Australia at AK?

[Tara8595]

A friend of mine just got back from WDW and said a castmember at AK told her they were planning to build an Australia addition.

Cool! Kanaroos and Koala bears. There's a lot they could do with an Australia theme I'd think.

Anyone else heard this?

 

[Walt's Frozen Head]

Anyone else heard this?

Yep. Repeatedly.

There is already quite a bit "on the board," just waiting for the political forces inside Disney to bestow a budget. Of course, this is true for a wide variety of concepts at all times... that's just the way these things work. So, even though an Imagineer might have worked years preparing a project, until the construction walls go up, anything might (or might not) happen.

That's what's fun to me about rumors... applying one's knowledge of the business and personal tendencies to each rumor, kinda "trying on" the rumors to see what "fits" with the hard facts already in evidence to determine what's really likely to come to fruition.

Right now, Disney's core staff is in flux and it's more difficult than (what passes for) normal to accurately estimate the effects of the competing forces at work when it comes to major park expansion.

That said, I personally doubt AK gets an Australia-sized addition approved during what all evidence suggests is Eisner's final year at Disney. Expect cashing-in and cashing-out type decisions, not infrastructure investments.

-WFH

 

[Dznefreek]

Australia
South America
BK

 

[JCO]

This would undoubtedly boost attendance. When my family and I visited WDW in 2001, the only park we did not visit more than once on our four-day Parkhoppers was Animal Kingdom.
It just didn't seem the attractions/value was there as opposed to the other Disney parks.

Adding Australia to AK would be a good START, but I think there would also be possible future expansion opportunities by adding a South American exhibit based on the rainforest (I don't count the Rainforest Cafe!) and/or Amazon. Another great addition would an Artic/Antarctic exhibit with penguins and polar bears. A blast of cold air on hot Florida summer days really sounds enticing, doesn't it?

In addition to all the yearning for Fire Mountain based on a roller-coaster ride through a volcano, how about an Ice Mountain or Frost Mountain combining state-of-the-art audioanimatronics with a thrill ride.