Animal Kingdom

[jsdt]

We have been to Animal Kingdom about 5 times, but have never taken the train to the back of the park to see Conservation Station or the other items around there.

For those of you that have been there, is it worth it and what would you recommend and why?

My son likes trains so we were considering riding there because of that, but then again he could always just ride the train at the Magic Kingdom.

[Imagineer1981]

As far as a train ride goes, its not that great, in fact you sit sideways and only look out one way (so you can't see all the backstage roads, lol). Its definitely worth going to though, if you have a young child who wants to pet animals and see a real vet in action, its cool

[SAHDad]

It was okay. We only went once, and our son (then about 9 months old) fell asleep after we had been there for less than 20 minutes. We walked around for a while, to see if he would wake up, but eventually left when it became rather obvious he was going to be out for several hours.

If you are just wanting the train ride, don't bother. If your son likes animals, yeah, it could be worthwhile.

[ThanxForNoticin]

If it was your first trip to AK, I would usually tell people to put Conservation Station lower on the list. However, since you've seen many of the bigger attractions (probably more than once), then yes, it's worth a trip to CS. My kids enjoy the train ride. They also enjoyed the petting zoo and the animal nursery. They have some interesting educational presentations where kids can learn about animals, and sometimes touch them. We have found it's worth an hour or so of your day to experience CS.

[MickeyMousse]

We have gone there twice and I think that's enough for us! The goats that the kids get to pet are cute, but reminds me of the local animal farm here at home. The 2 visits we made to see the vet in action-nobody was there! Just empty rooms to look at. Once there was a handler walking around with a snake to pet......I went in the opposite direction. I think it's real low on our list of things to do at AK with a "been there, done that" next to it!

[Jasper]

While it is not my most favorite thing to do at AK we do normally take a little time out for it on each visit. Even though you can only see out on the one side, I do enjoy the glimpses of the animal barns and the few other things you do see on the ride.

I do have one negative comment about the Conservation Station which is the whole reason for the train ride and that complaint is that it is often a long time between veterinarian sessions that you get to watch. I wish they would post the times back at the main park so you can time your visit better.

Since you have never done it I would suggest trying it at least once to see what you think of it.

[Hayden's Dad]

We go there for the characters. Jimminy Cricket, Pocahontas, and Rafiki all make appearences there.

[cal5755]

I think it is worth it at least once. We went our first visit to AK and my two older ones loved petting and brushing the animals. They loved Rafiki and Jimminy as well as some of the educational things. We are going to go again next year... my youngest will be 5 then and she loves trains and was only 6 months the first time so we want her to have an experience with it too.

[gtpooh]

I think it's just okay. IMO, there are many better attractions at the AK, and the train ride (as others have said) isn't that great either. We are going with DS who is 15 months in a few weeks, and we'll probably try it again to see if he gets anything out of it, but it's very low on my list overall.

[martinfamily5]

We did it once and were not thrilled with it. It isn't even a glorified petting zoo, mostly just goats. We live in more of a rural area I guess and lots of people we know have animals. My father in law has several goats. We probably won't visit again.

[amorillo]

Both of my children are VERY big on animals & insects... so we've always made it a point to check it out. They always got some really neat displays to check out. We've seen one on frogs & one on butterflies! Very cool. And then there's the characters!

[Goofyjrzgrl]

I agree the train ride really isn't that fun... you don't even really see anything fun the ride there. But for young children, the conservation center is a great experience. they have cast members come out and talk sometimes about a specific animal to answer children's questions and let them touch the animals. Also, its very educational for children to learn about the environment- and there is a petting zoo for the kids to interact with some animals like goats and stuff. If you have young kids, I would check it out- but it isn't something to get upset about if you miss it.

[McGoofy]

It's certainly not my favorite thing, nor a "must do" for us at Animal Kingdom. In fact, in all of the many trips that we have been there, we have only been to CS twice. I did learn some interesting facts about the care of the animals on the train ride. What I liked most was the surprise of finding characters back there. We walked right up to Jimminy Cricket and took photos because nobody knew he was back there. I would recommend to check it out as it is nice to do at least once.

[jpH/keD]

We didnt go the last visit but we are going in November! We have heard that there is a place, a store there called Creature Comforts at Conservation Station that has characters who do autographs there! Our dd6 is crazy for Pocahontas so we will try for her! Also I have heard Jiminy Cricket and Rafiki are there too! Our ds4 loves trains so he wants to ride that! If you go have a great trip!

[tinksmom02]

Believe it or not, CS was on Jenna's must-do list this past trip! She wanted to see the talking, walking garbage can (is his name PUSH?) she loved him. She actually hugged a garbage can.

She liked the exibit of the foods that different animals eat, and looking at the various bugs and stuff.

We saaw Pocohantas again, last trip we saw Jiminy Cricket and she was scared of him. Now she's decided she likes him, so of course he was no where to be found this time LOL

We got to see a vet surgery in action, too--they were amputating a toe off of a bird. Pretty cool. Jenna was thoroughly grossed out.

We skipped the petting zoo this time around. All in all, I think we only spent about an hour there. It's nice, but it's certainly not the big draw of the park.

If you have the time, it's worth a visit, at least once.

Oh, plus the Conservation Station is air-conditioned, which is nice!

[kim1st]

If my children were older (they are currently 3 & 5) or if it were our 6th time, I'd probably go again.

I found it to be a BIG time-sucker (notice I didn't say "waster" - but it ***** a lot of time out of your day). Especially because once the girls got into the goat petting area, it was really hard to get them out, and all I could think was WE SPENT SO MUCH MONEY on this vacation, and we could be on Kali River Rapids but instead we're petting goats, just like we do at our local zoo and our local apple orchards!

Anyway - if the kids were older - and they really understood it better, I would make more of an effort.

[pjbs35a]

You may get "lucky" like me the last time I rode the train. It broke down and they had to send a tram to pick us up. We traveled behind the scenes, saw some really cool stuff, like where the animals are cared for and all the other things never seen by the average eye.

[#1donaldfan]

Did it once 'bout 5 yrs ago. I guess you could do it to say "I did it". Actually, I forgot about that ride until I read this post. That might be an indication of how we "rate" this ride.

[kakn7294]

For the past 2 trips, we haven't gone. There's really nothing that captures our interest enough to go and miss the other things we like to do more. However, if you've never been, I do recommend it at least once. Just know that the train ride isn't exciting and there's no grand adventure waiting at the other end but it is very educational, the petting zoo is cute, and sometimes there are characters for the little ones - last time we were there in 2005, we saw Rafiki, Pocahontas, and Stanley (I don't even think that show's on anymore).

[princessM0m]

If you do go there is a Kids Discovery stop along the right side of the path walking from the train to building. This particular KD stop is a scavenger hunt that highlights wildlife that is found in a typical backyard.