When ground was broken for the fourth theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort, the project was announced as Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom. The park was to be a tribute to mankind's fascination with all animals that ever or never existed. From the beginning, the logo of the park represented this philosophy with graphic depictions of a lion, elephant and antelope, alongside a triceratops and a dragon.
As with any project, the Disney's Animal Kingdom park was tweaked and adjusted on its way from concept to reality. One of the first changes was the shortening of the name to something more compact. Other changes came with the addition of Camp Minnie-Mickey (not part of the original plans) and the decision to delay development of the section of the park devoted to mythological creatures.
That's not to say that fantasy animals have been excluded from Disney's Animal Kingdom. They're represented in the form of the Disney characters and at one time were at least suggested along the path of the Discovery River Boats (the rumbling of a "sea serpent" under the boat, flames from an unseen fire-breathing dragon spewing forth from a cave). There's also now a significant nod to animals of legend with the mysterious Yeti who guards the Forbidden Mountain.
Rumors have persisted almost since the opening of the park that the official logo would be changed to remove the dragon. This has yet to happen after more than eleven years. In fact, dragon motifs can be found elsewhere in the park, including on one of the Vacation Planning booths at the Main Entrance.
A dragon may yet show its face somewhere in Disney's wildest theme park. Until then, there are many creatures to discover here and many stories to be told. We'll be exploring some of them this week. Meanwhile, click the links down the right side of this page for previous stories of Disney's Animal Kingdom.
I really hope one day they have the option to add this to the Animal Kingdom! I've always loved mythological creatures and I'm sure the Imagineers could come up with some great ideas to include them. Perhaps an appearance of the Malificent dragon, similar to the one you can see under Sleeping Beauty castle in Paris? With the opening of the Harry Potter section in Universal next year, I imagine a fantasy themed section in AK would help draw some of the guests who come to see that over to the Disney Parks as well. Lots of wishful thinking on my part, I know, but maybe one day!
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