I thought it would be interesting to do a quick survey of which attractions didn’t hit the spot for our group of travellers at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  Not everyone has the luxury of the time we had at the parks, so it might be useful for those on short time frames to see which things they may want to skip depending on their time availability.

For those in our group who had been here before, there was a noticeable lack of animals at Animal Kingdom compared to previous visits in other years.  We wonder if there is a lot of noise at night with the changes going on at Animal Kingdom?  There was only 2 bats in the Pangani Forest Exploration trail, lack of elephants on the Kilimanjaro Safari, only 1 rhino, and no Nile crocodiles, no Thompson Gazelles (Tommys!).

Usually you see dozens of animals through these areas.  Other exhibits were noticeably empty and devoid of animal life.  This was particularly disappointing as its my favourite park.

Anyway, as below were the “skip it next time” attractions for each of our group members.

Oldest son (11) – Rafiki’s Planet Watch – because there were no rides.  Also given a mention was the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and the Maharajah Jungle Trek due to not enough animals.

Middle son (8) – Finding Nemo – The Musical – essentially all shows at Animal Kingdom were voted “boring” but this was the “most boring”.  

Youngest son (6) – as above, he agrees with Middle son (8).

Dad (38) – Kilimanjaro Safari – because there is better viewing at other zoos and we hardly saw any animals.

Mum (39) – Rafiki’s Planet Watch, and more specifically the Affection Section because you can see a petting zoo and farm animals anywhere.

Aunt (41) – Dinoland USA – I detest the carnival type environment of the Fossil Fun Games section and the out-of-the-box attractions.  Its cheap and nasty and IMO not a visually appealing part of what is otherwise a beautiful theme park.

Uncle (41) – Fossil Fun Games – there is nothing there without paying more money.

Nana (70) – Rafiki’s Planet watch – again specifically the Affection Section.  (Note that Nana works at a wildlife park with a petting zoo with a lot more different types of animals to interact with.)