Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - Disney's Animal Kingdom - Harambe Village Walkabout

Episode Date: March 21, 2021

Hello Traveler, and karibuni! This week's audio expedition takes us to the village and port of Harambe in the Africa area of Disney's Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Together we take in the sounds, the atmosphere, and the signage of this richly imagineered area of the park.  Visit us and say hi on Instagram @walkaboutWDW. Look up our producer Josh Steele @TheSteele.   Walkabout The World is a weekly Disney Podcast, always recorded on property at Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort with the simple goal of making you feel like you are in the middle of the magic. 

🎵 Well, hello, traveler. Welcome to Walk About the World, your weekly audio expedition through one of the parks and resorts of Walt Disney World here in Orlando, Florida. And today, we are yet again in Disney's Animal Kingdom. Beautiful. It is sunny. There is not a cloud in the sky. I kid you not. This is also the time of year that if you do not take precautions, you will get a wicked sunburn here in what is springtime in Florida. The goal, as always, is to relax, slow down.

Can you hear that breeze? Hope you can. The goal is to slow down, relax, and ultimately to put you in the park. Our mission statement, our ethos, if we have one, is to be the least ambitious podcast you've ever heard. Also, listen to the announcement. Don't be that guest, guys. is often and thoroughly. Cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing and maintain physical distancing. Thank you.

Mask up, wash your hands, be nice. That's all. Can you tell where we are? I'm going to see if you can tell. Look over here. I'll give you a little better of a clue. Yeah, you guessed it. We are in the village of Harambe today.

I'm going to take you on a quick... Who am I kidding? It's not going to be quick. I'm going to take you on a leisurely walking trip of Harambe. And if you think to yourself, Self, don't hear many people around. Does it sound crowded? You would be wrong traveler it is fairly packed today however where we currently are is at the exit of the lion king show theater it's beautiful over here some of the, some of the advertisements painted on the walls

by folks wanting you to come and visit their shops or buy their wares in the village of Harambe are amazing. You should walk over here just to check that out. It's actually what I've done. The side benefit for you and me is that no one back here because the Lion King Theater currently isn't in operation. It will be soon. And if I were a news,

a Disney news guy, I could tell you that, but I'm not. Plenty of places you can get that. I'm going to take a right. I'm going to go past the actual entrance to the theater. Beautiful tapestry art of Simba to our right. And there's a sign in front of me here that says, J.M. Moyo, Recycled Bead Jewelry. Necklaces, bracelets, earrings.

I gotta go in and visit JM sometime. Here to our right, beautiful arched building. Says customs clearance, because we are at the port of Harambee now. The waterway to our left we can also visit the tabasami studio for film development printing you can get your color passports pictures weddings photo wait wedding and party photos okay man they do it all here.

What else do we see? Because I'm entertaining myself. We have a sign for the Tusker House restaurant pointing to the right. Again, looking at the customs and clearance. White arched stone building. We have Kavuko

computer classes. That's definitely a thing that you should do while you're here in Harambe. We have an herbalist, astrologer, and traditional healer on duty, Dr. Jomo, it says. And safari tours. Who knew they had safari tours in these parts?

But they do. And here at the very entrance to the Lion King Theater, the sign says, Harbormaster Visitor Registry. Please have necessary documentation available. If you want to enter the port you got to do that stuff so many beautiful signs so many beautiful details

to see. Did you guys know that they had hot air balloon trips here? The Kinga hot air balloon trips. Why not rise above it all, it says. Tired of the dust and jolts of East Africa's famous road system? Longing for that romantic vision of

Africa? Safe, unique, and romantic. Kinga air balloon trips. You heard it here. Not even a sponsor. Also, we have the Twiga Travel Agency. Paying too much for safaris? Not seeing what you want?

Try Twiga Travel Agency. See the Africa of your dreams. You will love the difference. And hey, by the way, for those of you longing to move, there are one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom flats to move. There are one bedroom, two bedroom, and three bedroom flats to let. Personally, I would totally dig chilling in a flat here in Harambee. And do I hear a flotilla? We have a flotilla headed away from us here. With the entrance to the Lion King Theater to our back,

in the waterway ahead of us, you can see the walkway that goes off towards Pandora to your right, leads down around the waterway ahead of us. You can see the walkway that goes off towards Pandora to your right leads down around the waterway. Gorgeous stone bridge. There is the Harambe House, a beautiful new stone, white stone building down to our right. And I hear that is the home of the famed Club 33. If you're famous enough to, you don't have to be famous, but you do have to have some cash to go to Club 33. Also looking at some of the signage here because

that's the type of trip we're on today, we're in the village of harambe and you got to see the sites and find out what there is to do here the tusker house restaurant ad there is a sign for harambe fish and crustacea offering our catch near the beach most weeks because when i come to harambe, I think crustacean. Also, we have traditional African sign writing available. Also a sign to let you know there are ivory poachers about and you need to beware. Think ten times before you dabble in poaching. I know I will.

I'm not going to dabble in poaching, guys. I'm going to take a peek over the the apparently crumbling stone wall here at the port of Harambe down to the waterway. Being careful not to drop you, our dear listener, down over the edge of the

wall. I'm not going to treat you like that. But you can see the walls of the... Oh, wow, okay. So here's an interesting detail. I'm going to back up here. Because...

Now this is something that you actually can't see from inside Harambe. I'm perched near the edge of the wall near the waterway with the Lion King Theater to our left. And on the other side of the wall, the water side of the wall, lots of beautiful details down there. Supplies, crates, barrels, fishing nets, etc. But on the wall that is beautifully set, decorated to look like it's been here forever, it has a giant painted marquee that says, Welcome to Harambe, Port of East Africa. Which incidentally, since I'm setting the scene, has a few palms behind it, some telephone poles,

a rusted metal gate with the number 10214 next to it that would lead you down towards where you would board or exit your boat to the port of Harambe. The point here is, you can't see this sign that says, Welcome to Harambe, Port of East Africa, from inside Harambe. You would have to be leaning over the wall like I am, or on a boat, which you can't do. But originally, now you, listener, tell me if I have this incorrect. I have a feeling our producer Josh will tell me if I'm incorrect. But in the original plan for Animal Kingdom, weren't there supposed to be boats that the guests would ride and travel around the waterways?

Because there's a lot of waterways here. And it always makes me think, why don't we use them more? Now, they are using them more now with the flotillas, which is the boats that have Disney characters and music on them. But yeah, I think we were supposed to be able to do that as a guest, and they decided against it. If I'm wrong, please inform me. Drop me a note at walkaboutwdw on Instagram and let me know. I have no problem being incorrect.

There's a beautiful red bougainvillea plant. Is that the right way to say that? B bougainvillea plant is that the right way to say that bougainvillea plant actually there are two of them draped over the wall here with another couple of trees that are just busting out with leaves if i haven't mentioned it this is springtime for florida it's early march but here everything is in bloom. Waves of yellow pollen covering everything. It's basically our snow season, except we have pollen season. All right. Let's continue. So since we started back here near the port of Harambe, let's make our way out into Harambe proper.

We're going to be coming up on the Tusker House Restaurant and then the Dawa Bar underneath there. I'm going to be coming up on the Tusker House Restaurant and then the Dawa Bar underneath there. I'm going to investigate. If the Dawa Bar is open and the crowds aren't too bad, I may get a drink. Then we'll also take a left up by the Dawa Bar and walk down Main Street. As always, we will see what we can see with our ears. Now, on the sign next to the entrance of... See, I'm going to drop some trivia on you here.

The hotel, there's part of the building here for Tusker House is a hotel. And the sign outside of it says, Hoteli Buradika. Somebody tell me. Tell me. Buradika. Another traveler just said Buradika. I'm going to say Buradika. But tell me, is there a reference there that we

should know about? I think there is. I could be nuts, but you can tell me. Hi. Hi, how are you? Alright. Alright. Harambe is humming today.

The seating area for the Dawa Bar looks packed. All right. Main Street now. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, she's packed. In my opinion, a busy Harambee is a good Harambee let's take a little trip in the Mombasa Marketplace store here. Hi, guys. Welcome.

Thank you. One of the stores here in Harambee and Animal Kingdom wares to be found. Oh We left the main street and exited through the store and now we are back in an alleyway next to Zuri's sweet shop Interesting they also have flats to let here and a sign that invites us to have unique cold beverages inside. Once again, listen maintain physical distancing. Thank you for your cooperation. I heard as we walked past one of the staff that the line for the Safari is now closed. We also have a sign here for Infalica Fashions School uniforms and kids wear So just so you know

Now we're in the street Next to Harambe Market There is a corner here that is my absolute favorite. The ambient music is loud. Hopefully you can still hear me over it. But there's a corner here with a sign for SERS Hardware

and we also have bicycle land and repair. Beautifully themed bicycle repair area. And there's a sign here that says it does not matter who you are or where you are from we are all children of the world the sign to the food market. The sign outside of the food market says Harambee Market. Hot foods, cold drinks, welcome everybody we have meats by chef Blanca curry style sausages grilled foods and refreshments Since it's a weekend and this place is bustling, actually most of these are open today.

So it's a line of counter service, beautifully themed counter service locations. Grab your food and they have a bunch of seating behind you with most of it undercover it's not air-conditioned but it is undercover which is nice we also have the market development office Ministry of Trade here in case you were wondering where the Ministry of Trade was now you know. Lovely sign back here that says, We renew broken hearts.

A detail that many of you probably know about, that there's a lovely stone wall back here that has a vintage-looking Mickey on it. It says, I'm probably going to pronounce this wrong, but it says, Fikwa, and with the word fellow underneath of it. From what I've heard, Fikwa means hidden. So it's a hidden Mickey. Long lines to be found everywhere today, even the line for Rafiki's Planet Watch. Quite long.

Stretching down around the corner. get in there there's a grill going here to the right what are they grilling? they would appear to be hot dogs genuine Harambe hot dogs they have guys out here manning a grill which is, I don't know, wait a minute maybe it's corn on the cob maybe both, maybe they're grilling dogs and corn on the cob. Maybe both. Maybe the grilling dogs and corn on the cob.

Alright. Here to the entrance of Here to the entrance of Safari. Safari is closed. Temporarily. Okay. It happens. 25 minutes yeah yeah

yeah we're leaving standing at the entrance now to Rafiki's planet watch open your eyes to the world around you it says it's good advice, that's what I'm gonna do. I think we're going to take a walk into Zuri Sweets here, very briefly. Looks a little full, but that's okay. All right, worked our way through the store back out out to Main Street, across from Kusafiri Coffee Shop. Have you been?

Kind of love it. Out in the main square of Harambe now. One of my very favorite places on the planet We're just gonna sit a minute This is what we see here. Oh, hey, that's a big size. I was going to say, you're taller than me, so I'm okay with it. That is the only reason I'm wearing it. I am very short. I am very short. I can't believe that.

I'm going to just sit down. I'm definitely not on YouTube. I told you, I'm pretty easy. I'm going to get the Hulk stuff and then Chris will come over and do it. I'm going to get the Hulk stuff and then Chris will come over and do it. I'm going to get the Hulk stuff and then Chris will come over and do it. You don't like to be Hulk-pressed. You don't like to be Hulk-pressed.

Chris hates Hulk stuff. Chris hates Hulk stuff. Chris hates Hulk stuff. Chris hates Hulk stuff. Chris hates Hulk stuff. Chris hates Hulk stuff. Chris hates Hulk stuff. Chris hates Hulk stuff. Chris hates Hulk stuff. I'm just going to take a picture. Stop right there. Stop right over here. I'm going to bring my shirt. No, and I got a second line today.

I don't think it would be this way. In front of Tamu Tamu Eats and Refreshments right now Going around the corner Where we were setting they were actually backing up the line For the safari Right in front of us Is everything else in that way? Would Carver off to our right, carving some cool stuff. And now we have exited Harambe, headed towards the path to

to Asia. The Tree of Life through the foliage in the distance. And with that, traveler, I think we're going to bring today's expedition to a close. Hope you had some fun hanging out, walking around the village of Harambe.

One of my favorite places to be. Give us a look. Give us a follow over on Instagram at walkaboutwdw. Drop us a note. Let us know what you like, what you don't, when you listen. And if there are particular areas

of the parks that you really love that you'd like us to hunt down, sit down and record, we'll try to make that happen for you. Send along any comments or questions and you just may be featured on a future episode. Behind the mask

and behind the microphone is me, Jeremy, and behind the scenes and the artist behind our wonderful logo is Josh Steele. He is our producer. And he is on Instagram at TheSteele with an E. Give him a look and say hi.

And for now, I will remind you that there is a great, big, beautiful tomorrow out there. And just a quick side trail on that. If you wonder why I end that way, it's not to be cute. Because there are just a few affirmations, mantras, whatever you want to call them, that continually float through my head. And Walt Disney wasn't a naive person.

He went through difficult times, but he retained a core of positivity, a core of optimism that frankly I struggle to maintain. And it's one of the things that always sticks with me as the very top of my list to remind myself that there is a tomorrow out there with hope in it. So there is a great big beautiful tomorrow. And you can help bring that about. And I will see you in one of those tomorrows on another episode of Walk About the World. Terima kasih telah menonton!