Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom, the newest park in Walt Disney World, is more than just a bunch of rides with cool themes.  Animal Kingdom is also a zoo.  Disney themselves have been trying to encourage people not to refer to it as a zoo, but I think it's because people somehow associate zoos with boredom.  Personally the idea of Disney building a zoo sounds fantastic.  Since it is Disney you can only assume that it's not just going to be a traditional zoo.  You know it's going to be something pretty awesome.

I think I'm most interested in seeing how they deal with the animals at Animal Kingdom.  I've been told that it has some of the best animal enclosures in the world, and I can't imagine that they don't theme everything perfectly.  After the animals I think I'm most looking forward to Expedition Everest.  This ride is getting a lot of hype right now, and everything I've seen about it looks great.  I'm a little worried about getting woozy on it, but Disney's pretty good about making smooth rides that even I can generally handle.

Of the research I've been doing, it doesn't really seem like Animal Kingdom has the greatest food.  The only exception seems to be the Flame Tree Barbecue that serves up some awesome sounding meals that I think will make a perfect choice for lunch.  The Yak and Yeti might be an OK choice for dinner, or we may take this opportunity to leave the park and head over to Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

The only show that I think is a must see at this point is It's Tough to Be a Bug, located in a theatre below the giant Tree of Life.  I've read that it's the only Disney show ever to have been released the same time as the movie.  If time permits, I may also be interested in seeing the Finding Nemo show as well, since it's a puppet show and puppet shows can be really fun.

Of all the parks in Disney World, Animal Kingdom is the only one that I've never visited before.  My last visit happened about year before the doors opened, so there was lots of speculation, but I couldn't see much. I do however remember visiting Blizzard Beach on my last visit and climbing to the top of Summit Plummet.  From that vantage point you could see them working on the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom.  It's been a few years since I've visited Disney World, so I'm looking forward to seeing this newest addition.