When Animal Kingdom opened, the Beastly Kingdom land logo was displayed at the entrance of the park, and even renderings of it printed in the Animal Kingdom making-of book. And then, we know what happened: this Beastly Kingdom land project disappeared because cancelled by Disney and there are no chances to see it built one day as the Avatar Pandora land is built where Beastly Kingdom was supposed to be.
When conceived, Disney's Animal Kingdom was to focus on three broad classifications of animals: those that exist in today's reality; those that did exist but are now extinct (dinosaurs); and those that only exist in the realm of fantasy. The original design for Animal Kingdom included a themed section called the Beastly Kingdom (possibly spelled as "Beastly Kingdomme"), devoted to creatures of legend and mythology. Camp Minnie-Mickey was built instead of Beastly Kingdom and was meant to serve as a temporary placeholder until Beastly Kingdom could be built.
Beastly Kingdom was to feature mythical animals such as unicorns, dragons, and sea monsters, featuring realms of both good and evil creatures:
The evil side was to be dominated by Dragon Tower, a ruined castle home to a greedy fire-breathing dragon who hoarded a fabulous treasure in the tower chamber. The castle was also inhabited by bats who planned to rob the dragon of his riches. They were to enlist the guests' help in their scheme and whisk them off on a thrilling suspended roller coaster ride through the castle ruins.
The climax of the ride was to be an encounter with the evil dragon himself, resulting in a nearly barbecued train of guests.
The good side was to be home to Quest of the Unicorn, an adventure that would send guests through a maze of medieval mythological creatures...
...to seek the hidden grotto where the unicorn lives.
Finally, the Fantasia Gardens attraction was to be a musical boat ride through animal scenes from the 1940 Disney animated film Fantasia. The ride was to feature both the crocodiles and hippos from "Dance of the Hours" and the Pegasus, fauns, and centaurs from Beethoven's "The Pastoral Symphony."
In 2000, Walt Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde said: "We had a vision and now it's become a placeholder. We have all kinds of ideas and not all of them fit with the theme of Beastly Kingdom. I'm not even convinced there will be a Beastly Kingdom", and unfortunately Joe was right...
Artworks: copyright Disney
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