Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORGOCH: Well, heck! If'n anybody wants ta feed a hippo, I knows one ya can feed fer FREE!! Her name's Orwen!
Originally Posted By jonvn "Ya, and some of you act like it's an everyway thing to feed a hippo" I have fed a hippo. At the SF zoo, they have a night tour once a year for members. You can get in line to do it. They don't have the most pleasant of breath. But, obviously, this does appeal to some, so I guess it's an ok enough idea. It just seems kind of odd. Oh, and dolphins are not friendly little corgis. You should not swim with them.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I guess the DNK concept would appeal to a rather small percentage of WDW guests, but I'm sure they believe that is all they would need to be successful. I can definitely see the thrill. The single best theme park moment for me in my life was the first time I rode Kilimanjaro Safari. As we went around a curve we were suddenly surrounded by seven giraffe. Yes, seven. I used to always tell people five, and then I looked at one photo I took which showed them all. All seven of them. It was truly one of the most thrilling moments of my life. I guess some are into that type of thing and some aren't.
Originally Posted By smctopia You can get in the water with dolphins not just at Discovery Cove but also at the Living Seas Dolphins in Depth tour. You don't swim with them but you can pet them. I went and had fun and was the only one on the tour, so I got a lot of attention and got to be in the water alone with the 2 dolphins they had at the time. Visit Walt Dated World <a href="http://waltdatedworld.bravepages.com" target="_blank">http://waltdatedworld.bravepag es.com</a>
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 "I mean imagine if you went on the dawn safari from the AKL, saw La Nouba and had dinner at the California Grill, you would spend the same sort of money right? This looks even better." But that's the thing, see, there are already similar things on property that you can do for the same price, so why repeat? I'm not sure I like what's been described so far. The whole idea isn't bad, but just the things to do don't sound that fun to me. Animals are unpredictable, and if you watch the linos and hyenas, you might be in for a boring night if they're not that active. The hippo feeding is pretty routine, the hippos will get used to the feeding time. Zipline over crocodiles? They'd better have all the legal worked out on that one! Also, some people would want a more relaxing experince, so all that there is for them is to watch a show, or just walk around? Doesn't sound like it's refined enough yet for all tastes. I hope they market this as an extension of AK, and not a new "boutique park", since it seems to use AK heavily.
Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror >>>$520 mil goes along way when you are building a fancy backdoor/VIP entrance into an existing park for a theme park experience that includes no attractions, per se. For that kind of money it better be a darn fancy backdoor. That is assuming that they won't actually build an entirely new animal theme park, but use parts of the existing park. I know it sounds like I'm busting on this, but I think it could be cool. It very much will be on par with Discovey Cove. I would love to have an infrared video camera and night vision goggles and video Hyenas and Lions eating a cow.<<< Eating a cow. Now THAT would be a Disney Day...er, night. Yeah, I think there are people who feed Jim Hill bad information just to make him look stupid, and he's all too gullible to swallow it whole. Plenty of examples over the last two years alone. I don't doubt that they'll invest in capital improvements to DAK, and perhaps use some of that land as an alternative entrypoint with its own specific attractions. What bugs me is that to make this work - they'll have to close DAK early indefinitely... and by EARLY, I mean the way they're doing it NOW. Remember that until recently, there were plans to extend DAK's hours for regular guests. Rivers of Light is coming, and Everest/Nemo have bulked up the park's attendance... So now these extended hours are going to cost $300? That's just sad. And kind of elitist. I would love to try out what they're selling here once... but I think it's sad that it consigns DAK to remaining a park that closes to regular guests at 5 or 6 pm every night.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<I would love to try out what they're selling here once... but I think it's sad that it consigns DAK to remaining a park that closes to regular guests at 5 or 6 pm every night.>> I think it would be like it currently is with Extra Magic Hours. Guests would have access to the park except for the Safari and the Pangiani and Maharaja trails. The big buck folk would have access to that part with their night goggles which would be fine... it wouldn't have been open to the rest of us anyway.
Originally Posted By leobloom Something that I'm not understanding is the appeal of watching these animals at night with nightvision. I realize many animals are active at night. But many animals are also active in the early morning. Since everything would be happening in the dark, there's not much opportunity for photography, which would be my interest. Since everything's in the dark, I'm not really seeing what the draw is.
Originally Posted By nbodyhome There have been surveys done on guests asking them about Night Kingdom (being a boutique park). I didn't understand why they don't have it at AK. (like 11p - 4a).
Originally Posted By Bob Paris Sorry, I don't get this night thing either. When I read that you can skulk around in the dark with night vision goggles, watching lions eating zebras and repel over crocodile pits, all I have in mind is a crazy and potentially lethal combination of "Jurassic Park" meets "Westworld". I am not sure I have EVER had a "dream" of being around ANY big cats while they rip into their evening meal. Have you ever gotten too close to a dog while they are eating their Alpo? I wonder if the $300 entry in part pays the premiums for the billion liability policies the company will have to pay to open this bizarre new venture. "Come to Disney's Night Kingdom.......file to the left please and sign the waiver"
Originally Posted By Bob Paris Sorry, that should be "billion dollar". Oh and once the first casualties start occurring, they should market this park as, "Year of a million nightmares". This MUST be wind up.
Originally Posted By aracuanbird Look at it this way: The Mouse's marketing gurus had a hard time explaining DAK to guests, or at least convincing them to go. By most accounts, The Year of a Million Dreams has not broken through to most guests who are already paying to visit Disney Parks. And we all know how well the Disney Institute was sold. If this has any chance for success, Disney is really going to need to simplify their message, and give it serious heart. "Swim with dolphins" (especially in some "Blue Lagoon" setting) resonates with Joe Sixpack sitting on his counch in the Midwest. Feeding hippos sounds like something you could do at the local zoo.
Originally Posted By aracuanbird BTW - I am the first to commend Disney for chasing alternatives to the tired theme park model. It really is time for a sea change. But if this is just Disney in market share-reactionary mode, they need to get their act together and realize that a big of what makes Discovery Cove successful is its originality. Busch innovated with the limited admission scheme and the luxury gate price. Presumably, all of that was devised to support a business plan that allowed guests some serious touch-time with dolphins--the heart of the concept. If Disney is chasing some new type of guest experience, they darn well better define the heart of the thing and build a formula to support it. From Jim Hill's description, however, heart is the last thing anyone is bringing up. It just sounds like Mickey's worried about how much money he's leaving on the table.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip << Presumably, all of that was devised to support a business plan that allowed guests some serious touch-time with dolphins--the heart of the concept.>> Yes, I can't quite imagine the appeal of 'serious touch-time' with hippos or lions. Now if they added sheep to the mix they might have something... (Yes, I know this will be redlined. But I just had to.)
Originally Posted By RoadTrip ^^^ LOL Don't kid a kidder. You know I'm joshin'. I could talk about some things I've heard from good-old Minnesota farm boys. But I won't.
Originally Posted By aracuanbird Hey, don't limit things to Minnesota...I'm pretty sure it's the whole midwest. I'm from Ohio...what most people call "sick" we call "prom"
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Lol - I went to University in Wales. As a part of the induction they gave us our Student Union Cards, Library Cards, and boots with adjustable straps ;-)
