27 February 2008

Jambo!

When Animal Kingdom opened in 1998 alert guests already had an idea of what they were in store for, or they at least had an idea of an idea. Today, take a look back at what we were looking forward to.


A model of Animal Kingdom, with the Tree of Life visible at the top.


Concept art for The Boneyard, which would come to mezmerize the very young and very young at hear.


And what look at the early concepts of Disney's Animal Kingdom would be complete with a brief pause to acknowledge the Animal Kingdom that never was, or at least the Animal Kingdom not yet discovered, Beastly Kingdom.

4 comments:

Today: In Seven said...

Wow, I was just at Animal Kingdom. It's changed some, it's neat to see what was the idea that is now today.

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Unknown said...

The Beastly Kingdom concept art looks kind of like the animation in Hercules.

Ryan P. Wilson said...

Daniel,
That would amke a lot of sense, considering that Hercules was released in the summer of 1997. The other film connection I see in the concept art is Fantasia, which had then already begun to leave its mark on the Studios, a connection which has only grown stronger over the years. It makes me wonder if we might ever see a revamping of the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground into something more Fantasia related. Something that combined elemnts of Fantasia with the idea of the Quest for the Unicorn idea for Beastle Kingdom.

krueg said...

I was a college program cast member on the Opening Cast of Animal Kingdom back in 1998. It's very interesting to see how much the park has changed in 10 years...

We used to be let loose in the parks in order to ride/test the rides. I rode "Countdown to Extinction" many times, some even with the lights on! That ride has really been toned down. The first time I rode it I thought my spine was going to snap!

The River Boats are gone, they used to make the boat vibrate as if a sea monster was under the boat as well as a fire breathing dragon in the rocks complete with a blast of flames.

I still can't believe it's been 10 years since it's opened. How time flies...