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  1. #1
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    That's My Opinion: It's Nahtazu

    It's Nahtazu by Steve Russo

    Steve Russo comes to the defense of Disney's Animal Kingdom.

    Read it here!


  2. #2

    Although I hate chester and heater's themed area I do thoroughly enjoy the Animal Kingdom. As the park hours are much shorter than the other parks I don't feel like it's a 'half a day' park because it isn't open into the evenings. I always make a point of going to AK first on any trip I make to WDW. There is plenty to do with great shows, good rides and to just soak up the themeing behind this unique park. If any park should be branded as a half a day park, in my opinion, it is Disney's Hollywood Studios. HS is seriously lacking in attractions and the shows (with the exception of Fantasmic) are looking rather dated and tired. The only thing that keeps me interested in HS and keeps me there longer is the street-mosphere performances on Sunset Boulevard.


  3. #3

    The dictionary says a zoo is a garden or park where wild animals are kept for exhibition.

    Yep! That describes Disney's Animal Kingdom.

    And the fact that it's certified by the American Zoological Association would also clearly classify it as a zoo.

    The truth is…people have a negative perception of zoos in the same way that people have negative views of going to a carnival or staying in a time share. Disney has worked very hard to change those perceptions. But at the end of the day, the Magic Kingdom is a carnival, Disney Vacation Club is a time share, and Disney's Animal Kingdom is a zoo.

    I think that Disney's Animal Kingdom is also much more than a zoo. But for marketing to say Nahtazu, is really a slap in the face of scores of professionals who really work for the welfare of those animals at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Disney's Animal Kingdom has done much to improve people's understanding of animals in nature. I understand if people don't want to stand and look at animal exhibits. Lots of people don't want to stand around and look at exhibits at Epcot. But if they do, they'll find an experience that will enrich them far beyond the thrills of Expedition Everest.


  4. #4
    Registered User Silvercat's Avatar
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    Funnily enough, we used to think it was our least favourite park too, and on some visits we actually left that one out of the itinerary! Then a couple of years ago, my husband and I had a minor spat when waiting for the afternoon parade there, as he said we only ever spend half a day there and never see everything we want to. When I thought about it, he was right (although I was reluctant to admit that to him!). So last year, we spent 2 separate full days there, took our time and enjoyed everything we saw, and we STILL didn't finish it all! We began to explore areas more slowly and thoroughly, and made time to see Flights of Wonder for the first time, (which we loved, by the way!), and even had a brief foray into Dinoland, although we weren't overly keen on that area personally.

    So I have to say that I agree with Steve's (thoroughly interesting) article - whilst this park remains our LEAST favourite, the 'fun' margin between our favourite, Epcot, and AK, is really extremely small, and we will indeed be visting AK again this year a couple of times, trying to finish off what we didn't see or do last year!

    Silvercat

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  5. #5
    Registered User srusso100's Avatar
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    Great observations, all! I love it when you guys make me think ;-)

    Steve

  6. #6
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    I think a key with Animal Kingdom is go into the park and realize that it's not all about the rides. Sure, you "ride" the Safari but if all you want to do there is just *see* every single animal, you will be disappointed. You won't see every animal listed as available but you will not only *see* but *hear and learn* about the animals you do see. The hear and learn part gets missed by some. My favorite part of the Pangani Trail? It's not the gorillas. It's the bullfrog who resides in the Naked Mole Rat area display. He was all alone for quite some time but I was so excited when he was added a friend in his area. *That* is Animal Kingdom to me.

    Another key for me is taking your time. Too many times I see families walking rapidly through either one of the trails and going up to a viewing area, not looking at the posted sign as to what the animal is, then rapidly walking away. They didn't take the time to read about the animal and learn the habitat of the animal. We hear the warthog being called Pumbaa and the meerkats being called Timon all the time but I'm not sure any of the families know anything else about those animals.

    So I guess my take on Animal Kingdom is more about learning about animals, not riding the rides.


  7. #7
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    Here's why I have a hard time with Animal Kingdom: Off and on over the years, we've had family passes to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We love going there and going on their tour of the park - where the animals are in a much larger and much more natural setting. But that's not my problem with AK.

    When we went on that Safari, I was thinking "ooh, we'll get to go see the animals like at WAP." Nope. The vehicle barely slowed down. At WAP, they will stop the tram so you can actually SEE the animals and take pictures of them. AK? "Oh, look, there's an animal, let me keep telling my story line and driving through to get you back to the Queue and get another group through this ride!"

    It wasn't about learning about or appreciating the animals. It was about telling a story and riding a ride with real animals as the props. Maybe I got an "off" tour. I would've loved to take my time or learned about the animals. But it was still a show.

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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by adriennek View Post
    ............................When we went on that Safari, I was thinking "ooh, we'll get to go see the animals like at WAP." Nope. The vehicle barely slowed down. At WAP, they will stop the tram so you can actually SEE the animals and take pictures of them. AK? "Oh, look, there's an animal, let me keep telling my story line and driving through to get you back to the Queue and get another group through this ride!" .....................
    While I won't suggest it's the perfect solution, they do stop quite a bit more on the 3 hour tour Wild Africa Trek (part of the tour is on a regular vehicle, but they drive away from the main "track" and stop for a bit to check out certain exhibits. It's also a bit pricey if you start adding it up for a family, but it's there. It's a great experience and gets good close up interaction with the animals. It helps if you are not afraid of heights due to rope bridges that are part of the hiking part of the tour.

    In the broad sense of the DAK "1/2 day" characterization, I could never see everything in one day, probably not even 1 1/2. Across 2 years (probably a total of 2 1/2 to 3 days in this park) I've still not seen the Finding Nemo show, but I might have seen most other attractions at least once. I probably even spent 15-20 minutes photographing the various colorful bird houses in one area.
    -Dave

  9. #9

    I'd say that Animal Kingdom is not a 2-day park, but it certainly makes for a good one day park. If anything though, it suffers from a bit of dual personality, much like Epcot used to. Is it an educational experience? Is it an entertainment experience? Is it just way too big to walk through???

    As far as it being a zoo, I think that it certainly is a very good zoo. Living in the DC area, I have ample experience to visit the National Zoo, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution and therefore free. The one thing that always sticks out to me at the National Zoo is the fact that the spaces for the animals, while vastly improved over what they were 15 years ago, are fairly small. You won't see one of their Cheetahs getting up to full speed in that environment, and the pandas and apes spend an awful lot of time in concrete spaces. The thing I like about Animal Kingdom is that the Savannah seems to be the closest any zoo has ever come to having animals be on display and still in a near-natural environment. And Disney, which has always shown interest in environmental edutainment, does a good job teaching about the animals to a wide array of visitors, children and adults alike- or at least those who are interested.

    As far as it being an entertainment venue, the addition of Pandora, like the addition of Everest, has gone a long way to improving the theme park side. A nightime show will help keep people in the park, although with a relative lack of sitdown dining in the park, I'm not sure how successful this will be. If there was one long-standing, and true, complaint about the park was that there had been comparitively few rides to go on (the park has always been "show-heavy") but that seems to becoming corrected.

    I think that AK is a park you could do in a half day, since you could choose to only go on the rides or only visit the animals. I agree that when the park first opened and was pretty much only the Safari, and a handful of rides/shows that it could be done in a half day or so. Now however, with the last few years of ride improvements, it has become a full day experience. And while I think it will be a long time before it becomes more than a 1 day experience (a la Magic Kingdom or Epcot, which have much too much to do in one day and see it all) it no longer deserves the title of "Half-Day Park"


  10. #10

    I have to defend Animal Kingdom. It is my third favorite park. I quite enjoyed it and I liked it better than Disney's Hollywood Studios. I felt from my first visit that DHS was a pale imiation of Universal Studios. Now, it is a pale imitation of Disney's California Adventure. Since DAK and DHS are both weak parks, I mainly loved the natural environment and the animal exhibits of DAK much more than the concrete/asphalt streets and the bare warehouse aethetic of DHS.


  11. #11

    Steve, great article as always. I've never agreed with those who feel AK is a half-day park. While it's true you can rush through the major rides in that time period, or even less, I think those who do so are missing the whole point of the park. It is a zoo, but it's also so much more. If you appreciate it for what it is, there is more than enough to entertain the whole family for a full day or more. While I'm not a huge fan of the Pandora expansion, I think that it will, if done even half as good as I think we all expect from Disney, take away once and for all this criticism of AK.

    I'll also echo what others have said above - for our family, AK is park #3. MK and Epcot are clearly #1 and #2, with DHS bringing up the rear. Despite a couple great attractions in Toy Story Mania and Tower of Terror, the overall feel of the park is just a shadow of what it used to be. There aren't enough attractions, too many are horribly dated, and the loss of just about all actual production at the studio has taken the life out of the park. My biggest Disney wish for the next ten years is that Disney decides to give this park a total "facelift", much on the order of California Adventure. A couple new attractions, or even a new land, just won't do it for me in fixing the issues at DHS.


  12. #12
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    I suppose our blogging professor would hate Epcot because when he walked in the gates, he wasn't "in the future".

    I recently took a trip to SoCal where I hit Disneyland AND the World Famous San Diego Zoo. I can honestly say it was boring hitting what was just a zoo. It didn't have any great show, no water rides, no world class rollercoaster, no thematic characters walking around, and let's not forget my favorite Disney dining establishment, Flame Tree BBQ. So yes, there are zoos near where I live that I could go to, but they don't even come close to what the AK is.

    For us, this park is a two day park. There's so much that we love to do, and we love to do it over and over. I can't imagine a Disney trip where I didn't spend at least a full day in it, and then go back for a least a few attractions. In fact, just talking about this park has me nearly convinced to return to FL this year rather head down to Anaheim.

    Working for Disney. No, no. Working (in a Modesto office) for (the money to take a trip to) Disney (World/Land)

    WDW Trips: June 2002, Feb 2004, Dec 2006, Dec 2008, Jan 2010, Feb 2011, Dec 2012
    Disneyland Trips: Feb 2006, Nov 2013, Nov 2014, Feb, March, June 2015 (x2), Nov 2015

  13. #13
    Simba's Pride *Nala*'s Avatar
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    I'm obviously in the minority here, but Animal Kingdom is my second favorite park, just barely behind Epcot. I love the music and the animals and the atmosphere. The Tree of Life is amazing. Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo will never get old to me. Even the parade is unique and fun. I am very skeptical about Avatar Land but that's a different topic!


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