I don't think that was a realistic goal for Walt Disney World, and IIRC, even early diesigns for the park envisioned a Disney section and a mythological/folklore Beastly Kingdom.
This will be an unpopular opinion, but there was a sense of unreality from the beginning, due to the theatricality and, well, being in Disney World!
Yeah but that’s not what the movie is about. There are other lions who are far more capable than a young Simba and there was no murdering implied. Again I’m not arguing that lion king should be excluded. I think it fits well, but Lion King at its heart is still Hamlet with Lions (but better).
I feel like once Dinoland closes fully and Zootopia arrives, the park will truly be theme-less, or at least a thematic mess.
Animal Kingdom's themes are conservation, the power of nature (animals and the environment) over human constructions and existence, and transformation through adventure and discovery (getting a "personal call to action"). Also, Animal Kingdom needs animals of the past (1), present (2), and fantasy (3) to meet its remit.
When Everest and Pandora arrived AK had finally fulfilled all 3 of its animal criteria. Now that Dinoland is going we'll have no animals of the past, and in fact the Tropical Americas is only going to oversaturate the park with fantastical animals. We know now that the small animal exhibits have been cut for a playground there so that sucks, and its not like we're gonna be a non-IP extinct wooly mammoth ride anytime soon, so the park is back to missing some of its animals.
Zootopia in no way matches any of themes mentioned above (conservation, nature over humans, personal growth through discovery), and in fact it exists to overwrite the presents of insects in the park, an extremely important part of the real-life animal kingdom and circle of life.
IMO we need a Zootopia Tree of Life replacement ASAP (I know we're not getting one for decades though), some new extinct creatures presence in the park (I'm thinking not dinos but maybe wooly mammoths or something), and the protection of existing animal exhibits in the park (don't let Kilimanjaro lose animal enclosure space to future expansions!). Oh and add some animals to the Tropical Americas please haha. We used to have crocodiles there during Dinoland times.
Ok, even a fake elephant corpse might be unsettling, although that seems like one specific element and not the whole park.
In today's episode of "well akshully", technically Kevin from Up is still an animal of the past, and he'll be there in two forms (walk-around character and carving in the new carousel). Also, while unlikely, they could go the route of making the focus of Indy some sort of relictual animal rather than a cryptid.
Good points, I would like to see more prominence of extinct animals in the park too though, especially real extinct animals and not fictional creations. Based on current concept art it looks like the mythical quetzalcoatl creature will be the Indy ride's focus animal, so it'll unfortunately be another fantastical creature and not an extinct one.
The college students, Disney World fans BTW, thought it very strange to have a park with living animals when even Future World had a sci-fi/fantasy feel. (Don't ask why Living Seas got a pass.)
Let's try this: it seemed very strange for Disney Parks to run a zoo.
It rose to creepiness due to animatronics mixed with wild animals on the safari.
You mean the animatronic that was removed before the park even opened?
No. Think Little Red