DAK at nighttime (pictures): http://miceage.micechat.com/kevinyee/ky022812a.htm

Not too many years ago, Disney toyed with crafting an upscale, separate-admission, after-hours experience at Disney’s Animal Kingdom (DAK), to be called Night Kingdom. That plan would use additional facilities not seen during the daytime and have lots of one-on-one attractions (ziplines, rhino encounters, etc), and it would cost a pretty penny.


I’ve seen DAK at night before and had the chance to do it again recently, since they are staying open until 8pm some nights now, and I have to say that I truly understand the logic behind their initial explorations of leveraging this park in the dark. It’s spectacular, and we’ll unpack some of the reasons below. Night Kingdom as a concept is dead now, though they’ll probably eventually build some kind of boutique park. But you can sample a bit of it with the extended DAK hours currently occurring.

Whenever the subject of DAK’s usual closing time comes up, people inevitably say that the park isn’t geared for nighttime operation. The first argument usually has to do with the animals. They go to bed by twilight, which means that the marquee attraction (the safari jeep ride) has to close at dusk, and the animal walks as well. Fine, but the park has other attractions. The rides can certainly stay open later, and indeed that’s what we found when we visited recently. Even Kali River Rapids was open the whole time. It was extremely dark by the time the park closed, but this ride was still soaking guests. I should have gone just to say I’ve done it in the dark.

After sundown, this park takes on a magical glow. I know I sound like a Disney publicist as I write that, but it’s true. I only have to point to the ladybug lights near First Aid to prove my point. The vast majority of Disney theme parks don’t have touches like this to really sparkle when the sun goes down, but this one does. Knee-level posts provide illumination just often enough to make the park look enchanting.
 
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