setting up the trees easier. I'm certain that it doesn't always go as planned but its a good system that keeps the setup time to a minimum. On the tree at the animal kingdom are many animal profiles that I'm sure were created at Disney. With the addition of more normal tree trimmings and some pretty spectacular lighting effects and the Christmas Tree at the entrance to the Animal Kingdom is an amazing site. Of course, I think all the huge trees that Disney display's at this time is pretty amazing.
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| Beautiful Giraffe |
Disney has included some really great attractions at the Animal Kingdom. Everest is fun and the Dinosaur attraction is one of our favorites at the park but the real focus of the Animal Kingdom has always been on the animals. As visitors walk through the park, they might meet up with birds, spiders and monkeys in enclosures along the walks. At nearly ever one of these locations a Disney cast member is there to tell visitors about the creatures in the enclosure. Of course, one of the best way to see the animals is the Kilimanjaro Safari in Harambe village. We chose to go to the Kilimanjaro Safari first because the lines can get long for this attraction. As usual we obtained a Fast-pass the attraction and then get in the standby line trick which worked perfectly. Our Fast-pass was ready for us as we left the attraction. We saw all kinds of amazing animals. Almost as soon as we entered the attraction we saw rare Okapi which are the closet relative to the Giraffe. There was an assortment of antelope everywhere ranging from the little Tommies (Thompson's Gazelle) to the rare Addax with their long screw horns. Wild African Cattle with their huge horns that they use to cool themselves. Predators such as Lions and cheetahs were visible. The Lions were sleeping on Rocks and the cheetahs were resting in the shade in a woody area of the attraction. Disney cunningly hides the moats that separate the carnivores from the prey creatures so you don't loose the feeling of one large savanna. Large black and white rhino's wander the preserve. Interestingly, the name "White" rhino may have come from a mispronunciation of the Dutch word Wijd that translates to wide. This refers to the wide mouth on the Rhino and not the color of the skin. The "Black" rhino has a smaller pointed mouth. Many Scientist disagree with this however. I've seen some really white colored rhinos and some really black ones too and I never really noticed what kind of mouth they had on them.
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Elephants
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| Rhino's are cool. |
A small heard of elephants live at the Animal Kingdom. They are usually easy to spot while trundling around on the Kilimanjaro Safari truck. A crash of Hippos (crash is the proper name for a group of Hippos) also can be seen in the man made pools along side of the road. Hippos are amazing to look at but i don't want to get close to one. Reportedly they have a pretty mean temper and don't hesitate to crush people in those huge wide jaws. From what I understand, More people die from Hippo attacks than from any combination of wild cat attacks. If you see the dagger like teeth on these beasts you can understand why that could be. Alligators and crocodiles line the backs and and swim in the waterways that line the "roads" that the Safari trunks take. Visitors can see warthogs, just like Pumba in the Lion king. The Disney animators got Pumba spot on. There are birds throughout the animal kingdom. On the Safari, you are likely to see storks and ostrich as well as a fine flock of Flamingos. One ostrich were actually nesting at the time and we saw a female sitting on a nest. I have more to say about birds in the park later in this post.
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| Flamingos. They get pink from their food |
Disney cares for its own animals in a veterinarian hospital at Rifiki's Planet Watch. Accessing this area is accomplished by taking a train that loads near the exit of Kilimanjaro Safaris. The Train is a little unusual because visitors are all facing the same side of the train as they ride. Disney has put up displays for people to view and from the train you can catch a glimpse of the shelters where the animals spend their time off. The train pulls into the station at Rifiki's Planet Watch and visitors wander they way up the path to the main building. Of course, along the way, Disney had provided more opportunities to see more animals with naturalists to tell you about them. After the short walk up the trail we arrived at Rifiki's Planet watch. Located with the attraction is a full blown veterinary hospital. Disney has veterinarians on staff to take care of all the animals in Animal kingdom. At the time of our visit, the staff was treating one of the parks older tigers that was having problems with its urinary tract. We have lost two cats to renal failure and i believe all cats are just as susceptible to this condition. The tiger looked gaunt and the Vets didn't have much hope for its full recovery. It brought home to me the fact that all creatures are interrelated. Our cats at home are susceptible to the same diseases and conditions that these great beasts of Asia are. The loss of a tiger or a cat or another person diminishes all of us. We are not as strong without them. So we should cherish all life and help it thrive. Ok, that is more than enough soap-boxing for one post.
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| Worthog (Not sure pumba was one of them) |
We had a wonderful time at the Animal Kingdom, but sometimes stuff breaks. This happened to the Lion King show while we were in the audience. If you have ever been to the Lion King show, you know it starts with floats of a Giraffe an Elephant and a Pumba , the warthog. Soon after the character floats come out, the float that the cast members use to do much of their acrobatics Wheels out on stage. Well, this time, it didn't come out. The float refuse to budge and float out onto the stage. We had great seats, right down front. These were probably the best seats we had ever had. The of course gave us a great view of the confusion that the cast members expressed on their face when the Float didn't float. Almost at once, an announcer came over the sound system saying the show had been canceled and to leave the theater. Everybody wanted to know what was going on. Some people thought it was part of the show or a joke. We of course knew better. In the end We had to accept that the show wasn't going to happen. We wanted to see the show and it was getting later in the day. So we walked to the Line entrance and had a very nice conversation with the cast members that were working the queue. The wait time between shows was about an hour and we thought we could wait that long to see the show. The Cast members at the head of the line didn't have much information about what was going on inside the Show Pavilion. They are kept intentionally in the dark about attraction repairs so they can't make promises that they can't keep. Any way the staff was friendly and dealt with questions in a friendly if not uninformed manner and after about an hour of waiting, they announced that they had heard that the next show was going to be canceled as well. That was enough for my wife and I We abandoned the line and returned to the park.
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| Disco Yeti? |
Since we discovered that Expedition Everest wasn't nearly as lame as we originally thought We try to ride the attraction each time we go to Animal Kingdom. My favorite coaster at Disney is the Rock and Rollercoaster in Hollywood studios by a long shot. But Expedition Everest is still a lot of fun. Its fun to ride both forward and backward and the Yeti would be pretty cool if it had come off as planned. The Yeti at Expedition Everest has never lived up to its billing as the largest and most complex Disney Anamatronic to date. The yeti stands 22 feet tall and requires 19 actuators to move when he is fully functional. Unfortunately, the Yeti hasn't been fully functional since just after the attraction opened. In addition to being the largest Disney anamatronic it has been plagued with problems from the onset. Now, According to the Disney Wiki, The concrete mount for the Yeti is damaged and the full movement cannot be restored until after the ride has gone through a refurbishment. Disney says it is just to dangerous to let him loose. The yeti is still there but it its movement is simulated with strobe lights. Some people have dubbed it Disco Yeti. I hope to see him do his full moves someday.
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| birds from one side of the lake |
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| to the other. Amazing. |
The animal kingdom closes earlier than all the other parks. This is due, in part to the fact that all the animals that live there need to be bedded down for the night. A crowd of people at the theme park is probably not the most restful of situations. The Animal Kingdom is Disney's largest park at Disneyworld and requires quite a bit of walking. We were pretty tired anyway, So toward the end of the day we started walking back to catch the bus back to our resort. We working our way back to the bus stops and were crossing one of the many bridges in the Animal Kingdom. Looking across one of the lakes lake We saw thousands were ibis and other birds roosting for the night near the tree of life. This body of water is lined with trees and in the trees were countless birds, most of them white and all perched in the trees near the lake. I had never see such a collection of birds ever. Our path back to the bus took us to the opposite side of the water where we were able to view the birds and trees from the other side. It was an amazing and beautiful site. As I had said at the begining of this post, the Animal Kingdom is all about the animals. Closing the day with the animals of the park doing something spectacular and amazing seemed to be very fitting. I like Zoo's. The St. Louis Zoo, that is within a few hours of where we live, is one of the best in the nation for seeing amazing animals. The Animal Kingdom provides a Disney take on adventure with animals both living and extinct in a much more interactive way than a zoo. Animal Kingdom is a theme park with the Theme of Animals and our day with the animals was wonderful.
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