What the heck is Beastly Kingdom??

[Jennasis]

Can someone enlighten me? Is it a new theme park at WDW or a part of ANimal Kingdom? I am SO out of the loop.

 

[drusba]

Checkered history. According to reports, it was supposed to be a land at AK when it was orginally built; basically a land themed on mythical creatures. Though in the design, it was axed for budget reasons. AK ended up with some mythical creature statues in the river and and depicted elsewhere but no land to justify their existence at the park. Reports (rumors) have it that it may be revived and be the next land at AK.

 

[Jennasis]

Thank you! Makes sense now...whenever I've seen the AK logo that had the silhouette of animals against the tree of life, there was a Pete's Dragon looking animal included..but never depicted in the park. I also remember in the original promo material it said something about canvassing the entire world of animals including those of mythical origin.

 

[wdwguide]

If you look at this page, and scroll down to the first photo, you can see the location of Beastly Kingdom quite well. It is the cleared land nestled between the bus stop, the Oasis, and Camp Minnie-Mickey.
Some additional information can be found here, and here.

 

[WDWHound]

From what I understand, camp Minnie-Micky sits where part of Beastly Kingdom was supposed to be. The bridge you cross to get there was supposed to be the entrance to Beastly Kingdom.

 

[wdwguide]

As the plans for Asia and Beastly Kingdom were scaled down, Camp Minnie-Mickey (or at least parts thereof) became a permanent rather than temporary addition to the park.
The path to the Beastly Kingdom will start between the Lion King and Pocahontas theaters were the cookie cabin is located right now.