Disney's Animal Kingdom: A True Life Adventure (Part Seven)

Today I offer up Part Seven of the extremely popular series, Disney's Animal Kingdom: A True Life Adventure. The very first part of the series dates back to Earth Day 2008. From the very beginning, my goal was to present some rare concept art and photos as I told the story of the evolution of Animal Kingdom- from concept to reality and all the changes in between. Toss in an objective analysis, a few trip reports, and rumors in the mix, and you've got a lot of enjoyable reading. 

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When we left off in Part Six, it was clear that Disney's newest theme park in Florida was in transition and without a clear vision for the future.  

Rare Beasty Kingdom(me) art found on a limited edition
 collector's pin. Thanks to my friend Mike S at WDWMagic.

Old concepts such as Beastly Kingdom (above and below) were tossed aside as expensive and old school- plus they were blatantly stolen over at Universal's Islands of Adventure - brought to Disney's competitors when several Imagineers took up residence there after being laid off by the Mouse.

Thanks to Werner Weiss for this excellent scan 

of the Beastly Kingdom(me) overview.

Coming after the park saving Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, was next year's Finding Nemo the Musical. It's debut in 2007 was hailed by hard core theme park fans but failed to deliver an attendance bump. 

In the new Disney world, which meant that character infusions were forced into places they did not belong, the Nemo musical fit surprisingly well into a park which celebrated animals in an extremely creative way. The beautiful huge puppets and consistently good musical numbers perfectly complemented the sweet, heartwarming story. The songs were written by the husband and wife team that brought Frozen to life, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. One number, (In The) Big Blue World also found its way into The Living Seas at Epcot. At 40 minutes in length, the new production took up another large chunk of the guest's day with schedules that offered differing times than the park's other must see musical, Legend of the Lion King. 

The next attraction to make its way to Animal Kingdom was...

Rare concept for the Tree of Life.

...Nothing. Absolutely nothing but the closing of the Pocahontas show. The park sat stagnant for several years. The Walt Disney Company was reeling from its loss of the Harry Potter property to competitor Universal. In an unexpected twist of blessing for the attendance starved Islands of Adventure, author J.K. Rowling turned over the theme park reins to Universal Creative and not Disney. It was a stunning coup for the fledging park operator. For Disney, it was back to the drawing boards.

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

Would the Imagineers (and the suits that controlled the budget) take a look back at the opening day inscription for the park when thinking and planning for its future? What would they do?

Come 2010 and the opening of Harry Potter and his wildly thrilling Forbidden Journey, the massively big, popular attraction at Disney's competition, took the public interest by storm. Not only did the new area increase Universal's guest count by several million people annually, it also made Florida visitors rethink an all-Disney vacation. More and more folks took a day or two off from the Walt Disney World property in favor of time with Harry. The Disney suits took notice.

Disney publicly denied they were worried (as anyone with any business sense would suspect) but privately, the frantic search began for a property they could use to create their own must-see experience for Animal Kingdom. 

Another up charge tour.

In the meantime, the suits dreamed up a new adventure for the elite tourist with big bucks to spare. With minimal investment, the Wild Africa Trek promised a more personal and up close look at the animals found in the Kilimanjaro Safaris. Of course it was expensive just for the experience of more animals and a trendy meal. Of course it pleased the suits because of the instant cash flow. And of course, it infuriated theme park purists, like myself, that new Disney was into milking all it could from its guests versus steadily improving the parks and the guest experience. 

The gorgeous Tree of Life.

 More characters were thrown into the park. Disney bloggers who benefitted from personal invitations to Disney park "events" went into high gear promoting the wonders of the world. On the other end of the spectrum, press was solid if not enthusiastic for the soon to come Cars Land in California. It seemed 2012 couldn't come soon enough to divert some attention from Universal. 

Pandora coming your way in 2017?

In the Fall of 2011, the Walt Disney Company announced a partnership with filmmaker James Cameron to bring the world of Avatar to the animal based park. Instant controversy. 

What place did movie aliens have in celebrating the animals on planet Earth? The Discussion Boards on Disney park websites began to debate back and forth about the merit of the addition. Sure, there was a shared conservation theme, and yes, a giant tree played a pivotal part in both the park and the film. But was there more commonality between the two projects?

James Cameron, Thomas Staggs, 

and Imagineer Joe Rohde

Actually, there is more in common than you would think. There's a spiritual emphasis that links the two. The theme park digs deeper into our emotional connection between animals and man with an underlying- sometimes blatant-  theme of conservation.  At Animal Kingdom, Disney carefully straddles the lines between man as guardian and steward of creation with man as equal with the rest of creation. This is done with the utmost sensitivity as to not offend guests with a Judeo-Christian ethic and world view, creating either controversy or decreased revenue. In this way, Disney's lovely and charming and peaceful park is no different in its presenting philosophy than the core belief system of Cameron's equally beautiful and artistic film.   

More explanation might make sense: The opening act of the park, the Oasis area, was once named Genesis Gardens during the initial planning. The Tree of Life is a direct reference found in the holy books of all three major religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In each of these books, Man and woman were created by God and placed in this beautiful world. In the very middle of the garden stood the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When the first couple disobeys God and eats of the forbidden fruit, they are punished for their choice and must await a savior to pay the price for their grievous sin of disobedience.

(Photograph courtesy Main Street Gazette)

In Disney and Cameron's Eden, man may return to favor by harmoniously blending with his surroundings. Here guests have the opportunity to return to this glorious place, a place where man,  beast, and nature co-exist in harmony. The concept of Gaia is the realm of belief in both kingdoms; the Earth (and in Avatar, the other planets) is a seen as a one living, breathing creature. This living land is able to sustain life on its own. 

How could the Imagineers walk a very thin line between offending paying guests by subtly teaching earth worship theology to a large segment of guests who believe otherwise? By creating a gorgeous park! Sometimes it's not so subtle- see photo above- and you can see where Disney Imagineers have openly embraced the new age/old school pagan philosophies. Directly in opposition to the classic Judeo-Christian teachings, Gaia calls for east worship, revealing these truths as real for today as when they were written: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse...They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator- who is forever praised." Right from the Bible. Of course, here Islam and Judaism part ways with Christianity, as Jesus claims to be God and proclaims He is the only One through which one might get to an eternal place of peace, joy, and life. Now back to the park story...

A new look for the Tree of Life after dark.

Paired with a version of World of Color, Rivers of Light,

the park should look terrific after dark!

Ground was finally broken on Pandora in early 2014 with a projected opening date of 2017 once Cameron finished the next two films in his planned series. Disney released a series of new pieces of art to showcase the project as well as announcing the arrival of a nighttime water show designed to make this once half-day park into a full day excursion, Rivers of Light. The concept art for both projects is spectacular! If the end result is nearly as true to the artists' work, I'll be very happy this Avatar addition came to Walt Disney World... even if I think that stylistically the world of Pandora belongs elsewhere. 

Great photo from DaMouse website.

In a move that took years to realize, the tremendously popular theater show, Legend of the Lion King, finally moved to Africa, making room for the expansion.  This allowed the placeholder Camp Minnie-Mickey to finally be replaced with Cameron's vision built in concrete and steel. The new home for the show was so beautifully designed and executed, it is almost as if it was planned from the beginning. Harambe, the fictional city of Animal Kingdom's Africa, seems fully realized now, and there's more to come.

Anticipating increase in park attendance once Pandora opens and the Rivers of Light water show debuts, Disney Imagineers are hard at work on a marketplace expansion to Africa, falling between its borders and Asia. More shops and eateries will make for a pleasant experience during the growing attendance bump.

Smaller projects are happening as well. Good or bad- the choice is up to you. Starbucks is on its way, and a newly expanded open space around the Tree of Life has recently opened. A table service restaurant will debut on Discovery Island, taking up some space from Pizzafari. 

Rivers of Light: Enough to keep park guests after dark?

More questions remain: Will the Discovery River once again find watercraft filled tourists on its waters? Will Pandora be home to more than one attraction? Will Disney continue to invest in this park after this most recent expansion or will that take decades? Those questions will have to be answered later in the next installment.

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This concludes Part Seven of the series. If you've never read the first pieces and want to discover all the rare concept art as well as read more about the park's development and history, you can find more information here:

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
(Concept art and top photo copyright The Walt Disney Company. All other photos copyright Mark Taft.)

Da Mouse Does Harambe at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Aged to perfection. The most recent addition to Walt Disney World's mostly neglected Animal Kingdom theme park is so photo worthy. Almost on par with New Fantasyland over at the Magic Kingdom, the Harambe expansion shows what Disney can accomplish in little time when they want to do so. 

The new area houses The Festival of the Lion King, which belonged in Africa from the beginning, but was placed in Camp Minnie-Mickey to spread out the crowds. Now with Pandora / World of Avatar / Avatarland coming, the show got the boot.

There have been many photographs of the new area on many sites and blogs. I have to say Da Mouse provides one of the most detailed, comprehensive reports and with sharp commentary. Go to the link.

Imagineer Joe Rohde should be very pleased with this addition to arguably the most beautiful Disney theme park on US soil. Perhaps there is life after all- and a good one- for this long neglected gem.

(Photograph copyright Da Mouse.)

Camp Minnie-Mickey Fades Away at Animal Kingdom

Camp Minnie-Mickey closes at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Avatarland is on the way in 2017, and it is time for construction to begin. There's a great little video and photo tour of this original land from the park at WDWMagic. The above shot shows the entrance in all its non-glory. Sure, Festival of the Lion King is a deserved if recycled smash, but the rest of the area? A pacemaker at best, be it the aborted Beastly Kingdom(me) or now Avatarland. Where's Joe Rohde and will we see the acclaimed Imagineer around the park now?

(Photo from WDWMagic, but altered by Mark Taft.)

Disney's Animal Kingdom Collection

Editors Note: This year's D23 convention was full of exciting exhibits and displays, but it unfortunately and thoroughly ignored one of Walt Disney Imagineering's most important projects of the last two decades. Disney's Animal Kingdom is a game changer for the Walt Disney Company in how it viewed and designed and managed its theme parks and in how it educated its guests. Although Part One of this six part series was first published in 2008, taking a look back at the park's history and the thought processes of the Company may give us a hint to its future. At the end of this posting of Part One, there are links to the other six articles in the series. Additionally, on this blog, there are 60+ other articles about Animal Kingdom, making it one of the both talked about subjects found here. These posts include more rare concept art, trip reports, etc. But for now, let's begin with Part One...

Earlier this year, Disney’s fourth and largest Florida theme park celebrated ten years of delighting, thrilling, or frustrating Walt Disney World guests. Plans for the future have yet to be made public, but let’s look back at the past, discuss the present, and speculate on the future of this wonderfully imagineered playground.

Why is there such a deep appreciation and an equal disdain for Disney’s Animal Kingdom? It stands distinctly different from the Mouse’s other playgrounds in the Sunshine State. For its fans, the combination of a brilliant and daring design, consistent theme, and faithful execution brings new and unique adventures and environments. Its detractors would counter there are too few attractions to hold their interest for an entire day. Both sides agree the park is a beauty to view. However dazzling this combination zoo, botanical garden, and theme park is to behold, there are also the intangible factors that draw us to it when we can look past the limited number of adventures: there is a deep emotional connection that comes from our love for nature and animals. It meets our desire to run away from the concrete jungles of modern day life and reality- if only for the day! The park is a unique entity among Disney’s theme park roster, one that will probably never be duplicated.

Beginning with Mickey himself, animals of all types and depictions continue to be a great and profitable fit with Disney. According to company lore, Walt’s well-known love for animals and exotic locales, evidenced by the inclusion of Adventureland at Disneyland, California, and his True-Life Adventure films formed the emotional heart of Animal Kingdom long before ground was ever broken. In reality, when discussion began about the creation of this park in 1989, it may have truly been a strictly business decision that brought it to fruition.

The Magic Kingdom was a concept unique to Disney, successfully capitalizing and expanding upon the reputation of its older sibling in California. The next park, EPCOT Center, conceptually different in Walt’s mind but with its execution clearly inspired by world’s fairs and corporate America trade shows, transformed Walt Disney World from a single day destination to one that could consume a traveler’s entire week. Disney-MGM Studios debuted and was the least original of the three parks, taking ideas from Universal Studios in California and Disneyland, including a new Main Street of a different era for its entrance plaza.

Michael Eisner, brilliant or be damned, was the driving force behind the creation of a nature focused park. Bringing a competitive, and some would say greedy, nature to the business, he guided the company into direct battle with his once friendly neighbors, desiring to capture all the time and money any visitor may have in Central Florida. Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park had just successfully launched to square off with the soon-to-come Universal Studios. Pleasure Island was Disney’s answer to Orlando’s popular Church Street Station, Typhoon Lagoon their response to Wet N Wild, and myriads of resort properties were added to the entire Disney complex to grab a large share of the hospitality industry’s bread and butter. Earlier in the decade, Epcot’s Living Seas pavilion took a swipe at Sea World, and now Disney’s Animal Kingdom was looking to take a large bite out of Busch Gardens popularity in nearby Tampa.

The Studios park was jammed with guests from opening day on, and the atmosphere was rich but the attractions were few. Plans were quickly put into place for expansion, and discussions began on what to do next. Outside the new park, visitors filled the water parks and daytime entertainment and shopping areas. Flush with success and lots of money to invest, Disney executives believed a large audience remained untapped. With the astounding success of all the new offerings on the property, it was only a matter of time before the strategy gelled to add another park to lure and keep vacationers on Disney soil. Watching its competition for further clues, all it took was a glance at what was going on in Tampa to realize people’s love for animals and for the Disney characters would be a hit when combined. Polls taken at the other parks confirmed the company’s hunch. The “blue sky” imagineering quietly but quickly began.

Joe Rohde, who was intimately involved in the now defunct Adventurer’s Club at Pleasure Island, got the go-ahead from Eisner early in the new decade to proceed. He would head up the small but talented team to design the new park. With only a few months, a relatively short amount of time, and a high level of secrecy, this crew began to dream, plan and envision a park that would capture an audience and their money.

The designers instinctively knew Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom, (as it was first named), had to be different from the other Florida parks, yet it had to appeal to the masses as well. Could Disney pull off a zoological park that didn’t look or feel like one? It had to be one that could excite and not bore. These became the core challenges. The Imagineers and the money men were well aware that travelers would avoid the new park in droves if a run-of-the-mill zoo was the first impression the park left its early guests.

As with any Disney park, this one had to have its themed “lands”. Initial concepts blended traditional Magic Kingdom elements (Beastly Kingdom- home to imaginary animals and the expected Disney dark rides); an Epcot style pavilion (Conservation Station- highlighting advanced animal care techniques); and traditional zoo with safari essentials (Kilimanjaro Safaris and Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail- among others, providing real life animal encounters). Additionally, a few old school Disneyland elements reappeared with slightly different twists: an exploration into the era of prehistoric creatures from Anaheim’s Primeval World met the cutting edge technology of California’s Indiana Jones Adventure (Countdown to Extinction), repurposed Jungle Cruise boats became transportation (Discovery River Boats), and lastly another railroad line linked the more guest friendly areas with the research facility (the Wildlife Express). Of course, any and all great plans are subject to the accountants red pen!


(Thank you to Tales from the Laughing Place for the image above!)

The main themed areas were now in place, but the Imagineers had another challenge to solve as well. What should be the park’s identifying icon and how would they set the stage for an arriving visitor? The Magic Kingdom and Studios parks both used a long walkway leading from the park entrance toward its respective icon. Epcot utilized a welcome garden type area then allowed guests to walk under Spaceship Earth. After many different ideas were discussed, including entering the park through a recreation of Noah’s ark, Joe Rohde and team took a unique approach to solve the problem.

To quickly establish the idea this park was built for exploration, wonder, and maybe most importantly, was not your mother’s zoo, guests would pass the turnstiles and enter the enticing Oasis Gardens. This area establishes the feel of the park: there would be multiple paths to explore and animals and birds all around. With the vegetation lush and strewn with tropical flowers, streams, and small waterfalls, this place would be a place to relax as well as have fun. Nooks and crannies discovered along the way would contain animal exhibits quietly hidden for the folks who would choose to take the time to find them. Multiple paths into and out of the gardens encourage visitors to explore. All this to bring a sense of mystery. Once the chattering of birds and small creatures intermingled with the sounds of human laughter, anticipation would be built. What would it lead to?

To ensure the park had an extremely authentic and exotic atmosphere, the Animal Kingdom team wisely involved Paul Comstock, the modern day genius landscape architect behind so many of Disney's wonderful theme parks and resorts. Mentored by the legendary Bill Evans, his reputation is crowned by his breathtaking work on Disney's Animal Kingdom. This unique combination gives the park its bold flavor. (Below is one of Paul’s original landscape plans. To view more of his two decades of work at Disney, see his portfolio at his new employer, Valley Crest Design Group.)
The landscaping plan for the park is spectacular, but it is the man made masterpiece, the Tree of Life, the park’s chosen icon, that was intended to steal the show. This astounding structure is a piece of art unparalleled in Disney’s history. Designed to quickly brand the Animal Kingdom, there are more than three hundred animals are carved into its trunk and branches. Surrounding it are even more gardens, streams, and waterfalls. The Tree of Life was a bold and breathtaking choice. Situated on Safari Island, there were various concepts initially proposed for the area before the designers settled on the final one.

As expenses grew making accountants nervous, plans continued to evolve to balance the centuries old tension of art and commerce. The victims of cost cutting meant a haven for meeting the Disney characters replaced the beautiful landscapes and attractions of Beastly Kingdom, old parade floats from Disneyland were turned into the Festival of the Lion King show, and the exciting Excavator coaster for Dinoland U.S.A. became extinct. In what was ultimately another concession to the business side of the Mouse House, a 3D film based on an upcoming Disney/Pixar movie “A Bug’s Life” would be placed inside the majestic Tree of Life. Although fewer attractions would premier on opening day than what was originally designed, the park promised and would deliver enticing adventures for those guests who chose to look beyond the traditional Disney park experience.


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Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

(All artwork copyright The Walt Disney Company. Photos by Mark Taft. All rights reserved.)

The Rise and Fall of Disney's Animal Kingdom

How can a Disney theme park with so much promise fall into such a miserable state less than 15 years after opening? Such is the case of Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

Although it opened on Opening on Earth Day 1988, the park began capturing the interest and curiosity of the public years ago when the project was first announced. "Why would Disney want to create a zoo?" was a common question- one that Disney's own accountants had to be asking themselves as well. It was one the Company itself had to be asking after guest numbers fell year after year. And it is one die hard Disney theme park fans- and perhaps even Imagineer Joe Rohde- are now asking themselves while the Walt Disney Company lets this beautiful, rich kingdom die a slow death, watching it devolve into just another zoo.

With broken effects in most of the major attractions, shortened hours, overpriced restaurants, and rehashed parades, although Disney's Animal Kingdom once had the ability to match Tokyo Disney Sea in elan and beauty, the company tossed its potential aside due to neglect in both upkeep and lack of further enhancements. The pricey Wild Africa Trek does not make up for a lack of expansion, but it does explain away the reason for a broken yeti at Expedition Everest, closing shows without replacements, and offering nothing new in years. Clearly, corporate greed trumps customer satisfaction and high value for the dollars spent. Please prove me wrong, Mr. Iger, please do.

My intent here is not to rehash a detailed history of the park. (For those that are interested, I do so in a six part series that begins here.) Today, I just want to ask the question, "What happened?"


(Photo copyright Mark Taft.)