Reviews of Wild Africa Trek – Animal Kingdom
Reviewed by nh9016 Review Date: 01/31/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
I went on this tour in Nov. 2012. It was so amazing! Tour guides Devon & Andrea were fantastic. I have other thoughts on pricing than other reviewers. I would have said that the water canteen likely would cost $20+ in a store; the lunch to get at a restaurant (you can't get it elsewhere) would likely cost $20-30; and photopass CDs (while this isn't the "traditional" photopass CD, it is essentially the same concept)usu. go for $120-150. That is the cost of the tour. The animal experiences were amazing. Yes, maybe it would be nice to let the guests toss the food to the hippos, but it was still very cool to see them & the crocodiles up close. Walking over the rope bridge was well out of my comfort zone, but that's one of the reasons I did it and it was amazing! It was wonderful to get an opportunity to pull over at various viewing areas and spend more time looking at the animals and hearing their stories. The Cheetahs came out to the road - the first I've ever seen them other than way back up against the trees. The Giraffes came up close to the Boma while we were eating lunch. It was incredible to spend time out on the Savannah and watch all of the animals, learn more about them & learn more about the Savannah. And it's nice to get to know the other people on the tour with you that you might otherwise never have interacted with at the parks. Absolutely no complaints from me! I even recommended it to multiple cast members that I spoke with during my visit. Probably one of the coolest things that I have ever done at Disney World - right up there with parasailing at the Contemporary!
Pros:
Everything!Cons:
—Reviewed by melmac82 Review Date: 01/28/2013
Rating: (6) Recommended
I went on this tour with my mom, sister, and friend back in October. We are Disney regulars and probably average 2-3 trips every 2 years. I'll say that my expectations were a little too high for this, and I'll also admit that a large part of that was based on the cost. I put "yes" that I'd recommend the tour, but it's really a recommend with reservations. There are a lot of other reviews that detail every part of the tour, so I won't go into all of that, but rather just highlight and give my honest opinion of the things that most stood out to me.
I have to start off first with the cost. For a tour that offers no discounts I was expecting a lot for $201.29 (cost including tax). We did this tour as an incentive for my sister (she's 27 by the way) to not make us go to Universal to see the Harry Potter section. So let's say that the lunch (VERY GOOD!, but not for picky eaters and waaaayy too short) would cost about $20-25 if eaten at a restaurant; the CD (a lot of great pictures!, but remember the tour guides are not official PhotoPass photographers) would cost about $10-15; and the water bottle about $10. This all adds up to $40-50, meaning that the rest of the trek better be worth the $150. After doing the Keys to the Kingdom tour for $65 (less with discounts) and the Behind the Seeds tour for $18 (less with discounts) I can officially say that this one was not even close to being worth $150!!! Now, if the price for the entire tour was about half of what it is, then I would be a lot more likely recommend it to anyone who asked.
Another bad thing about the cost is that only one person in a group gets the Picture CD (I got the CD, but my mom, sister, and friend didn't get one). The CD is supposed to be included with the tour and nowhere does it say that only one person in a group gets a CD. So essentially, everyone paid for a CD up front, but I had to end up making and sending out a copy to everyone else. Since we are all adults and live in different locations I had to spend the money and time to buy blank CDs, make the copies, and mail them out. If everyone in your party lives in the same household then it's probably not a big deal, but if not then see if you can request that everyone in your party receive a CD when you check in.
Next, I'll point out some of the things in the description, what I expected, and what we actually got:
"Journey deep into Pangani Forest on a thrilling, privately guided expedition featuring close encounters with exotic wildlife species." --> Yep, the Pagani Forest is the trail that is located right outside the exit of the safari. So, I expected to see things that I couldn't from just walking on the trail like I've done dozens of times when visiting the park. Nope. You get to walk and fight the rest of the regular park crowd to see the animals while trying to listen, through the ear piece that keeps falling out of your ear, to the little extras that the tour guides are saying. And we went through the trail faster than I do on my own.
"Get closer than you ever dreamed possible to Nile crocodiles and massive hippos." --> Pretty accurate, but I would have liked to toss some of the fruit/veggies to the hippos.
Crossing the rope bridge was fun and something to experience! My complaint though is that they send you across one at a time. So if you're near the beginning of the group (we had an almost full group of 11) you have to stand around at the end waiting for everyone else to come across. Or if you are at the end, you have to stand around until it's your turn. I was probably 4th in our group and had to wait about 15 minutes until everyone was across. And yeah, crocodiles are cool to see, but they just lay there, so there's only so much looking until it gets boring.
"Venture on to a VIP safari across an open savanna teeming with native African creatures!" --> Again I expected that we would get to see other parts of the safari area other than what you get to see on the safari ride. And again, nope. You do get to ride in a private safari truck, but it just follows the regular safari ride's road. We did get to stop about 5 times (wildebeasts, ankole cattle, elephants, lions, rhinos) to take good pictures and hear more about the animals and their care from the tour guides. It was nice to get good pictures, but I didn't get to see anything that I couldn't otherwise see on the safari ride.
"...including a visit to an exclusive safari camp with incredible views of everything from towering giraffe to powerful rhinos." --> This is where we ate lunch. Again I was thinking that this was in an exclusive area, but it's right in the middle of the safari ride savanna - you can see the building while on the safari, it's on the right when you go by the flamingos. Lunch was very good and we had a good view of the giraffes - until they decided to wander off somewhere else. So you may or may not get a good look at animals during lunch. It just depends on which ones want to wander by. If you want a guaranteed look at the animals where you can spend as much time as you like and can see them closer just go to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and see the animals there. Also, lunch was kind of short. I'm a fast eater but I had to really eat quick and ended up stuffing the dessert in my mouth as we were leaving because I didn't want to leave any of the really good food!
So basically I have two summaries of the Wild Africa Trek depending on who I'm talking to:
For those who don't care about the cost and have tons of extra money laying around: The Wild Africa Trek is awesome and a great experience you don't want to miss!
For those who are wondering if they want to spend $200 on a tour: You get to experience some new things and get closer to the animals than you can in any other offered experience, but it's not worth the money. Go over to Animal Kingdom Lodge, eat at Sanaa for lunch (where they have savanna views from the restaurant), and then go sit outside in a rocking chair to watch the animals while enjoying a Mickey ice cream bar from the gift shop. You'll spend a lot less money, see about the same amount of animals, and hey, you get a Mickey icream out of the deal too. 🙂
Pros:
tour guides, lunchCons:
cost, safariReviewed by Lou28 Review Date: 01/14/2013
Rating: (7) Recommended
I took this tour several months ago with my family. The tour guides were top notch. They also did a great job getting good photos of my family. Another highlight was the meal served at the boma, very good! Seeing the hippos up close was great, too. Unfortunately, our tour day turned out to be a hot one. The harnesses felt heavier and more uncomfortable in the heat. You don't realize just how heavy the harness is until you take it off about halfway through the tour. The cold wash cloths were a welcome addition as well as water bottles. I have taken the regular safari ride 2-3 dozen times and had the misfortune of seeing the fewest animals ever on this tour. Our truck stopped for a while in a few places but not many animals were out and about. During our lunch there weren't many animals to see either. Our tour guides tried to compensate with lots of interesting information. Given the nature of the animals, it is hard for Disney to provide a consistent tour experience. I'm sure on a different day I could have seen lots more animals. This is a wildcard factor to consider before booking tour. The "thrill" aspects of the tour (namely, rope bridges) were less thrilling than expected. There is just one L-shaped bridge. Everyone passed over it rather quickly to make way for the next guest without much time to appreciate the surroundings. I was pleased with the photo CD, which arrived quickly after our return home. I do think Disney should send a CD to every person, not just one per group, considering we all paid a rather hefty price for the tour. I would recommend this tour to people looking for something different to try at AK and with extra money to spare. Do be prepared that animal viewing can vary.
