Adventure's out there! (Magic Kingdom Tour 3: Adventureland)

     Welcome back to my mini series on the Magic Kingdom, friends! I took a couple weeks off of my normal schedule to talk about Christmas, my birthday, and some of the best games that I played from last year, but I'm back to the old grind. Today, I'll be talking about a section of the park that people always seem to forget the size and scale of, Adventureland. This area arguably contains the widest array of different themes and settings in the park, with all of them being centered around the abstract idea of "Adventure." Walking around the land, you'll see all sorts of tiki statues, flying carpets, and even the rare Orange Bird if you keep a close eye out. Let's go in the spirit of adventure, and take a bold step where no one has gone before! Okay, so a lot of people have gone here, but that sounds less adventurous. Just go with me on this one.

Adventureland is always a treat!

    Once you walk through the archway into this area of the park, it's as if you've stepped into a jungle setting, and you're visiting a village somewhere in the jungle. If you've been to Animal Kingdom, you may have some idea of what to expect in terms of the decor here, though it will probably smell a good bit better, considering the lack of animals in this park, or at least real ones. If you notice a long line around this land, specifically around a food stand, chances are that people are lined up to get Dole Whip, one of the most famous and delicious treats that Walt Disney World as a whole has to offer. It's really pineapple ice cream mixed with vanilla, it doesn't sound like much, but everyone talks about it as one of the best things on Disney property. I have to be honest here, I'm not a huge fan of sweets so I typically don't get it, to the dismay of all of my Disney-loving friends, but I am a big fan of the idea behind it, as well as the Sunshine Tree Terrace, home of the Orange Bird. Located right next to the Enchanted Tiki Room, it's a nice little stand that almost always has a line full of people hoping to get their fruity treats or just looking for an escape from the afternoon Florida sun. Speaking of the Tiki Room, however, let's get to some of the attractions.

All the Birds Sing Words, and the Flowers Croon!

    The Enchanted Tiki Room is a show that lasts about 10-12 minutes probably, and it involves a whole lot of animatronic birds, plants, and tiki heads. The enchantments of this special room allow the inhabitants to talk and sing to the enjoyment of the crowd. The room is really interesting because it's circular, with all of the birds being over your heads, as are the plants that come down and sing a musical number, and the Tikis are actually all around on the walls. I remember the first time that I went inside and noticed the Tikis on the walls, thinking it was just part of the theming until I saw them actually moving around and singing along with the music that was going on in certain parts of the show. It's a classic Disney attraction, and as such, of course the Sherman Brothers were tapped to write the music for it. You'll no doubt recognize the Shermans as the writers of such songs as "It's a Small World," "Winnie the Pooh," and the song from the Carousel of Progress, "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow." The Shermans have representation in just about every land in the park, and this is their Adventureland nod. It's a great time, though there is a bit of a scary part towards the end where there's a lot of noise if you're a little kid afraid of everything (like I was).

Prelude to the Animal Kingdom

    When Walt Disney was working on Disneyland, he wanted an attraction that featured live animals living in their natural habitat as a boat rode through with a tour guide telling interesting facts about the animals. Unfortunately, Disneyland was built in the already bustling city of Anaheim, California, so he couldn't get the city board to sign off on an attraction that would have animals that close to civilian life that wasn't a full zoo. The idea to have an attraction with live animals actually led to the creation of the Animal Kingdom, which would finally be opened in 1998. Any normal person to have an idea shut down like this would simply give up or make up another idea, but Walt had a way to make this work. They would still make the attraction that was intended, but use animatronics instead of real animals. At first people didn't like it because the skippers on the boats were all giving these animal facts on fake animals, which no one was interested in. It wasn't until the skippers began telling corny jokes that people really started loving the show, and thus the modern Jungle Cruise ride was born. The version in Magic Kingdom is based on the original incarnation, and as such, there are some great jokes that crack me up every time. This ride is actually having a movie made about it starring The Rock and Emily Blunt set to come out this year, which seems strange considering how low stakes this ride is, but we'll see how that goes! Your enjoyment of this ride really depends on how good your skipper is, with some of them not having as good joke delivery as others, but it's a fun ride and the animatronics are always nice to look at. If you go, I have to advise you to look out for... THE BACKSIDE OF WATER!!!

A Pirate's Life for Me!

    When people think of adventure, a vast majority probably think of pirates, as they constantly go on adventures and search for buried treasure. With that in mind, I give you Pirates of the Caribbean, the ride that launched a pretty successful film franchise (until a certain point) for Disney. This was a ride originally at Disneyland and later brought to Magic Kingdom whenever it was opened. It's an interesting combination of different themes. It begins in a dark passage, going past the souls of the damned, the skeleton of a mermaid, etc, and then there's a drop. You go down a quick drop to see Captain Barbossa firing on a fort with his cannons as you go by and into the town which begins as a peaceful place, though quickly gets plundered by pirates in the second dark ride area. You all know the song, "A Pirate's Life for Me!" and it's sung through the rest of the ride once the pirates come in and set fire to the town. It's a very nostalgic ending to one of the most heavily refurbished rides in the park. This ride has been changed considerably over the years, eventually working in Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbossa, Davy Jones, and Blackbeard from the movies, as well as changing the controversial "buy a redhead for your bride" scene. She was turned into a pirate and they actually gave her some lines in a neat reversal of fortunes for the character, which I'm totally on board with. It's a classic attraction and as such, I feel like you should definitely check it out if in the area, unless there's a really long line, in which case, wait, it's going to go down most of the time. I went on twice in one trip to Magic Kingdom without a fast pass, meaning that it has it's busy times, but it definitely has down times as well.

    Those are my three favorite attractions in Adventureland, but in addition there's the Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse, and the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Swiss Family Robinson's is pretty cool, it's a walking tour through a giant treehouse, though there's not much to enjoy if you're not a fan of heights or if you're a little kid hoping for excitement. A skipper on Jungle Cruise actually made fun of the attraction one time, saying "If you thought this ride was dry, you haven't seen anything until you climb the treehouse over there." It's still pretty cool though, especially if you read the book or liked the movie a lot. Magic Carpets of Aladdin is a much more simple concept, as this is the third version of Dumbo the Flying Elephant in the park. If you've ridden Dumbo, you certainly know what to expect here. You sit on a thing, it spins around and you can go up and down using a lever in front of you. This one is slightly different because there's a camel statue that shoots water at you sometimes when you're going by. It's not for me, but I'm sure someone likes it, or else they would turn it off.

    Adventureland is a good time all around, and honestly there are a lot of good places to have fun in here, and the theming is excellent, as you would expect. I'm not familiar with any restaurants in this area, just the Sunshine Tree Terrace and some various food and drink stands that I've never tried. That's hardly an issue because just across the way is Frontierland and Liberty Square, both with some pretty excellent restaurants, but I'm getting ahead of myself, as I'll talk about them both in the next theme park post! 

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends! I hope you liked it if you read it, and let me know if there are any other theme park attractions you'd like for me to talk about soon! After this next post, I'll be done with Magic Kingdom, so I could use some suggestions, though I can definitely think of more on my own. Thanks again, I hope you're all doing well, and I'll talk to you next Friday.