Caring for Giants Tour- AK- Question

[Bellex917]

Hi everyone! We are going to Disney in late June and are considering doing the Caring with the Giants tour. My Q is, if you've done it, are you in direct sun, or is there shade, during the tour? I know we'd only do this tour once and we don't usually go in the summer, so if it's in direct sun the whole time I'd likely wait until our next trip which would likely be fall or spring.

 

[scrappinginontario]

From memory, the majority of the time I believe we were in direct sunlight.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I remember standing under quite a few trees and it being shady. Maybe it is different at different times of day because of the sun shifting. I went in late June a few years ago, we were the only ones on the tour and I think it was around 1pm.

 

[scrappinginontario]

A Google search of Caring fir Giants shows pics in the sun and shade so my memory may be incorrect. Our tour was a number of years ago. My daughter remembers some sun and some shade.

 

[Yensid67]

I did it last summer and we were mostly in the shade.

 

[disneyseniors]

I remember a lot of shade. Once you get to the area to observe the elephants, you go up a small hill and that area is pretty shady, if I remember correctly. We never noticed the sun.
On a side note. We didn't see much at all (of the elephants). We only saw the back of them far away. The ride vehicles had a much better view that we did.
I was also disappointed that we didn't see any "caring for the animals". That is, I guess I was wrong, but I thought there would be a visit behind the scenes to see the caring and feeding of the elephants, and maybe get to see a Vet giving treatment. That's what we thought it would be.
We were disappointed but maybe we expected too much. There was a lovely lady from Africa who gave a talk about conservation and her town in Africa.
We wouldn't do it again, but I suspect others had a better time than we did.

 

[disneydreamer74]

My dd and I did this tour last May. We had a wonderful tour guide. We were fortunate enough to have the baby elephant and one of the adults come really close to the viewing area. We loved our tour, but it is not something we would do twice. We did not feel like it was a lot of sun and we were transported in a van with A/C.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

The viewing area in the back of the paddock the elephants are in is just about 100% in the shade. It's under, in the middle of, trees. You'd have to work hard to find a spot of sun actually.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I remember a lot of shade. Once you get to the area to observe the elephants, you go up a small hill and that area is pretty shady, if I remember correctly. We never noticed the sun.
On a side note. We didn't see much at all (of the elephants). We only saw the back of them far away. The ride vehicles had a much better view that we did.
I was also disappointed that we didn't see any "caring for the animals". That is, I guess I was wrong, but I thought there would be a visit behind the scenes to see the caring and feeding of the elephants, and maybe get to see a Vet giving treatment. That's what we thought it would be.
We were disappointed but maybe we expected too much. There was a lovely lady from Africa who gave a talk about conservation and her town in Africa.
We wouldn't do it again, but I suspect others had a better time than we did.

Thing with animals, you never know where they are standing so you have a very real possibility that you won't see them all that well. It's important to know going in they can't control that. We've done is many times and yeah, you aren't always going to get the animals to come up close. Other times you get to see them doing things that you'd never see on the trucks. One of ours it was quite windy and the handlers told us how that's the favorite type of day for elephants. The palm fronds fall and the elephants love to play with them. We watched that for a very long time.

Did you read the synopsis before booking? Or just going off an assumption based on the name? The experience is exactly what's written on the site.

"During this 60-minute experience, you’ll meet with a knowledgeable Guide who will provide insight into the inner workings of our African elephant herd. Your guide will provide a glimpse into the day-to-day care of these amazing animals and share stories of Disney’s conservation efforts dedicated to the preservation of wild populations throughout the world."

The caring comes from the CM with you. The CM they send on this are the elephant handlers. They are in care of them and can and do discuss their care. They can tell you the name of each animals and their relation, and all kinds of details.

 

[disneyseniors]

Thing with animals, you never know where they are standing so you have a very real possibility that you won't see them all that well. It's important to know going in they can't control that. We've done is many times and yeah, you aren't always going to get the animals to come up close. Other times you get to see them doing things that you'd never see on the trucks. One of ours it was quite windy and the handlers told us how that's the favorite type of day for elephants. The palm fronds fall and the elephants love to play with them. We watched that for a very long time.

Did you read the synopsis before booking? Or just going off an assumption based on the name? The experience is exactly what's written on the site.

"During this 60-minute experience, you’ll meet with a knowledgeable Guide who will provide insight into the inner workings of our African elephant herd. Your guide will provide a glimpse into the day-to-day care of these amazing animals and share stories of Disney’s conservation efforts dedicated to the preservation of wild populations throughout the world."

The caring comes from the CM with you. The CM they send on this are the elephant handlers. They are in care of them and can and do discuss their care. They can tell you the name of each animals and their relation, and all kinds of details.

I don't normally respond to these types of posts, BUT I have read some of your other comments on other threads, and it seems you get bent out of shape and argumentative over minor things. People all have different experiences and reactions to things, and they sometimes post those online. There is no reason to jump on me about my experience, which might help someone who is expecting something else. This is a discussion board, and we discuss. I wonder why you react like this to other posts?
Trying to start an argument with me won't work, as I won't even check for a response from you, or read a response, so it will be wasted. Have a great day.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I don't normally respond to these types of posts, BUT I have read some of your other comments on other threads, and it seems you get bent out of shape and argumentative over minor things. People all have different experiences and reactions to things, and they sometimes post those online. There is no reason to jump on me about my experience, which might help someone who is expecting something else. This is a discussion board, and we discuss. I wonder why you react like this to other posts?
Trying to start an argument with me won't work, as I won't even check for a response from you, or read a response, so it will be wasted. Have a great day.

LOL.. You are too much
You don't even realize my info was equally as posting my experience as your's was.
I don't care if you read this or not. Others see it for what it is.
I however, won't see anything else you post. Thank fully

 

[lady9]

I remember a lot of shade. Once you get to the area to observe the elephants, you go up a small hill and that area is pretty shady, if I remember correctly. We never noticed the sun.
On a side note. We didn't see much at all (of the elephants). We only saw the back of them far away. The ride vehicles had a much better view that we did.
I was also disappointed that we didn't see any "caring for the animals". That is, I guess I was wrong, but I thought there would be a visit behind the scenes to see the caring and feeding of the elephants, and maybe get to see a Vet giving treatment. That's what we thought it would be.
We were disappointed but maybe we expected too much. There was a lovely lady from Africa who gave a talk about conservation and her town in Africa.
We wouldn't do it again, but I suspect others had a better time than we did.

Thank you for your insight. We always appreciate different opinions on things to do at Disney especially at AK. Sad that some can't do that without getting snarky.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Hi everyone! We are going to Disney in late June and are considering doing the Caring with the Giants tour. My Q is, if you've done it, are you in direct sun, or is there shade, during the tour? I know we'd only do this tour once and we don't usually go in the summer, so if it's in direct sun the whole time I'd likely wait until our next trip which would likely be fall or spring.

We did this tour a few years ago. They load you into a small bus and drive to the viewing area at the back of the elephant section of the safari. You walk up a small hill to a fenced-in viewing area. The elephants are in the safari area, not in cages backstage. You can see elephants that are out of view for the people riding the safari ride, but you can also see elephants that are visible for the safari riders. You can also see them going by in the trucks. Now that I know that the Caring for Giants viewing area is there, I can see the tour group when I ride the safari.

It was a very interesting experience and we enjoyed it very much. But you basically stand in the viewing area and listen to the tour guides talk about the elephants. You don't get close to them at all.

There was plenty of shade in the viewing area when we were there.

 

[abbyandangel]

I’ve done it twice. It was shady under trees both times. The elephants were in view both times. The first time was not as enjoyable. We all looked at the CM as she spoke and did not really look at the elephants much. I guess everyone in the group was brought up to look at someone when they are speaking to us. I did it a second time a couple years later and walked a little away from the group to watch the elephants. I am not sure if the rest of the group thought I was rude or not but I felt like I paid to look at elephants not a CM.

 

[nw6675]

We went on one of their other tours and felt like the view on the regular safari was as good as or better than the tour.

 

[Elephantay]

So despite the disagreements here, I found this helpful and decided not to do it. When I read and it said it would provide a "glimpse ", I thought we'd see something not usually seen. Since it's only an hour tour I thought that's what the reference was. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[DVCjj]

We were in both sun & shade. We were far from the elephants and definitely most of the tour was our guide speaking. 'Elephants' wasn't bad in any sense but if I had to choose only one, I would definitely do the RHINO tour. Thought that was very cool. We did stand in the sun for a little while we actually got to touch a rhino. So worth standing in the sun.

I actually went twice with two different people and everyone liked Rhino.

 

[Bellex917]

We were in both sun & shade. We were far from the elephants and definitely most of the tour was our guide speaking. 'Elephants' wasn't bad in any sense but if I had to choose only one, I would definitely do the RHINO tour. Thought that was very cool. We did stand in the sun for a little while we actually got to touch a rhino. So worth standing in the sun.

I actually went twice with two different people and everyone liked Rhino.

Thanks for sharing this!! Now I'm wondering if I should the rhino one! Did they not let you take a pic with your phone? I see in the details it says no phones or cameras. Just curious. If we did this I'd def want a pic of my kids petting a rhino- what a cool experience haha!

 

[DVCjj]

Thanks for sharing this!! Now I'm wondering if I should the rhino one! Did they not let you take a pic with your phone? I see in the details it says no phones or cameras. Just curious. If we did this I'd def want a pic of my kids petting a rhino- what a cool experience haha!

We couldn't take a picture but we could TOUCH a rhino (patted her) She was up against her gate area so we patted her between the rungs. Soooo cute. When we were there, there was a youngish one along with the older one and it was so darn cute. You take a nice airconditioned van to get to the area which didn't seem 'right around the corner' so you were in an airconditioned van for part of the time. That helps counter the sun while standing gawking at the rhinos.

Again, it was a truly unique experience both times. I do not know why no cameras. I honestly can't remember if the guide gave a reason. We just thought maybe it was too much activity. We were instructed to be quiet.

 

[Minnie1222]

I took this picture a few days ago from the safari truck. If you zoom into the , you will see guests standing along the fence. You can be in the sun or shade depending on how closely you want to follow the elephants.