Disney's Animal Kingdom

The sun slowly rises in the East, filling the morning sky with vibrant shades of red, yellow, and orange.  The tall grass dances side to side as a cool breeze nudges them so gently.      The silence of the plains are broken by the loud roar of the big cats…..Lions that is.  They are returning to their den after a long night of hunting.

Are we on some safari down in Africa.  I wish.  No, for we are still continuing our Disney World adventure as we explore Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  Maybe someday I will be able to make it to Africa and go on an actual safari, but for now I will have to be content with the wilds of Orlando Florida.

I know it is hard to pick a favorite Disney park.  Each have their own uniqueness and offer something that the other parks don’t.  With that said, I will have to say that Animal Kingdom might be my favorite park.  I have been fascinated with wildlife for most of my life.  I can sit and watch animal documentaries all day.  I prefer them over regular T.V. most of the time.  When Shark Week is on don’t even think about bothering me, because I have a nice comfy spot on my couch and the Discovery Channel is calling my name.  If I didn’t have to go to work I probably would watch it all day.  Thats the dream right?

I had mention in one of my previous post that the Animal Kingdom was more like a zoo.  Well I was a little quick to judge when I had said that.  Even though it does have that zoo like essence, with various animals from around the world on display, there is much more to it than that.  Much like the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom is divide up into 6 areas: Oasis, Discovery Island,  DinoLand U.S.A., Asia, Africa, and the new Pandora - The World of Avatar.

The Oasis is just inside of the Main Gate of the park.  It is mostly a gathering place with a few shops and animal encounter for your viewing pleasure.

Discovery Island is the heart of Animal Kingdom.  Much like Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle, the Tree of Life is the focal point.  The tree was created to celebrate the creatures of the world.  Encompassing the tree is 325 carving of living and extinct animals.  The tree is cool to see during the day but I think that it really shines when the lights go out.  As the sun goes down the tree is light on all sides in many colors and thats not all.  About every 10 minutes the tree comes to life.  The animal spirits of the tree comes to life and move about in a 5 minute show.  I could be wrong about the length of the show.  It could be longer.  There is a different animal that comes to life per show so it doesn’t repeat that often.  Underneath the tree lies It’s Tough to be a Bug, a 3D show based on Pixar’s A Bugs Life.  Just a warning, its not meant to be scary but there is a part that can be a little intense for the little ones.  There was a little girl in the theater with us and I’m pretty sure she will be traumatized for the rest of here life.

DinoLand U.S.A is modeled to look like any typical U.S. city in the 40’s or 50’s.  One area of DinoLand is made up of carnival style rides and games.  Its typically not my style of entertainment, but it was actually pretty fun.  We did ride the Primeval Whirl.  Its much like a Wild Mouse ride were the upper part of the carriage moves freely from the base.  Its a fun but jostling.  I went on it when I was a little too full of food, not my best idea of the day.  No worries, I didn’t get sick but things got sloshed around.

I think the Highlight of DinoLand is the Dinosaur ride based on Disney film of the same name.  The idea behind this ride is that you are sent on a mission back in time to find an Iguanodon, but there is a miscalculation in the trip.  When you go back in time you go back within minutes of the meteorite hitting the Earth.  Not to mention that you are also being chased by a carnivorous dinosaur.  Is your mission successful…..well I could tell you but I don’t wont to spoil it completely.

When you enter into the Asia area of the park, you can’t help feel that you are about to take a trek up to top of Everest.  Which you will, but we’ll get to that later.  The building are made to resemble those that you would find in Lukla, Nepal.  Lukla is a small village around the base of Everest.  This is the starting point for many climber that attempt to make it to the  summit.

My favorite ride in Asia is Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain.  Expedition Everest is a high speed, high thrill ride.  On this expedition you are tasked with find the legendary yeti.  Instead of you finding him, he finds you and pounces causing damage to the track.  There is only one way to go from here and that’s backwards.  Hopefully you are brave enough to endure to the end.  There is another cool little spot in this ride and it takes place before you even get on.  If you are fortunate, or unfortunate depending on how you look at it, not to us a FastPass on this ride you are treated with a little yeti museum.  This museum chronicles the history of yeti sightings throughout  the history of the area.  It interesting to see how the legend has grown through the years.

Don’t worry though, if Expedition Everest sounds too intense you can always turn to the Kali River Rapids.  A lazy river style ride, with a few drops that are sure to get you wet.  Ever ride is different.  We rode it twice.  On the first ride I barely got wet but the second one I was drench.

After dark Asia comes alive with River of Lights.  This is a light show that takes place over one of the rivers that flows through the park.  Moving images are projected onto background trees, while floating platforms jet water into the air.  The platforms are equipped with lights which change the color of the water and the platform themselves, for that matter, depending on the flow of the show.  Large jets shot water from one end of the river to the other.  Vivid movies are projected on to the falling water from the jets creating some visually stunning effects.  A really cool show I would recommend seeing if you have the time.

My favorite ride in the whole park is in Africa, the Kilimanjaro Safari.  On the safari you will see many African animals.  It is made to simulate an actual African safari.  Many of the animal are free to roam wherever they choose to go.  This free roaming can cause the truck to stop for periods of time until the road are clear.  They do keep the predators separated from the prey animals so that there are no unfortunate accidents.  Ever safari is different from the last as different animal are active at different times of the day.  If you are able, I would suggest riding it several times at different times of the day.  You will not be disappointed.

While venturing through Africa make sure to stop in at Festival of the Lion King and visit with Simba and his friends.  The festival is a live action show full of singing, dancing, and acrobatics.  You’ll enjoy the songs from Disney’s Lion King.

Welcome to Pandora - The World of Avatar.  The latest addition to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  As the name suggests, Pandora is based on James Cameron’s film Avatar.  The World of Avatar takes place generations after the events of the movie.  Humans have come back to Pandora to help restore the planet back to its former glory and restore the friendship with the Na’vi.

Disney has down an awesome job recreating Pandora.  As you wonder around you feel like you’ve been transported into the movie.  Gravity defying mountain float above your head.  Waterfalls run off said mountains.  Strange and unusual plants surround the walkways.  Currently Pandora only has two rides: Na’vi River Journey and Avatar Flight of Passage.  Since the area is fairly new expect longer than usual wait times.

The Na’vi River Journey is simple little boat ride.  As you travel down the river the native Na’vi tell you about Pandora.  While the creature of the planet run and stalk about the ride.  It is a fun little ride.  I will have to say that I was a little disappointed by it.  The ride is short only about five minutes or so.  It was visually stunning though with the use of black light and projected images.  I would ride it again, but I would not stand in a long line to do it.

Avatar Flight of Passage on the other hand is an extremely fun ride.  We ended up standing in line for a little over an hour to ride it.  This was relatively a short wait time.  At one point it reach well over two and a half hours.  The ride itself is a 3D thrill ride.  The ride simulates you riding on back of a banshee as you fly through the wilds of Pandora.  Disney put a lot of thought into the design of this ride.  You can feel the seat move as it simulates the breathing of the banshee.  Something that I thought was really cool.  Just think of it as Soarin’ but on back of an alien creature on an alien planet.

We had a lot of fun playing in the different areas of the Animal Kingdom.  We were able to ride all the rides, sometime more than once, and see all the shows that we wanted to.  I can’t wait to go back.

We’ll see you next time in Hollywood….Studios that is.

As always until next time.  Thanks for stopping by.

Josh

The Magic Kingdom

The screeching alarm blaring from my clock tells us it’s time to get up.  It reads 3 am.  Hesitantly we drag ourself out of bed.  Our cab will be here in about 45 minutes to take us to the airport.  It’s a quite drive but with every passing minute our excitement grows with anticipation.  In a few hours we will be landing in Orlando, Florida to start our anniversary adventure.

After picking up our rental car we head to hotel to see if we could check in early.  We didn’t want to go exploring Orlando with our suitcase in the car.  Well something we weren’t expecting happened when we reached the hotel.  Their system had been down for two days and they didn’t know when it would be back up and running.  At this point we were unable to check in.  It was getting close to lunch time so we figured would head over to Disney Springs and see what kind of trouble we could find there.

Disney Spring is what used to be known as Downtown Disney, very similar to the one in California.  Disney Spring is an open air mall.  It probably goes without saying but most of the stores are based on Disney and their associated properties.  No frets though, there are plenty of regular mall stores to be found.

After roaming through the stores, we decided it was time to eat.  There are plenty of places to choose from.  We settled on D Luxe  Burger.  As you would expect they have burgers and chicken sandwiches.  We both had the barbecue burgers.  It was really good and juicy.  Luckily for me they had rolls of paper towel at the table because I had juice and maybe some grease run down my hands and arms.

All in all, our first day in Orlando was pretty low key.  Which was a good start to the hectic week we were about to have.

We find figured we would start our Disney World adventure with the heart of Disney, the Magic Kingdom.  We rose early to meet up with my family before heading to the park.  Magic Kingdom is a little different than the other parks.  In the other parks after you park you catch a shuttle that takes you to the gate and you walk into the park, but at the Magic Kingdom after you park and take the shuttle you then have to choose one of three ways to get to the main gate.  Take a ferry across the lake, take the monorail or catch one of the buses.  All are acceptable.  On the first day the monorail was having issues, so we had to take it the ferry.  Which wasn’t that big of a deal to me.  It was a nice leisurely cruise with great views of the resort.

The Magic Kingdom is divided into 6 different areas: Main Street, USA, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Liberty Square, Frontierland and Adventureland.

Once you pass through the main gate, you find yourself on Main Street, USA.  Main Street is the gateway to the park.  Here you will find shops and eateries to fit your fancy.  On one of the days we stopped in at Casey’s Corner.  They serve American style grub.  Mostly hotdogs in a wide variety of flavors.  I had a macaroni and cheese foot long.  I know that sound awfully strange but it was surprisingly good.  At the end of the road sits Cinderella’s Castle, the center point of the park.

To the right of the castle sits Tomorrowland.  Here you find Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Speedway and many others.  One of my favorites rides in this area is a easy going and non-abrasive.  The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover.  The PeopleMover is a small tram that takes you through the rides of Tomorrowland and gives you some insight into them.  We were sitting there and you could hear the screams from Space Mountain.  A different perspective on what you are used to.

I don’t know if you have ever driven the cars on the Tomorrowland Speedway or Autopia in Disneyland but there is something about them I can’t figure out.   I think of myself as a good driver, not the best by any means but good.  No matter how I adjust the way I drove, I would always crash into the safety rail that sits underneath the car.  It was frustrating but I guess sometime you have to give in once and awhile and let it run its course.  We still had fun and thats all that matters.

Behind the castle you find Fantasyland and Liberty Square.

Liberty Square is a snapshot of Colonial USA.  The highlights for me were The Haunted Mansion and The hall of Presidents.  I think most people know about or at least have heard about The Haunted Mansion, so I’m not going talk about it in too much detail.  The Haunted Mansion takes you on a tour of…well the Mansion.  Inside you encounter the former residents of the home who are no longer amongst the living.  Be on your guard or might find yourself joining them.

The Hall of Presidents is Disney’s animatronics at their best.  All 44 men that have served as the U.S. President are on display.  Several of them move, which are very realistic, as they related the history of our nation.  The one thing that I thought was really cool was when Obama and Trump gave there speeches.  As you would expect, the supports from each side cheered and clapped for their President but neither side booed the other.  During these times it was really inspiring to see happen.

Fantasyland is were Disney Princesses come to life.  Here you find rides and attractions relating back to Classic Disney movies.  It seem that we spent a lot of time here.  Maybe it was because it started down pouring on us when we got there and the idea was to get out of the rain.  Just a helpful tip.  Pack an umbrella or poncho, you never know what the weather will do.  The first stop for us was Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid.  This is a fun little ride that takes you through the movie.

There are two rides in Magic Kingdom that always had insane wait times.  One was Peter Pan’s Flight and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  I was familiar with Peter Pan but I had never heard of the Mine Train and was intrigue to know why it always had a huge line.  We were unable to get fast pass to it.  We were going to spend one more day in the park and decided that we would get there first thing and wait out the line.  The Mine Train is a fun little roller coast that takes you through the diamond mine of the dwarfs and the story of Snow White.

Left of the caste lies the lands of Frontierland and Adventureland.

Ah Adventureland,  I don’t know what it is but I really like this part of the park.  It doesn’t have a ton of rides but what is there is fun.  The two main rides are Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise.  My favorite ride of Disney has to be Pirates.  It is the only ride that I feel I have to do at least once no matter which park I’m in.  I will say Disney World Pirates feel a lot shorter than the one in Disneyland.  There are a slight difference between the two, but for the most part they are the same.  Pirates is a lazy river style ride that takes you on a pirate adventure with a few twists and turns.

The Jungle Cruise is another boat ride but on a much bigger scale than Pirates.  What starts out as a simple river tour through Africa quickly changes for the worst.  The captain will try to expertly navigate you through the treacherous waters, so don’t lose your head.  Literally, for head hunts live in this region of the river and can’t wait to take a souvenir back to their camp.

Frontierland, home of Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad.  Splash Mountain was the first ride that we went on when we got to the Magic Kingdom.  Its a ride that you will get wet on, so we wanted to get it out of the way.  Of course, we did know we would be caught in a monsoon later in day and be soaked to the bone.  Splash is yet another river ride, but is more on the thrill side of things.  You join the Br’er Rabbit as he takes you on an adventure through the Briar.  Its all easy breezy with a few twists and drops, until the end when you go careening to your death down a 52.5 drop to the water below.

Big Thunder is a thrill coaster with high speed and lots of twists and turns.  Its funny, I’ve been to Disneyland many times and to Disney World only twice.  I think that I have rode this ride equally between the two parks and that would be twice in each of them.  It seem that whenever we were in Disneyland it was closed do to construction or it had broke down.  Do to this, I feel that it is more enjoyable and fun for me.

Our Magic Kingdom adventure was filled with fun and excitement.  We were able to see a lot and ride all the rides that we wanted.  The only thing I would have done differently would have been to close the park.  We had to leave early on the days that we were there.  I would have like to see the firework show that they have.  Well there is always next time.

We will see you at the Animal Kingdom.  Until next time, Thanks for stopping by.

Josh