Confession # 24 : Changes- Like and Dislike

WDW has made / and is making / a lot of changes lately, some I've liked a lot, some not so much ...

   The new Fantasyland:

Tried 'Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid' - nicely themed, but unless you're six, just eh.

I do like the Le Fou Brew and am excited about the new '7 Dwarfs Mine Train' (although a CM friend said it was 'just okay').

Loved Toon Town Fair (now gone), totally dislike Storybook Circus.

Overall: not so hot.

    Then there's Hyperion Wharf  Disney Springs.

Looks like more shopping and dining, fewer things to do.
I wish that a few of the clubs would have been kept (Comedy Warehouse, Adventurer's Club, maybe one dance club). It would have given those of us over 18 something to do at night after the parks close.

The new multi-level parking garages will definitely ease the parking place shortage. And hopefully the traffic engineers will design everything perfectly.

Overall: I've felt that DTD need a face-lift for a while, so mostly YAY.

    The Polynesian Resort will return to its original name, Disney's Polynesian Village Resort.
  "The sweeping renovation happening now also includes a new food and beverage experience opening for guests next year, Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto — based on the popular themed lounge at the Disneyland Hotel in California." Disney parks Blog

  

 

 Photo: Orlando Attractions Magazine

From the look of the artist rendering of the new lobby, the waterfall and 'rainforest feel' will be gone.  Booooo.

Aaaand, a new DVC resort is being built over the lake, like a real South Seas resort, too cool.

Photo: Orlando Attractions Magazine

Overall: Mostly like.

Now this is what I'm truly excited over....

Coming over at the Animal Kingdom:

Pandora, The Land of Avatar    

This sounds most interesting!

New rides (on a Banshee!) and a nighttime show: Rivers of Light!

Photo: Disney Parks Blog

Pandora-the-land-of-Avatar-name

Avatar-land-Animal-Kingdom-Disney

Since Camp Minnie-Mickey is gone to make room for Pandora, The Festival of the Lion King has been relocated to a new theater in Africa (where it belongs!). It looks so much better than the former location, more in keeping with the African theme! 

Overall: Bring it ON!

Halloween at D's Animal Kingdom

Just came across this:



Loved the tigers!

Confession # 22: Mind-Change!

Okay, so I wasn't thrilled when Disney announced that
'Avatar-land' would be a huge new part of Disney's Animal Kingdom. (Even tho I enjoyed the film immensely)

I was hoping Disney would create 'Australia' to go along with Africa and Asia.

Imagine:
   an Outback area (kangaroos, wallabys, dingoes, emus,
        koalas),
   The Great Barrier Reef,
   a "Shrimp on the Barbie" food kiosk,
   and my personal favorite: "Mad Max", the ride.

Sigh.

But then, over on the Disney Parks Blog,

First Look: Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Okay, so now I'm interested!

"As these concept renderings show, in the world of AVATAR guests will encounter awe-inspiring floating mountains and wander through a nighttime jungle of bio-luminescent plants that are alive with light and sound. 

Guests will also discover what it feels like to soar into the sky riding a Banshee."

Photos: Disney Parks Blog

Bring on Pandora!

My Morning at the Animal Kingdom

I finally got over to The Animal Kingdom to ride the 'new'  Kilimanjaro Safari . I really liked it. It seemed slightly longer, had more animals including the zebras (yay), and no, I did not miss the ride spiel about Little Red vs the poachers at all.

Photo:Disney

After exiting the ride, we stopped over at the gorilla viewing area as we usually do, and this time there was quite a crowd gathered. One of the big bachelors (male) was, um, sitting at the edge of the ledge taking care of some monkey business.  The hubby says "If he reaches around behind him, RUN." Well, yeah, I already knew this!  So the big guy finishes and as he's standing, he lifts his bottom up in the air and MOONS us! The crowd collectively gasps, so of course, he does it again. Then he walked over to the rocks and as he reached the top, before sitting with his back to the crowd, moons us again!  What a show.

Photo:Disney

As we were heading over to the Asia area to ride Expedtion:Everest, out of the bushes come a mother and father duck with two itty-bitty ducklings. They were an instant attraction with most folks making way for the ducklings, but a few kids kept trying to catch/touch them. A couple of CMs took up escort duty and the ducks made it safely to the bushes on the other side of the walkway.

After riding Everest, we walked through Dinoland to see the American crocodile. It was sunning itself, mouth open, at the pond's edge. As we watched, it closed its mouth, turned its head, opened mouth again. I do believe that's the 1st time I've seen it move!

Then - the highlight of my day! Dug and Russell were at a Character Spot near "Tough to be a Bug", so of course I got in line with all the kids. Got a big hug from Dug and did the Wilderness Explorer bird-hand gesture with Russell!
 "The wilderness must be explored! CAW-CAW! RAAWWRR"

Photo: AllEars/Steve Barrett

PS: I still miss Tarzan Rocks!

'Bye Little Red

WDW has announced a change coming to the Kilimanjaro Safari at DAK.

The 'poacher' storyline will be changed with no more Little Red (baby elephant animatronic).

More live animals - the zebras return (yay!) - on a new savannah space (with watering hole) will take its place.

The refurbishment will begin this spring.

The attraction will remain operating.

Good! I never much liked the whole "catch the poacher" storyline.

The Latest (and Hottest) WDW Rumor ...

... is regarding something I posted about before: adding AUSTRALIA to Disney's Animal Kingdom!


Wishful Thinking #2: Animal Kingdom

The DisneyBlog makes an interesting and pertinent comment regarding transportation from Discovery Island to the new area. I personally think it would be most cool to re-theme the Wildlife Express and use it; maybe even incorporate the current area of Rafiki's Planet Watch into the Outback and move Planet Watch over to Camp Minnie Mickey.

Oh, the possibilities!!


Sources:    G'Day Mate

Progress, Bah

They say that progress is a good thing.
But with progress comes change.

And here are some things I wish would not have changed.

At Disney's Animal Kingdom:

Then: Tarzan Rocks
Now: Finding Nemo, the Musical.

Nemo is a great show, but I sure do miss Tarzan's Phil Collins' tunes and the skaters.

At Disney's Hollywood Studios:

Then: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Play It
Now: Toy Story Mania

TSM is a great attraction! I just wish they had put it elsewhere and kept WWTBAM, my co-favorite thing at DHS and one of the very few adult-oriented attractions at WDW.

Then: Residential Street
Now: Lights! Motors! Action!

Residential Street was bulldozed to make way for the Stunt car stadium. When it comes time for the Osborne Lights, you really miss it. Now those millions of light are crammed into the Streets of America. It's a bit over-whelming.

Toy Story's Green Army Men
The guys used to do a really cute street show.
Now the guys only show up in the Block Party Bash and to sign autographs.

Over at Universal Studios:

Then: Kongfrontation
Now: The Mummy.

I have to admit that I missed Kong all together. We moved back to Florida when this attraction was just closing. But from what I have read about it, I'm pretty sure that I would have liked it better than the Mummy.

Beetlejuice vs The Ghostbusters.
This was my favorite street show and I never missed seeing it when we were at US.
Please, please bring them back!!!

Rumor Alert: The Beastly Kingdom

The rumor about Disney's Beastly Kingdom (or Kingdomme) has been going around for quite a while, since as far back as 1998, and resurfaces from time to time.

Like now.

It goes something like this:

The Beastly Kingdom would be the 5th "land' at Disney's Animal Kingdom, joining Africa, Asia, Dinoland, and Camp Minnie-Mickey.

Or maybe Camp Minnie-Mickey would be absorbed since it was originally supposed to have been 'temporary'.

Dragons and unicorns would be a big feature.

Rumored rides/attractions were "The Dragon Tower", "Quest of the Unicorn" maze, "Fantasia Gardens" (boat ride). Another rumor has it that WDI is thinking up totally new things.

The entrance would be through the Camp Minnie-Mickey area. Since the Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends attraction closed in September, the rumor about new construction has picked up some steam.

And.

Disney-watchers like to point out that the AK logo does indeed have a dragon smack-dab in the middle.

And don't forget the Unicorn parking area.

The rock dragon fountain (looks more like a stegosaurus to me), a remnant from the early planning, is still there, although the dragon fire cave is not. Or at least not 'fired up'.

So it must be gonna happen, someday.

Oh, and another rumor, perhaps the most interesting, has it that Disney laid off the Imagineers who were planning the Beastly Kingdom and these guys were then hired by the place down the road to create "Dueling Dragons" and the "Flying Unicorn".

If it's not true, it does make a great rumor.

The REAL Jungle Book

I was not an observer to the following event, but it was related to me by someone who knew someone who was.

The bird aviary along the Pangani Forest Trail at Disney's Animal Kingdom is full of various exotic birds (well, duuh) and the occasional local snake which is attracted by the assortment of feathered food possibilities.

It so happened that one particular little snake, browsing for breakfast, was driven out of the aviary by the birds which had been alerted by some sort of avian early warning system.

So the little guy slithered into the gorilla compound.

Now, gorillas are physically impressive; they weigh about 300-400-pounds each and have massive arms and powerful legs. All the better to stomp a little snake. Right? Wrong.


The gorillas spot the little snake and take off at a run for the door leading to the interior shelter, whereupon they began pounding on the door until a Cast member/Keeper opened up. The gorillas shot inside and refused to come back outside for the rest of the day.

The moral of the story: Size does not matter when you're ophidiophobic.

Photo: Allears.net

Wishful Thinking # 2 : Animal Kingdom

Wishful Thinking:

* Add a new area.

The logical addition to Africa and Asia would be ... AUSTRALIA!

Think of the possibilities:

_an Outback area featuring kangaroos, emus, koalas, platypuses (platypi?), kookaburras, Tasmanian Devils, etc;

_a Shrimp-on-the-Barbie snack stop;

_a Soarin'-type ride over the Outback, the Great Barrier Reef, the Snowy Mountains;

_Characters: Bernard and Miss Bianca

(remember The Rescuers Down Under ?);

Maybe even Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max (well, maybe they would be more suitable at say, Universal)