Disney's Animal Kingdom® Park New spieces

All of this is great fun to imagine, but even Disney is bound by economic restrictions. Even this corporate giant is struggling along during the current recession, and thus they aren't likely to make any big changes until their profits go back up.

Long before DAK even opened, I and my fellow Disney-fan friends would speculate on what additional "countries" (pavilions) should be added to Epcot's World Showcase. They haven't added a new one since Norway in 1988. But as much as it would be very cool to see some new countries in Epcot, I guess Disney doesn't see any financial reasons to add anymore soon.

I'm guessing the same is true for adding anything major to Disney's Animal Kingdom. They definitely have the room to add another complete section or two, and some here have suggested they do an Australian, North American, or even South American section with the animals native to those continents. If they ever do, I imagine they will be every bit as excellent as their African and Asian animal exhibits. But they're not likely to add such a new section unless they have the profits to reinvest in it.

If I were to actually have some say in suggesting what they should do, I'd suggest Australia, being the smallest of these 3 continents. They could build this new section with a slight theme from "The Rescuers Down Under" movie, and they could have the section headlined by being America's only zoo to display playpuses. Add in a terrific walk-through kangaroo yard and a chance to hold a koala (for a fee, like in Australia), and this would instantly be perhaps the best Australian animal exhibit in the nation. Of course they wouldn't build this section without a great Disney ride or two. Since the about "Rescuers" movie has a lot of flying in it, show about a version of their already enormously popular "Soarin" ride -- "Soaring Over Australia". There's lots and lots of great Australian scenery to make this a great ride. Thoughts?
 
Cat-Man said:
do you mean platapus's, if you did, wow, ambitious!
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Yes, I did, but we both mispelled it. It's "platypuses". I just feel that Disney would have the money to "encourage" (aka, "bribe") the Aussies into releasing a pair, and they'd (Australia) love to get the tourism boost that would come from being featured in Disney World.
 
Actually Disney is considering building another park, rather than new sections. Also on the Epcot note, the park did add a pavilion that has small exhibitions of dozens of countries back in 2000.
 
okapikpr said:
What a shame for you, i was recently there and enjoyed it myself.
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I guess it wasn't "that bad" -- I'm just impatiently waiting for Disney to add another country or two. They announced back in the early 90s that they were drawing up plans for a Russia and/or Switzerland pavilion, but of course those things never happened. (I suppose I shouldn't complain, as one reason for those cancelled plans is the building of DAK.)
 
If DAK did add a new park, I would propose they create the planned 'Beastly Kingdomme' which was to be the realm of mythical creatures. Some of the attractions sounded awesome and it would mean there was less need to have big roller-coasters next to the animals. Personally, I don't think an australian zone would work as there are not enough 'big' animals (ones that the zoo visitors really want to see) from that continent. As for North America, there is a show in Camp Minnie-Mickey called Pocahontas and her Forest Friends in which some natives are featured. However I doubt the theme would ever go beyond this for the same reason as the Oceania section. Finally, although South America has Disney potential, the park already has a rainforesty exhibit in the form of the Oasis so, in the company's eyes, this would be akin to having an Expedition Andes next to Expedition Everest.
 
okapikpr said:
The Pocahontas show was closed earlier this year.
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You're right -- and that was a terrible disappointment for me!! In our book, we named DAK the #1 zoo in the category of "Shows". I think that, minus the Pocahontas show, we very likely might have given the #1 ranking to the San Diego Wild Animal Park instead.
 
redpanda said:
If DAK did add a new park, I would propose they create the planned 'Beastly Kingdomme' which was to be the realm of mythical creatures. Some of the attractions sounded awesome and it would mean there was less need to have big roller-coasters next to the animals.
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I would seriously, seriously doubt that Disney would want to have two animal-themed parks. DAK is already the least-attended of their 4 theme parks, so I'm sure that park #5 will be something entirely different. If they ever do a "Beastly Kingdom", it'll likely be a new section of DAK. Plus, I cannot imagine Disney tearing down Expedition Everest or any of the other expensive thrill rides in DAK.
 
Joe Rohde has been quoting as saying they aren't likely to do Australia. The stated reason is due to the relatively small size of Australian animals, it's not likely to play very well in a theme park environment. I don't necessarily agree with that, but it's the reason given. As okapikpr has stated they are considering building another park. The rumor is this would be a high-end animal experience park much akin to Discovery Cove, but with terrestrial animals instead of marine. There have also been rumors of adding a "Mysterious Island" section of the park akin to the Mysterious Island section of Tokyo DisneySea. This would have the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the Journey to the Center of the Earth attractions. Neither of these in their Tokyo versions contain or deal with live animals. This is all highly speculative rumors, and the reality is, the bulk of the investment in WDW in the coming years will likely be in the Disney's Hollywood Studios Park and in the Magic Kingdom, plus the ubiquotous "Disney's Vacation Club" hotels as well"


Ahhh... I've been beaten to the punch. :)


PPS Beastly Kingdomme is dead, it will NEVER EVER EVER happen.
 
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