Falling Short at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom has all of the necessary elements for the makings of a great theme park. Beautiful vistas, great food, exotic shopping and thrills. In fact, thrills can be found in each corner of the park, just awaiting discovery! Take a prehistoric journey on Dinosaur!, a wild and wet but short excursion on the Kali River Rapids, the park's signature attraction, Kilimanjaro Safaris, or my favorite, the lengthy titled but adrenaline producing Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. Guess you could even go for the new high end "Wild Africa Trek" if money were no object.

Unfortunately, after the rush wears off- and it does, the park falls flat. There's just not enough real Disney attractions! Time to move on those plans for expansion. Animal Kingdom probably has the most untapped potential of any stateside park. And, for now, the potential stays untapped. Too bad. (If you want to learn more about this place, its design, creation and evolution, start reading my multipart series here.)