Taking a Walk on the Wild Side

With Suzanne in front of the Tree of Life 

The last time I went to a Disney property, it was easy to decide which park to visit. It was the early '80s, and Disney World was the one and only option. Fast forward to earlier this month when my sister and I visited Animal Kingdom. I had agreed to suffer through two hours of a timeshare pitch in exchange for three nights at a Hilton hotel in Orlando. I saw some great art. I had a fun getaway with Suzanne. And I didn't buy a timeshare. All in all, it worked out quite well. 

I was kind of surprised nobody looked at me askance when I said I was going to a Disney theme park. Sure, I know a lot of adults who've been, but generally they've had kids in tow. Surprisingly (not), Disney has created an experience that offers fun and a bit of education to every visitor. Even primatologist Jane Goodall has visited the park, although I suspect it was in a more official capacity than random tourist. 

DiVine makes an appearance

We of course had our picture taken in front of the Tree of Life. The 145 foot sculpture of a baobab tree is one of the signature spots in the park. The tree has 800 branches and more than 100,000 artificial leaves. But what's really cool are the 325 carvings of existing and extinct animals on the tree. After Goodall visited, a carving of David Greybeard, her favorite chimp, was added to the sculpture. I would have loved to have gotten closer to really take them in.

As we were on our way to Africa, we came upon a woman covered in vines whose face had been painted green. That would have been enough to give pause, but she was also on stilts with arms that extended to the ground. She was quite beautiful and graceful and did a few moves for us. I now know that she is the character DiVine (which sounds an awful lot like a drag name, but I digress). DiVine is apparently known for lurking in the foliage of the park, emerging upon unsuspecting visitors. I'm just as glad not to have had my heart jumpstarted that way. She is sometimes adorned with flowers, which would have been even more fun to see. And with that, we were off to see some actual animals. 

Okapi

It took two women with graduate degrees to figure out whether passes were still available that allow you to skip the long lines for rides. After watching some videos on the subject (seriously - why isn't this information easily accessible?), Suzanne reported that we could buy Genie+ passes in advance but couldn't book any experiences until that morning. And then you could only book one adventure at a time. Whew!

We prioritized the Kilmanjaro Safari as our first stop, both because the animals tend to be out earlier in the day and because I have reached the age when I can no longer do roller coasters much less the Avatar ride. It was quite enjoyable. I even saw some animals, like this okapi, that I didn't see on the real safari I went on in Tanzania. Okapi are indigenous to the Congo and are sometimes known as zebra giraffes. I get the zebra part of the name, but they're shorter than I am and their necks aren't particularly long so the giraffe designation was a surprise. It's all in the genes. 

Victoria Crown Pigeons

Other animals we saw on our "safari" were less exotic but no less exciting. There were many oohs and ahs when we came upon elephants and lions and giraffes. And then there were the animals we saw while just walking around. Not surprisingly, we spent a lot of time watching the lowland gorillas. There was one dad (who slept and then sat around looking grumpy), two mothers (also not particularly engaged) and three children. We could have watched the two babies all day as they played and climbed and were just generally adorable. 

I remember being taken with the trees and the birds when I was in Africa. Sure, it was exciting to see a lion stalk a gazelle and to get close -- but not too close -- to hippos (which are surprisingly aggressive and deadly). But it was the beauty of the trees and the exoticism of the birds that was a surprise. Those memories surfaced when we saw actual baobob and other cool trees and some unusual birds at Animal Kingdom. We enjoyed watching these Victoria Crown pigeons collect twigs to build a nest. One bird was bound and determined to get an enticing offshoot of a branch from the ground to the tree. Perhaps the audience made the bird nervous, because the attempts made while we were watching were unsuccessful. 

At "Finding Nemo" 

Last, but not least, there were the shows, which I would have enjoyed even if they weren't a welcome respite from the heat. My favorite was not the much-lauded Festival of the Lion King, which I did not find to be "Broadway quality." Instead, it was the colorful and uplifting Finding Nemo. The show was truly a feast for the eyes.  

Visiting Animal Kingdom was fun, although it will definitely be a "one and done" experience. But at the risk of sounding sentimental, what made my Orlando outing really special was being with my sister. Daily life gets in the way of spending what our mother would call "quality time" together. (The phrase became a family joke, at least between Suzanne and me.) But the get away did, in fact, provide the opportunity for just that. Thanks, Hilton! And don't forget to "just keep swimming."