Hey Thrill Seekers,
Onto the last of the Disney parks now at Disney’s Animal Kingdom which happens to be the largest Disney theme park in the whole world at 500 acres! This is definitely going to be a walking boots kinda day…
Before you enter into the park, you might notice some of the cast sweeping up? Why not take a moment out of your day to go a bit closer, I mean would they really have rubbish to sweep away first thing in the morning…? 😉
You might remember from my other post about Universal Studios that there was another entrance near to Blue Man Group with a lesser queue, well there’s a similar entrance at Animal Kingdom, just behind the Rainforest Cafe gift shop! This will give you that little bit of extra time to have in the park before the crowds.
The first thing to catch your eye in Animal Kingdom is pretty much guaranteed to be the Tree of Life in Discovery Island. It is absolutely mind blowing that there are over 300 animals carved into the tree and over 103,000 leaves that have been individually placed in the making of this tree. What’s that you say? ‘It’s not a real tree?!’ No, it’s not, it’s actually an oil rig believe it or not! The Tree of Life is also the home to It’s Tough To Be A Bug!’
Let’s go anti clockwise round Animal Kingdom and visit DinoLand U.S.A. DINOSAUR is one of my favourite rides at Animal Kingdom, but there is one thing I have only just recently found out. When you are in the loading area for the ride, overhead are some pipes, red, yellow and white with formulas written on them. I can’t be sure what these formulas are officially but rumour has it they are Ketchup, Mustard and Mayonnaise from when the ride was previously sponsored by McDonalds!
Next door in Asia is probably the part of the park where the thrill seekers are more likely to head to being the home of Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids. You may notice on some of the trees there are scarves draped around which are to commemorate lost ones.
Expedition Everest is the world’s most expensive roller coaster at over $100 million which isn’t very surprising when you realise that it’s made with 1800 tonnes of steel! The coaster is huge and I for one can say that it is definitely worth all the money that Disney have spent on it.
Kali River Rapids is another amazing attraction where you are guaranteed to get soaked! It’s the perfect way to cool down on a boiling hot day! Not everyone is a fan of rapids or just water rides in general but with Kali River Rapids, you can still join in the fun without getting on! There is a bridge where you can walk over the rapid route and find a button. This button will squirt water out of the elephant onto riders as they go round! It’s a great laugh for everyone (not so much the people getting soaked)
For our final part of Disney, we’ll take a quick look into Africa, home to the Kilimanjaro Safaris. Just the safari land is 3 acres larger than the whole of Magic Kingdom! That’s ludicrous! The best time, I think, to do the safari is first thing in the morning as you’re more likely to see more animals. Throughout the day as the animals start to become harder to find, you might notice that the lions are nearly always sat upon Pride Rock’. This is because there are piped, chilled air holes in the rocks to encourage the lions to hang around here thus making it easier for guests to take their photos of them!
So that’s it, we’ve actually come to the end of Disney, but what a journey we have had! Be sure to look out for these little secrets and let us know if you find anymore!
Smiles Included…
Louise
