I thought I remembered hearing about a Zootopia section replacing Rafiki's Planted Watch? Was that idea scrapped?
Disney's Animal Kingdom® Park News from Disney's Animal Kingdom
- Thread starter kiang
- Start date
Indiana Jones was never anything more than speculation, since the DINOSAUR ride is on the same track system as Disneyland in California's Indiana Jones ride. It was never an actual plan Disney announced, just speculation by people who wanted to see the Disneyland ride cloned at Disney World.
I'm not a fan of Avatar Land, and didn't visit that section of the park on my visit, but I don't know which of these two ideas are worse. At least Avatar loosely fits into the park's overall themes, such as the intrinsic value of nature, something that Moana, and certainly not Zootopia, connect to. They just don't thematically fit the park.
Persephone
Well-Known Member
To be honest you could definitely make a Moana area work. There's a ton of unused land by Planet Watch you could convert into a tropical island-ish area with Pacific / Australian animals. Place some theming throughout around the wayfarers and how people got from island to island and the animals they encountered there and brought with them. Use Moana's broader plot about opening up the oceans again. Have signage or rides about Moana learning about what her ancestors did and documenting her own post-movie journeys. You could exhibit giant tortoises, nene, Hawaiian monk seal, a few birds / bats, and some things from New Guinea / Australia as the entry points. You could definitely make the movie work with the themes of Animal Kingdom. But it looks like the concept art isn't big on animals. What a shame.
As said before, never more than speculation. To be honest I don't get the desire to make a South America themed area. Discovery Island / The Oasis have a pretty good species coverage already. If Moana / The Pacific removed some of those species and the Asia area expanded a bit it would basically just be South America anyway. Fits with the foliage and Tree of Life.
EDIT: I made a more proper write-up in the Speculative Design forum, since it belonged there.
Last edited:
Cheetah
Active Member
Thanks, for the update!
Interesting doesn't make it relevant to zc, though, unless animals are specifically mentioned.
It’s relevant to talk about changes to institutions on zoochat regardless of whether or not they include animals. This piece of news does involve animals anyway!
Personally, I don't see why a piece of news has to be relevant to the animals to be posted - especially at a facility like DAK where non-animal areas are a huge focus.
Do you, for example, not want news threads to include things like directorial changes, or when a zoo adds an animatronic dinosaur area? Both aren't necessarily relevant to the collection but are fairly big pieces that a zoo can have.
JollyGreenGiant94
Well-Known Member
The Moana and Zootopia concept art is nothing more than blue sky, what Disney could do with Dinoland, but the key word there is could. Plans will change several times before anything concrete is announced and then it will change again as with all of Disney's projects. I don't see Disney making new animal exhibits as the intent with the new land would be to make the park less zoo and more Disney to appeal more to guests. Avatar was the first step in this project and it works because Joe Rohde took the time to make it work just like @Persephone did above with Moana. If you think about it though, non-animal areas of the park is nothing new. Camp Minnie Mikey used to sit where Avatar is now and it did not have animal exhibits to my knowledge. AK is a Disney park first and foremost, even the original advertising stated, in a manner that has not aged well, it is not a zoo. Take the safari ride for example, some drivers will emphasize the "we're on a 2 week African safari" narrative and others will use the animals names and talk more about the zoo aspect. It is a weird hybrid of a theme park and a zoo that works really well. I would love to see more animal exhibits, but that unfortunately does not seem to be the direction the park is going.
Persephone
Well-Known Member
@JollyGreenGiant94
I think Camp Minnie Mickey did have ambassador animal presentations, but point taken on lack of exhibits.
I am also concerned for the future execution of projects at DAK with Rohde retired. Don’t think that came off in my “well, I guess it could work” post. I, uh, notably didn’t comment on Zootopia because even I’m not sure how to salvage that. Maybe something on prey-predator dynamics? But IRL ecology doesn’t mesh well with singing gazelles and a bunny cop tbh. It’d even be a little jarring to see actual foxes and rabbits in a Zootopia area. Would reduce the immersion.
I’m personally hoping corporate leadership changes before any of this gets built. I’d much rather they fix up Navi River Journey and Dinosaur in the meantime than fill the space from Primeval Whirl.
I think Camp Minnie Mickey did have ambassador animal presentations, but point taken on lack of exhibits.
I am also concerned for the future execution of projects at DAK with Rohde retired. Don’t think that came off in my “well, I guess it could work” post. I, uh, notably didn’t comment on Zootopia because even I’m not sure how to salvage that. Maybe something on prey-predator dynamics? But IRL ecology doesn’t mesh well with singing gazelles and a bunny cop tbh. It’d even be a little jarring to see actual foxes and rabbits in a Zootopia area. Would reduce the immersion.
I’m personally hoping corporate leadership changes before any of this gets built. I’d much rather they fix up Navi River Journey and Dinosaur in the meantime than fill the space from Primeval Whirl.
Also note that Dinoland did not have any live animal exhibit either for most of the park's history.
This is false, the park opened with Chinese Alligators and Seriemas where there is currently an American Crocodile and Abdim's Storks.
I knew the exhibits were there but weren't they empty for a long time?This is false, the park opened with Chinese Alligators and Seriemas where there is currently an American Crocodile and Abdim's Storks.
What happened to the Chinese alligators?This is false, the park opened with Chinese Alligators and Seriemas where there is currently an American Crocodile and Abdim's Storks.
Sadly I do think the area is looking dated, and with Pandora now open I think less and less people visit that side of the park. It is a shame, because Dinosaur is a genuinely brilliant ride. I hope against hope that they decide to keep at least that part.
Of course, like most Zoochatters I would prefer them to open another continent themed area, or perhaps add more animals to Asia!
JollyGreenGiant94
Well-Known Member
I think that's a new species for the park.
1.0 okapi “Beni” was born in July to first time mom, “Olivia” and presumably sire, “Elombe”. This is the twelfth okapi calf born at DAK and the first since 2018!
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...y-okapi-born-at-disneys-animal-kingdom-lodge/
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...y-okapi-born-at-disneys-animal-kingdom-lodge/
Piece of News Not Mentioned:
On July 25th, it was announced that a (1.0) Asian small-clawed otter named Raakshas was transferred to the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo in Bermuda in March.
Log into Facebook
On July 25th, it was announced that a (1.0) Asian small-clawed otter named Raakshas was transferred to the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo in Bermuda in March.
Log into Facebook