Disney's Animal Kingdom (General Discussion)

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Imo for me this is the BEST WDW park. I appreciated this park a lot more after I went to the Japan parks last year. It may not have the most attractions, but the ones that are here are amazing and this park easily has the best theming out of all the 4 WDW parks. It's a truly unique and special park. I love it. Magic Kingdom is still my favorite but that's because it's the park I visited the most growing up

I just worry the unique feeling is going to get washed away with incorporating IP’s into the park. Pandora worked, we’ll see with Tropical America’s. Even then, it just feels like a different park. I’m happy for the DAK lovers though. I’m weird, I adore DHS so what does my opinion mean!

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I enjoy what little of DAK there is, I just wish there was more.

 

[GA-MBIT]

I enjoy what little of DAK there is, I just wish there was more.

Earlier this year I found an old Travelogue DVD from the mid 2000s about Animal Kingdom I had in storage, from right around the time Everest was added. Joe and some others ended this big deep dive into the park bragging about the scope of the place, and how they hid expansion plots everywhere, and how the park 20 years from then would end up being so much larger and grander than the park they were already boasting about.

Well, it's been about 20 years. It was honestly a little bit stark hearing those clips in hindsight. There has been some expansion and improvement, but largely the park is about the same as it was when that special was aired. This park just can't seem to build up a solid lineup of attractions.

Part of that is that most everything that's been added onto Animal Kingdom has been a replacement for something else. At least Dino-Rama and Camp Minnie Mickey were negligible losses compared to what has or will replace them; but replacing stuff like Dinosaur, or even say the Wild Dogs area in Kilimanjaro Safaris like the Lion King rumor mentioned just leaves the park feeling like it's on a treadmill rather than actually expanding and improving on itself. It's such a shame.

 

[OrlLover]

but replacing stuff like Dinosaur

Very debatable that loosing this attraction is a loss.

For most it’s something that never met its fullest potential and was poor excuse of the ride system versus DL Indy.

In my opinion this new ride will be a huge improvement over what’s currently there and will be more successful in the long run.

 

[GA-MBIT]

Very debatable that loosing this attraction is a loss.

For most it’s something that never met its fullest potential and was poor excuse of the ride system versus DL Indy.

In my opinion this new ride will be a huge improvement over what’s currently there and will be more successful in the long run.

Debatable, but for the amount of rides the park has, I firmly believe we should be adding more than we replace. There's no reason why we couldn't have had another dark ride added somewhere else in the park on top of retaining Dinosaur. I'm really tired of these lateral moves.

 

[OrlLover]

Debatable, but for the amount of rides the park has, I firmly believe we should be adding more than we replace. There's no reason why we couldn't have had another dark ride added somewhere else in the park on top of retaining Dinosaur. I'm really tired of these lateral moves.

That’s fair but I rather them not tamper with AK too much.

I feel like the more you ask to add stuff it wouldn’t make sense and would be shoving IP where it doesn’t belong.

Tropical America’s is a miracle in a lot of ways because we could have gotten something totally opposite of that.

 

[tielo]

That’s fair but I rather them not tamper with AK too much.

I feel like the more you ask to add stuff it wouldn’t make sense and would be shoving IP where it doesn’t belong.

Tropical America’s is a miracle in a lot of ways because we could have gotten something totally opposite of that.

I think no one is excited about bad placed non sensical expansions/replacement as that is what Disney is now known for now, but for all the money you have to pay for a WDW vacation we should expect good and sensical additions to AK that would actually fill out the park as intended.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

While I agree that Indiana Jones and all of Tropical Americas should be additions to the park, not replacements, Dinosaur always felt "cheap" in comparison to other WDW attractions. I love it, but mainly for its cheesy nature.

Indiana Jones at DL far exceeds the quality of Dinosaur.