Disney's Animal Kingdom
| Disney's Animal Kingdom | ||||
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| place | Bay Lake , Florida , USA | |||
| opening | April 22, 1998 | |||
| Visitors | 12.5 million (2017) | |||
| surface | over 200 hectares | |||
| Website | Official website (English) | |||
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Coordinates: 28 ° 21 '28 " N , 81 ° 35' 26" W.
Disney's Animal Kingdom is the fourth theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida after Magic Kingdom , Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios . Animal Kingdom opened on April 22nd, 1998 and, with an area of two square kilometers, is the largest Disney theme park in the world and the first to be entirely dedicated to the preservation of wildlife , according to the philosophy of Walt Disney . With approximately 12.5 million visitors, the park was the 3rd most visited amusement park in the United States in 2017 and the 6th most visited in the world.
The symbol of the park - also to be found in the park's logo - is the Tree of Life , a 44 m high and 15 m wide artificial tree.
Regions
The park consists of seven different themed areas.
Oasis
Upon entering the park, guests must walk through this region to access the other areas. To the left and right of the various footpaths after the Discovery Island center, some animals are kept like in zoos, such as B. muntjacs , pampas hares , spoonbills , ducks , fish , turtles , wallabies , anteaters , deer boars , parrots and others. The Rainforest Cafe is located in the entrance area of Oasis.
Discovery Island
The main region and center of the park is Discovery Island (formerly called Safari Village). Here is also the "Tree of Life", the park's landmark, a gigantic artificial tree. You can see kangaroos , flamingos , axis deer , West African cranes , Old World vultures , porcupines , lemurs , parrots , ducks , Galapagos turtles , otters and storks , among others . At the foot of the tree of life is the attraction “It's Tough to be a Bug”, which shows a 3D film with characters from the Pixar film The Big Crawling .
Africa
Africa includes two attractions: The Kilimanjaro Safaris and the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail . At Kilimanjaro Safaris , guests get on an open safari bus. Visitors can watch various African animals such as giraffes , hippos , elephants , rhinos or lions roaming freely in an artificial savannah with rivers and hills. You can also take part in a mission to fight ivory poachers.
On the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail , guests can go in search of gorillas in the forest . A natural path through a small African village leads to an aviary with exotic birds, a research center with naked mole rats and various rodents and reptiles, an underwater observation station for observing hippos, as well as an overview of the savannah and a close-up view of the gorillas.
Rafiki's Planet Watch
This area was previously called the “Conservation Station”. The area, which can only be reached via the Wildlife Express Train, a rustic African train that drives past various animal care buildings and thus allows a glimpse behind the scenes of the savannah, includes the attraction Affection Section, a small animal zoo with goats, sheep, pigs, Chickens, llamas and more. The area also has an animal hospital, which allows visitors to watch the activities of the medical staff through windows. It also includes a variety of wild animal experiments, interactive games and shows. At the Habitat Habit! guests can see primates up close and learn how to help endangered animals on an adventure trail.
Asia
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The Asia region includes four attractions:
- Flights of Wonder: A show about different birds such as Old World vultures , hawks , parrots , cranes and the bald eagle .
- Kali River Rapids: A river rafting attraction in the India themed area.
- Maharajah Jungle Trek: A journey into the royal Anandapur forest of Southeast Asia with its ancient ruins. Here you can encounter Komodo dragons , fruit bats , tapirs , birds and tigers .
- Expedition Everest : A high-speed roller coaster built into an artificial mountain range.
DinoLand USA
The DinoLand USA region includes the following attractions:
- The Boneyard is a large sandpit area where visitors can dig for dinosaur bones.
- DINOSAUR (formerly Countdown to Extinction ) is an artificial journey into the past based on the Disney movie Dinosaur . The visitors are given the task of finding an Iguanodon and taking it with them before an asteroid hits and destroys the dinosaurs.
- Finding Nemo - The Musical is a show that has been performing since November 12, 2006. Dancers, acrobats and puppeteers portray the story of Finding Nemo as a musical.
- Cretaceous Trail is a hiking trail where visitors encounter a Pachycephalosaurus . You will also encounter living fossils from the dinosaur era.
Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama is part of Dinoland USA and looks like an old drive-in theater from the 1950s .
- Primeval Whirl is a roller coaster with self-rotating cabins and very fast turns.
- TriceraTop Spin: a flying dinosaur as an attraction for a maximum of four people.
- Fossil Fun Games: A number of showman attractions such as horse racing or rifle throwing.
Camp Minnie-Mickey (former area)
Camp Minnie-Mickey has been closed since 2014. The Avatar area is currently being built on the site of the camp and is scheduled to open in 2017.
The Camp Minnie-Mickey area included the Festival of the Lion King show as its main attraction and enabled contact with Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse , Minnie Mouse , Goofy and others. The show is a musical performance with artistic interludes as well as songs and characters from the Disney film The Lion King . The Festival of the Lion King has moved and is now taking place in the Africa area .
Until September 2008, there was also a live animal children's show called Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends, based on the Disney movie Pocahontas .
Restaurants
At the park entrance is the Rainforest Cafe and in the park there are also the service restaurants Yak & Yeti in Asia and the Tusker House Restaurant in Africa. There are also several self-service restaurants.
Visitors
Development of visitor numbers per year
Further development
Beastly Kingdom
The Beastly Kingdom is a planned, but not built extension of the park due to budget cuts. This land should have included mythical animals like unicorns , dragons or sea monsters with two regions: one for good and one for bad mythical animals. The center of the region for the evil monsters should have been the Dragon Tower ( dragon tower ), a nest of a fire-breathing dragon standing on a castle ruin, which hoards stolen treasures there. There should have been bats at the castle trying to steal the dragon's treasure. The story should be linked to a roller coaster that drives through the castle ruins. As the highlight of the roller coaster, visitors would come into direct contact with the kite.
The good side of the country would Quest of the Unicorn ( The Adventures of Unicorn welcomed) and would cross a medieval labyrinth in which many mythological creatures live. Fantasia Gardens would be a musical boat trip through the Disney classic Fantasia . It would also include singing and dancing crocodiles and hippos from the film "Dance of the Hours" as well as a Pegasus , wolf gods and centaurs .
literature
- Sehlinger, Bob and Testa, Len (2007): The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2007 . John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, USA. ISBN 0-471-79032-X .
- Birnbaum, Stephen (2006): Walt Disney World 2007, The official guide . Disney Editions, New York, New York, USA. ISBN 1-4231-0051-4 .
Web links
- The theme park site (English)
- History of Animal Kingdom (English)
- Duckipedia entry
- German-speaking Walt Disney World travel guide
Remarks
- ↑ In the period 2006-2014 (Source: Global Attractions Attendance Reports)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Global Attractions Attendance Report 2017. (PDF) TEA, accessed on June 18, 2018 (English).
- ↑ Disney Theme Park - Animal Kingdom . Article from Reisebuch.de, accessed on November 12, 2012
- ↑ Background information on the genesis of the "Tree of Life"
- ^ Camp Minnie-Mickey closes, Lion King on hiatus to make room for Avatar land at Disney's Animal Kingdom . January 6, 2014.
- ↑ New Details Revealed About Pandora - The World of AVATAR at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando . 20th August 2015.
- ↑ Global Attractions Attendance Report 2006 ( Memento of April 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF, English), Global Attractions Attendance Report 2007. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2008. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2009. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2010. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2011. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2012. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2013. (PDF) TEA, accessed on March 10, 2016 (English). , Global Attractions Attendance Report 2014. (PDF) TEA, accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).