Little bit of Beastly info for ya......

Lee

Adventurer
Original Poster
Mark Goldhaber at MousePlanet (Bagheera here at WDWMagic) has a nice article up today about Beastly Kingdom and Dragon Tower.

Not a ton of new information for those of us who have followed it closely over the years, but some nice tidbits. I would LOVE to get a look at some of the models mentioned.

Here is the article. Enjoy.
 
Thanks for an interesting article Lee. It's cool to hear the actual Imagineers talk about the attraction, and so sad that this area was shelved. Think about what this section could do for attendance at what a lot of people consider a half-day park. (AK is my 2nd favorite park at WDW, yet we usually only spend two mornings out of our week there)I would love to see this land come to be, but I don't hold out much hope, even when the occasional Beastly Kingdom rumor pops up.

Mike
 

NeedABreak

New Member
Interesting article. I'd love to see more done with AK. We are planing to tour AK on our last day since everyone tells me we can see it all and still make our 9:30 flight home. If they added another land at the size and scope they spoke of in the article they would have sold one more hotel night to me for sure. One day Disney will be as dareing as it was all those years ago when Uncle Walt was takeing chances.
 

jrriddle

Well-Known Member
Great Article. Shame about BK never being built, It would have been pretty cool. But that's in the past, any news on MI? :D
 

joel_maxwell

Permanent Resident of EPCOT
thanks lee, interesante'.

*beating dead horse*

to save me from having to do a search (i mean i am at work and i should be working) in 15 words or less, i have forgotten why BK didnt get produced. was it what they mentioned in this article, the direction? thanks.
 

jrriddle

Well-Known Member
From the article:
On why Beastlie Kingdomme was kept in the WDW 25th anniversary book “Since the World Began,” published in 1996
Joe had hopes to do Beastlie Kingdomme after the park opened, so that's why he made every effort to keep it in everyone's mind. I don't know exactly when they gave up on it or why but I'm sure it had something to do about the scope of it; it was a huge expensive land, almost a park itself.

After work do a search at Jim Hill's site. He has the long version.

Now get back to work!
 

Bagheera

New Member
Thanks for the plug, Lee! :wave:

You guys are going to love part 2. It's a complete walkthrough, from the bridge next to Pizzafari, through the land, through the queue, through the ride, and through the exit queue. REALLY cool. It was great working with Paul on this. Next, I'm hoping to coax Paul into doing something on either Maelstrom (including what it was supposed to be) or something about DisneySea.

Part 2 is currently scheduled for October 27. :D
 

aimster

Active Member
I really enjoyed the article, Mark. Looking forward to part 2 already. It's so sad the Beastly Kingdom area got shelved. AK has been open for 6 years now and I really have no interest in visiting just yet. The only show that appeals to me is Festival of the Lion King (still mad they canned the Jungle Book show... I wanted to see that too). I'll probably finally go once Everest is finished and running. But Beastly Kingdom would've kicked major boo-tay. Fantasia Gardens and the unicorn maze (and of course Dragon Tower) sounded very intriguing. Maybe it'll happen once we get Eisner out of there. Hey, stranger things have happened.
 

Bagheera

New Member
aimster said:
The only show that appeals to me is Festival of the Lion King
Thanks! Ironic, isn't it, that the only thing that you like is the surprise success that is part of the reason that kept Camp Minnie-Mickey from being turned into Beastlie Kingdomme, which was originally planned for that area. I don't think that BK will ever resurface in its original form, as mythological creatures are now finding their way out into other areas of the park, but you never know what will happen to the concepts. After all, as Marc Davis said, "No good idea ever dies at Imagineering." :D
 

Captain Hank

Well-Known Member
I love reading about things like this that "could have been." Something I found interesting about the article--how he said that previous attractions could have used less of an involved backstory and more theatrics. I always felt the complex backstory gave each attraction a wonderful sense of depth. Oh well. I hope some day the powers that be decide to revisit the great concepts for BK in some form or another. Sure it would have been expensive, but it would have paid for itself in admissions.
 

KimPossible

New Member
WOW!! that sounded great and im very disappointed it was never built. I was discussing this the other day and noticed that AK really needs a sit down restaurant. Sounds like "Loch Ness Landing" could have been it. but i guess will never know. Anyway, either way, they still need a good restaurant there i mean i like flame tree and tusker house, but i'd love a truly unique sit down dining experience.
 

MiklCraw4d

Member
Bagheera said:
Thanks for the plug, Lee! :wave:

You guys are going to love part 2. It's a complete walkthrough, from the bridge next to Pizzafari, through the land, through the queue, through the ride, and through the exit queue. REALLY cool. It was great working with Paul on this. Next, I'm hoping to coax Paul into doing something on either Maelstrom (including what it was supposed to be) or something about DisneySea.

Part 2 is currently scheduled for October 27. :D
Ooh! Maelstrom! Do tell... I always suspected that ride didn't wind up quite what it was intended to be. Not to mention that I remember going down there on vacation circa 1988 and it kept getting delayed because the boats kept flipping. Any World Showcase dish is always appreciated....


Michael
 

waltdisny

New Member
Bagheera said:
Thanks for the plug, Lee! :wave:

You guys are going to love part 2. It's a complete walkthrough, from the bridge next to Pizzafari, through the land, through the queue, through the ride, and through the exit queue. REALLY cool. It was great working with Paul on this. Next, I'm hoping to coax Paul into doing something on either Maelstrom (including what it was supposed to be) or something about DisneySea.

Part 2 is currently scheduled for October 27. :D
Yes! I'd love to hear what happened to Maelstrom. Every time I ride it I always think of D. Nunis' story about Walt chewing him out because the JC boats went too fast through the hippo pool. Walt said to him, "How would you like it if you went to a movie and they cut the center reel out of the picture?" That's what I want to know, where's Maelstrom's center reel?
 

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