A New Species of Theme Park Posterized

Oh, the promise! Oh, the potential!

When Disney's fourth Florida theme park debuted, this beautiful poster of Disney's Animal Kingdom was found for sale in the shops of Safari Village. Thanks to a friend, this image was sent to me, in appreciation for my extensive series on the creation and evolution of the park.

Imagineer Joe Rohde's vision for this gorgeous place could be seen here in its condensed glory, but it was only a fractional picture of what was originally imagined. True, Beastly Kingdom would never appear, but in its place came the thrills of Expedition Everest and the soon to come controversial Pandora land from the film Avatar. All this proves once again, that in the Disney universe, the winning concepts that succeed from blue sky ideas to concrete and steel reality are only proving the survival of the fittest.

(For those that are interested, I look at the park from its roots to its future in a six part series that begins here.)

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)