Happy Birthday, Animal Kingdom!
"Some of the most fascinating people I've ever met are animals" - Walt Disney
Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park was opened on Earth Day, 1998 in an elaborate celebration attended by over 2,000 people including Jane Goodall. But it wasn't always smooth sailing for this park's concept.
The park came from the imagination of Joe Rohde. When tasked with coming up with an idea for a fourth theme park, Joe naturally gravitated toward the idea of a living park with live animals and an edutainment factor that Disney is so known for.
But Michael Eisner and his team weren't buying into it. "Disney doesn't do zoos," they said. So, Joe Rohde went back to the drawing board. He did more research and planning. He came back before Eisner a second time, this time with charts and graphs.
He heard "NO" a second time.
But he wasn't going to let it go. He came back in front of Eisner and team a third time. He began with a proposed layout for the park. He introduced the Tree of Life as the "weenie" (the centerpiece that attracts people into the park) in the Disney fashion. As he spoke, the door opened, and an 800 pound Siberian Tiger strode into the room. Everyone in the room froze. The tiger stayed a few minutes, and then just as it had entered, left.
After seeing the impact this live creature had on them, Joe Rohde finally got the blessing and the Animal Kingdom theme park was born.
The park itself has changed a lot in its 21 years. Originally it was going to include a mythical creatures land, which then changed to Camp Minnie-Mickey to allow for more character greeting opportunities, and now that same area is Pandora which draws vast crowds. In addition, Asia, which originally consisted only of Anandapur with the major attraction Kali River Rapids, doubled its size to include Everest and a huge arena for Rivers of Light.
But even in 1999, a year after it opened, the park's magic was clear to those who spent any time there. The first time I ever saw the park was when I was cast there that Fall, and I remember in particular one early morning meeting we had before the park opened. After the meeting, we exited into the empty park. It was so early, it was still dark, but the lights were shining on the Tree of Life, turning the trunk purple, and the leaves so many living colors of green and magenta. I remember just stepping outside and staring up at it with my co-workers.
After a moment, someone said "Flamingo", naming the animal that they could see on the tree's trunk. "Giraffe," said another. "Chameleon", "Bear", "Lemur".
Next time you are at Disney's Animal Kingdom, slow down for a few minutes. Inhale the smell of living things. Look up. Listen. This park lives and breathes.
Happy Birthday, my beautiful park.
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