{"id":1167,"date":"2007-01-29T08:00:53","date_gmt":"2007-01-29T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/?p=1167"},"modified":"2011-02-27T19:09:45","modified_gmt":"2011-02-28T00:09:45","slug":"exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Animal Kingdom Lodge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>By Teresa Pitman<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Animal Kingdom Lodge not only makes a great home base for  guests  exploring the parks, it\u2019s well worth exploring all on its own \u2013 even if   you aren\u2019t staying there. With free tours and many daily activities, as  well as  African wildlife in the savannahs outside, you can have a full  day of  entertainment without spending a cent on park admissions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2007\/images\/AKLActivities.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Bulletin Boards in the lobby (on the same wall as the main   entrance) and near the entrance to Boma will have updated lists of the  activities  for the day. While I\u2019ve focused here on the events for  adults, there are many  possibilities for children \u2013 they can learn  animal tracking, hear African folk  tales and music, or do some crafts,  for example.<\/p>\n<p>Until I took the Art Tour with Kenneth, a Cast Member from  Botswana, I  didn\u2019t realize how much authentic African art was displayed  around the Animal Kingdom Lodge  lobby. There are almost 400 pieces in  the public areas and more than 4,000  items in the guest rooms. On the  wall just inside the main door, for example,  is a three-paneled carved  stone wall-hanging with a sign encouraging guests to  \u201cplease touch.\u201d  Kenneth explained to us that these panels would have been hung  on the  doors of a tribal chief\u2019s home, and that people would touch them for   good luck on arriving or leaving. More panels would be added as time  went on,  and the pictures illustrate local history or significant  events.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Another example \u2013 in a glass case near the middle of the  lobby  you can find copper wires made into bracelets and artwork. These wires   were left behind by western corporations building in Africa  and the  local communities turned them into wearable jewelry and used them as a   form of money. Other glass cases display artwork with religious and  spiritual  significance. Kenneth also told us the story of the igele, a  kind of large  ceremonial mask which, in his words, is \u201cas tall as a  giraffe and as wide as an  elephant.\u201d This impressive piece is on  display in the far end of the lobby.<\/p>\n<p>For another view of Africa,  the Sunset Savannah room has a  collection of photos and African artifacts from  the collection of a  remarkable couple \u2013 Osa and Martin Johnson. Osa married  Martin when she  was just a teenager and accompanied him on his travels through Africa  where he filmed and photographed the people and  the wildlife. Their  story is told in her autobiography \u201cI Married Adventure\u201d \u2013  you can buy a  copy of the book in the Zawadi Marketplace (where you can while  away  some more time just browsing through the merchandise).<\/p>\n<p>After you\u2019ve feasted your eyes on the art of Animal Kingdom  Lodge, you may be  ready for another kind of feasting. A free Culinary  Tour is offered daily in  the late afternoon (check the notice board to  confirm times). Our guide, Moty,  took us first to Jiko, where a cast  member explained the design of the restaurant  and some of the specialty  items on the menu. She mentioned that they are also  proud of their  vegetarian options and that Jiko is listed on many vegetarian  websites.  We were given some dips and breads to taste as we listened and asked   our questions.<\/p>\n<p>Across the hall, at Boma, we had a tour of the buffet, again   with explanations about the contents of each dish and its origins. Boma  is also  an excellent choice for vegetarians with a number of meatless  options \u2013 but the  carnivores among us are not excluded as several meats  with some unusual sauces  are also offered. Our tour ended with some  very tasty dessert samples.<\/p>\n<p>A great way to end your day at Animal Kingdom Lodge is to spend  some time  watching the animals in the savannahs from one of the outlook  areas. Cast members  will be happy to answer your questions about the  wildlife and at night may have  night-viewing binoculars you can use.<\/p>\n<p>We all know that Disney is an expert at bringing a theme to   life, but I think the company truly outdid itself in Animal Kingdom  Lodge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Teresa Pitman Animal Kingdom Lodge not only makes a great home base for guests exploring the parks, it\u2019s well worth exploring all on its own \u2013 even if you aren\u2019t staying there. With free tours and many daily activities, as well as African wildlife in the savannahs outside, you can have a full day [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[89,289,297,369],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Exploring Animal Kingdom Lodge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Teresa Pitman Animal Kingdom Lodge not only makes a great home base for guests exploring the parks, it\u2019s well worth exploring all on its own \u2013 even if\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Webmaster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Webmaster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/person\/54c7cac23e856b7b8a8acd1819e5ccc6\"},\"headline\":\"Exploring Animal Kingdom Lodge\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-01-29T13:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-02-28T00:09:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/\"},\"wordCount\":690,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Animal Kingdom Lodge\",\"Events\",\"Parks\",\"Teresa Pitman\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured Article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/\",\"name\":\"Exploring Animal Kingdom Lodge\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-01-29T13:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-02-28T00:09:45+00:00\",\"description\":\"By Teresa Pitman Animal Kingdom Lodge not only makes a great home base for guests exploring the parks, it\u2019s well worth exploring all on its own \u2013 even if\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Exploring Animal Kingdom Lodge\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/\",\"name\":\"Magically Speaking\",\"description\":\"An unofficial Disney newsletter about Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, &amp; Disneyland\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Magically Speaking\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Castle.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Castle.jpg\",\"width\":211,\"height\":158,\"caption\":\"Magically Speaking\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/person\/54c7cac23e856b7b8a8acd1819e5ccc6\",\"name\":\"Webmaster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/76fa439e242210ab14d07f705fffaa72?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/76fa439e242210ab14d07f705fffaa72?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Webmaster\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Exploring Animal Kingdom Lodge","description":"By Teresa Pitman Animal Kingdom Lodge not only makes a great home base for guests exploring the parks, it\u2019s well worth exploring all on its own \u2013 even if","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Webmaster","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/"},"author":{"name":"Webmaster","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/person\/54c7cac23e856b7b8a8acd1819e5ccc6"},"headline":"Exploring Animal Kingdom Lodge","datePublished":"2007-01-29T13:00:53+00:00","dateModified":"2011-02-28T00:09:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/"},"wordCount":690,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Animal Kingdom Lodge","Events","Parks","Teresa Pitman"],"articleSection":["Featured Article"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/","name":"Exploring Animal Kingdom Lodge","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-01-29T13:00:53+00:00","dateModified":"2011-02-28T00:09:45+00:00","description":"By Teresa Pitman Animal Kingdom Lodge not only makes a great home base for guests exploring the parks, it\u2019s well worth exploring all on its own \u2013 even if","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/exploring-animal-kingdom-lodge\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Exploring Animal Kingdom Lodge"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/","name":"Magically Speaking","description":"An unofficial Disney newsletter about Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, &amp; Disneyland","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#organization","name":"Magically Speaking","url":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Castle.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Castle.jpg","width":211,"height":158,"caption":"Magically Speaking"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/person\/54c7cac23e856b7b8a8acd1819e5ccc6","name":"Webmaster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/76fa439e242210ab14d07f705fffaa72?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/76fa439e242210ab14d07f705fffaa72?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Webmaster"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}