February 15, 2011

Introducing A Park Filled With Adventure

So says my favorite ad from 1998 introducing Disney's Animal Kingdom. The text is just as fascinating as the shadows in the photo, telling stories told and those abandoned:

"Keep your eyes open and your wits about you. 'Cause you never know what you'll come across here. Herds of wild elephants, prowling lions, fire breathing dragons, and dinosaurs whose return from extinction hans't mellowed their bad attitudes one iota. Where on earth are you? Disney's Animal Kingdom, a whole new Walt Disney World theme park. Where an African safari pits you against poachers, a mad archeologist sends you back 65 million years on a thrill ride of mammoth proportions, and over 1,000 animals roam freely."

Dinosaurs? Check. Wild beasts? Done. But fire breathing dragons give way to an angry Yeti, and dreams of the originally planned, incredibly detailed Beastly Kingdom crash to the ground. Imagineers strive for something equally fantastic, but so far, nothing makes the grade.
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Guess I should mention my series on the development and ongoing growth of Animal Kingdom. At this point, it is a six part series but its growing! There's art, photos, trip reports and history, much like my California Adventure series. If you want to read it from the beginning, go here.(Ad copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

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