Great Blog,Nick. When will you be doing an article on african safaris? We would love to contribute :-)

On one of our trips we were held up by a animal that had stopped in front of another vehicle ahead of us. We could see that. Then we got a little boot from one of the large antlered animals who thought we should be moving along. He trotted off after that, probably because we were all laughing.

We go to see a baby being born one year and when we went back 2 years later they pointed out the young animal. It was the one we had seen being born a couple years before. It was awesome. It was one of the deer like animals. I'm blanking on what it was.

The first time my husband and I got to experience this attraction, we got held up by a giraffe. The giraffe actually stuck his head in the truck, and we all got to have an "up close and personal" encounter. As I recall, he also tried to pull the pin out of the door lock. :) It was a great experience, and a treasured memory. We ride every time we go now.

Yep . . . bridge definitely moves!

Just to clarify- this article is obviously a little old and should be updated. On the current Safari attraction drivers are constantly talking about conservation and the need to help protect animals in Africa and here at home. The "poaching" part was taken out of what we say so that guests could have more time taking pictures of the animals as it is a Photo Safari above all else. Yes, the bridge does work and we know if it is going to tilt when we get to that part. Disney's Animal Kingdom is focused on raising awareness of the plights of the animals around the world who are being hunted even today. For example: the Bongos that are on the reserve are two of the Bongos on reservations around the world. They were hunted to near extinction by poachers for their horns. Conservation efforts and reserves such as KSR are the only reason that Bongos even exist today. While Safari is a great ride as far as being an attraction, keep in mind that it's also educational and meant to teach, raise awareness and let you, the guests, take pictures of animals you might never have had a chance to see in your lifetime.

i was there last week and took my friend who has never been on the ride and when I was expecting the one part to happen I told her to hold tight to her phone because the exciting bumpy part was coming. She looked at me when it was done and said it was the same. I was disappointed that the part was gone for good.

They still have the bridge that moves side to side. It isn't always operating, but I've been on it recently when did. So, it's hit or miss.

When we went on our honeymoon, I had known about how they had taken out the whole poaching aspect, but we did get a CM who I think must have missed that whole thing. He mentioned once or twice about poaching, saying something like "we gotta watch out for poachers in these parts". It was kind of neat to hear a call out to the old ways that some other visitors may not have picked up on :)

I think it's sad they took out the message about poaching. So many people don't realize how many animals are killed and are on their way to extinction. It was a good lesson. Children are most impressionable and they are the ones to carry on the care and love for animals and their environment.