Animation Courtyard

The Animation Courtyard is home to a number of attractions based on Disney characters of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Magic of Disney Animation is an attraction that examines the development process of an animated character. It also includes interactive games and exhibits, along with meet-and-greet areas for Disney and Pixar characters.

Mickey Avenue, a sub-section of Animation Courtyard, has two walk-through exhibits. Walt Disney: One Man's Dream explores the life and legacy of Walt Disney through photos, models, rare artifacts and a short biographical film narrated by Julie Andrews.

 At "Journey into Narnia," guests can see props and set pieces from the "Chronicles of Narnia" movie series and meet the namesake of the series' second film, Prince Caspian.

The Courtyard section also hosts two live shows. Playhouse Disney Live on Stage!entertains guests with puppet characters from the Playhouse Disney block of programming on The Disney Channel, including Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, and Little Einsteins.

Across the plaza, Voyage of the Little Mermaid uses glow-in-the-dark puppets, lasers, music, projectors, human actors and water effects to re-create favorite scenes and songs from the animated Little Mermaid film.

Hollywood Boulevard and Echo Lake!

Hollywood Boulevard serves as the park's main entrance and is lined with stores selling Disney merchandise. Parades such as the Pixar Block Party Bash travel down Hollywood Boulevard on their route through the park, and live street entertainment can be found here throughout the day.

At the far end of Hollywood Boulevard stands the Sorcerer's Hat, the icon of Disney's Hollywood Studios. Behind it, inside a replica of Grauman's Chinese Theater, is The Great Movie Ride, a ride paying homage to several classic films, including The Wizard of Oz. 

Echo Lake is the park's small oval-shaped lagoon. Surrounding it are numerous attractions and services, some in structures designed to mimic the "California Crazy" form of architecture from Hollywood's Golden Age. Look at this dinosaur that is actually an ice cream shop!

At The American Idol Experience, park guests can audition and sing for live audiences, and potentially win a special front-of-the-line pass for the popular TV series' real tryouts. 

Next door, Sounds Dangerous! features a 3-D audio presentation that talks about how people create sound for TV shows and movies.  

Echo Lake includes three attractions based on characters and movies produced by George Lucas' Lucasfilm studio. Star Tours: The Adventures Continues is an upcoming motion simulator ride. It is not open yet, but we will walk by.  

Jedi Training Academy, a live-action stage show, invites children to become "padawan learners" and receive "lightsaber training" from a Jedi master.

Lastly, the live-action Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! re-enacts various scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark while talking about how movie stunts are performed.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. It is 135 acres in size, its theme is show business, drawing ideas from the Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. The third park built at the resort, it opened on May 1, 1989 as Disney-MGM Studios.

The park consists of six themed areas. Unlike the other Walt Disney World parks, Disney's Hollywood Studios does not have a defined layout; it is more a mass of streets and buildings that blend into each other, much like a real motion picture studio would. We will learn more about these areas in the coming days. They are called:

Hollywood Boulevard

Echo Lake

Streets of America

Animation Courtyard

Pixar Place

Sunset Boulevard

Like the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom parks, Disney's Hollywood Studios also runs daily parades down Hollywood Boulevard. The "Pixar Block Party Bash" parade features Pixar film characters performing in a street party along Hollywood Boulevard and near Echo Lake.

Several times each day, the "Disney Channel Rocks" show will travel Hollywood Boulevard before performing a live street show in front of the Sorcerer's Hat. Stay tuned for more information about this fun place-- we are going here on our first full day in Florida!

 

Rafiki’s Planet Watch and Discovery Club

Rafiki's Planet Watch is the one section of the park not connected to Discovery Island, Rafiki's Planet Watch is instead connected to Africa. Guests board the Wildlife Express Train for the short trip to and from Planet Watch, which consists of three distinct areas. 

Guests first encounter Habitat Habit!, where they can see cottontop tamarins and learn about the efforts to protect these endangered primates in their natural homes. Along the way, guests can also learn how to provide animal habitats in and around their own homes.

Conservation Station showcases the various conservation efforts supported by the Walt Disney Company. It also gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Disney's Animal Kingdom's animal care facilities, including a veterinary examination room complete with a two-way communications system so the veterinary staff can answer guest questions. 

Outside, Affection Section is a petting zoo featuring goats, sheep and other domesticated animals.

Kids Discovery Clubs are fun-filled activity stations for kids of all ages located throughout Animal Kingdom theme park.

There are 6 Kids Discovery Club outposts where kids can explore and discover nature's wonders through hands-on experiences such as constructing a dinosaur from a pile of bones, going on a scavenger hunt, becoming a wildlife detective and viewing the world from a bug's point of view.

After completing each activity, kids receive a stamp. Once they collect all 6 stamps, they can receive a special bonus for completing all the activities.

Africa

Africa is the largest “land” within Animal Kingdom and it is centered around the town of Harambe. The buildings of Harambe are all based on actual African buildings. Everyone here calls out “Jambo!”, which means “Hello” in Swahili (a language spoken throughout Africa).   

Africa has two major attractions.

Kilamanjaro Safari—this ride imitates actual safaris in Africa. We will ride in an open air jeep and travel through the wild looking for animlas. We will see things like rhinoceroses, giraffes, elephants, and lions. While on the safari, we need to look for a baby elephant who was stolen by poachers! 

Pangani Forest Exploration Trail—After we leave the safari, we will encounter the entrance to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. This trail is a lot like the Maharaja Jungle Trek. However, instead of seeing Asian animals, we will see animals from Africa. We will see gorillas, hippos, and naked mole-rats! There is a huge pond with brightly colored fish as well!

Asia

When you cross the bridge from Discovery Island into Asia, you enter the town of Anandapur. This town is based on real places in India, Thailand, Indonesia and Nepal.  Like Dinoland, Asia has four major attractions. 

Expedition Everest—This is Paula’s favorite ride at Disney World. The waiting area takes you through a Nepalese village and their temple. You will also travel through a museum with artifacts relating to the Yeti living in the forbidden mountain.

Once you get to the ride, you board a steam train to take you up the mountain to Everest. However, along the way you encounter broken train tracks. You must escape the mountain before the Yeti gets you!

Flights of Wonder—is show featuring real birds where you learn about the natural talents and abilities of birds. The show tells you about a variety of birds and how they survive in the wild. 

Kali River Rapids—This is a ride where you sit in a large, circular raft and “float” down a river with white water rapids!  You will float through a dense rain forest past waterfalls, temple ruins, and bamboo thickets. We plan to wear ponchos on this ride so we don’t get too wet!

Maharaja Jungle Trek—this is a nice nature walk where we can see animals who reside in Asia. We will see tigers, komodo dragons, fruit bats, birds and asian deer. We will get a map that takes us through the trail and tell us about the different animals we will see. 

Dinoland, U.S.A.

Dinoland, U.S.A. is a cross between an archaeological dig site (a place where they dig up dinosaur bones) and a roadside carnival. It is home to a children’s play area, a nature trail, a thrill ride, and a 1500 seat theater (where Paula’s favorite show is located)!  

There are five attractions in Dinoland, but one (called Primeval Whirl) will be closed when we go. The four that we can experience are:

The Boneyard—This is playground designed to look like a dinosaur bone dig site. You can swing, slide and climb on dino skeletons. You can also dig in sandpits for dinosaur bones and fossils! 

Dinosaur!—This is a ride where you travel back in time on a search and rescue mission. We need to find a dinosaur and bring it back to modern times with us. We will need to be careful, though… there are meat-eating dinosaurs along the trail! 

Finding Nemo—The Musical—This is Paula’s favorite show!  The show has dancing, special effects, on-stage human performers that tell the Nemo story though puppets! This show is wonderful!

TriceraTop Spin—In this ride, you climb inside a Triceratop and fly into the air. The ride is a lot like the Dumbo ride. You can control your dinosaur, making it fly up and down in a circle.

Camp Minnie-Mickey

Camp Minnie-Mickey is designed to be the home of the Disney characters within Animal Kingdom. The land is “woodsy” and has the feel of summer camp. You can walk down different hiking trails to meet Disney characters dressed in Safari clothes.

 

You can also see a live stage show called “Festival of the Lion King”. Although we have never seen “Festival of the Lion King”, it sounds great! The show is inspired by the animated movie, “The Lion King”. It is part stage show, part circus and part parade. 

Guests are seated in four different bleacher sections and we will be asked to make animal noises during the show. All of the songs from “The Lion King” are featured. Many people say that this show is the best part about Animal Kingdom!

The Oasis and Discovery Island

The Oasis sets the stage and gets you in the right mood to enjoy Animal Kingdom. It is a series of paths that all lead you to the “Tree of Life”. The pathways have lush plants on either side. You can see little streams, waterfalls,  and animal exhibits as you walk the different paths.

Each animal exhibit has a sign identifying the animals. You can then search for the animal within the exhibit. Sometimes you have to look closely, but they are there!

As you exit the Oasis, you will see the “Tree of Life” before you, which means you are now on Discovery Island.  The bridges to Asia and Dinoland are on your right, the bridges to Camp Minnie Mickey and Africa are on the left. 

Discovery Island uses vibrant colors and whimsical animals to convey the residents’ love of animals. The people who “live” here cannot contain their fascination for animals, so animals are part of every building, sign, lamp wall, and bench. 

Discovery Island is the center of the park and has a lot of stores. However, there is one “attraction”, which is a movie called “It’s Tough to be a Bug”.

To see the show, you will walk towards the Tree of Life and wind you way down into the roots. Along the way, you can admire the many animals carved with the tree. I wonder if you will be able to find your favorite animal?

Once you enter the roots, you will enter the theater. “It’s Tough to be a Bug” is a 3-D movie so you will have to wear 3-D glasses to see the show. The movie is a funny show about how difficulties of being a small creature and tells you all about the important jobs bugs perform. 

“It’s Tough to be a Bug” is also employs you other senses as well, like touch and smell. In other words, watch out for the stinkbug!

Introduction to the Animal Kingdom

I hope you like watching the DVD you just opened! Animal Kingdom is out favorite park out of the four. It is so pretty and you forget sometimes that you are even in Florida! You feel like you are in Asia, Africa, or at a dinosaur excavation site. 

There are more than 1000 animals contained in six “lands”. We will learn more about these lands over the next few days.

The Oasis

Discovery Island

DinoLand, U.S.A.

Camp Minnie-Mickey

Africa

Asia

The habitats that the animals live in are all natural looking, meaning they are in “cages” that don’t look like cages. For example, you will notice that there is only a flimsy bamboo fence separating you and a huge gorilla. However, that bamboo is actually metal rods sunk into concrete. That gorilla isn’t going anywhere! 

Tomorrow we will learn more about the different lands of Animal Kingdom. In the meantime, enjoy watching the DVD!