Date: Tue, 20 Jun 1995 19:28:31 UTC Subject: WDW Animal Kingdom - THE INSIDE SCOOP I worked for several months on the "4th Gate" theme park at Walt Disney World. However, in the middle of the project, Disney decided that they could not afford to build the project at that time, so virtually everyone on the project was either reassigned or laid off. A shoestring staff was kept on the project, and now I hear that it is in the final design phase. At the time that I left, most of the design was close to completion. (this was in the fall of 1994) This new theme park was to be called "Disney World Animal Kingdom," and fittingly, would have an animal theme. And these, for the most part, would use real animals -- no audioanimatronic here (with a few obvious exceptions, as you will read later on...) Since I'm not really familiar with the WDW area, I'm not really sure where the park would be located relative to the other parks. I do know that the park would not be located on the monorail. The animal theme was to appear everywhere in the park. trash cans and benches would have animals painted on them, and buildings would feature ornamental woodwork of animals, etc. Also, the park would attempt to raise the guest's consciousness concerning environmental issues. Much care would be taken to make the guests feel that they are actually in the places represented, and the animal areas would be made to look as natural as possible. In addition, Disney went all out in acquiring animals; I had heard that some of the animal collections (I think Hippos, for example) were the largest collections of those animals anywhere in captivity. It is my personal opinion that the opening of the park would have coincided nicely with the opening of the Lion King, but it's too late for that now. When you ever the main gate, the first "land" you would encounter would be Genesis Gardens. This area features dense, lush foliage and intricate rockwork. I believe that there would be many varieties of birds in this area. This land is supposed to be a paradise, the way Imagineers envision it. >From Genesis Gardens, you would cross a bridge and be on an island called "Safari Village." This land serves as the "hub" for the park, while also serving the purpose of Main Street USA in the other parks. Most of the shops and restaurants would be located on this island. To get from one land to another, you must go through Safari Village, making it a true "hub." Also, Safari Village includes the centerpiece of the park: the Tree of Life. This HUGE fake tree (a la Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, only much, much bigger) would contain a theater inside. In addition, the texture of the tree, which appears from a distance to only be tree bark, would actually be the shapes of thousands of different animals, intertwined to form the Tree of Life. Also, from Safari Village you would be able to board some kind of river boat ride, around the whole island. On this ride you would ride past every themed land, seeing animals from the different areas. One of the lands accessible from Safari Village would be Africa. This land, obviously, would feature the wildlife native to Africa. there would ba a few shops and restaurants, and the one ride, the African Safari. This ride, from what I know about it, reminds me of the ride in Jurassic Park: you're in a vehicle and you view all kinds of African animals, all appearing to be in a natural habitat, with no apparent barriers between you and them, or between different animals. This ride will also include some kind of chase sequence with poachers. >From Africa, you could catch a train to Preservation Station, a real-life animal hospital and environmental center, to learn more about the animals in the park and what people can do to help the animal population. Another land accessible from Safari Village is Dinoland. This land, of course, features dinosaurs. In this land will be a large gift shop, a large restaurant (made to look like an excavation camp,) a "fossil playground," where kids can climb all over "dinosaur bones," and a ride called "Countdown to Extinction." The setup for this ride (in the queue) is that you're in a museum and you are about to take a time machine to go back in time and witness the asteroid colliding with the earth which brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs. Of course, you'll be watching it from a safe bunker in 60 million BC (or whenever it was...) And of course, something goes wrong. I was told that if they still used the ticket system in the parks, this would be "an F ticket ride". I'm not sure what kind of ride technology would be used, I heard both Star Tours-type ride and Indy Jones-type ride. The plans I saw for the ride seemed to indicate more Indy Jones, but the description I heard seemed more like Star Tours. Another temporary land accessible from Safari Village would be the Camel Fair. I'm not too sure about this area except that it would be temporary until they began construction of the second phase of the project, and that it would have an "Indian Carnival" type atmosphere. This land would occupy part of the space planned for the future Asia land. Asia would be much like Africa, but instead of the safari ride, there would be Tiger Safari Rapids, where you would view various Asian animals from a raft, and I believe it would also go through some kind of rapids during the ride. This whole land would be part of the second phase. Another second phase land would be Beastly Kingdom. This land would feature mythical animals such as dragons, unicorns, the Loch Ness Monster, etc. I'm not too sure what would be in this land except for a topiary labyrinth called "Quest for the Unicorn." Other lands were planned for further in the future. -LVD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help@anon.penet.fi. If you reply to this message, your message WILL be *automatically* anonymized and you are allocated an anon id. Read the help file to prevent this. Please report any problems, inappropriate use etc. to admin@anon.penet.fi. From bwalton@novell.com Wed Aug 2 15:12:35 PDT 1995 Article: 550 of rec.arts.disney.parks Xref: netcom.com rec.arts.disney.parks:550 Path: netcom.com!csus.edu!uop!pacbell.com!well!miwok!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.sprintlink.net!simtel!news.kei.com!nntp.et.byu.edu!news.provo.novell.com!bwalton.NPD.Provo.Novell.COM!bwalton From: bwalton@novell.com (Bryan Walton) Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney.parks Subject: Re: REQ: Picture of Wild Animal Kingdom Logo Date: Wed, 2 Aug 1995 14:48:15 GMT Organization: Novell, Inc. Lines: 12 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: bwalton.npd.provo.novell.com X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev A] In article jcb@primenet.com (John) writes: >From: jcb@primenet.com (John) >Subject: REQ: Picture of Wild Animal Kingdom Logo >Date: 1 Aug 1995 23:35:52 GMT >Does anyone have a gif or jpeg of the logo for the future Disney's Wild >Animal Kingdom park? You can find an image of the logo at http://www.travelweb.com/thisco/wdw/wdwhome/events/wild1.html Bryan Walton From jaxjaguar@aol.com Sun Mar 19 19:00:18 PST 1995 Article: 82520 of rec.arts.disney Xref: netcom.com rec.arts.disney:82520 Path: netcom.com!ix.netcom.com!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!swrinde!news.dell.com!tadpole.com!uunet!newstf01.news.aol.com!newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: jaxjaguar@aol.com (JaxJAGUAR) Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney Subject: New DISNEY Park-ORL. Date: 18 Mar 1995 09:57:34 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Lines: 84 Sender: root@newsbf02.news.aol.com Message-ID: <3kescu$act@newsbf02.news.aol.com> Reply-To: jaxjaguar@aol.com (JaxJAGUAR) NNTP-Posting-Host: newsbf02.mail.aol.com Walt Disney World Clears Site for $760 Million Florida Theme Park By Christine Shenot, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 15--Walt Disney World has cleared a massive site for a new wild animal park budgeted at more than $760 million, the company's first Central Florida theme park since Disney-MGM studios opened in 1989. Workers recently finished clearing an area, estimated at 500 acres, for the planned theme park just north of U.S. Highway 192 and west of Disney-MGM Studios and Blizzard Beach, a new water park scheduled to open April 1. Jane Adams, director of government relations and public affairs at Disney World, confirmed the 500-acre site is intended for Disney's proposed fourth park. Adams would not discuss the park's design and concept, but The Orlando Sentinel first reported in August 1993 that it will feature animals. Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner confirmed the animal theme early this year in a meeting with industry analysts at the company's Burbank, Calif., headquarters. Work at the site has stopped while Disney officials fine-tune their plans and make final decisions on the park, Adams said. She would not elaborate. Disney executives have said they'll make those decisions by October. Behind the official reticence, they've given signals, including some to analysts, that the park will be in business in about three years. By all accounts, the company is still weighing details on the park's attractions. But it seems likely they would include wild animals from Africa, Asia and other lands. Some zoo experts around the country say they have discussed species survival plans with Rick, a former San Diego Zoo official hired by Disney more than a year ago to organize its animal collection. Disney's contacts in the zoological community say the company aims to emphasize conservation and research at the animal park. Those efforts should distinguish the new park from other Disney theme parks. Lori Perkins, a species coordinator at Zoo Atlanta, noted that most zoos, as nonprofit organizations, face financial constraints that limit what they can do in the conservation arena. "I think Disney has the potential, given its more solid financial status, to really make a big difference," she said. "A lot of us are very excited to see how it progresses." Beyond the animal experts, the proposed park has attracted interest on Wall Street and in Central Florida's tourism industry. Disney's new theme park would debut on the heels of several other major business ventures, including cruise ships and an amateur sports complex scheduled to open at Walt Disney World in two years. "They're obviously making an optimistic bet on the growth of the tourism market," said Harold Vogel, an entertainment analyst at the investment firm Cowen & Co. in New York. The flip side of that upbeat assessment of Central Florida's tourism outlook, Vogel said, is that the addition of a major new park could compete with Disney's other parks as well as such rivals as Universal Studios, which has its own expansion planned. "There's a question about cannibalizing the other attractions," he said. "To a degree, I think everybody assumes that will happen." For now, observers on all sides are waiting for Disney's formal announcement. Disney has built several new roads in the area that will provide better access to Blizzard Beach and its new All-Star Resorts, and the site of a fourth theme park. Most notable are plans for the Osceola Parkway, a major east-west road built to relieve congestion on U.S. Highway 192 and to improve access to the southwest part of Disney property. The four-lane road has been completed from World Drive west to an extension of Buena Vista Drive, converging adjacent to the site of the recently cleared area. The Osceola Parkway leg from World Drive east toward Interstate 4 is under construction. Much of Disney's theme park expansion is included in a 20-year environmental permitting deal in which the company bought and will preserve an 8,500-acre ranch in Osceola and Polk counties in exchange for permission to destroy more than 300 acres of wetlands on Disney property. But the South Florida Water Management District issued a storm-water management permit to Disney last September for a project labeled "Southwest Attraction." The permit states that the project covers 571 acres and includes 25.6 acres of wetlands. Kevin Spear and Leslie Doolittle of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Transmitted: 95-03-15 13:10:58 EST