Real, Ancient, and Imagined: An Armchair Imagineered Blue-Sky Build-Out of Disney’s Animal Kingdom

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Aside: Beastly Possibilities

I won’t belabor the point for long because countless tomes full of speculation and rumor-mongering (including one here) have been written on “the land that almost was” for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. By nature of reading this, you probably already know the story: what was meant to set Animal Kingdom apart is that it would feature (as is right in the park’s dedication) “animals real, ancient, and imagined.”

Early concept art shows what Imagineers had drafted up for the latter: a “Beastlie Kingdomme” divided into a dark and light half. Dragons, sea serpents, unicorns… Beastly Kingdom was envisioned as Animal Kingdom’s Fantasyland, getting us up close and personal to animals that never really existed, but are still universally known. Meant to be built in the southwest corner of the park, Beastly Kingdom would’ve been a major component of Animal Kingdom’s “Nahtazū” ethos… and certainly would’ve upped the park’s attraction count substantially.

Hints of the proposed expansion were famously sprinkled about – the park’s dedication, a “Unicorn” parking lot; a dragon head above the ticket booths; even a dragon in Animal Kingdom’s logo… Most famously, one of those little vignettes for guests aboard the original Discovery River Boats was an ominous roar and a plume of fire erupting from a jagged cave along the banks of the river… an odd landmark for Camp Minnie-Mickey, unless you knew that the hastily-constructed little area was really just a placeholder. (To be clear, Joe Rohde himself tweeted that Beastly Kingdom was written out long before it ever approached the funding stage, so it’s likely that us fans think it was much closer to earth moving than it really was.)

But “imagined” animals hold a powerful grip over us. Through legend, story, and song, we as humankind share stories of dragons, unicorns, sirens, and fairies because those stories tell us about ourselves. They’re creatures encountered as trials; creatures encountered as reward; creatures made not just real, but immortal, by our thinking about them. If in Animal Kingdom’s Africa animals are presented in the context of value, and in Asia in terms of cohabitation, then in a land of mythological creatures, they’re encountered in the contexts of storytelling – the very powerful tool we use to maintain relationships with animals that “never were, but always will be.” That’s – quite literally – awesome.

MYTHICA

Although “Beastly Kingdom” is as legendary in name as “Discovery Bay” or the “Western River Expedition,” I chose another name for my variation on the land. That’s partly because there’s a bit of a pattern here (Africa, Asia, America, Pandora, Mythica) and partly because – frankly – this is too many Kingdoms at this point. I don’t even think Animal Kingdom should be named Animal Kingdom if we’re being honest (I played with creating a new name and logo – Disney NatureRealm – but thought you’d come for with torches and pitchforks). But “Beastly Kingdom” being located inside “Animal Kingdom” seems like the kind of confusion that would leave guest services and marketing teams in a tailspin.

Placing my version of this concept in the expansion pad we’ve discussed also requires a different approach literally and figuratively. So let’s get into the first half. Following the river (and that new main pathway) leading north from Asia, we pass a new “weenie” that’s meant to draw people up along the river: a great, jagged rock arch made of volcanic slabs littered in the river, creating a sort of “tunnel” we must pass through – either via the River Ferry or on foot.

Through that rocky portal, we have passed into Mythica and found ourselves surrounded in a lush, verdant, otherworldly forest. The winding path passes alongside ancient petrified tree roots bursting up from the ground; even under a great arch of roots. Around the corner, their source comes into view: the giant, jagged, petrified tree stump that houses the GNARLWOOD GRILLE, a new table-service eatery with a patio overlooking the river, where its roots are feeding from the waterway. (Yes, I’m stealing this great concept back from Islands of Adventure.)

Finally, we come to the conceptually-iconic fork in the road, where the path splits – into a dark, lantern-lit forest and a sunlit, pastel glade. We’ll follow the path’s natural split to the right, to an arcing bridge that rises over the hitherto-unknown source of the Discovery River: a pool of bubbling fountains, pouring waterfalls into the river below.

Fantasia Gardens

The bridge deposits guests in the first half of the land – FANTASIA GARDENS. For this half, I envisioned an environment inspired by Rolly Crump’s kinetic, facade of “it’s a small world” in Disneyland. Almost a pop-up book of flat facades, pastel panels, hedge sculptures, and greenhouse-style enclosures (to help weatherproof this area for Florida).

The plaza guests step into would offer SATYR’S SPIN (a teacup-style ride, swirling around frantically beneath a glass dome. (The ride’s queue would be a similarly-enclosed greenhouse along the lagoon.) Across the way would be HALLOW VALE RESTAURANT (a nod to my from-scratch park, Disney’s Fantastic Worlds, for those of you who’ve been around a while!). I envision this as a table service eatery where guests dine in an enchanted glen – dining among the trees, with dangling moss, a bubbling spring, and a wraparound screen (a la Space 220) maintaining a perpetual twilight with occasional appearances by ice fairies who’d freeze the forest.

The backdrop of the plaza would be the “small world” style clocktower and pop-up book facade of the land’s dark ride – FANTASIA: VOYAGE OF THE HOURS. This musical boat ride would whisk guests through the beautiful storybook gardens from Fantasia’s “Dance of the Hours” segment – itself a comical take on the “La Gioconda” opera. As in the Fantasia segment, this boat ride would drift through a day of ballet – from ostrich dancers at dawn, to hippos at noon, elephants in the evening, and alligators at night – a comical, musical equivalent of “it’s a small world” for Animal Kingdom.

A second arcing bridge would carry us to an enchanted glen – the entrance to QUEST FOR THE UNCORN. Originally planned for Beastly Kingdom, this epic walkthrough attraction would orient a group of guests, then release them into an interconnected, sprawling, multi-segment hedge maze to locate ancient bronze statues of mythical beasts – a griffin, peryton, and hippocampus.

As guests proceed through the maze, each statue would awaken and – via Audio Animatronic – provide a hint to efficiently navigate the next sub-section of the labyrinth.

Ultimately, those with the determination to make it through all three segments would arrive at their goal: a great castle (still brought to life by “pop-up” panels and hedges) serving as the attraction’s conclusion: a reflective, ethereal encounter with a sleeping unicorn. Like Disneyland Paris’ iconic La Tanière du Dragon, this experience would reward guests’ effort with an emotionally-moving moment.

Finally, I wanted to use the elevated, shallow pool we’ve created as the spring from which the Discovery River flows as SWAN LAKE SKIMMERS – an LPS trackless “flat ride” like Tokyo DisneySea’s “Aquatopia.”

Guests would queue in a beautiful marble temple at the north end of the lagoon, then step aboard elegant, stylized Swan Boats that would depart for a wonderful aquatic “obstacle course” through the water, swirling and dancing in an interactive ballet as the boats spin, reverse, interact, rush through leaping fountains, dance around whirlpools, and more. A cooling, misty ride where “you might get wet,” I think this would be wonderfully refreshing and joyful. (The storage building for the vehicles is located next to the restaurant.)

With a two flat rides, a dark ride, a walkthrough, and a table service restaurant, we’ve experienced just half of Mythica; after all, the closer you step into the light, the greater your shadow becomes. Fairies, unicorns, and dancing hippos don’t fully paint the picture of our relationship with creatures of myth. They don’t just inspire wonder, but also, respect. Mythical creatures can demonstrate the power of the natural world and our desire to make sense of its dangers…

Dragonscale Village

Looming across the bay from Fantasia Gardens is a very different region of Mythica – DRAGONSCALE VILLAGE. Here, we step into a cold, lantern-lit, cobblestone town square drawn from European myth and legend. Scorch marks through the center of town suggest that something large has flown through. Indeed, into the WYVERN’S ROOST INN quick service tavern and the attached SCORCHED LAMB PUB, barkeeps have their eyes turned skyward, twitching at every sound of wingbeats, or of great beasts landing on the thatched roofs…

A dry fountain in the town’s square – steaming as if its water has been evaporated and boiled away – borders the land’s animal offering: where goats and sheep (relocated from Rafiki’s Planet Watch) offer a hands-on petting zoo. Nearby, the ROOK’S ARMORY serves as a new counterpart to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, transforming youngsters into valiant knights, mages, thieves, or summoners.

But naturally, all eyes are on the land’s anchor attraction: THE DRAGON’S TOWER – a gnarled fortress of stone and bone, rising up over the village. A genuine “weenie” for this part of the park, artwork suggests that guests might gather before the tower to gaze up at its churning waterfall, and that every so often, the eyes of a great dragon might illuminate from a cavern within, blasting out a plume of fire that would catch the waterfall on fire – a great show that you can imagine folks wanting to be around for.

Long considered the “lost” E-Ticket that Animal Kingdom was meant to have, various versions of Dragon’s Tower have been seen in concept art from various iterations of the land. Based on the artwork alone, this ride has ranged in concept from a suspended, swinging family coaster to a more intense, traditional coaster – but always ending with a climactic face-to-maw encounter with a giant Animatronic dragon.

I sort of split the difference here, envisioning Dragon’s Tower as a thrilling launched coaster with guests seated in inverted trains dangling from the track – all the better to swoop over lava pools and to burst out of the tower and over the crowd below. That’s a maneuver I think is needed given that the ride’s name might imply it’s a drop tower, and the inverted seating might help communicate its intensity.

Finally, the land features MERLIN’S MAGICAL MENAGERIE, where Merlin himself has rolled into town with a collection of enchanted creatures we can encounter close up. I envisioned this as an adaptation of Universal’s long-extinct Triceratops Encounter (which, incidentally, I brought back in updated form in my build-out of Islands of Adventure), with Merlin’s apprentices inviting us to meet a real griffin, peryton, or hippocampus (the same creatures we encountered stylized versions of in the Unicorn maze) via full-scale, “living” Animatronics.

The attraction would then route guests into a CREATURE’S NEST retail space to adopt your own mythical creature – a “Build-a-Bear” or “Droid Depot” style experience where you select parts and watch them be sewn together in real time, even creating a brand new creature altogether. And finally, a “last stop” of the DISCOVERY RIVER FERRY brings us to the end of that line.

My Mythica obviously sticks to the framework of the Beastly Kingdom concept pretty neatly, but I think there’s a reason: like the stories they inspire, these creatures lend themselves so well to day and night; water and fire; reward and trial. The bilaterally split land is beautiful in concept, hammering home that idea of storytelling and literature. It just works. Perhaps there were more stories we should’ve told here, but this is a meaty land when you see it in the context of the park!

By the way, if you’ll allow me to expand on the “elemental” alignment we talked about back in Discovery Island, I like the idea of the prevailing aura of these areas being leaves (Fantasia Gardens) and stone (Dragonscale Village). I realize those aren’t elements, but y’know… vibes.

From Mythica (the furthest point of the river), we could ride back to Discovery Island (near the park’s entrance), bringing this adventure to a close and demonstrating the usefulness of that restored intra-park transit system… But my Build-Out of Animal Kingdom features one more land, and I promise you, it’s probably not what you’re expecting…