Theme Park Rangers Radar: A Byte at Magic Kingdom, how a flamingo hatched, new Dezerland to-dos

Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel
·5 min read

For this week’s Theme Park Rangers Radar, we have a futurist snack in Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland, learn the origin story of an Animal Kingdom flamingo and weigh some new gaming options at Dezerland Action Park on International Drive.

Radar is a weekly sum-up of things to see and do at Orlando’s theme parks and attractions. It appears on OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.

A Byte at a time

A side benefit of a new roller coaster at Magic Kingdom is a new eating option in Tomorrowland. Energy Bytes, a small counter-service restaurant, opened during previews of Tron Lightcycle / Run, which officially debuts April 4.  The kiosk is on the left as Tron ride passengers approach the ramp to the thrill ride.

The new spot is “drawing inspiration from the futuristic environment around you,” according to an introductory post on the official Disney Parks Blog.  Translation: Digital dumplings are on the menu.

For my first Byte, I went with the beef and broccoli dumpling bowl, which comes with ginger-soy broth. An order comes with three dumplings, just enough to share but not really want to.  And it has an otherworldly appearance. It was like a snack at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser via Tomorrowland Terrace.

I’d eat it again though. You need a little something in your stomach before roller coastering but not too much. The price was $8.79 (or $2.93 per dumpling).  There’s also a buffalo chicken version (with blue cheese power and cayenne pepper broth) that friends enjoyed later.

It was disappointing that the chocolate cake doughnut holes weren’t available during my visit, but they look like a doughy version of the dumplings but more plentiful.

I saw a lot of people trying the watermelon refresher, a slender frozen drink with yuzu and ginger and, it must be said, Instagrammable with its pinkish hue.

Bird land

The Sentinel recently published a story about Disney World helping bolster the lesser flamingo population at Animal Kingdom by using a clay mixture found at ESPN Wide World of Sports.

The recent hatchling was named Sandy, and the circumstances of her coming out of her shell didn’t fit into that clay story.  Her “parenting story is a little bit complicated,” said Kristin Cibotti, zoological manager.

And it involves mom taking a nice bath.

“Her mom and her dad laid the egg, and then her dad actually got injured while they were incubating the eggs. So we had to pull him off the exhibit and take him to the hospital,” Cibotti said.

“Then we had to actually pull the egg from the mom because she wasn’t getting off the nest. Usually the parents switch and she wasn’t getting off. So she wasn’t feeding herself. She wasn’t taking care of herself. So we took her egg up to be incubated in our avian research center,” she said.

“As soon as we took the egg away, she was so grateful. She immediately took, like, a 30-minute bath and ate a whole bunch of foods. So it was obviously a super-stressful situation,” Cibotti said.

“After we incubated it, we brought it back and gave it to foster parents to raise. … We brought it back when it was starting to hatch,” she said.

Sandy is fairly easy to spot with the other lesser flamingos near Animal Kingdom’s Tree of Life. She’s smaller and more gray than pink, particularly around her neck. Her adult plumage will come a little later in life.

Dezerland additions

Dezerland Action Park on International Drive has added a virtual-reality element and laser-tag maze to its lineup, and they come with bunches of options.

In the VR Arena there are five maps to choose from, and there is player versus player mode or folks can team up against a common enemy such as clowns, football players and “zombie versions of hot dog mascots,” Dezerland says.  Games last five minutes and cost $13.95 per person. Six people can play at once.

The attraction’s Laser Tag Maze is inflatable and holds up to 20 players in a free-for-all or in team-match mode. There are 20 different game modes. Games last seven minutes and costs $12.95 per person.

Dezerland — in a space once known as Festival Bay or Artegon Marketplace — also features a 30,000-square-foot trampoline park, bowling, indoor mini golf, a Go-Kart track, video gaming, vintage pinball machines and the Orlando Auto Museum.

Weekend outlook

  • It’s a time of transition for Disney World nighttime spectaculars. The final performances of “Disney Enchantment” at Magic Kingdom and “Harmonious” at Epcot are set for Sunday. They’ll be replaced Monday with the returns of “Happily Ever After” and “Epcot Forever,” respectively.

  • Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival continues, and its Garden Rocks concert series features appearances by Luis Figueroa on Friday, Piso 21 on Saturday and Sunday, then Melina Leon on Monday.

  • Mardi Gras celebrations continue at Universal Studios nightly, with the long-warned exception of Friday, when the park is holding its first Grad Bash of the season.  Thursday’s parade starts at 5:15 p.m., then parade time shifts back to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and for the rest of the event, which wraps up April 16.

  • Seven Seas Food Festival continues at SeaWorld Orlando. Concerts are set by Warrant on Saturday and Smokey Robinson on Sunday.

  • Historian/author Bob Beatty talks about “Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East” as part of the Brechner Lecture Series at Orange County Regional History Center on Sunday.  The talk is 2-3 p.m. and is free, but registration is requested.

  • Science Night Live, an adults-only evening, returns to Orlando Science Center on Saturday.

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