Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - A Walkabout to the Maharaja Jungle Trek [ep 015]

Episode Date: May 30, 2021

Hello Travelers! This episode was recorded on the very first day that masks were no longer required outdoors in the parks, and so it was a great day to be at Disney's Animal Kingdom for an expedition planned by you, and it is all of a theme. We start off the morning with some coffee in Harambe, and then wind our way to the Maharaja Jungle Trek in the Asia area of the park. Come along and join us on the trail! Connect with us at @WalkaboutWDW on Instagram, and find our producer Josh at @TheSteele.

Well, hello traveler, welcome back to Walk About the World, your weekly audio expedition through one of the parks or resorts of Walt Disney World here in Orlando, Florida. Today, as you can tell, we are back in Disney's Animal Kingdom. It's a special day today. Now, either I will sound better or worse, and I know that's general, but either way, I will be more clear today. Because this is a special day, and by the way, we are in Discovery Island near... Where are we near? The Riverside Depot Discovery Trading Company, across from Island Mercantile, or Mercantile. Now today is a very good day

to be in Disney's Animal Kingdom. And by the way, let's take off walking. We have a few waypoints today, some things that we're going to do. But today is a special day because it is the very first day that masks are optional outside in the Disney parks. Yes. Yes. You heard that right. And does it feel good? Yes. Does it feel weird? Yes. Yes. You heard that right. And does it feel good? Yes. Does it feel weird? Yes. By the way, Tree of Life in the foreground here, and lots of smiling faces, and I'm telling you, it is good, but also different. different um because of our proximity to the parks we have had the fortune of being back in the park since they reopened last july one of the things that we were talking about as a family is that us proud few the ground pounders that uh that came during the uh annual past previews of the park reopen last year in July. Like, folks, I'm a rule keeper.

I'm a good little person. I do what I'm supposed to do. However, and I did, I did. But walking around in, I kid you not, it was 97 degrees. And it was the classic Florida July humidity. And it was something to behold. Just the, not even just the normal heat and humidity, but the fact that all that was bottled up inside of your mask as you walked around was,

oh man, it was different in a very bad way it was a bad different and so to have this outdoor freedom to walk around in the parks without a mask as summer approaches is amazing and cool and a bit confusing for the guests, but that's okay. So we have some things that we're going to try to accomplish today. And some of those come from you listeners, which is fun. We're going to do more of that, by the way. But before we do any of that, we are going to go over to Creature Comforts. Why? Because it's Starbucks, and that's needed today. So that is the very first thing we're going to do.

I will catch up with you once we get over to the caffeine station. Let's go. Our coffee has been procured. Or our beverage has been procured, as Adam the Woo would say. Just left Discovery Island on the bridge towards Africa. I think we have a flotilla approaching. Let's see. It's Jungle Mickey, Jungle Minnie, and Pluto as himself. It is a good day in so many ways to be here.

It is only about 82, which is shocking, but also very much welcome. Always now I'm going to take a left here at the entrance to the Dabble Bar because another interesting development that I'm going to investigate is that the Festival of the Lion

King is now on soft open. Now, many episodes ago, we mentioned that it was going to be coming back open, and it's not officially open, but it's under soft open now. And I've heard that... Sorry, I'm pausing here. It is just glorious out today. I'm pausing at the same place that I did... Okay, so there's a place here in Harambe where there's a cannon

that by conceit would be used to defend the port of Harambe against pirates and other ne'er-do-wells. And it is utterly gorgeous. The stone wall to the right that I told you several episodes ago that has Welcome to Port of Harambee on it has just furiously blooming bougainvillea plants. They are scarlet. And there is very little clouds in the sky today

slight breeze because we've just had a front come through and it's made it really comfy and so you double that up with the fact that we don't have to have a mask on and man happy days are here again folks it's good to see so i'm going to wander over here to the entrance to the festival of the Lion King, talk to a cast member, see what they say about the soft open. I'm going to not record interactions with cast members, because that's a really good way to get in trouble. And so I will rejoin you guys momentarily.

Be right back. Okay, so we have news. According to the lovely cast member that I got to talk to, Okay, so we have news. According to the lovely cast member that I got to talk to, today is actually the official open of Festival of the Lion King. I asked her if it was soft open, and she said it had been. She said, what day is today? And I said, it's the 15th.

We normally don't say what day we record, because between you and me, it's just you and me, you know, as we walk around. This may or may not be released this week. I could release this two or three weeks down the way. But however, so you heard it here. 15th, according to the cast member that was guarding the line. Today is the first official open day of Lion King. And that's also really, really good news. And so they have several times as usual a day. I think they're showing maybe five or six shows. And she said the least busy is the 6 p.m. Right now, and I will post a picture of this, but there is a, I don't know how many of you may have noticed on your travels, but there is a green weathered concrete bench under a set of lovely trees and flowering shrubs. At the turn, you pass the covered area for the Dawa Bar, and you come down around the

corner past a series of buildings, and right before you turn left to go over towards the Festival of the Lion King and right across from Maria's Souvenirs, which is now closed unfortunately, there is a green concrete bench and you and I at this point are going to pause and enjoy a Starbucks coffee. Now, since I am not of my grandparents' generation, it is not a piping hot coffee. Now, he, on the hottest day of the year, my grandfather would no doubt eat a bowl of steaming hot beans with hot chilies and a scalding cup of coffee, but I don't do that, so I have an iced coffee,

and we're going to sit here. And I'm going to enjoy my beverage. I'm sorry you can't actually enjoy it with me. But I'm going to set you up next to me. And while I sip and stare. You guys can hang out and enjoy some of the Harambe atmosphere. 1230, 130, 230, 1240, 647. So... Thank you. Something that I forgot to mention earlier is that the Disney cast members outside still have to wear their mask, which is interesting.

Now, the ones inside, working inside, inside attractions, inside queues, theaters, that would make sense. I'm guessing this is still just, and forgive the much overused term, but this is the abundance of caution thing. Again, I asked a couple of cast members if they'd heard when they could join us mask-free outside, and they told me that as of yet they haven't heard, but that they very much want to join us. And so I feel a little bad for them. It's not an especially roasting day today, which is good, but I do feel bad that we can go around and enjoy ourselves mask-free and they still have to be in one outside.

But hopefully soon. Also, because it's apparently what we do here, because I love it, the little concrete bench that we're sitting by, I didn't know this, but right next to the entrance to the Harambee Tourist Information Bureau, and this lovely white weathered building also says Theater Quarter, and then in a very weathered, a very weathered painted sign above that on the side of the building, which I'm assuming by conceit means that this building has has changed purposes over the years. Could be wrong, but I love trying to puzzle these things out. But it says, His Majesty's Imperial Protectorate Mail Service.

So it's very possible this used to be the Mail Service building, and then it became the Tourist Information Bureau later as part of the theater corner. All right, the coffee is gone. Why is the rum always gone? And the coffee is gone. Why is the rum always gone? And the coffee always gone. It is so incredibly pleasant where I am that I am loathe to leave, but we will. So we have a destination in mind, and that's weird because normally we are destinationless. We are aimless. We're the aimless podcast. You already know this. But I have involved some of you listeners, some of you travelers today,

and we have a grand plan to do more of this. But today I asked, and it was last minute, so I hit Instagram. If you are not following us on Instagram at WalkaboutWDW, please do, because it is our only, our primary and our only means of communicating with you, the listener. And so, last night, a little late, I asked you listeners to give me some thoughts on some favorite places, sounds, things to see or hear in Animal Kingdom. And they're all of a theme, which is kind of cool. So we're going to go, we're going to go to the Maharaja Jungle Trek, which is a wonderful idea because I've not done that in a long time. It's strange, but because it's tucked away in a corner of the park,

I just, I don't know, I don't skip it. It just gets skipped. And even the other week where we did a walkabout through Asia, I thought to myself, why did we skip the Maharaja Jungle Trek? Well, frankly, between you and me, I just didn't think of it. Just walked right by it. And so we're not going to walk right by it today. We're going to walk to it. And so, and also the Lion King theater show just ended. Massive group of our fellow travelers have now dumped into the, to the area where we are. So you'll hear the crowd noise pick up. That's kind of cool. So first off the bat was Dani, and she is

This Florida Life on Instagram, and she says she wants to see the aviaries of Gorilla Falls and Maharaja. And I think that's a great idea. And also Kate, Kate, no, sorry. Sorry, Kate. It's KateCat29 says, the Tiger Temple area at Maharaja. You hear the, you hear the, you hear the flotilla going by out there?

That's the drummer, guys. And then LensIsMagical on Instagram also says the waterfalls at the Jungle Trek. So we are just Jungle Trek Jungle Trekking today. And we're going to get there. So I'm going to take off. I'm going to weave my way through this massive crowd. I will rejoin you I think on the trail towards Asia. See you in just a moment.

There is a tower at Hotel Buradika that has probably the best table in Harambe. I'm going to take a picture of it. I'll post it. And it does sound a little echo-ish in here because it's all concrete. Concrete bench with a table in here. You can set out of the shade. And also it says, young travelers, no overnight stay in this tower. Please be accommodated in our hotels and guest lodges. Also, traditional African sign writing painted by Edwin Wanyama. And it says, Did you ever think you may enjoy a sausage?

Yes. Yes, I can answer that. Yes. Famous sausages, curried style in Harambe. We think you will love the curried tastes of the sausages and be enjoying them. Five stars. Location at Harambee Market. Lastly, Mr. Matumbo's Fishing Tours in parentheses and Safari. Half day at sea from 7am to 1pm can be extended to 4pm.

I'm guessing if you pay more. Four persons minimum. Also, sunset cruise or create personal safari. Sailing, fishing, snorkeling, biodiversity tours. Mr. Matumbo's. Contact him or talk in person to local office at Beach Building. So there you go. If you ever wanted to do a tour with Mr. Mutumbo.

And where is this? This is near the... I think it's the exit to Tusker House. Also on the wall here, best food in East Africa. I do not doubt it. Okay, off we go. We're in Asia. Obviously, as you can tell, the hustle and bustle of Harambee no longer around us.

And I'm looking at the Welcome to Anandapur Travel and Tourism sign. And it is dangerously pleasant in the park today. I just can't get over it. So we are kind of just at the entrance to Asia. And we're going to be heading over towards the Jungle Trek. And just for a little reminder for everybody, the Maharaja Jungle Trek, I thought I'd give you this blurb. The trail is themed as if it had once been the hunting grounds for wealthy Maharaja, who enclosed the forest to allow for hunting activities, and then later died in a hunting accident. The storyline continues with subsequent Maharajas,

including the original Maharaja's bachelor brother, who transformed the area into a nature preserve instead of a hunting area. And the villagers can live in harmony with the animals instead of hunting them, which is really cool. That's the theme that it's going for. The forest was at one point also run by British Imperials, as evidenced by the Western spelling and some of the signs. The Asian animals include tigers, Komodo dragons, elds deer, tapirs, flying foxes, water buffaloes,

gibbons, and various Asian birds. We're going to pay particular attention to the bird area but from here on out i think we'll just take a walk if you guys are ready to do this let's take a walk through asia the jungle trek The up bird adventure to our left being passed right now. I see a sign we have to read, by the way. Because it entertains me. It says, Complaints about elephants to be made at Anandapur Association for Animal Welfare. Phone 42485. I have no complaints about elephants.

But if you do, now you know where to take those complaints. We're passing one of my favorite places in the world. I know, I know. It's lots of favorites. But we're passing the of my favorite places in the world. I know, I know. It's lots of favorites. But we're passing the Drinkwalla. Whose sign I have had faithfully reproduced by Phil Daly. Who works for Universal now. But he is amazing.

And he made the sign for me. Hi, I'm the bread Cali River and Maharaja sign pointing us to the left and so obviously that's what we shall do the Bhakta poor market to the left gift gifts silk and sarongs did I say that right not sure Did I say that right? Not sure. Gibbon exhibit. To the right.

Pretty sure I got the Gibbon thing right last time. And right in front of us is the entrance to... Raft the Kali River Rapids Whitewater adventure with Kali Rapids Expeditions. I love the fact that bathrooms and storage lockers can be themed beautifully. Thank you, Disney. Okay, we are in the Jungle Trek. I just paused to ask the cast members if we needed to have a mask on. And they say that we don't. Do we have any creatures out and about today? Oh, I see them. I see them.

Is it a Komodo? Yeah, Komodo. The Komodo dragon is the largest version of a monitor. Look. Is it dangerous? It is about as dangerous as it gets. Oh, is it really? If it bites you, the toxic bacteria in its mouth will kill you in a couple of days. It won't bother you chasing it.

It just waits until you die and then it eats you. See, these are the things that I don't know. If it doesn't wait until he dies, that would be too nice. They wait until you can't defend yourself. Yeah, and you're just weak. Well, thanks, Komodo dragon. If you're by him and he slashes his tail, that means he's ticked and ready to get aggressive. Very cool.

And frightening. But that's cool, too. He's ectothermic, so he's warming up. See, people always expect me to know things which i find hilarious partially because i've never been the person that i've been the person that minds not knowing things in my opinion that's how you learn but the cast member was like are are they dangerous? Are you serious? Now, take a deep breath, travelers. You know I love a good water feature.

So this is, you guys asked for it. There you go. So to set the scene, this is just on the other side of the Komodo exhibit. Actually it's part of the Komodo exhibit. Above us is a stand of bamboo. Underneath of it, interestingly enough, is a little stand of snake plants. And I forget the proper name for snake plant, but it's a bunch of snake plants underneath. You can find it as a house plant in many of your homes but growing outside here which is really cool and as we've talked hundreds of thousands of plants carefully curated and placed here in this park two years before park open

and walking around after all all of these years of the plants maturing, it is just astounding. You never would have guessed this is a man-made place. So the sign says, Jungle Trekkers, please apprehend that tigers are frequently encountered in the ruins ahead. Little stone monuments here and there. There are some ruins ahead. Not the tiger ruins, but there are some stone walls, broken buildings, as it were, by conceit. And you can see the netting around it.

It's very cleverly hiding the aviary, which we are soon to enter. I've often thought, maybe I'll just record a waterfall here at Animal Kingdom and loop that sucker for about an hour. You guys may not enjoy it at all, but I think I would enjoy working to something like that. A little behind the scenes for me. I write software for a living.

And I have a hard time working to anything that has words. So, ambient, sure. Words, no. Right here to the entrance of the aviary, we have a sign that says, At Avica Station No. 12, and Andapur Forestry District. That's important. We'll get back to it. We're entering the bat area. I'm going to walk through, actually. Here's some

signage I haven't seen. Spare our bats, the sign says. We rely on bats for the life of our crops. Fruit-eating bats pollinate plants and crop seeds as they fly, helping new plants to grow. Also, did you know that as soon as you come through the bat area to your right, a little path, and it has a companion restroom over here. These are the little details. Although tigers are present in the forest, the sign says, you'll be very safe by walking on the well-traveled paths.

Now here we have the ruined stone walls of what used to be the hunting grounds with elaborate paintings of tigers in the maharajas. A lot of travelers inside. Let's go. This is our 10-year-old female Sumatran tiger, Zoe. And being a Sumatran, she is actually the smallest variety in the tiger family.

She only gets to be about 300 pounds and grows to be about 6 feet in length. But they are still incredibly powerful animals. They sit at the very top of the food tank. Tigers in general are actually the top predators of the entire

Asian continent. They're one of the predators that have their power and death. So does anyone have any questions about tigers? Hey, what are you all feed them here? Meat. Nothing but meat. I mean, do they hunt or do you just...

Oh, no, no, they don't hunt. We give them food. They get their food served. No need to overwork yourself to get your food. You get it for free. Well, in the case of tigers, they do. But in the wild,as hunting the tigers. We just saw a Sumatran.

Beautiful. Ruins to the right and left hi guys buffalo ahead really cool circular viewing area Buffalo ahead. Really cool circular viewing area. Stone walls surrounding. Lovely tree in the middle. And some very lazy buffalo in the distance. Up ahead is one of my favorite

vistas. A pair of flags draped across this tunnel with the ruins, as it were, forming an archway that you walk through. And the ruins of these walls don't feature hunting. They feature a nature preserve.

You see the maharajas rowing by on the river, tigers in the distance. So instead of hunting, you see a nature preserve. So you see the change taking place in the history of the paintings on the walls. Sign to the left, here is located safe water for travelers. Please know it is unwise to drink local water, standing water, or water from unidentified sources. That's just good life advice. Jungle Trek continues this way and as you can hear

getting close to the aviary. After you. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Mm-hmm. I thank you again. Yes, sir.

That is a Nicobar pigeon. Say that one more time. That is a Nicobar pigeon. N-I-C-O-B-A-R. What are the birds in the hanging nets? Those are called metallic starlings. Metallic starlings. The males are the ones that are all black. The females are the ones with the white on the bellies.

Awesome. Thank you, sir. You're very welcome. Do you have any other questions as you're walking around? There should be a couple other people out here dressed like me. All right. We can answer any questions you got. Awesome.

Thank you. Enjoy your day. Stop! Get out of there! Come on! So this Florida Life, this, thank you. Enjoy your day. So this Florida Life, this is for you. Kampung Kampung Terima kasih telah menonton You may think some of that lovely noise is piped in. It is not. The little birdies are everywhere.

It's really pleasant in here. What is this guy? It's an Argus pheasant. An Argus pheasant. It's a great Argus pheasant. It's a pheasant, and it's a canal. Wow. Wow.

He's very large, and his tail is out in the walkway, and the cast member is watching out for him Linda, can you tell me what the white birds are up here? White birds? Those are high imperial pigeons. They are pigeons. Imperial pigeons? High. High imperial. So not just imperial. High imperial pigeons. And those other birds up there, the ones that are up there, they're nicovite pigeons. Thank you.

Uh-huh. What are these little guys? Partridges are beautiful, and they're running around on the ground. They're called Partridges, and they're called Partridges. Do you ever have trouble with people running into them? No, they run into their people. Why? They also have rockets. Also, a gorgeous bubbling fountain in the middle of all of this i'm guessing for the birds to drink and take a bath I bought that one. I'm going to grab one. I'll buy it for you. I'll get it for you. I'll buy it for you. Kepala It's a busy aviary

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a perfectly pleasant experience thank you for the suggestion. Alright, let's check our objectives here. It's just so nice. I'm just taking a break. But our objectives, the aviary, check. The Tiger Temple area, check.

Waterfalls, check. Thank you guys for all of these suggestions. It's been fun, and I actually haven't got to experience these things in some time, and I'm glad I did. Hopefully you can hear them well and enjoy them. Nice day. We are on Discovery Island. And it is just super nice. I just said nice again, didn't I? So, we're going to wrap up our expedition for the day but

really appreciate the feedback the suggestions for the trip today that's part of the fun for me this podcast is in a large part personal therapy project but also hopefully some escapism for all of you. And if you can't get to the parks soon, you can come with us. I hope you can, though, because things are looking up. I have to tell you, end-of-day report, all upside. You can just tell the joy level is way up today.

Lots of smiles. I don't think I heard a single meltdown today, which is, that's a first for the show, is not to capture a meltdown. Because, A, it's just not been that hot, but also not having to wear a mask

at least while we're outside, you can just tell. It's just been, it's been great. Again, I'm a, I'm a rule keeper. If the rule is do it, I would do it. I have been doing it. I even asked, you can probably hear, depending on the edit of the show, you can probably hear me ask a couple of cast members, uh, at various points today, whether or not I could keep the mask off or I had to put it on and yeah all the way through the jungle trek even inside the buildings of the jungle

trek no mask was required so that was cool so we're gonna wrap up thanks for tagging along today it's been fun having you along with me as we do these expeditions. Look us up at walkaboutwdw on Instagram. Truly, we appreciate the feedback, the notes. You hear us say that, but it is really a joy when you guys reach out, drop us a note, whether it's just to say hi, to let us know you listen, to let us know the episodes in particular that you enjoy, the parts of the parks that you enjoy.

We listen to corrective criticism too. If there's something that would help you have a better listening experience, by all means reach out. There's no ego involved here. We're just having fun. So drop us a line, send us a message, look up our producer and all-around good guy Josh,

also on Instagram at The Steel, The, T-H-E, Steel with an E. He's a good guy. He'd like a note too. And so reach out and give us suggestions on future shows. We're going to be working you guys in in a few different ways soon. More to come. But as always, at the end of a long day, at the end of a long week, long year, remember there really is a great big beautiful tomorrow out there and we will see you in one of those on another walk about the world. Later, guys.