A Look at Disney: To 6 Animal Kingdom Attractions (Happy Anniversary Animal Kingdom)

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. This year Animal Kingdom turned 15. Do you know how odd it feels to be older then a theme park that you've been to every time you've gone to Disney World for a long as you can remember. Now, I had a tough time deciding on how to celebrate this occasion. And then, it hit me. I'll be counting down my Top 6 Favorite Attractions that are still at Animal Kingdom. With that out of the way, let's begin. Now, I'll be honest, this was a toughie.

6. Dinosaur

I have mixed feelings on this ride. On the one hand, I like the time travel aspect and when it wants to be, it can be really scary but it didn't live up to the hype for me. I've heard this hailed as one of the best rides at Animal Kingdom and my reaction was "It's good but nothing to write home about". Though I do like the pre-show as it features narration by Bill Nye The Science Guy. Now what is the ride about, well, the guests are about to sent back to the peaceful early time of Cretaceous Period. This information is given to us by Dr. Marsh played by Phylicia Rashad best known for The Cosby Show. She is cut off by, another doctor, Dr. Seeker, who intends to send us back to the late Cretaceous period in order to save a dinosaur that he had tagged. Dr. Marsh says that it is too dangerous but Seeker hacked the time rovers, the machines, that take us back in time and from there, it's a race to survive. Now the set up and the story is good but I don't know. It's not that I dislike because it wouldn't be on this list otherwise but at the end of the day, I like this ride if only for the story and for the thrills it offers but it just comes up short for me and I don't know why.

5. Kali River Rapids

Now if you recall my Top 6 Most Disappointing Attractions, this came in at # 1. Well, on my last trip to Disney World, I decided to give this ride another chance and my reaction... I LOVE this ride. I must have a bad day or something, the first time I went on it because this is actually a great ride and oh, I got drenched. YES!!! Mission accomplished and really, the story isn't all that hard to follow as it is showing the destruction of a forest in Asia. But to be honest, I was more focused on the action with this ride as it was so much fun and as you go on, the water gets choppier. And by the time, I got off the ride, I was soaked from top to bottom. Success.

5. It's Tough To Be A Bug!

It's Tough To Be A Bug is a 4D experience hosted by Flik from A Bug's Life that is meant to teach us humans the importance of bugs and how hard, they have it in the world and what they do to survive going through different types of bugs such as gas, which stinks up the theater. Hopper appears at one point to show us how evil we are and the way, we have attacked bugs for years and to prove that we can never be friends. Such as spraying the audience with bug spray. They really go all out with this because before you leave, the insects exit and you can actually feel them crawl underneath you. I remember one time, when I saw this and I knew it was coming, I jumped out of my seat because it still got to me. Now another touch, I like is the curtain is actually butterflies.

Oh and I really love the waiting area being someone that loves going to the theater as they have posters of famous plays but bugged up such as Web Side Story, Little Shop of Hoppers, and Beauty and The Bees.

Okay, I have to say I love how spot on the Beauty and The Bees poster is to the Beauty and The Beast poster. Also, on this note pay attention to the music here because you could hear some buggy renditions of classic songs from these plays such as bees buzzing Beauty and The Beast. Also it is interesting to note, that this attraction opened 7 months before the film hit theaters.

4. Festival of The Lion King

This show is pretty basic and straightforward as it is just a show featuring the characters from The Lion King set to the music from the movie. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Well, that's the beauty of Disney, take something simple and make something big out of it. The numbers are so gorgeous, they way they are performed. The choreography and acrobatics especially with monkeys is great. And let's not forget the audience interaction, as you see there are 4 sections to the theater and they are each divided by a different animal. The sections, being warthog, elephant, giraffe, & lion. And each section is taught by one of the cast members who had been assigned how to make the sound of their animal. This is always pretty funny. Especially with the little kids. At the end of the day, the best way to describe this show is to say that is mesmerizing.

3. Finding Nemo: The Musical

Okay, when I first learned about this one before seeing it, I thought, there is no way a Finding Nemo musical can work. Boy was I wrong. Not only, does it work. It works well. If you've seen Finding Nemo, you know the plot of this play. The only difference here is that it's people onstage with puppets playing the parts and the music is actually quite good. Helps that the people that wrote this penned Ave Q, so they knew how to write for a musical and oh, they were the same team that wrote the music for Winnie The Pooh (2011). Now, what about the songs, they are pretty good and most of them got their names from lines in the film such as Just Keep Swimming, or the vaudevillian inspired Fish Are Friends, Not Food. The integrity and respect of the source of Nemo along with the heart can be found in this production. Honestly, this play is so good, that if they extended it, I could see Disney doing a touring production of it.

2. Expedition Everest

This is easily my favorite ride at Animal Kingdom. After saying that, you may be wondering why, it's only # 2 because it doesn't capture what Animal Kingdom is really about as well as my # 1 choice. Expedition Everest is easily my favorite roller coaster, in part because it helped me get over my fear of roller coasters. Here's the ride in a nutshell, you get in a car and go up and get to the tracks and see that they have been broken by the Yeti. So you are sent rocketing backwards as you try to avoid him. You'll come across the Yeti twice on the ride.

I love the look of The Yeti, he doesn't scare me as much as he did the first time but it is always an exciting thrill, when you come across him.

1. Kilmanjaro Safaris

As soon as I came up with this list, I knew that this had to be # 1. Why? Because in my view, this ride is what Animal Kingdom. What is the ride, it's just a simple safari ride with the opportunity to get to see different animals such as flamingos, warthogs, elephants and many other majestic animals. The fun comes in the interaction with the animals and watching them. I mean, one time, I went on this ride, our car had to stop to let a giraffe cross the road. That was so cool! Now earlier, this years, zebras were added to the attraction but they were taken out. Why? Turns out, they weren't getting along each other. Little bummed that I didn't get to see the zebras because that would've been cool. If you ever get the chance to go to Animal Kingdom, this ride needs to be your top priority. You will not regret it as the animals will just take you in. In many aspects, this ride is breathtaking.

There, you have it. The Top 6 Animal Kingdom Attractions. If you've been to this park, what are some of your favorites. Let me know in the comments. Peace! Oh, before I close out, I want to share this...