Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom has a wonderful dedication, from the former chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company:
Welcome to a kingdom of animals… real, ancient and imagined: a kingdom ruled by lions, dinosaurs and dragons; a kingdom of balance, harmony and survival; a kingdom we enter to share in the wonder, gaze at the beauty, thrill at the drama, and learn.
—Michael D. Eisner, April 22, 1998
A beautiful sentiment, the quote teases the park’s amazing potential. But has it fulfilled that potential? That’s up for debate among Disney fans, especially since in many peoples’ eyes the Animal Kingdom has still yet to deliver everything the dedication promised. Read below to get a sense of Animal Kingdom’s history and efforts to live up to what Michael Eisner promised on the opening day.
1. The beginning
When the park opened, six different areas made up the Animal Kingdom: Safari Village, the Oasis, Africa, Dinoland U.S.A., Conservation Station and Camp Minnie-Mickey. Still in development were Asia and the Beastly Kingdom.The absence of the Beastly Kingdom was particularly conspicuous because, without it, Michael D. Eisner’s quote didn’t quite ring true. There were animals real and ancient at the Animal Kingdom, yes, but not imagined ones. The Beastly Kingdom was meant to be home to animals like the dragons mentioned in the dedication, but it wasn’t at the Animal Kingdom yet.
2. Years passed
Image: Disney
Disney made its share of updates over the next several years, including opening an Asia land that featured attractions like Kali River Rapids and the Maharajah Jungle Trek and launching Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade as part of Disney World’s 100 Years of Magic in 2001. But still no sign of the Beastly Kingdom or any kind of mythical animal promised in the dedication.
It became clear that Disney had no plans to bring the Beastly Kingdom to life, largely due to budget restraints and competition from Universal’s Islands of Adventure that wasn’t as fierce as expected. Camp Minnie-Mickey stuck around when it was only meant to be a placeholder for the Beastly Kingdom. Signs of what was supposed to replace Camp Minnie-Mickey in the area included a cave where an unseen fire-breathing dragon supposedly lives, a suit of armor outside of the cave and a stone water fountain shaped like a dragon.
3. Plans for Beastly Kingdom
Image: Disney
Even though it never opened, a lot of concept work had been done for Beastly Kingdom. Even though plans never materialized, the Imagineers’ intentions for the land are very interesting to explore. Those intentions included both a good and bad realm, one made up of heroic characters and the other villainous ones. The good realm was supposed to house Quest of the Unicorn, a mythological maze leading to the unicorn’s home, and Fantasia Gardens, a musical boat ride that shows you the animal scenes from the classic movie.
The bad half of the Beastly Kingdom was supposed to have Dragon’s Tower, where a fire-breathing dragon held on to treasure in the tower’s chamber. A group of bats would have helped guests steal its riches on a wild roller coaster. Those details and pretty much everything else known about the Beastly Kingdom sound pretty spectacular, at least on a conceptual level.
4. Disney offers a compromise
Thanks largely to the theme park enthusiasts who wouldn’t let them forget it, The Walt Disney Company remembered its promise of imagined animals and they fulfilled that promise, sort of.
Almost eight years after the Animal Kingdom opened, the Asia attraction Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain debuted. The coaster ride with a fearsome Yeti marked a long-awaited appearance of a mythical animal in the Animal Kingdom. It wasn’t quite as grandiose in scale as what Disney teased with the Beastly Kingdom, but it was a start in the right direction. Expedition Everest was a huge success, and helped Disney recognize the desire for more attractions featuring legendary creatures.
5. The arrival of Avatar
Image: Disney
Five years after the debut of Expedition Everest The Walt Disney Company took serious action to bring a mythical land to life, but the majority of theme park fans don’t seem pleased by the action it took.
In Spring 2011 Bob Iger met with James Cameron to discuss bringing the world of Pandora from his film series Avatar to the Animal Kingdom, and in September a deal was officially struck.
This development doesn’t make sense to a lot of folks for a number of reasons. For one, Avatar hasn’t proved itself as an enduring franchise. The first movie was only released in 2008 and the sequels are still years away. For all we know audiences will have lost interest in the property by the time they’re released.
Secondly, a whole land dedicated to just Avatar gives an unprecedented presence to a single franchise, and the franchise isn’t even a Disney property! Perhaps most significant, though, is the fact that fans still yearn for a place like the Beastly Kingdom that is made up of the kinds of legendary creatures who aren’t simply currently favorites but based on myths that have proven their staying power.
Pandora might not be the ideal solution, but it’s good that Walt Disney World is finally delivering on what it promised when the Animal Kingdom opened over 16 years ago. The park is close to finally being the thing it said it was on Day 1. That’s something to celebrate, I think.
Are you still hoping the Beastly Kingdom materializes? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
