Herald Travel Editor
Disney World, but she had a good time anyway.
She watched the rafts plunge downstream from a bridge, and whenever one passed underneath, she pressed a button that squirted the riders with water.
"It's the most fun!" she exclaimed. "And they don't know I'm doing it!"
The ride, part of Disney's just-opened Asia sector of its Animal Kingdom theme park, is already one of the park's most popular attractions. "And it'll get more crowded as the weather gets hotter," predicted Disney spokesman Rick Sylvain.
Universal's new Islands of Adventure may be grabbing the limelight, but is isn't the only new fun stuff in theme park land. Disney's Asia area and its rafting ride are among several new attractions that await summer visitors to Central Florida.
Disney's new Asia "land" showcases animals ot seen in the big Africa sector, like Bengal tigers roaming near the crumbling walls of a simulated maharajah's palace and fearsome Komodo dragons sunning themselves by limpid pools. Komodo dragons, the world's largest lizards, can grow to be 12 feet long.
Giant bats
Then there are bats, giant-sized bats. They hang out (literally) in --- what else? --- the Bat House. Technically known as Pteropus vampirus, these nocturnal animals have six-foot wingspans and may have inspired the legends of vampires. During the day, they hang from tree limbs; at night, they swoop around. But don't worry, they wont nip you --- you're in the house, they're outside.
Unlike the Africa sector of Animal Kingdom, where animals are viewed from a safari vehicle, those in Asia are seen from a walkway that winds through a mythical village, recreated realistically with Disney's usual attention to detail. Also on the route one may see gibbons, swinging from a Nepalese-style monument tower and unusual Asian birds gathered around a lotus pool.
But the star of the sectr appears to be the Kali River Rapids, Disney's first river-rafting ride. Launched onto a turbulent river in round 12-person rafts, visitors travel through a bamboo tunnel, encounter a waterfall, glide past temple ruins and escape a burning forest, slipping by danger and doom more than once. And yes, riders are likely to get a bit damp.
Exciting as the river-rafting ride is, it won't compe to Disney's newest and wildest roller coaster, which is expected to start taking riders some time in June.
Like the Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain, the new Rock 'n Roller Coaster in Disney-MGM Studios will run in the dark, but it's twists and turns the other hasn't --- like a power start that gets the coaster up to almost 60 miles an hour in seconds, like swooping through a helix and going upside down three times during the three-minute ride. And each seat in the vehicles --- which look like 1950s Caddies --- has five speakers pumping out early 1990s rock 'n' roll music throughout the ride.
For Disney, that kind of action is a departure from its usually sugar-coated rides, prompted perhaps because Universal's neww theme park a few miles away boasts two cutting-edge coasters. Like all Disney rides, of course, this one has a plot, but it's quite forgettable.
Not at all action-packed, but just as heavily themed, is another new Disney attraction, Winter Summerland, opened earlier this spring. In this mini-golf complex, one 18-hole layout makes players putt through polar places like as igloos, ice-fishing huts and other snowy sites. The other has streams and other summery scenes. Cost of an 18-hole round is $9.50 for ages 10 and up, $7.50 for ages 3-9.
Two other Disney attractions scheduled to open by summertime promise to have a lot of appeal for the smaller fry.
Winnie the Pooh
Coming to the Magic Kingdom in June will be The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a ride through the lovable bear's Hundred-Acre Wood. Your vehicle? A giant-sized honey pot. The attraction takes the place of the old Mr. Toad ride in Fantasyland.
And returning for an indefinite run in the Magic Kingdom will be the original Disney Electrical Parade. The beloved nighttime show that enchanted millions for so many years features floats aglow with more than 500,000 tiny lights. It steps off after dark beginning May 28.
Disney also reportedly is considering a timed-ticket system for its more popular rides, so that guest will no have to stand in line so long. But Judson Green, head of all Disney theme parks, would not confirm that, saying only that Disney was "looking at new things."
A wooden thrill
Meanwhile, Tampa's Busch Gardens, long the leading locale for roller coaster buffs, is readying still another diabolical track, this one to be ready some time in June. Gwazi, however, will be like no ther coaster in the Central Florida fun zone because it's made of wood, like the old-time rides.
But don't be fooled into thinking it's a tame piece of work. Gwazi will be the Southeast's largest and fastest double wooden coaster, with "dueling" coaster heading for each other six times during each run at flyby speeds of 100 miles an hour.
Summer deals
Cypress Gardens, in Winter Haven, isn't adding any new attractions this summer, but is offering an admission deal: From June 1 through Aug. 31, one child will be admitted free with each paying adult.
Sea World, the third major theme park in the Orlando area, also isn't expanding this year, but just announced it will be open a second gated park by the summer of 2000 called Discovery Cove. This will be a reservation-only, high-ticket facility featuring interaction with marine animals. The park will have three lagoons where guests can swim with dolphins, stingrays, and tropical fish. Cost will be about $150 per person.
SOURCE: Miami Herald