Hmm i thought disney had put the kaibosh to this when they opened, i remember seeing something on animal kingdom wikipedia about this.
i am sure someone has touch on this already but here it is anyway.
Disney's Animal Kingdom focuses on three broad classifications of animals: those that exist today; those that did exist, but are now extinct (i.e., dinosaurs); and, those that exist in legend and mythology. In the original design for the park, the animals of legend were to have their own section.
Beastly Kingdom (supposedly spelled in Old English as "Beastly Kingdomme") was to have featured mythical animals such as unicorns, dragons, and sea monsters. The land would feature realms of both good and evil creatures. The evil side would be dominated by
Dragon Tower, a ruined castle home to a greedy fire-breathing dragon who hordes a fabulous treasure in the tower chamber. The castle is also inhabited by bats who plan to rob the dragon of his riches. They enlist the guests' help in their scheme, and whisk them off on a thrilling roller coaster ride through the castle ruins. The climax of the ride is an encounter with the evil dragon himself, resulting in a nearly-barbecued train of guests.[
citation needed]
The good side of this land would be home to
Quest of the Unicorn, an adventure which sends guests through a maze of medieval mythological creatures to seek the hidden grotto where the unicorn lives. Finally, the
Fantasia Gardens attraction would be a musical boat ride through the animals from Disney's animated classic,
Fantasia. The ride would feature both the crocodiles and hippos from " Dance of the Hours" and the Pegasus, fauns, and centaurs from Beethoven's "Pastoral."[
citation needed]
Due to budget constraints of the Walt Disney Company, Beastly Kingdom never came to fruition and Camp Minnie-Mickey was built as a temporary tenant of the Beastly Kingdom's land.
The change was supposedly rather sudden, as remnants of this planned area were visible when the park opened. One such remnant was a fire-breathing dragon in the Discovery River Boats attraction. Said dragon was visible from the Camp Minnie-Mickey bridge for several years, roaring loudly and spewing fire from a rocky cave. In addition, one of the
McDonald's Animal Kingdom-themed
Happy Meal toys was a winged purple dragon.
Legend has it that Disney laid off the
Imagineers who had planned the Beastly Kingdom, and they were subsequently hired to create the
Dueling Dragons and the
Flying Unicorn attractions for Universal's
Islands of Adventure theme park[
citation needed].
Even now, hints of a mythological land still exist, including:
- The Unicorn parking area
- The original Animal Kingdom logo, which prominently features the silhouette of a dragon, and still appears throughout the park
- The dragon-shaped stone fountain near Camp Minnie-Mickey
- The detailed dragonhead statue which sits atop one of the ticket booths at the park's entrance (the other two are topped by an elephant head and a triceratops head).
As Expedition Everest includes a yeti, an animal that may or may not exist, the park now features at least one attraction for each of the three categories. Occasional rumors circulate regarding the future construction of Beastly Kingdom, but the park has made no official announcements either confirming or cancelling the section's construction.
Sounded cool, very cool i wish it would come to reality
