With this week’s Theme Park Rangers Radar, we check out what’s for dinner at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, adventure “Behind the Attraction” with the Disney+ director of the series and compare the intensity of SeaWorld Orlando future Penguin Hike roller coaster using a tape measure.
Radar is a weekly compilation of theme park news and curiosities. He publishes on OrlandoSentinel.com Wednesday.
Browsers
A recent guided tour of Animal Nutrition Center behind Disney’s Animal Kingdom included a detour to the navigation chiller.
Browse – meaning leafy plants – is actually grown on Walt Disney World property specifically intended to feed park animals. The cooler has different species depending on the time of year, said Shannon Livingston, an animal nutritionist at Disney World.
“We use a lot of cactus pads for our turtles. …especially our Galapagos tortoises love their cactus pads,” she said, although just before Halloween we learned about it. A Galapagos gang might also opt for a big pumpkin.
Disney has a hydroponic machine for barley plants, which attracts primates as well as zebras, rhinos and others, Livingston said. Porcupines and anteaters like to shred banana logs, okapis and giraffes like Japanese blueberries, and Disney grows elephant grass for the elephants, she said.
The company found another audience for elephant grass through its work with GRACE – the Gorilla Conservation Rehabilitation and Education Center in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“They grow naturally there and their gorillas love it. So we started offering it to our gorillas and our gorillas love it,” Livingston said.
Behind “Behind the Attraction”
The second season of “Behind the Attraction” is now streaming on Disney+. There are episodes that focus on Epcot, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railway, nightly shows, theme park food and Indiana Jones Adventure.
The potential theme park topics may seem endless, but director/executive producer Brian Volk Weiss said he was looking for broad appeal, passion and current activity around the world.
“What I always like to say is we don’t want to cover anything that doesn’t have a constituency,” he said. “There’s a lot of things not only in this show, but in a lot of shows, like where you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m so excited about this.’ But then it’s like, there are 8 billion humans, and I think 5,000 of us care. Maybe we shouldn’t spend millions of dollars covering this topic .”
The series features archival footage and commentary from numerous Imagineers. For the second season, people were less discreet because they had seen episodes from the first year.
“In the second season, there were moments where the Imagineers were like, ‘Look at this.’ And I’m like, ‘Are you sure we can film this?’ … I don’t want you to get in trouble,’” Volk-Weiss said.
But dreams of withdrawals and bloopers emerging from the project are unlikely, he said.
“Needless to say, I saw and heard things that, oh my God, I want to talk about now,” Volk-Weiss said. “But I also want the third season. Believe it or not, then I will shut up.
Step by step
During a recent preview of Penguin hike, a roller coaster set to debut at SeaWorld Orlando in the spring, the focus has been on its 42-inch height requirement and how that makes it such a family-friendly option. The SeaWorld website currently lists it under the category of “family thrills.”
It’s hard to argue with the need for such scale at SeaWorld. It is Pipeline The roller coaster, which opened this spring, has a big boy requirement of 54 inches, as do the Mako, Manta and Kraken roller coasters.
The other 42-inch SeaWorlds are Infinity Falls and Journey to Atlantis.
Many factors come into play here, including the design of the transport vehicles and the maneuvering required. But I was still pleasantly surprised considering the fear factor of other Central Florida rides with a 42-inch requirement.
These include Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind from Epcot; Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and Men in Black Alien Attack at Universal Studios; and the Bilge-Rat barges from Popeye & Bluto and Jurassic Park River Adventure at Islands of Adventure.
Fast! What other 54 inch ride is required in Orlando? (Answer to come).
But first, the 48-inch family includes SeaWorld’s Ice Breaker; Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey by IOA and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure; The Mummy’s Revenge at Universal Studios; Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios; And Tron Lightcycle / Run, which debuted at the Magic Kingdom this year.
OK, go back to the top of the list. The city’s only non-SeaWorld attraction with a height requirement of 54 inches is the Incredible Hulk coaster at Islands of Adventure. Perhaps more surprising is the neighboring Doctor Doom’s Fearfall – not a coaster – which is listed at a 52-inch requirement, followed by the nearby Jurassic World VelociCoaster at 51. In view is another member of the 51 family, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios Park.
Weekend Outlook
• Halloween is still dragging on a bit. Universal Halloween Horror Nights takes place every evening until Saturday. The final Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom, it’s Wednesday, but it’s sold out.
• Eat to the rhythm of the concerts, the musical segment of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, We the kings Friday and Saturday, followed by Sheila E. on Sunday and Monday.
• The last day to go to Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon the water park for a while will be on Sunday. On Monday, Blizzard Beach reopens.
• Aquatic The water park’s Beach Night movie on Saturday evening is “The Muppets Christmas Carol.”
• SeaWorld Orlando Inner look programming, including behind-the-scenes looks at aquariums, animal care and coral reef areas, is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
• Orange County Regional History Center Lunch & Learn’s next topic is “Iconic Orlando: Exploring the Stories Behind Downtown Landmarks.” The session begins at noon.
What’s on your radar? Send me an email to dbevil@orlandosentinel.com
