The Beauty of Animal Kingdom

On January 6th, 2017, we decided to go to Animal Kingdom.  We have a subscription to Touring Plans, which has a company that uses data input to a software system from previous years to predict crowd trends for the upcoming year.

The crowds are scored 1 - 10, and how it works is if the most popular rides are on average a 50 minute wait, the crowd score would be a 5, if a 40 minute wait, it would be a 4.  You get the picture.  Well, for January 6th, every park was scored high, except Animal Kingdom which was predicted to be a 4.

Wrong!!!  It turned out to be a 9!!  Moral of the story.  If you don't like crowds, or if they make you nervous, think twice about going to any theme Disney them park the week after New Year's.

Despite the crowds, however, we had a fantastic time.  The cooler weather, Fast Passes, and leaving the park for lunch, make the crowds more tolerable.

With my new focus on looking for surprises in Disney architecture, including landscaping architecture, and artistry, I found things in Animal Kingdom I had never seen before, and I have been to this park many times!

See the pictures below and if you have an Animal Kingdom trip planned in your future, see what you might be able to notice.

Here we are standing in front of the Tree of Life which celebrates the life of all living creatures.  All smiles, we don't even realize the crowds we will soon encounter.

The Tree of Life is in the center of the park and is on Discovery Island which is landscaped in such a way as to feature tropical wildlife that I assume Disney both instituted, and also which also attracts local Florida wildlife.  Until now, we had never spent the time to walk Discovery Island's trails, but found it to be gorgeous and full of pleasant surprises.

I'm not a monkey expert, but I think this is a tamarin monkey.

Here is a photo of Discovery River.  In person, it is beautiful and has many tropical water birds bathing in it.  I never noticed it before this trip.

Lilly pads on Discovery River.  See the little purple flowers?

My nine-year-old, not pictured, loves hidden pictures.  The Tree of life is like a huge animal themed 3-d hidden pictures puzzle.  We spent at least a half-hour exploring the Tree of Life.

The 14 year-old is hugging the bunny "because he's cute and he's not running away from me, because he's made of cement."

Artfully done, the Tree of Life framing the Discovery River.

How many creatures can you find?

A majestic elephant.

I love the use of water in this area.  So "feng shui" and very refreshing. ;)

Another beautiful view of the Discovery River.

Several ibis birds taking a break in the shade.

The saddle billed stork is a large wading bird, and we found two wading in the Discovery River.  This is one of a family of three; mom, dad, and a baby born in 2013.  Mom and Dad have been a couple since 1998, and baby was the first one born to the couple and first one born at Disney World!  These birds are native to Africa.

Our level nine crowd.

I'm always fascinated by this pool of ciclids.  They are so vibrant in their colors!!!!  I have to tell you though, they really stink badly!

A hippopatums under water.  This is something I have never seen before or since I have seen this great hippo at Animal Kingdom!!  This is one of the most amazing things you will get to experience as far as animal viewing and for me, well worth the ticket price.

9 year-old holds fang of hippopotamus skull. 

At Animal Kingdom, Lion King fans can see real meerkats!

After dealing with the crowds we were all envious of this chimpanzee, but I think he or she was pretty bored.

This bachelor gorilla has been banished from the gorilla family because he is a different species and the park wanted to keep the species pure.  Therefore, all of the bachelor gorillas have their own habitat and the families are on the other side.

Gorilla Falls at the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail - Beautiful!

The entrance to Rafiki's Planet Watch.

Now this is a really nice place to get away from the crowds and get some rest.  Rafiki's Planet Watch is an educational area of Animal Kingdom accessed by the Wildlife Express Train, and contains the petting zoo called the Affection Section, and the Conservation Station.

Inside the Conservation Station you can rest your feet in an uncrowded air conditioned building with a little theatre that shows documentaries about conservation, various educational animal lab displays, veterinarian procedures, conservation rangers that do little education presentations, and it's a good place get a drink of water, and use the restroom.   

At the Conversation Station we had the once in a lifetime experience watching the veterinarians do surgery on this ibis who had eaten steel fencing.  The surgery took hours and they took dozens of pieces of metal shards out of this little bird's tummy.  They were able to take him out of his misery and save his life!

Rare Lion Tailed Macaques on the Maharajah Jungle Trek

Oh how many times I have tried to get a picture of this fellow.  I finally got a picture of his backside.

I don't know what these are. ;) Something, something, sort of deer?

Beautiful Maharajah Jungle Trek murals make you feel as you are actually in India.

I can't remember what we were viewing here, but at this point the crowds are really stressing us out.  Even though we had chosen to do the trails early in the day, which is a good idea because walking around in the heat is no fun, we still have to wait a few minutes to get a clear view of the animals.  Lots of people in small spaces equals stress, but it was only to get more hot and more crowded by afternoon.

Dusk and dusk lighting fall at the base of Expedition Everest, the ride that is not for the faint of heart.  

This bird (I think it was a peacock was huge).  I have to say it was about 4 feet long.

On our way to Africa!

Mom and Dad are riding Tricera Top Spin while the big kids are riding single rider on Everest.  Tanner is just a little too little for me to feel comfortable having him go single rider and which would make him have to ride with a stranger and in the dark it made me even more nervous.  So, he got to ride the kiddy ride with Mom and Dad.

We started and ended our day here at the Tree of Life.  Now it's lit up for the Tree of Life Awakening that happens every 10 minutes during the evening hours until park closing.  This show feature fire flies, animation on the tree, highlighting the various creatures, and teaching respect for animal life.

Walking through the Raintree Forest Cafe near the exit of Animal Kingdom.  The tree talks and creeps out the boys.
Whenever people ask me which is my favorite Disney Theme Park, I really struggle.  I really rank Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom number one depending on my mood, but really, this is the park that we visit the most.  It's a place that's do-able in a few hours, or you can, like we did on January 6th, spend the entire day (with the exception of leaving for lunch).

Bring your patience on the crowded days, take a break at the Conservation Station, get your Fast Passes for the Safari, Expedition Everest, and Dinosaur, and plan to stay late because even if it's a level 9 if you want you can ride Everest several times in a row if you are willing to go Single Rider.
I think it's key to look at the park as if you are doing a photo documentary because you will never run out of new surprising things to see.  I have only shown you the tip of the iceberg.  I haven't even talked about the rides, or the Lion King musical, and I've only brushed over the things I have shown you.

It's definitely worth the price of the $97 pass, and if you are annual passholder , well worth the price.   Considering when you pay $20 to see the Orlando Eye Sea Life Acquarium, which occupies an hour at best, the Animal Kingdom price per hour of amusement, entertainment, and education, is a bargain!