A great mix of nature and thrilling rides (Disney's Animal Kingdom Park)

Member Name: Tupps

Product:	Disney's Animal Kingdom Park
Date:	09/06/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely to stroll around; loads of animals

Disadvantages: Not so many white knuckle rides if that's what you like

This is a lovely park to walk around within the massive area known as the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

Essentially a safari park (and I think built to rival the Universal group's Bucsh Gardens over in Tampa Bay), there is a good mix of nature and thrilling rides.

The focal point of the park is the so-called Tree of Life, a huge man-made sculpture etched with just about every kind of animal you can think of. It's amazing to look at when you see all the detail - you see something new each time you visit. Inside here is a 3D attraction called "It's Tough to be a Bug". This is hilarious - you get 3D specs on your way in and take your seat in a big theatre. The show is all about how tough it is to be a bug with us humans not respecting them or realising the important jobs they do for the planet, we just squash them! It's very funny and there's lots of moments that make you jump and scream such as when huge spiders drop down from the ceiling above your head (not great for me!) and a dung beetle throws stuff at you. It's funny to watch everyone dodge the non-existent flying dung!

Other attractions at Animal Kingdom include:

The Kali River Rapids - a ride where you sit in a big, round raft and get chucked around in the river, go under waterfalls and get SOAKED! It's okay though: Florida is so hot that you dry off relatively quickly. Still, there's a stall when you get off the ride selling Disney towels and they sell loads of them!

Dinosaur - on this ride you get in a "time travelling" car which takes you back to the time of the dinosaurs; you end up bringing one back with you and he wrecks your car throwing you around and stuff. He also appears in the souvenir photo they take which you can buy on your way out of the ride. (All the rides do this in all the parks).

Expedition Everest - for anyone who's been to Disney and knows the ride "Big Thunder Mountain", this is very similar: just a big higher and faster. It doesn't go upside down. It's a ride through the Himalayas and you meet the Yeti.

Kilimanjaro Safari - this is a jeep tour of the park, where you get to see all the animals. Well you do if you go early. We took this ride in the middle of the day and we didn't see much as the animals all go off somewhere shady (unlike the tourists!) I think you need to do this ride as soon as you get to the park in the morning, before the animals all go and hide for the day.

Of course there are many more rides and attractions than this, this is just to give you a taste of the sorts of things to expect.

Being a zoo type park, you can visit the Conservation Station and learn all about the conservation work Disney are involved in; there are also things like the Maharajah Jungle Trek (my personal favourite) where you can see animals including the beautiful Bengal Tigers. I could've watched these majestic creatures all day - they're so beautiful. One was lazing around, occasionaly swatting away a fly with a huge paw; one was trotting up and down; a 3rd was very playful (he was the youngest) and was leaping around like an enormous kitten. He leapt across a massive gap in their huge enclosure at one point and made it look so effortless. You could see the powerful muscles in his hind legs as he jumped. Amazing. (I'm a bit of a cat fanantic; I love 'em all).

I enjoyed this park very much; I prefer it to the main park, The Magic Kingdom, as I feel that is geared much more towards little kids (though I do love Cinderella's castle).

Highly recommended if you're off to Florida.

Summary: A great park for all ages and a chance to get close(ish) to lots of animals