Become A True Wilderness Explorer!

A wilderness explorer is friend to all, be it bird, fish or tiny mole. And soon, guests at the Animal Kingdom will get to be a real, honest-to-goodness wilderness explorer. What am I talking about? Well, its basically a new "game" coming to the park based on one of the best Disney movies ever, Pixar's "Up".. In fact, its one of the best movies ever. The film is all at once touching, hysterical and quite bizarre. I love that you can meet Russell and Dug on Discovery Island. And this new interactive game is just another great way to incorporate one of my favorite movies into my favorite park.

Image copyright Disney/Pixar

According to the Disney Parks Blog, this game will send guests on scavenger hunts throughout the park to earn badges. For those that don't know (and if you don't, go get the movie on Netflix now, I'll wait), Russell is in the Wilderness Explorers a boy scout type of organization. As an explorer, you earn various badges and in this version, there will be up (no pun intended) to 30 badges to earn.

There was a wilderness explorer game that was tested back in the Fall of 2011 at Pangani Forest. In the test run, you were given a folder and binoculars and released into Pangani to earn badges. One badge, for example, was the Birding Badge, where once you found 4 or 5 birds and wrote their names on your sheet, you would then get a badge. There were different markers helping you find the place you needed to be for the other tested badge, the Hiking Badge which basically sent you through the exhibit to hike.

image copyright Disney/Pixar

The testing phase had only 2 badges and was limited to Africa. With 30 badges, you can bet the final version will take place over most if not all of the park. The "badges" in the test phase were stickers and there is no word if that will stay the case. In fact, there is no real word on how closely the final version will resemble the tested one. Presumably, it will stay relatively the same. But the tested version was very low tech, consisting of binoculars, folders and stickers. A far cry from Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom or the Phineas & Ferb game in World Showcase.

One thing is for certain, this is a great idea. The game will likely focus on the animal trails and any way to get guests excited to walk the trails and learn about animals, even if its just the animal's names, is a positive thing in my mind. Plus, its sure to give your kids (and the adults), a cool and memorable souvenir.


by Safari Mike
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