Disney's Animal Kingdom - Discovery Island

Discovery Island (formerly Safari village) is the "main street" of the Animal Kingdom (actually it's a circular path). This is where quite a few of the shops and food places are located. Located around the Tree of Life on the Discovery Island Trails are several types of smaller animals(turtles, kangkaroos, birds, etc... The "It's Tough to be a Bug" show located in the Tree of Life and its entrance is now located across from Dinoland USA's entrance.


Geek's Thoughts & Suggestions

The icon of Disney's Animal Kingdom is the Tree of Life which is located near the center of the park and the center of Discovery Island (not to be confused with the original Discovery Island in Bay Lake, which was closed after Animal Kingdom opened). For the best views of the tree be sure to explore the trails around the area, we highly recommend the old Tough to Be a Bug queue (located behind where Flick is usually posed for pictures). The best experience I had with the TOL garden was walking around at sunset. This was as the park was closing and there were no people on the trails. It was a great way to stop and absorb the details.

The Tough to Be a Bug show was not as good as I would have hoped for though(For those of you on the West Coast, the show is an exact clone of the DCA one). The effects and presentation of the show were really good, but the storyline was not that strong. I thought they could have done more. It seemed as if they were just using the story to string the special effects together. Unlike other shows where I feel that the special effects give an added bonus to the film(like Honey I Shrunk the Audience), in this movie I think the film just acts as the glue to the special effects. The best way to do this is to go see the "Its Tough to be a Bug" movie. The movie is worth seeing, not worth a long wait though.



Attractions & Entertainment (Parades, Shows & Fireworks)
Current Attractions:
  • Adventurers Outpost (Opened: May 15, 2013)
  • Discovery Island Trails (Opened: Apr 22, 1998)
  • It's Tough to be a Bug! (Opened: Apr 22, 1998)
    Lightning Lane Multi Pass (Tier 2)
  • Wilderness Explorers (Opened: Jun 01, 2013)
  • Zootopia: Better Zoogether! (Opening: 2025)
Current Entertainment:
  • Winged Encounters - The Kingdom Takes Flight (Opened: Nov 30, 2013)
Retired Attractions:
  • Discovery River Boats Renamed to Discovery River Taxi then Radio Disney River Cruise (Apr 22, 1998 - Aug 21, 1999)

 

Dining Options
  • Eight Spoon Cafe
  • The Smiling Crocodile
  • Flame Tree BBQ
  • Isle of Java
  • Tiffins
  • Nomad Lounge
  • Pizzafari
  • Creature Comforts
  • Terra Treats

Quick Facts
  • The Tree of Life is 14 stories tall and is 50 ft wide
  • Ten artists and three imagineers worked full-time for 18 months to create the 325 carvings on the Tree Of Life.
  • The Tree of life is toped with more than 103,000 translucent , five shades of green leaves that actualy blow in the wind.
  • The original Discovery Island at Walt Disney World is located in the middle of Bay Lake, and was a nature preserve for several years that you could visit.

Related Disney News Releases
For more visit our Press Release catalog for a larger listing of releases.

 

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