Beastly Kingdom: Fact or Fiction?

[disjointed]

Today, I was reading reviews on "Dine with a Disney Imagineer," and something caught my eye - Beastly Kingdom... I've been doing some research and it seems contradictory. Since I know so many of you are Disney savvy, what is Beastly Kingdom, and is it still being contsructed?

 

[PatriciaH]

It was a planned land for Animal Kingdom (where Camp Miney Mickey is now.) There is a dragon on the entrance to AK and it is on the merchandise so maybe someday. When the Discovery River Boats used to run around AK's Discovery Island, there was a cave with a "dragon" in it. It shot fire out towards the boats and you could see burned knights around the cave entrance

 

[88Keys]

Beastly Kingdom was the name of a "land" at Animal Kingdom that has yet to(and may never) materialize. Animal Kingdom was orignally intended to celebrate animals -- currently existing, extinct (hence, DinoLand), and imaginary. The hope was that Beastly Kingdom would help AK from seeming to be a zoo and would celebrate Disney imagination -- ideas thrown around included a dragon-type thrill ride (Dueling Dragons anyone?) and a scenic boat ride.

When bean-counters decided that AK needed cuts, Bestly Kingdom was shelved and a quick land like Camp Minnie/ Mickey was thrown together. Because of this, AK has a reputation for not being a full day park and the closest we may get to a BK is Expedition Everest.

JimHillMedia.com has a GREAT series of articles on Beastly Kingdom.

 

[PatriciaH]

http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/WDW/Animal/Construction.html

 

[disjointed]

Thanks a lot for the info!

I've seen the stone dragon, but I've never seen the cave with the dragon. I'm going to scout it out (if it's still there) when I go with my family in August. From what I've heard, Beastly Kingdom looks really fun. I hope they go forward with the project.

 

[vonpluto]

Rumored line up of Beastlie Kingdomme:

•Dragons Tower
Roller Coaster inside a castle ruled by a dragon

•Teacup type ride

•Quest for the Unicorn - an adventure through a maze of medieval mythological creations to seek the hidden grotto where the unicorn lives.

•Fantasia Gardens - musical boat ride featuring the animals from Fantasia
(Somewhere there is an article connecting this concept to the Swan Boat attraction in the MK. I can't remember if this was the original concept or an idea to bring the Swan Boats back )

Shops and eateries
•Loch Ness Landing Restaurant
•Mother Goose Shop

Some articles by BK Imagineers here:

Beastlie Kingdomme overview:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=mg060308mp

Quest for the Unicorn maze:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=mg060711mp

Dragon Tower:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=mg041013pt

HTH

 

[twojo21]

http://allearsnet.com/aa/aa011705.htm#ques6

In the original plans for Disney's Animal Kingdom, there was a section tentatively called "Beastly Kingdom" that was to include attractions based on mythical creatures. The area was supposed to be located north of where Camp Minnie-Mickey is now.

If you stop on the bridge that takes you to Camp Minnie-Mickey, look to your right across the river and you can see a rock formation on the riverbank that resembles a dragon. These rocks originally spewed fire and the scorch marks are still visible. To my knowledge, this is the only vestige of Beastly Kingdom in the park.

Rumors persist that Beastly Kingdom will someday become a reality, with the newest story including a version of Tokyo DisneySea's Journey to the Center of the Earth attraction. Remember, this is only a rumor and no official announcement has been made by the Walt Disney Company.

 

[HawkeyeThad]

Wow, thanks for those links vonpluto. I've always heard about this land, but had never seen anything concrete. Looks like it would've been a very cool addition to the park. I'm hoping that EE has given the park some life as it's never been a favorite of mine.

 

[PatriciaH]

That Quest For The Unicorn maze would have been AMAZING!!!

 

[MJMcBride]

This all would have been much better than Camp Mini-Mickey, which I thought was supposed to be temporary. Anyway, My feeling is some of these design will come back with a Narnia theme. And the Beastly Kingdomme will be morphed into Narnia. I say this based on Disney's history of cross promotion. Why not build a land to promote what they already know will be 6 more movies.

 

[Simba22]

The Imagineers that were working on the Roller Coaster for Beastly Kingdom were laid off when the idea for Beastly Kingdom was scrapped...they promptly got jobs at Universal and the coaster they were creating for Disney became Dueling Dragons.

 

[1000th happy haunt]

The proposed Beastly Kingdom (or Beastlie Kingdomme) is the explanation for why there is a dragon in the DAK logo.

 

[BlindTyldak]

Another site: http://members.tripod.com/~SaitoNews/beastly.html

I've seen concept art of the unicorn grotto and a boat ride, I think it was, with two dragons battling across a river. They were in a book I gave my mother for her birthday one year before AK opened, and of course now that book is 1300 miles away so I can't scan the pictures.

Edit: ooh, good article: http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2001/01/01/309.aspx