Animal Kingdom Update: Spring 2019
Animal Kingdom is the next stop in our Walt Disney World updates, and it’s our first time for a photo report from this park in over 5 months. Given that we have been doing monthly updates for every other park (and even Coronado Springs!), this might seem like an oversight.
And it probably is. Our rationale for not covering Animal Kingdom has been because there hasn’t been much construction post-Pandora, and hence no major reason for an update. However, plenty has changed since our last Animal Kingdom update post, and even without these changes, it’s nice to drop in on each park from time to time just to see how things are looking.
So that’s exactly what we’re going to do with this Animal Kingdom update, taking a stroll around the park and looking at what’s changed in the last few months. We’ll aim to do these on a monthly basis going forward. For now, this update will focus on the new Kevin from Up walk-around character, Bollywood Beats, Lion King 25th Anniversary celebration, and other entertainment…
What we won’t be focusing on is construction. The photo at the top of the post is it in terms of work we saw, and that appears to simply be work on the animal habitats in that particular area of the Discover Island Trails. They’re otherwise open.
The suspense is probably killing you, so we’ll start by checking out the Lion King 25th Anniversary celebration…
Starting outside Animal Kingdom’s turnstiles, things look good.
This photo frame is a beautiful frame with a lot of tactile detail, which replaced the also-excellent Animal Kingdom 20th Anniversary frame.
Inside, we’ve got a fun photo op on the way to Pandora – World of Avatar. This is incredibly popular during the day, and regularly sports a long line of people.
This is about as good as it gets for the Lion King celebration.
The major draw for the celebration is the Hakuna Matata Time dance party.
It’s rare for me to say, “skip this and go to Dino-Rama” with regard to literally anything at Animal Kingdom, but when it comes to dance parties, Donald’s Dino-Bash is better and more substantive than this.
In the other direction, both literally and figuratively, is the Pandora Utility Suit, a giant walking mech suit.
It’s a little cheesy, but I like this.
I wonder if Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will have similar, post-opening additions.
There were droids testing last year at Disneyland, and those are rumored to have been cut from the opening day unveiling of Star Wars land. I could see them appearing a year or five later once crowds have finally died down a bit and it’s more operationally-realistic to have roaming droids.
Continuing with entertainment, there’s the new Bollywood Beats show. This is described by Disney as an exhilarating Indian dance experience that brings traditional Indian dance together with the fire of Hindi film in an energetic show.
From classical Indian rhythms of Kathak to the proud folk style of Bhangra to modern Bollywood popular dance, the performers of Bollywood Beats offer a spirited interactive performance on the stage across from the Anandapur Theater in Asia.
We saw the first day of this, and I felt it was a mixed bag. For the first half of the show, the performances were captivating and exactly as described above. Really fun and energetic.
For the second half of the show, members of the audience were asked to come up to the stage. Now, I realize I’m a surly curmudgeon, but I hate audience members being used as substitutes for highly skilled performers. It’s one thing to have a comedy show use interactions as a light-hearted way of picking on guests. It’d be another entirely to find a random dude in the audience and ask them to come on stage to deliver a stand-up routine.
I’m well aware that this is probably an unpopular opinion, as everyone wants to be an active participant in everything, but I don’t. Let talented performers be talented performers without random guests who are totally clueless joining in the entertainment. (Stops shaking fist at cloud.)
While we were standing there, I did notice these hilarious rocks, which I’ve never seen before.
Faces painted on rocks are one of life’s little delights. I will never not laugh and smile when I see them.
This is still a thing.
A strong argument could be made that those rocks are more entertaining than Dug and Russell are in this show.
I love cats of all types. I actually have a Google News alert for news about Southern California’s mountain lions, and highly recommend this long-read from the Los Angeles Times, “A week in the life of P‑22, the big cat who shares Griffith Park with millions of people.”
Just as Yossarian often does, I feel like these tigers were trying to stare directly into my soul.
I’m not sure any other park can touch Animal Kingdom in terms of atmospheric entertainment, and the various acts in Harambe are one big reason why.
The Harambe Village Acrobats are fantastic. Really impressive, with a show that’s perfectly-paced. This is also a good example of audience participation, with short segments that are primarily used to poke fun and contrast the abilities of the professionals with audience members.
I’ve been debating a “Best Snacks at Animal Kingdom” post, but the problem is like half the snack stands are closed on any given day. Even when it’s busy, you can be assured that not everything will be open.
I might just go ahead and do it, as there are a few things we really like at Animal Kingdom.
The quiet little walkways between Africa and Asia that lead down to the water offer the best angles for photos of the Tree of Life.
These paths are all unmarked, so you’ll rarely find anyone down there.
Finally, what all of you probably came to see, Kevin from Up!
She is making sporadic appearances throughout the day, currently ending at 4:30 p.m. Note that this is not currently published in the Times Guide.
We can’t say enough positive things about Kevin.
She is hilarious, engaging, and adds some real personality to Discovery Island.
It also appears that the Kevin character is a relatively low-tech thing.
While it’s great to see all of the incredible things Disney is doing with flashy tech in Galaxy’s Edge, Pandora, and elsewhere, but it’s also great to see ‘back to basics’ stuff like this.
To me, this demonstrates that park additions can resonate with guests without costing $100 million or more. Things that are charming, quirky, etc. can connect with guests on an emotional level just as well–or better–than the fancy stuff.
I’d love to see Imagineering take a similar approach with new attractions, at least on occasion. Rides like Storybook Land Canal Boats and Casey Jr. Circus Train would be lovely additions, and could cost very little to build. But I digress.
The point is that Kevin is something pure and special, the kind of silly but memorable thing that I’d love to see more of at Walt Disney World.
To demonstrate, I’ll leave you with this video of Kevin interacting with Dug:
That wraps up our Animal Kingdom update for the month. We’ll be back sooner rather than later, as there’s still a lot we didn’t cover in this post, from delicious new-ish snacks, to counter service menu changes at a number of locations around the park.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the latest changes at Animal Kingdom? Do you agree or disagree with our reviews of Bollywood Beats and the walk-around Kevin character? Other thoughts about Animal Kingdom? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I just went to Animal Kingdom 2 weeks ago for the first time in 17 years. For some reason, the last few trips, we have skipped AK, thinking it wasn’t really that great…how wrong we were!! Along for the ride was my hubby (who hasn’t been in closer to 20 years) and my 5 and 2 year old. I have to say we LOVED Animal Kingdom – the shows, rides (specifically safari, Everest & Pandora) and the FOOD was amazing! The kids are still talking about AK and can’t wait to go back. It’s tough, for us MK is always #1, but AK is now probably in the 2nd favorite park! We had a blast and I appreciated all your posts on AK to prepare for our trip! Love reading your blog!! Keep it up 🙂
Absolutely do AK best snacks! Your readers can work around what’s-open-and-what’s-not.
I have lots of favorite snacks at AK. It’s no fun when things are closed and you can’t get them! I would still love a post about your favorite snacks, maybe with an “If Not This Then That” element for when your favorite snack isn’t available? Love the update!
I love those painted rocks too! I just read about them on Joe Rhode’s Instagram post this morning… really interesting stuff! I always appreciate Joe’s backstories to the theming at DAK. That tiger pic is awesome, Tom. As a fellow cat-person, I can’t look away from a tiger’s stare. They’re so gorgeous and intense.
Tom, thanks for the update! I LOVE OLD SCHOOL PUPPETEERING!! Kevin is hilarious, and the puppet performer is so completely spot on. Similarly, love a good stilt performer with fake legs, so I’m super pumped to see the mech suit performer.
DAK was never my favorite growing up, but after my time as a CM, it has become my favorite atmosphere park. I love chatting with the CMs along the wildlife paths and soaking up the atmosphere entertainment. The attractions–though limited–are top-notch, which I appreciate over having lots of sub-par nonsense to soak up time (obviously, this is removing Dinoland garbage out of the equation).
As always, appreciate your time and perspective.
Love AK! TBH, I didn’t care for it the first time I visited, but, over the years this park is one of my favorites. To me, it is very “honest” to its theme and diversity in terms of world culture.
Love Pandora, Yeti coaster, safari and the food, food, food! Other than MK, I think AK is the most child-oriented park at DW…
Was there the week before Christmas and look forward to our 2020 visit. Only complaint/criticism is the River of Light attraction. Unless you have the right “viewing angle” the holograms are weak…nice try, though.
That’s not the same Indian dance troupe that was at DCA over the holiday’s, by any chance? It looks/sounds similar. (I, too, tend to be against audience participation or people singing along at a concert. I paid to see the professionals! 🙂 )
We got to see Kevin last Thursday, and as excited as my 1.5 year old was for any and all of the fur characters, she went INSANE for Kevin – one of the highlights of our trip 🙂 (and I was glad that the cast members at Yak and Yeti understood why we were 10 minutes late for our ADR when we mentioned we’d gotten stuck behind the Kevin mob!)
I would LOVE a top snacks for Animal Kingdom!!! Please!
Thanks for the brief reference to Flights of Wonder. It used to be a very entertaining bird show. Last month, I saw the “Up” updated version. Between Dug and Russell and that hyper-effusive girl all running around pointlessly onstage, I was dying for some actual bird action. There was a little, but it was like drops of water to a parched person. Boo.
If I never, ever, ever, EVER had tp attend a performance that included A) Audience participation or B) Audience questions- I would be a very, very happy woman.
I totally agree!! You get more than enough of those “audience folk” outside of the performance.
Why don’t you do any reports on Fort Wilderness?
Found using the Search bar on right side of screen:
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/fort-wilderness-resort-campground-review/
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/cabins-fort-wilderness-review/
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/art-animation-fort-wilderness-hotel-comparison/
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/hoop-dee-doo-musical-revue-review/
Pretty sure Tom has reviewed/reported on everything at WDW/DLR or has come awfully close…
Thank you so much for the Animal Kingdom updates! We’re headed there for spring break after a two-year hiatus and really appreciate your opinions.
Tom, these updates are great — but does the promise to do them monthly imply that you’ve officially relocated your “blogging home base” to Central Florida? Based on previous peeks you’ve given us behind the curtain, I believe you were SoCal-based for a while (and I remember a more distinct DLR focus — or at least a DLR/WDW balance — in the recent past). But I’ve noticed a progression to a strong focus on WDW and the international parks. You may have already explained this somewhere (and I don’t mean to pry). You’re just so good at providing life context to explain why you like/dislike certain park experiences, so it tends to pique my curiosity about what life looks like for the Brickers!
I’ve been wondering the same! Would be so excited if they moved near WDW, love this coverage!
I’ve been wondering the same thing. On a similar note, the “life for the Brickers” part: It would be awesome to hear a bit more about Sarah’s background and the source of her love for all things Disney, as well as how your focus may be changing because of the bazillion Disney projects in Orlando.
Thank you for all the work you both put into informing all of us about the goings on at WDW as well as WDL. 99.9999999999999% of us sincerely appreciate how hard you work!
Yes, our temporary home base is Central Florida…for now.