Dragons at Animal Kingdom?

GoofMasterHookX

GoofMasterHookX

Member
Original Poster
I am trying to remember all the details of the old boat ride that went around the tree of life at Animal Kingdom. I know they had the Dinosaur animatronic by Dinoland, and I remember being told that there was a dragon along the way as well, it was never there when I actually went on it, and I was just wondering if it was ever there? or is this just a cm trying to scare a little kid.
 
tecowdw

tecowdw

Well-Known Member
GoofMasterHookX said:
I am trying to remember all the details of the old boat ride that went around the tree of life at Animal Kingdom. I know they had the Dinosaur animatronic by Dinoland, and I remember being told that there was a dragon along the way as well, it was never there when I actually went on it, and I was just wondering if it was ever there? or is this just a cm trying to scare a little kid.
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Don't recall it working anytime I was on the boat either but I know they had smoke and sound effects comeing from that area as you looked west on the bridge to Africa. I guess the mythilogical portion of the park faded away until the yeti took up residence this year.

Did boat riders actually see something there when the effect was working?
 
FigmentJedi

FigmentJedi

Well-Known Member
The dragon itself was going to have an animatronic figure breathing the fire, but the budget didn't allow it. The effect in its stead was just fire coming from the cave. When the park was in previews, they actually had melted knights' armor scattered about but they were removed. Evidence that the Dragon was there is the Dragon rock visible from the Camp Minnie Mickey bridge. The rock resembles a dragon's face with water flowing down between his teeth.
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Here`s the original concept
 

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bassman

bassman

New Member
does anyone have any pics of these dragon things,or these boat trips.
and also when was there boat rides in AK and when did they stop doing them,i when to "the world" the year the year before and the year after AK opened ,i would have loved to go on them.
 
brertigger

brertigger

Member
bassman said:
does anyone have any pics of these dragon things,or these boat trips.
and also when was there boat rides in AK and when did they stop doing them,i when to "the world" the year the year before and the year after AK opened ,i would have loved to go on them.
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They stopped doing them not too long after opening.

I went to AK about a month after it opened. The boat ride was OK, but not great. It was kind of boring, I thought. You just floated around the river, and the CMs showed you a few creatures that they had on board (if I remember correctly). They also pointed out interesting details on the Tree of Life. The line was terrible (like 45+ minutes wait).

A few years later, they tried the idea again briefly with a Radio Disney theme cruise. It was around for very little time (once again long lines, and not very popular).

Their original plan was to have the boats as transportation between two areas of the park (sorry- can't remember which), but that didn't work out.
 
Kadee

Kadee

New Member
bassman said:
does anyone have any pics of these dragon things,or these boat trips.
and also when was there boat rides in AK and when did they stop doing them,i when to "the world" the year the year before and the year after AK opened ,i would have loved to go on them.
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I have lots of pictures from it, but unfortunately, I have not scanned them in. My scanner is at school and we are on summer break until August. The dragon thing wasn't all that.....neither was the entire ride (just like Brertigger said). It was quite boring, but nice if you just wanted to rest a bit. I don't remember the lines being all that long, but we went the last week in May not long after AK opened. I think it would have been good as a transport between the lands if they could have made it work. The only thing I liked about the ride was you could see some pretty interesting birds on the banks of the river. Most people wouldn't care about that, but being a science teacher, I find it rather cool.
 
Pabgo

Pabgo

Member
That would have been so awesome if they didn't have budget issues! The dragon in the concept art looks kind of like the one in Fantasmic!!
 
Jerm

Jerm

Well-Known Member
The dragon cave was just past the bridge to Camp Minnie-Mickey, if you are going clock wise around the river. Plus an interesting thing is when you go over the bridge for Camp M-M if you look on the right side under the bridge it is a trolls house (just guessing that is it a troll cause of the area and the theme)
 
bassman

bassman

New Member
biggbird5182 said:
Yeah, the dragon looks more complicated than the Yeti! And that's just the concept art!
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yeah it does seem a little complicated.
but im sure that with todays technology and the brains of the disney imagineers it could be done some how.
i would love for this ride to be redone and opened again.it sounds cool
 
HandyAndy

HandyAndy

Member
Looks alot like the dragon we have over here at Chessington World of Adventures, and thats (the dragon) like 7 years old!

Chessie23.jpg


Except that concept seems to be on a much larger and compex scale lol!
 
Tim G

Tim G

Well-Known Member
bassman said:
yeah it does seem a little complicated.
but im sure that with todays technology and the brains of the disney imagineers it could be done some how.
i would love for this ride to be redone and opened again.it sounds cool
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Not for D.A.K.
 

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