Weekly Topic #4

This week's topic comes from A Walk In The Park Blog and is about Disney's Animal Kingdom's 10th anniversary. You can read their original post by clicking here.

This is another great topic for me, because I love Animal Kingdom. I'm fairly sure (sorta indecisive by nature) that it's my favorite Disney Park in Orlando. Like in the article at A Walk In The Park, I've had the chance to visit Animal Kingdom many times since it opened in 1998, and thus I've also watched the park grow and mature.

Even though the park was pretty bare when I first visited, in '99, I fell in love with the feeling, mood, and general theme of the park. To be honest, I'm not even a huge animal fan. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful to see creatures I'll probably never see elsewhere in my life, but I'm by no means a fanatic.

Like I said, the theme and mood of the park are what hooked me in. Like in the photo above, if one had no idea the park existed I highly doubt they'd ever guess that this photo was taken in a theme park - aside from the crowd and tourist looking outfits.

The park themes itself on reality, and does not apologize for it - which is what I love so much. Stuff looks dirty, gritty, real - and not in the Haunted Mansion way, there's no fantasy element in most of the theming. Even an attraction like Everest that does feature a massive fantasy creature presents itself as a reality, the queue is used, abused, sometimes messy, but overall real feeling.
Personally, that's what hooked my interest. Oddly enough, I'd almost prefer another continent themed area to Beastly Kingdom (or whatever version of it ends up going in) - so as not to break the 'real' theme the park has.

But don't get me wrong, I'll scream with glee past all Dragons, Unicorns, and Mythical Creatures that Disney may want to throw at me!