Animal Kingdom: I admit....

[Terra]

I know there is a great divide over Animal Kingdom. It seems either people love it or hate. Years ago before I had children, before I actually cared how what I did impacted others on a personal and global level, I went and thought it was so boring.

Now, post children we've are discovering a whole new world [pun intended], together.

I alternate my 2 sons one at a time so I can get time with each whenever we visit [usually monthly].

My oldest picked Animal Kingdom which he's done in the past.
Every time we go now, I just fall in love with it more and more. And am amazed at just how much there really is to explore and do. It is easily become a full day [with the extended hours], to a day and a half or more if we really did everything and spent time doing it!
Yesterday my son did the Wilderness training for the first time and we couldn't even finish. Just that alone took so much FUN time. He learned a lot and I learned a lot! And it really made us stop and look at the details and understand some of the actual culture behind much of it.

Exploring the trails, looking at the animals and plants, the street shows, regular shows...goodness I really do just love the beauty of this park! And of course the 'Tree hugging' and conversation aspects really speak to me. Though I don't do near what I even used too, It inspires me to get back in the groove. I used to use a lot of natural cleaners, watch how much we wasted, heck I even cloth diapered my sons.

We at at O'Hana for Breakfast and then headed to AK and let me tell you at 7:30, we did not want to leave but were exhausted!

So who here found a new appreciation for a park that they once disliked. Share your stories. [Now, if I could just find that appreciation for DS.]

[VWL Mom]

Funny you mention this, we just went through the same thing. DS22 passed on AK for the last four years, just didn't care for it. This trip DS18 want to go to Tusker House for the character breakfast so the older one agreed to tag along. He loved it and went as far as to move it up to park #3.

I don't know how much of it had to do with the low crowds or the cooler weather but we spent about 5 hour there which for us is a lot at any park.

[Dulcee]

Glad you enjoyed it! AK is always one of my favorites. You really feel like your in a whole other world there.

[Terra]

Oh yes, the cooler weather helps. Living in Florida thank goodness we can go anytime. I've been there in the spring/summer and eeks. It's just too much.

I really want to try Tusker House. And Yak & Yeti. It always smells so good passing by!!

[PopPhan]

Dang!! More people finding out that they really like AK!! That's going to bring the crowd levels up next time I visit! LOL

Just kidding, of course. I am really pleased that more people are giving that park a chance and finding out just how much there is to enjoy there.

I know there are a lot of complainers about it being a half-day park, which I never understood, but everything there is perfectly themed and fits my style to a "T".

The addition of AvatarLand and extending park hours, with a closing show, will just be more icing on the cake for me.

[mickclub1955]

Dang!! More people finding out that they really like AK!! That's going to bring the crowd levels up next time I visit! LOL

That's the same thing I was thinking. LOL!! Also kidding. This park is the most unique of all of the parks, because everytime you go, it is different. The animals make it so unpredictable. I love it. The Safari is my favorite attraction. I don't know if it is the vegetation here, but it does seem like the hottest park. It wasn't two weeks ago, LOL. We went on the coldest day of our trip. The animals were really up and moving around.

[Terra]

Yeah the animals were on the move yesterday, and playful!
Even the tigers on the Maharajah Trail were frisky. One came right up to the windows then flopped on it's back and rolled around.

I wish we were not so tired so we could have watched the night show. What is it exactly. I don't think a lot of people knew the parks stayed up until 9pm now. I heard quite a few saying it closed at 5pm, and then as soon as it got dark people were leaving by the droves. It was nice actually! Not crowded at all after that!

[PopPhan]

Yeah the animals were on the move yesterday, and playful!
Even the tigers on the Maharajah Trail were frisky. One came right up to the windows then flopped on it's back and rolled around.

I wish we were not so tired so we could have watched the night show. What is it exactly. I don't think a lot of people knew the parks stayed up until 9pm now. I heard quite a few saying it closed at 5pm, and then as soon as it got dark people were leaving by the droves. It was nice actually! Not crowded at all after that!

There is no night show at AK yet. AK still closes early (between 5 & 7pm.) This is something they are going to implement with the addition of AvatarLand (possibly before, but highly unlikely) and extending park hours. I do not know if the plan is to keep AK open until 9, like the other parks, but that is a possibility. Again, I believe that this is all dependent upon what happens with AvatarLand.

[Terra]

The hours were posted yesterday online at the Disney World website and on the show times card as until 9pm. Strange.

[DisneyDawgette]

We noticed on our last trip that there was one night or so a month that AK was open later… no idea why. I'm sure it would not be all of the attractions. :/

But we have a new(er) found love for AK. I could have taken or left it as a kid, but DBF and I love AK. It's the most relaxing of the parks for sure!

[Pooh Fan]

A few years ago was the first time that I discovered some gems in this park. Initially I just bounced from ride to ride, ate at the Flame Tree for Lunch and left the park by about 3pm when (in my opinion at the time) I had done everything. Once I started making time for the shows, enjoying the little details along the trails and exploring Rafiki's Planet Watch, I realized there was so much more.
I often see and hear so many comments about how Disney has lost that edu-tainment aspect and I think that this is so alive and well at AK. Maybe just the difference between the tech focus of this in Epcot and the eco focus at AK has not been equally received or appreciated fully in AK.

[Terra]

Great points!

Oh yeah, now that makes sense [a few days a month]. Being that it was a holiday weekend, they did that on purpose I'm sure since crowds were higher.

60 minutes wait for Dinosaur! Crazy!

[Sylvia]

It's so nice to see that AK is finally getting the respect it really deserves. AK has always been a 2-day park for us during every WDW vacation since the year it opened. Morning EMHs are a great way to start the day, which will typically last until closing time.

It is so easy to spend a full day just exploring all of the animal exhibits. So we need at least 2 days to see/do everything we enjoy and have relaxing breaks/meals. AK has some of our favorite WDW CS locations. And we can't overlook the fantastic live entertainment.

When evening EMHs were offered, we discovered how magical this park becomes later in the day. We enjoyed exploring the park in the dark and listening to the different sounds. We look forward to the time if/when AK has later closing times.

[MCeee]

Reading your wonderful post made me think of how friends are always asking me what my favorite park is.

Its a question that I probably at one time would answer quickly... but now one that I cannot answer. That's because all four parks (really 6 when you count DL and CA), are all SO different. I love them all equally. Although certain elements of a visit to any given park on any given day might make it more or less enjoyable, when you put all that aside, each park has so many delightfully different things to do, I simply have no favorite.

[2Epcot]

Animal Kingdom has always been a great park for us. Have been visiting since it first opened. The parks are what you make of them. For those that are: "If-it's-not-a-ride-it-doesn't-exist" group, then some parks don't work for them. I hear that a lot about Epcot.

[thejens]

Always loved AK and still feel that I have never gotten to spend enough time in the trails. If they add more to it I will definitely need two days!

[Janmac]

Have not had a park present itself for a new appreciation yet but that park would have to be the Studios. Altho Toy Story and the new Star Tours have helped it enormously. Otherwise the yoke of disbelief is not lifted here. Once we do TSM, RnRC, ToT and now Star Tours, we're on our way to the exit (usually to AK for lunch). Not even a half day park.

Unless we have newbies.

Regarding Tusker House for breakfast - one of our favorite meals in the World. Such a variety of interesting foods. This is a favorite with kids because of the characters so the atmosphere is noisily loud, but worth one try at least. We always get an ADR as close as possible to 8 am on a non-early entry day. We've also had great photos with Donald.

Jan

[joonyer]

We have always loved AK. Yes, we love to do EE and the other "big" attractions, (including getting soaked on Kali RR), but I have also discovered that shows like "Flights of Wonder" and the viewing trails are not to be missed. We can easily spend a whole day there (we ride the big ones more than once), and love eating at Tusker House and/or Flame Tree BBQ, two of the best in-park restaurants anywhere in WDW.

[DonaldDuckUSA]

I have to agree with a few posters above about our new "half-day" park is HS. DBF and I LOVED it growing up. It was the favorite park of both our childhoods, but now we can't seem to spend too long there.

Our favorite rides are still ToT and RnR. We also now love TS. We go because we love those rides. We do those, eat at Prime Time...then we can't seem to stay entertained. Everything else is simply out of our interest zone.

(Sometimes we do star wars, but it upsets DBF that it doesn't have enough "old" star wars. It's all the new characters).

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

We've always loved AK and for some reason, it seems to me that the Cast Members in this park seem happier and prouder to be a part of it than other parks. I am just wondering how the Avatar land is going to affect it I hope it is a good thing