This entry has been written from the view point of someone who has never been to any Disney theme park, not even Disneyland Paris.
It is also my first holiday in the US, and although I have spent two weeks in eastern Canada, I expect that the experience will be very different.
I would also like to point out that this holiday is being spent with my pregnant wife and two children under the age of ten, and so it is very unlikely that we will be experiencing any of the major thrill rides, which to be honest is no loss as far as I am concerned anyway. |
Having had a successful day the day before, we decided that the fifth day of the holiday we would approach it in pretty much the same way. So once again we packed a backpack and left the villa early, only this time Disney's Animal Kingdom was our destination. This, like Hollywood Studios, is located to the south of the Disney World area, and we arrived and were at the gates by about quarter past nine.
Walt Disney World Resort - Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park
Once though the gates we had our first attraction already planned out, the Kilimanjaro Safari, which is pretty much at the other end of the park to the entrance.
The park itself is, like the others, divided into sections that radiate out from the central Tree of Life feature, and the safari is located in the Africa section. One thing we immediately noticed about this park is that it seemed hotter and more humid, which I think is in part down to the dense vegetation probably stopping all breezes, which in turn are not able to blow any of the humidity away.
Something else we noticed was, as well as the exotic plants all around, there is an abundance of wild life that helps to give the park a truly authentic feel.
As we passed through from the Tree of Life to Africa you enter an remarkably realistic African town, where the buildings have the feel of the faded elegance of the British and French Empires, and further on there is a market selling fruit and vegetables.
Once through the market we joined the back of the queue for the safari, be warned unless you are at the park gates as they open and run the full length of the park you will join a queue for this attraction, although it is very much worth it.
Queue's are something Disney does better than almost anyone, you will be protected from the sun's ray's/thunder storm, and you will have plenty to look at. Eventually you will realise that they have not just covered those areas that they expect you to look at, but even those that it seems improbable the a visitor is ever likely to pass more than a cursory glance over.
Our progress through the queue was quite quick and soon we had reached the front of the queue, it was at this point that a wildebeest apparently decided to stand in the middle of the road, so we had a 20 minute wait whilst he was convinced to move off of the road and allow the safari trucks though. Don't for get, these are real wild animals, not robots, and definitely not actors.
So after a brief chat with our neighbours in the queue, our truck arrived. Now I have never been to Africa, and have definitely not been on an African safari so I can not confirm how authentic the vehicles are, but for my purposes they sufficed. The drivers of each truck are also the guides, and yes there is a bit of make believe with the voice of a 'park ranger' coming over the radio a key times, this does nothing to detract from the safari itself.
So what about the animals, I guess your asking, well you won't be disappointed from a large group of hippopotamus in a pond.
To at least two varieties of giraffe grazing, and drinking.
Close encounters with elephants.
To lions, warthogs, ostriches and others, in fact I think you'd be hard pushed to see this many animals in a genuine safari, and most importantly the kids came away mesmerised.
Walt Disney World Resort - Kilimanjaro Safaris
Note
This is an early version of the article and may, and probably will change as the rest of the articles written about this holiday are completed. If there are any mistakes you feel I have made please leave a comment and I will try to resolve them in future revisions. |
Technorati : africa, animal kingdom, disney, disney world, disney's animal kingdom, elephant, family, florida, giraffe, hippopotamus, holiday, kilimanjaro, kilimanjaro safari, lion, orlando, paul, paul riley, riley, safari, walt disney world, wildebeest
Del.icio.us : africa, animal kingdom, disney, disney world, disney's animal kingdom, elephant, family, florida, giraffe, hippopotamus, holiday, kilimanjaro, kilimanjaro safari, lion, orlando, paul, paul riley, riley, safari, walt disney world, wildebeest
Zooomr : africa, animal kingdom, disney, disney world, disney's animal kingdom, elephant, family, florida, giraffe, hippopotamus, holiday, kilimanjaro, kilimanjaro safari, lion, orlando, paul, paul riley, riley, safari, walt disney world, wildebeest
Flickr : africa, animal kingdom, disney, disney world, disney's animal kingdom, elephant, family, florida, giraffe, hippopotamus, holiday, kilimanjaro, kilimanjaro safari, lion, orlando, paul, paul riley, riley, safari, walt disney world, wildebeest