We arrived at Animal Kingdom (AK) by about 1:00 in the afternoon. There were plenty of cars in the parking lot but it was far from full. We parked in the Dino section, boarded the tram (which appeared to be the same type as the new "Tramzilla" used at Disneyland in California) and made our way to the main entrance. We passed the Rainforest Café on the way to the park entrance and Nat was intrigued so we peeked in. Of course she wanted to go in but I told her we would be going there for dinner later and would have plenty of time to walk around. We made first use of our LOS passes at the main entrance and we were in.

First I will dispense with the controversial stuff. AK has been criticized for being a "half day park" and for not being complete. I will sum up my personal impression of AK with two statements: It is the best Disney Theme Park I have seen. It is the worst Disney Theme Park I have seen.

Let me explain.

The park is absolutely gorgeous. Each area is themed perfectly and they blend together into a more cohesive whole than any of their other parks. The park immerses you into its world more thoroughly than any other park. The details are incredible. Everywhere you look there is something new and surprising waiting to be discovered. And it's only going to get better. The "Asia" section of the park is nearly open and there are plans for a "mythical beast" section. As the park ages, the foliage, already impressive in its variety, will fill in more adding to the jungle-like atmosphere. And let's not forget the animals. Beautiful and colorful birds abound, and it seems like every time you turn a corner you find an animal habitat. The way it's laid out you get the distinct feeling you are discovering its details as you wander along.

And then there's the Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life (ToL) is the park's centerpiece, much like the castle is the centerpiece of the Magic Kingdom. Yet, while the castle acts mostly as a backdrop and a point of reference, the ToL is its own little world, beckoning you to explore. For those who have not seen it or read about it, the Tree of Life is a huge structure, part building, part sculpture and part theater, that stands at the center of AK. Disney artists have sculpted over 300 animals into the bark of the tree. The resulting structure is like a huge puzzle where each piece is its own work of art. The path that winds its way around the base of the tree meanders around and under the tree's roots, which of course also are decorated with likenesses of different members of the animal kingdom. You could easily spend at least two hours just exploring the ToL, taking pictures and pointing out the many creatures you discover. It is a testament to the power and beauty of this structure that even 5 year-old Natalie never tired of looking at it. It is also the single aspect of the trip she has talked about the most since. She even told my wife "I wish you could have seen it".

And now the bad news.

AK has, in my opinion, the worst collection of attractions of any Disney park. One attraction, the Discovery River Cruise, has even been shut down as a result of guest complaints. (Apparently the name misled many guests into thinking there was more to the boat ride around the park.) There is one thrill ride, one movie, a train ride, three live shows and a safari ride. There are also a few minor and/or temporary walk through attractions as well as a kids' play area. I will discuss each of the attractions in more detail at later points in this article, but in summation I will say that some were great, some were good, some were disappointing and at least one was just plain weird.

The layout of the park is similar to the hub-and-spoke design used in the Magic Kingdom. Just inside the park's entrance is the Entrance Plaza which acts as the park's "Main Street". Mostly it has shops and eating establishments, with an in-park entrance to the Rainforest Café at the end near the entrance. Just past the Entrance Plaza is the Oasis. Past the Oasis and over a bridge is the Safari Village which acts as the park's hub and is home to the Tree of Life. Safari Village is surrounded by water, making it more difficult than MK to get from one area to another. Starting to the right of the Entrance Plaza as you are walking in and working clockwise are Camp Minnie Mickey (where children can be greeted by characters), Africa (home to Kilimanjaro Safaris), the yet to be completed Asia section, and Dinoland, USA (home to the thrill ride Countdown to Extinction).

As its name implies, the Oasis is a lush area with meandering walkways full of interesting plants and animals (mostly birds). Once you pass through the Oasis you cross a bridge to the Tree of Life. Crossing over the bridge I noticed a landing that was, I assume, used for the Discover River Cruise. It's a very attractive little structure and I found myself thinking it was a shame that Disney found it necessary to close it down. In reality, on a trip with so little spare time we probably wouldn't have bothered with it anyway.

By now Nat and I were both pretty hungry so I figured it was time for lunch. We made our way to Dinoland and had lunch at Restaurantosaurus. Some of the menu at Restaurantosaurus is provided by McDonald's, most notably the French Fries and Chicken Nuggets. Nat doesn't like McDonald's Nuggets but there was nothing else on the menu she would touch so I got her a Happy Meal and admonished her to eat at least 2 of the Nuggets. I had a Bacon Cheeseburger. The Burger was fine and the fries were typical McDonald's. I don't recall the cost of the meal but it wasn't outrageous so far as I can remember.

Dinoland is themed as an archeological dig site. The story goes that the people in charge of the site tried to turn it into a tourist area, failed, and abandoned it. As is the case with the rest of AK, the theming is carried out beautifully. There is a sense of fun about the place that is very catching. It has a certain quirkiness that reminds me of Toontown, although they have absolutely nothing else in common. It's simply a great place to hang around and take in all the details. Even the music is fun - a collection of rock tunes that somehow tie in to the archeological theme ("It's the End of the World as We Know It", "Can You Dig It", etc.). This is a really fun place.

After lunch we headed over to the Theater in the Wild, which is showing "Journey Into the Jungle Book" (JitJB). The show was to start in a few minutes so we went in. JitJB is a colorful show using live actors and puppets to tell highlights from the classic Disney animated feature. The show was colorful, fun, entertaining and, well, a little odd. Some of the characters (Bagheera, King Louis and most notably Baloo) were actors in full character costume with their faces covered in makeup suggesting the look of the character they were portraying. To me this added a certain level of strangeness to the proceedings. This was especially true during the "Bare Necessities" scene. I don't know how to describe it, but the human face on Baloo lent a certain suggestiveness to the scene where he and Mogli are scratching themselves on trees that I think it otherwise would have lacked. Or maybe it's just me. On the other hand, both Nat and I were particularly impressed with Sher Khan, who was portrayed by a large multi-piece puppet. Very impressive.

We then headed over to The Boneyard, a large play area for kids. The Boneyard is styled after an abandoned archeological dig site. It has lots of stuff to climb on, many intertwining slides and caverns and secret passages carved into the "rock". Nat absolutely loved this place. One note of warning to parents: As is the case with many of these play areas there are lots of opportunities for kids to get lost. In particular many of the slides discharge in unexpected places. Be sure to note exactly where a slide ends up before letting small kids use them.

It was at the Boneyard that Nat and I would have our one and only "scene" of the trip. As I mentioned earlier it was very hot. There is a trickling waterfall spilling off one of the rock formations that looked inviting. Nat was at my side when I took off my hat and dunked my head in the water. When I pulled my head up she was gone. My heart sank into my stomach. I combed the area for her to no avail. Wasting no time I found a group of three Cast Members and told them what happened. "Don't worry" they said and immediately split up, giving Nat's description to every Cast Member they passed. After not more than 5 minutes (but what seemed like an hour) I heard Nat cheerfully calling "Daddy!" She ran up to me all smiles explaining she had climbed one of the structures at the center of the Boneyard. I was so angry and (mostly) scared that I really let her have it. I felt a little guilty later because I yelled at her and she started crying. Nat's a pretty bright kid and usually very good about this sort of thing, so this is just an example of how diligent parents have to be with their kids in a place like this. Within a few minutes all was forgiven and she promised she would never do that again.

We were scheduled to meet some folks who post to a WDW Internet news group at 3:00 and we still had some time to kill so we headed over to Camp Minnie Mickey (CMM). Themed after a summer camp in the woods, CMM is the place to meet Disney Characters at AK. The line wasn't too long so Nat and I opted to meet the Big Cheese himself, as well as his SO (Significant Other, to you net neophytes). Meeting the characters is always a big highlight for Nat and we are careful to allow time for it whenever we go to a Disney park.

After bonding with the Mouse we headed back over to Dinoland for the meeting which was to take place near a fountain in front of Countdown to Extinction (CTX). As we were walking up I saw that there were a few folks already there but Nat said she wanted a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar, so we stole away undetected to fulfill her request. When we returned there were a few more folks there. At its peak the party included Ronnie (with whom I had had quite a bit of correspondence), Deb (the editor of the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World web site, easily the most comprehensive guide to WDW on the web), Kenny, Fuxi (from Austria), Bruce, Randy, Marta, Mike, Keith and Tracey and Steve from England. Ronnie gave Nat a miniature stuffed "Lady" key fob (which soon became a permanent accessory to her stroller) and Deb came bearing a bag full of Disney buttons. Nat selected a Hunchback pin while I picked a Hercules New York World Premier pin that matched the T-shirt I had selected for the day. We all chatted for a few minutes and then rode CTX. Since Nat is too small Ronnie kept her company while I rode.

Countdown to Extinction is AK's sole thrill ride. According to the story, you are in a special time-traveling vehicle that looks something like a large flying Jeep on a mission to find and bring back a live dinosaur just before a giant comet hits the Earth. The queue area is themed as some sort of science facility. Compared to the queue areas of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney MGM Studios or many other attractions at Disney parks, the queue area for CTX was unimpressive. As you wait to board you are shown a short film starring the woman who played Bill Cosby's wife (not being a fan of Bill Cosby, I'm not sure of her name) and one of the stars of Veronica's Closet (whose name also escapes me) that explains the story. You then board the "time vehicles" and are off.

The ride technology used for CTX, which includes advanced audio-animatronics and ride vehicles that move independently and enhance the experience much in the same way as a flight simulator, are of the same type used in the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland. This naturally leads one to compare IJA to CTX. In my opinion there is no comparison. CTX is not nearly exciting as IJA. The main difference is that with IJA you enter a large chamber with many things going on at once that you navigate, while CTX is essentially a series of short vignettes interrupted by stretches of darkness. The overall impact for me was to make me feel as if the ride is incomplete. It's a good attraction that I recommend, but it could have been much better.

We all gathered at the exit to CTX, some straggling behind because they wanted to check out the photo that is taken of each car during the ride. The picture turned out extremely well and someone (Randy?) decided to buy a copy. Everyone, including myself, looked perfectly posed in the picture. It was really quite funny.

We all then decided to head over to the Tree of Life to catch It's Tough to be a Bug (ITTBAB). ITTBAB is a computer animated 3-D film that uses audio-animatronics and various special effects techniques to create a total experience. The theater for ITTBAB is actually located inside the ToL, so the queue area for the attraction weaves in and out of the roots of the tree. Needless to say the queue area is quite a bit better than that of CTX.

As you enter the lobby of the theater, you are treated with various Hollywood show tunes as sung by insects. The lobby is also decorated with posters of insect versions of famous films (I regret to say that I can't remember a single one now, but they were very cute). The film itself is much like Honey I Shrunk the Audience in its execution, attempting to make the whole thing look like a stage show. Overall I quite enjoyed it, and Nat liked it as well. I had heard that young children get very scared by parts of the show, and Nat did get a bit spooked, but only for a few minutes. I did, however, find that the 3-D effects didn't work too well for me. Overall I enjoyed it, but I think I prefer HISTA and the Muppet 4-D Adventure (at least what I recall, it was about seven years ago when I last saw it).

It was after 5:00 by the time we left ITTBAB, and since Nat and I had 6:00 reservations at the Rainforest Café, we bid adieu to our friends. We would meet up again with many of them on Sunday.

We had a little time to kill before our reservations, so Nat and I strolled around AK for a while longer, taking in the ambiance. There is plenty to take in. Whenever we go on a trip with Nat that includes a lot of shopping, we allow Nat one present per day. We were looking around in a store called Creature Comforts that sells mostly stuffed animals. Nat was lusting after an Animal Kingdom Barbie, but as she has about two dozen Barbies at home (maybe I exaggerate a little) I tried to steer her away from it. Why don't they sell the outfits without the doll? She settled on a stuffed leopard that she would name Leppy (I guess it beats "Leper") which became a permanent fixture in her arms for the rest of the trip. I also picked up a cute dinosaur book for Charlotte. A side note here, there are these extremely realistic articulated dinosaurs that they sell in most of the stores at AK that, if I were about seven years old, I would have been nuts for. I was discussing them with a CM at one of the stores who told me they were a new item. Very cool.