Animal Kingdom Theme Park
On April 22, 1998 Disney unleashed its newest theme park on the world in the form of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Whatever you do, don’t call it a zoo (they get touchy about that word around Animal Kingdom).
This newest venture marked a departure from what Disney had been turning out in the way of theme parks for many years. Any park banking its success on “edutainment” was bound to have issues, and Disney knew it. Epcot proved it was effectively kryptonite for children, and Disney was challenged to make sure that Animal Kingdom didn’t suffer the same fate. In spite of some of it’s early preachiness (and some unfair press about animal care at the park)- Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened to generally good reviews.
At a cost of nearly $1 Billion to complete, Animal Kingdom was an expensive theme park. In fact, one of the planned ‘lands’ for Animal Kingdom was eventually cut from development due to cost overruns in the budget. The never realized land was to be called the “Beastly Kingdom” and feature a myriad of rides themed around mythical creatures. The Imagineers who were laid off when the plans were scrapped, were eventually hired by Universal Orlando to build the Dueling Dragons coaster for Islands of Adventure - arguably one of the best roller coasters in North America. Oops.
Animal Kingdom’s 500 acres are home to some1700 animals representing 250 different species throughout the park. A ride on the Kilimanjaro Safari will give you a chance to see many of them as they take you through the African Savannah (though the jeeps you ride in will rarely slow down long enough to allow you a good picture. This has led us to refer to this attraction as the “Kilimanjaro 500″).
