And to make it complete....how about Animal Kingdom?

noledawg · Post by **noledawg** » May Sat 01, 2010 8:27 am

I think the biggest challenge is navigating the opening. Really any time there is a crowd. The layout is a bottleneck. Why not create bridges from The Oasis to the left and right, rather than funnel everyone into Discovery Island?

I found this setup helpful with big crowds at Tokyo Disneyland. You can move from International Bazzar (ie Main Street) and straight into the side of Tomorrowland. Same on the left. It keeps the flow dispersed.

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » May Sat 01, 2010 8:33 am

I don't know about this one. Maybe not bring back, but actually put some money into and expound on the original concepts. Does anybody remember the boat ride to nowhere?

Mark86 · Post by **Mark86** » May Sat 01, 2010 10:04 am

More shady areas because that park is dreadful in the summer! It is tough walking from the entrance to the tree of life in 90 degree weather with the sun beating down directly on you.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » May Sat 01, 2010 10:59 am

The original design was that the Tree of Life would be at the center of everything - there was no practical reason why, it just seemed like a cool idea to them at the time. I agree more pathways/bridges are needed!

And Mark86 - isn't all the parks a bit of tough walking when sun is beating down on you in the 90 degree weather? But you are right - that area of Ak is a bit barren - probably another design flaw. Looked good on the drawing board, but in real life its not...

Post by **Len90** » May Sat 01, 2010 11:15 am

I honestly find that AK is the most dreaful to walk around in during summer. I would redo the design comcet at the entrance. It is just too much walking and in the dead heat of summer a shortcut would be great. Noiedawg, I really like your idea.

MmeLeota · Post by **MmeLeota** » May Sat 01, 2010 11:16 am

I haven't experienced AK enough to really critique it other than the pathways. I agree about the bottleneck and how there should be more paths for people to follow to disperse the crowd more.

We originally went in October of '98 only months after it opened and it was pretty boring since there were only a handful of things to do, so there weren't too many crowds. The second (and only other time) we went was in 2003 and there had been several improvements. But wit improvements come crowds and that was when we realized about the bottlenecking.

Mark86 · Post by **Mark86** » May Sat 01, 2010 11:22 am

mindflipper wrote:The original design was that the Tree of Life would be at the center of everything - there was no practical reason why, it just seemed like a cool idea to them at the time. I agree more pathways/bridges are needed!

And Mark86 - isn't all the parks a bit of tough walking when sun is beating down on you in the 90 degree weather? But you are right - that area of Ak is a bit barren - probably another design flaw. Looked good on the drawing board, but in real life its not...

True, but the other parks have shops along the way where you can cool off in the disney A/C. It seems like the animal kingdom doesn't have as much shelter.

MadEye · Post by **MadEye** » May Sat 01, 2010 11:35 am

Fix the Yeti on Everest and a bunch of effects in Dinosaur. Make the pterodactyl really fly again and make the jumping dinosaurs really jump!!!

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » May Sat 01, 2010 11:35 am

I agree, Mark86, that whole area is a bit barren. It's the animal kingdom - you want shelters - does that mean they need animal shelters? Hahaha - sorry, couldn't help but to crack that bad pun. Then again, maybe not a bad idea. An area up front where NFP org.s can do pet adoptions (people are more likely to be suckers for adopting pets after a day of watching animals). Give some shade from heat and something else to do when you're there...

missynole · Post by **missynole** » May Sat 01, 2010 2:40 pm

Len90 wrote:I honestly find that AK is the most dreaful to walk around in during summer. I would redo the design comcet at the entrance. It is just too much walking and in the dead heat of summer a shortcut would be great. Noiedawg, I really like your idea.

I think to help clarify about the summer and AK, I think AK is more "cement" especially from the main entrance/parking lot into the Tree of Life area. The very, very first time we went as a family, we vowed we would NEVER, EVER go back. It was September 2001 (yes the very first week...got home on the 11th) and it was so bloomin hot we thought we were going to pass out. We couldn't find any shady spots and frankly in 90 degree weather, there is no hope of recovery. Now we love AK but that's because we avoid summer all together. Frankly nothing is fun at WDW in 90 degrees!

Arete · Post by **Arete** » May Sat 01, 2010 6:13 pm

It's all the vegetation, it holds in the humidity. The AK always feels 10 degrees hotter than the other parks. Or so it seems.

I agree that the paths need to be worked on. On a really busy day you can barely move. But what the AK really needs is more rides/attractions that can operate after dark. They've got a dragon out on the main sign - I say something e-ticket dragon related would be quite nice. (But not a coaster since that would just seem like they took the idea from Universal).

I wouldn't mind seeing something Narnia based either. It would fit in nicely at the AK, I think.

NaCler · Post by **NaCler** » May Sat 01, 2010 7:45 pm

I would take out the whole carnival games thing, what is up with that area? It just doesn't seem to fit in, it's never crowded/used and it just seems below Disney standards. Anyone else feel the same about it?

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » May Sat 01, 2010 7:48 pm

NaCler wrote:I would take out the whole carnival games thing, what is up with that area? It just doesn't seem to fit in, it's never crowded/used and it just seems below Disney standards. Anyone else feel the same about it?

That whole area belongs up on 192.

Amy · Post by **Amy** » May Sat 01, 2010 8:58 pm

Jacca5660 wrote:I don't know about this one. Maybe not bring back, but actually put some money into and expound on the original concepts. Does anybody remember the boat ride to nowhere?

Where was that boat ride located? I seem to remember there was something like that when we were last there but it was never running...we were there during off season

momeja · Post by **momeja** » May Sun 02, 2010 12:21 pm

NaCler wrote:I would take out the whole carnival games thing, what is up with that area? It just doesn't seem to fit in, it's never crowded/used and it just seems below Disney standards. Anyone else feel the same about it?

Agreed. You could lose all of Dinoland except Dinosaur and no one would miss it.