Review of Animal Kingdom, Disney
When I first visited this park I was a little disappointed as I though it would be my favourite and wasn’t. However, on my return visit in October 2008 I enjoyed the park more. This park closes pretty early (6pm) so to make the most of the park its one you want to get to fairly early.
My ‘must do’s for this park are – ‘It’s Tough to be a Bug’ 4D show, the 4pm parade, the new Finding Nemo’ musical, ‘Kilamanjaro Safari’s’. We aren’t into thrill seeking rides so Expedition Everest isn’t for us – but by all accounts it’s a good ride and if you like that sort of thing you should add it to your list.
Check out my ‘ears’!
It’s Tough to be a Bug – this is one of the best 4D shows around. When we went 2 years ago we went to see it first, and the queue was torturous. This time we left it until nearly the end of the day and walked straight in with no queues – so I’d recommend you do that too. If you do have to queue it winds around the beautifully carved artificial tree.
Mickey’s Jungle Jammin Parade – this is my second favourite Disney parade (after Spectromagic at Magic Kingdom). It happens daily at 4pm. For Disney it’s pretty low-key. There are only a few floats, most of the parade consists of individuals walking with, or wheeling along large animal statues, or ‘puppets’. They are all beautifully coloured and creatively designed.
The Wonderful Parade
Finding Nemo the Musical – I thought this was fantastic. It’s on 5 times during the day so there re plenty of opportunities to see it. Most people know the story and the musical is a cut down version done with puppets. The seagull and ray puppets are fantastic. My 6 year old who use to watch the film avidly gave it a big thumbs-up.
Kilimanjaro Safari’s – as this park is all about animals this is probably one of the main attractions. You ride in quite high jeep-like vehicle that accommodate 50 visitors at once, and the driver recounts a little bit of a story as you go. It’s more like going through a safari park than visiting a zoo. The animals have pretty large and well landscaped areas to roam and you should see most animals – lions, giraffe’s, crocs, ostrich, rhino’s, hippo’s. It’s quite a long ride – 10 to 15 minutes, and queues can be long so it is worth a fast-path.
Up close and personal with Rhino’s
Festival of the Lion-King – the only reason this show isn’t on my must-do list is because it has been going a while and many people have seen the full blown musical in various cities throughout the world. It is presented ‘in the round’ and is a very professional cut-down show. If you like Disney musicasls and haven’t seen the full blown stage show this should be on your list. There are quite a few opportunities to see it.
Kali River Rapids – this is a good ride, that can have long queues. The ‘boats take about 8 people and about half will get wet but not completely drenched – it’s luck of the draw depending on where you sit. Again, this is probably one to fast-path. The only reason it isn’t on my must-do list is that there are many other water rides around (but not in this park)
Pangani Forst Exploration Trail – there re quite a number of gorilla’s and you should get to see quite a few of them up close. We could only make out one hippo and it wasn’t very visible as it was at the far end of the water and the water itself was pretty murky. My 6 year old really enjoyed spotting the birds, especially as you can pick up a handy colour chart showing all the different varieties in the aviary. I think this is where we also saw Meercats - always a winner.
Maharajah Jungle Trek – we had a pretty good view of about 4 tigers in grounds with fairly authentic looking Asian style ‘ruins’. I love tigers and have a bit of a problem seeing them in captivity, and these didn’t seem to have a lot to amuse them. We only saw one, not terribly large komodo dragon (I don’t know if there are more there) and the bats were interesting – and surprisingly huge!
Wildlife Express Train – don’t bother unless you really have time to kill. There are two different stations and the train runs between them in a loop. You won’t see much from the train – just a few of the animal sheds, and there isn’t as much of a commentary as I expected regarding animal care. The train carriages were quite interesting – with 2 rows of bench like seats all facing in one direction.
DinoLand – we didn’t get to spend much time here. The Boneyard play area looked great to little kids and there were no queues for the Triceratops Spin – a gentle kiddy ride.
Dining
We ate at the Yak and Yetti which is one of the few table service restaurants in Disney, and I have to say that I had one of the best meals I have had in a Disney park. I opted for the steak and tempura shrimp – the fairly thin but long, tender steak was wound around a pile of mash and surrounded by about 5 large tempura prawns with a great dipping sauce. I definitely order it again. Being table-service this isn’t one of the cheaper options and if you don’t want to spend as much I’d try the Yak and Yetti food café next door which I am sure serves very similar food. Previously we ate at the Tusker House restaurant (not table service) which was OK but nothing special. I seem to remember getting an OK salad.
For cheap hire car worldwide see Discounted Hire Car Article
This entry has been viewed 390 times.
READER COMMENTS:
No comments yet.
