Theme Park Rangers Radar: Animal Kingdom cooler, ‘Behind the Attraction,’ Penguin Trek talk

With this week’s Theme Park Rangers Radar, we check out what’s for supper at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, venture ‘Behind the Attraction’ with the Disney+ series director and compare the intensity of SeaWorld Orlando’s future Penguin Trek roller coaster using a tape measure.

Radar is a weekly compilation of theme park news and nosiness. It publishes on OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.

Browsers

A recent walkthrough of the Animal Nutrition Center behind Disney’s Animal Kingdom included a detour through the browse cooler.

Browse – meaning leafy plants – is actually grown on Walt Disney World property specifically to feed to the park’s animals. The cooler has different species depending on the time of year, explained Shannon Livingston, an animal nutritionist at Disney World.

“We use a lot of cactus pads for our tortoises. … especially our Galapagos tortoises love their cactus pads,” she said, although right before Halloween we learned the Galapagos gang could go for a big pumpkin too.

Disney has a hydroponic machine for barley plants, which appeal to primates plus zebras, rhinos and others, Livingston said. Porcupines and anteaters like to shred banana-tree logs, okapi and giraffes like Japanese blueberry and Disney grows elephant grass for elephants, she said.

The company found another audience for elephant grass through their work with GRACE – the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education center in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“They have that growing naturally there, and their gorillas loved it. So we started offering it to our gorillas and our gorillas love it,” Livingston said.

Behind ‘Behind the Attraction’

The second season of “Behind the Attraction” is now streaming on Disney+. There are episodes that concentrate on Epcot, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, nighttime spectaculars, theme park food and Indiana Jones Adventure.

Potential theme park topics might seem endless, but director/executive producer Brian Volk-Weiss said he looks for broad appeal, passion and current operation worldwide.

“What I always like to say is, we don’t want to cover anything that doesn’t have a constituency,” he said. “There are many things not just on this show, but on many shows, like where it’s like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m so excited about this.’ But then it’s like, well, there’s 8 billion humans, and I think 5,000 of us care about this. Maybe we shouldn’t spend millions of dollars covering this topic.”

The series features archival footage and comments from many Imagineers. For the second season, folks were less tight-lipped because they had seen episodes from the first year.

“Season two, there were moments where Imagineers would be, like, ‘Look at this.’ And I’m, like, ‘Are you sure we can film this? … I don’t want you to get in trouble,’” Volk-Weiss said.

But dreams of outtakes and a blooper reel emerging from the project are unlikely, he said.

“Needless to say, I saw and heard things that, oh my God, do I want to talk about right now,” Volk-Weiss said. “But I also want the third season. Believe it or not, so I’m going to keep my mouth shut.”

Inch by inch

During a recent preview of Penguin Trek, a roller coaster set to debut at SeaWorld Orlando in the spring, there was an emphasis on its 42-inch height requirement and how that makes it such a family-friendly option. SeaWorld’s website currently lists it under the category of “family thrill.”

It’s difficult to argue the need for that size of ride at SeaWorld. Its Pipeline coaster, which opened this spring, has a big-boy 54-inch requirement, just like sister coasters Mako, Manta and Kraken.

Other SeaWorld 42-inchers are Infinity Falls and Journey to Atlantis.

There are a lot of factors at play here, including the design of ride vehicles and the maneuvers required. But I was still pleasantly surprised to consider the fear factor of other Central Florida rides with a 42-inch requirement.

Those include Epcot’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind; Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts and Men in Black Alien Attack at Universal Studios; and Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges and Jurassic Park River Adventure at Islands of Adventure.

Quick! What’s the other 54-inches-required ride in Orlando? (Answer forthcoming).

But first, the 48-inch family includes SeaWorld’s Ice Breaker; IOA’s Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure; Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios; Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios; and Tron Lightcycle / Run, which debuted at Magic Kingdom this year.

OK, back up to the top of the list. The only non-SeaWorld attraction in town with a 54-inch height requirement is Incredible Hulk coaster at Islands of Adventure. Perhaps more surprising is the neighboring Doctor Doom’s Fearfall – not a coaster – which is listed at a 52-inch requirement, followed by nearby Jurassic World VelociCoaster at 51. Within sight is fellow 51 family member Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios park.

Weekend outlook

• Halloween is hanging around for a little longer. Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights runs nightly through Saturday. The final Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom is Wednesday, but it’s sold out.

• Eat to the Beat concerts, the musical segment of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, feature We the Kings on Friday and Saturday, followed by Sheila E. on Sunday and Monday.

• The final day to go to Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon water park for a while will be Sunday. On Monday, Blizzard Beach reopens.

• Aquatica water park’s Beach Night movie on Saturday evening is “The Muppet Christmas Carol.”

• SeaWorld Orlando’s Inside Look programming, including behind-the-scenes peeks at aquariums, animal care and coral reef areas, is set for Saturday and Sunday.

• Orange County Regional History Center Lunch & Learn’s next topic is “Iconic Orlando: Exploring the Stories Behind Downtown Landmarks.” The session starts at noon.

What’s on your radar? Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com