Wow... So basically, for those who could have an interest, Beastly Kingdom was supposed to be a land in Animal Kingdom, but plans were scrapped because of money. Eisner chose to showcase dinosaurs instead of mythological creatures and decided to market Dinosaur the movie with an E-ticket ride... movie which turned out to be a flop. Dinoland USA was given the green light. Beastly Kingdom, not. However, imagineers kept the plans to themselves and Disney believed that Animal Kingdom would be a huge success, therefore, that land would be constructed in the future.
Where did the plans go...
The article says that after Euro Disney was opened in 1992 (and at the time was considered a flop too), lots of imagineers were fired. Who hired them afterwards? Universal.
Years later, in 2000, Eisner makes a "secret" visit to Universal's Islands of Adventure and is surprised to see the Lost Continent. It was, and will always be, the symbol of what Eisner could not do (mythological themes). Eisner felt robbed... or at least disappointed that Universal did it first. Universal actually realized something that was originally supposed to be in Animal Kingdom. Nobody could say that Universal stole Disney's land... Disney never constructed the land.
So now, WDW will not make its original plan come true in the future. Eisner will not copy back on Universal and risk being called a stealer. Expedition Everest is being constructed on that part of the land instead. Beastly Kingdom will never be.
That article also mentions something incredibly interesting. Animal Kingdom's logo shows a dragon in the middle:
When it was designed, Beastly Kingdom was supposed to be one of the lands. And it's not. But even when Disney knew that land would not exist for the opening, it kept the same design. Why? Because in 1998, Beastly Kingdom was still in the plans for a future opening. Now, even though the dragon migrated to Universal's Islands of Adventures, he still sits by the Tree of Life and laughs at Eisner's failed project: Beastly Kingdom. Currently, we know Expedition Everest is Disney's response and that the mythological land will never exist. So the logo might as well change in the future. And it's true now, where can you find a dragon in Animal Kingdom?
I'm not sure about the whole "the imagineers were hired by Universal and created The Lost Continent based on their work for Disney"... but the article shows how different Animal Kingdom could have been... Three amazing rides ideas.
