Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
So usually when events first start I jump out with SIB posts first because that tends to be the number 1 thing requested (after the calendar). However, with this event seems like a lot of you are getting confused with the Bonus Area/Upgrading the Emu Experience so I figured let’s start with an explanation on that.
If you’re looking for information about how to increase your Amusement/Bonus Area percentage and/or information about Upgrading the Emu Experience (or Big Cat Country) and/or where the heck the animals go when you unlock them via upgrade this is the post for you. So please, read this post in its entirety. If you’re still confused, read it again. And then…if you’re still lost ask your question in the comments below.
Let’s get started….
Let’s start with the obvious…crafting, at least in its traditional sense, is nowhere to be found with this update. For some of you, myself included, that’s fantastic news. As we’ve been begging EA to get rid of traditional crafting for a while now. For others, you may be bummed by this. And if you’re among those bummed out by the lack of crafting, try to look at the bright side. Items that normally would be craftables (Zoo Walls, Enclosures etc) are now available to purchase for in-game cash! So you get all the benefits of crafting, without the grind. Plus something to spend that cash on. Win-win in my book!
So, if there’s no crafting with this event what exactly is there? Well outside of the normal prize track, there’s upgrading. Various attractions you will earn throughout the event (5 total I believe, 2 each for Acts 1 and 2 and 1 for Act 3) will have upgrade features. Each time you upgrade an attraction you’ll unlock either additional animals to place within the attraction or a unique decoration for that particular attraction. And each unique decoration provides a boost to your Arrangement/Amusement bonus %. (the animals do not)
So what exactly am I talking about? Let’s break it down further….
Currency You’ll Need for Upgrades
Sanctuary Grants are the upgrade currency you’ll need to upgrade your Attractions.
They look like this…
And are awarded/earned in various ways.
The first way is via the Tappables in Springfield and/or in your Neighbor’s town. Each Tappable you clear will earn you 2. This applies to those tapped in your town or a neighbor’s town. Don’t forget you can use the Animal Feeding Area, discussed in this post, to instantly clear all the tappables in your town every 4hrs.
The second way to earn Sanctuary Grants is via Invasive Tadpoles/Toads. For every Invasive Tadpole, you send to a neighbor’s town you’ll earn 2 and for every Invasive Toad you clear in your town (sent to you from a neighbor) you’ll also earn 2 .
The third way to earn the Sanctuary Grants is to send characters to volunteer at various attractions. (remember you can do this via the Springfield Zoo sign) Each character will earn a base of 7 for freemium and 14 for premium.
The fourth way is via the prize track. Each Act will have 1 prize that awards 3,000 .
And finally, you can purchase Sanctuary Grants from the store for donuts. If you’re in a huge rush to upgrade or want a ton of stuff from upgrading. The price isn’t unreasonable, just depends on how you value your donuts and time.
Ok so now that we understand the currency needed to upgrade, and how you earn it…
How exactly do you upgrade and what happens when you do?
So for Act 1 of Moe’s Ark there are two Attractions that can be upgraded, the Emu Experience and Big Cat Country. The Emu Experience is a free attraction you’re awarded during the Act 1 questline. While Big Cat Country is the 5th prize in the Act 1 prize track (and requires 23,300 
to unlock). Let’s break each one down, starting with the…
Emu Experience
The Emu Experience, once unlocked, earns a 1.25% bonus in the bonus area.
When you tap on the Emu Experience you’ll see an option for Animals and an option for Upgrade. For now let’s focus on Upgrade, I’ll cover animals in a bit.
If you tap the Purple View icon next to Upgrades it’ll show you the available upgrades and rewards for upgrading…
Once you have enough Sanctuary Grants to upgrade to the next level you’ll see the Green Upgrade icon appear (prior to this it will be pink and suggest you spend donuts fo upgrade). Simply tap the Upgrade icon and you’ll upgrade to the next level and be awarded the prize associated with that level…
Again, we’ll talk about the animals in a minute but it’s important to note that when you unlock an animal from the upgrades (in this case Big Horn), the animal WILL NOT be a free-range animal roaming around your Springfield. (so nothing will be placed in your inventory/nothing will automatically appear in Springfield). Instead, unlocking the animals in the upgrade track give you an additional animal to place at the attraction. (within the confines of the attraction “gates”)
So don’t panic that you can’t find the animal in your inventory or in Springfield. It’s not there. Again, we’ll discuss it in more detail in a minute.
So how does the Amusement/Attraction Bonus come into play?
Well, the decorations you earn from the upgrade track each award an attraction/amusement bonus % when unlocked and placed in that area. (the animals do not earn a bonus %.)
So the Duck Pond, Hay Bale and Petting Zoo Awning each award a bonus % when placed in the bonus area (around the Springfield Zoo sign).
Here’s the breakdown of what each upgrade costs (in Sanctuary Grants) for the Emu Experience and what the bonus % awarded is (if one applies):
| Emu Experience Upgrades | |||
| Level | Prize | Cost | Bonus % |
| 2 | Bighorn (Animal)
|
500 |
n/a |
| 3 | Duck Pond
|
750 |
1% |
| 4 | Buck and Fawn (Animals)
|
500 |
n/a |
| 5 | Hay Bale
|
750 |
1% |
| 6 | Armadillo (Animal)
|
500 |
n/a |
| 7 | Petting Zoo Awning
|
750 |
1% |
| 8 | Emu Experience
|
900 |
1.25% |
Why is there an Emu Experience at the end up the upgrades?/What happens when I’ve Finished the Upgrade Track?
Once you’ve completed the upgrades and gotten to level 7, you’ll notice there’s another Emu Experience for 900 at the end of the track. If you decide you like this particular attraction and want another one, you can have another one. Simply upgrade to level 8 and unlock another Emu Experience (which will award you another 1.25% for the bonus area) and the upgrade track will start all over again.
You don’t have to have a second Emu Experience if you don’t want one, but if you like it and want another that’s your chance to collect everything a second time.
So now let’s talk about…
Big Cat Country Upgrades
Once you’ve collected 23,300 you’ll unlock Big Cat Country. This is the second attraction/habitat area for Act 1. And it works the exact same way the Emu Experience works.
Big Cat Country, once unlocked from the Prize Track, earns a 2.25% bonus in the bonus area.
Note: You’ll also be able to send different Springfielders to Volunteer here once unlocked. (again this is done through the Springfield Zoo Entrance) Martin, Comicbook Guy and Moe are NEW characters that can volunteer here to earn even more event currency. Those 3 are unable to volunteer at the Emu Experience.
Tap on Big Cat Country to find the Upgrade option…
And if you have an upgrade available the icon will turn Green and say Upgrade:
Tap Upgrade to unlock the prize associated with that level (just like you did with the Emu Experience)…
Again, just like the the Emu Experience, the animals unlocked with the upgrades are NOT free-range animals to roam around Springfield. These animals will stay within the confineds of Big Cat Country. More on that in a minute…
Here’s the breakdown of what each upgrade costs (in Sanctuary Grants) for Big Cat Country and what the bonus % awarded is (if one applies):
| Big Cat Country Upgrades | |||
| Level | Prize | Cost | Bonus % |
| 2 | Cheetah (Animal) |
750 |
n/a |
| 3 | Big Cat Play Area |
1,000 |
1.5% |
| 4 | Panther (Animal) |
750 |
n/a |
| 5 | Big Cat Lazy Rock |
1,000 |
1.5% |
| 6 | White Tiger (Animal) |
750 |
n/a |
| 7 | Big Cat Lazy River |
1,000 |
1.5% |
| 8 | Big Cat Country |
1,575 |
2.25% |
Just like with the Emu Experience, if you’d like another Big Cat Country you can upgrade to unlock another and start the whole upgrade experience over again.
Oh and for those concerned about size for the extension pieces, here’s the size chart for each:
| Item | Size |
| Emu Experience | 8×8 |
| Duck Pond | 4×4 |
| Hay Bale | 4×4 |
| Petting Zoo Awning | 4×8 |
| Big Cat Country | 8×8 |
| Big Cat Play Area | 4×4 |
| Big Cat Lazy Rock | 4×4 |
| Big Cat Lazy River | 8×4 |
So now that we’ve covered upgrades, let’s talk about…
Animals
So what the heck do you do with all the animals you unlock during the upgrades? They don’t roam around Springfield, so what do they do?
Well, each animal you unlock via each Habitat/Attraction upgrade and be viewed within the confineds of that Habitat. What does that mean exactly? It means that within the Emu Experience you can have th Emu, Llama, Ram and Armadillo visable. Similary with Big Cat Country.
How does it work?
Simply tap the Habitat/Attraction you want to select animals for and tap the Purple View option next to Animals
Once in there you’ll see various slots for animals. Each habitat has 4 available slots for visual animals:
Simply decide which slot to use and hit the Purple Change icon next to it to select an animal (or change which animal is there).
Keep in mind, until you’ve fully upgraded and unlocked each animal, some animals will remain locked. (also remember that if you have multiple habitats (of the same type) you’ll have to upgrade each habitat again to get the animals to appear there. So just because you’ve fully upgraded 1 Emu Experience doesn’t mean the second will automatically have all of the animals unlocked. You’ll need to fully upgrade that one to unlock the animals there)
Once you’ve selected animals and filled all 4 slots you can make animal changes depending on your mood. Simply tap the Purple Change icon…
You can also select multiples of the same animal to appear. So if you only want Emu’s at the Emu Experience you can:
Make sense?
So remember, the animals unlocked via upgrading Habitats are NOT Free-Range Animals to roam around Springfield. They’re animals that will unlock for viewing at each individual Habitat (and no there’s no crossover. So you can’t have Emu’s at Big Cat Country or Lions at the Emu Experience. Certain animals are meant to be kept apart). So when you unlock them you won’t find them in your inventory or running around your town. You’ll simply unlock the ability to have to become visable at their corresponding Habitat.
And in the end, if you choose unique animals for each, they’ll look like this…
With each animal out there for all the Zoo visitors to experience…
And that my friends concludes the details up Upgrading and the Amusement/Arrangement bonus for Moe’s Ark Act 1. Hopefully this clears some things up for those of you who have been confused on the whole process.
Thoughts on upgrades? How about traditional crafting going “bye-bye” for this event? Thoughts on the animals in the habitats? Sound off below, you know we love hearing from you!
I only just got the emu and lion expierience during the dog days event through the token box. Thing is I can’t see a way to upgrade them? In your article it shows a option to earn currency for when clicking the enclosures. I click mine and it says change animals, then you go into it and it’s like this animal level 2, this animal level 3 etc etc. But I can’t see a way to level up at all. And changing animals is the only option you get but you get level up to change them. Seems I’ve been sold a dud prize. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.
When I go to a neighbors town and it says I can send 10 invasive toads, can I send 10, or am I supposed to leave some for other people?
Your call. I mostly place the max if I have them.
I’ve upgraded my 2 Emu experiences completely and have never seen the armadillos that I was supposed to earn and they are not in my envintory. I’ve removed other animals in my Emu enclosures and still could not find them. I have the same problem with missing the panda, and wolverine. Has anyone else had this problem or have a solution for me to find them and place them in my zoo?
I’ve even removed all the animals from my Emu enclosure and still no armadillo.
I am having same issue. I feel like Either having ongoing issue with not getting panda and completed full upgrade level and even almost through another one same baboon… so maybe I’m just not getting this event however still no panda. Irritating…
Do the sanctuary Grant’s carry over to the next act or will it be something different? Tryong to decide if I should spend or save
http://tstoaddicts.com/2018/08/11/moes-ark-tips-for-ending-act-1/
When you tap on the animal feeding area, and it clears all the visitors, does it also clear the tadpoles? I have notifications that neighbors invade my town but can’t see the tadpoles.
I want to confirm, that if you’ve been gone long enough, there is a 300 donut bonus for returning. I hadn’t logged in for months (a year maybe?) unless my wife had played for me.
I’m close to earning enough for the final upgrade for big cat country. But think that will only get me to 10.5% bonus. I really don’t want to purchase a 2nd emu experience or 2nd big cat country, but looks like there is no other way to increase bonus %? Or would it be smarter to save my grants for act 2?
soo, I sent tadpoles to a friends town. They never showed up? Any Ideas on why?
So I upgraded through the last emu experience upgrade, which gave me the new building, but then tried to take it back by hitting the red x before placing. It told me that the building had been placed into my inventory, but now I can’t find it anywhere. Anyone know where it may be?
Restart your game…them look in storage/buildings. If it isn’t there…do a general search.
Did you ever find the emu experience in your inventory? I put one of mine in there and I cannot find it! I’ve searched through everything and it just isn’t there. Does anyone have any ideas?
This is EXTREMELY helpful and I really wish I’d read this before I’d unlocked the 3000 sanctuary grants that I then spent on Emu Experience #2 (because why not?), rather than saving them for my upcoming Big Cat Country. 🙄
Thank you for taking time to explain all of this.
Ditto here, for the most part. I mean, I’d already *read* it here… I just didn’t *understand* it. Lol
Apologies if you have already covered this, but have unlocked the armadillo and don’t see any option to place it in the Emu enclosure slots, or actually find it.? I have 2 EEs, but can’t place in either.
http://tstoaddicts.com/2018/08/02/moes-ark-101-attraction-bonus-and-upgrading-emu-experience-big-cat-country/
You only get 4 slots and the are 5 animals at emu so the can’t all show
Thanks Alissa… I now see that… !
I accidentally clicked on Emu Experience and yep a 2nd one was not what I wanted (that’s okay it earns extra Bonus %, I’m not going to bother upgrading it, definitely will be stored as soon as this Event is over). Still Kem Farming, which means Upgrading with Sprinkles is worth it (for me) with enough left over to obtain Sara Wiggum ….
I should have Big Cat Country Event Prize by tomorrow (it’s not even a grind every 4 hours sending Characters on Tasks, especially now that you don’t have to Craft – thank you EA!)….
I will definitely be more careful when Upgrading, as I don’t want to take up too much space with the Event via having another Building pop up (unless EA is going to offer more than two Land Tokens per Act). Did I figure out how to do everything on my own? Yes, but EA could do a better job explaining “how to” (fortunately that’s why we have Alissa, Patric, Wookie, Safi) 😀👍
Personally, I don’t like this new way to play. Lol I vote for the old way!!
I’m having a problem with emu experience. On the quest line it says upgrade emu experience but I have. I’m on level 4 and the quest won’t honor it
I’m having the same problem. I’ve got the % bonus but the task line still has me at 0/3 for the upgrades. I’m starting whether reinstalling it will help but does anyone have a better idea?
How many of each enclosure can we have?
Most likely as any as you want. But hold off on excessive spending to upgrade the Emu to ge another which you will upgrade to get another…
Because you will want to spend your Currency to upgrade the Big Cat environment.
And maybe, in Act 2, the same Currency May be spent on the NEXT set of enclosures
I am guessing since we can buy the sanctuary grants through the entire event and not just the first act, they will be using this same currency for the next two acts.
The animals behave differently depending on which slot you put them in. I like it.
Yeah, I just want to build more big cat country things so I can have all the cats in the different poses at the same time…. I came here to see if that would be possible and it seems so.
I just started this event, I have the zoo entrance, the walls and the emu experience. However, I don’t have tappables in my town or in my friends towns, and don’t know how to get the sanctuary things. Is there an order of operations before tappables arrive in my town? Thank you in advance for any help you can give me!
Go. Sick and read the origami posts from Wednesday. It’s all there.
That’s some nice autocorrect at work there.
😂😂 that’s Pat’s siri speak lol
Suddenly I’m reminded of Dick Tracy —- between the Apple Watch and Siri that was in the Strip, and the Character “Mumbles”….
Not certain where to lay the blame for the autocorrect……
😇
Lol!! Just saw this. Siri and no reading glasses conspired.
Hilarious. Even by Siri standards.
I got so tired of accidentally turning Siri on that I finally disabled it completely. Much better now as it was driving me crazy. 🤪
I also thought the purchased decos would increase the bonus but I guess not! RachelS
For some dumb reason, I thought the purchased decorations would increase the bonus % as well. Probably because the craftables in the last few events had bonus % and the purchaseables in this one kind of replaced them. Fortunately I figured it out before buying a ton of them.