Rumors of Australia at Animal Kingdom
Walt Disney World: Will Disney also announce a new land for the Animal Kingdom when it officially announces Forbidden Mountain?
From Anonymous
Posted April 20, 2003 at 8:07 PM
From a reliable source (my roommate who is a Jungle Cruise skipper) told me that his manager told him on April 22nd, Earth Day and the 5th anniversary of Animal Kingdom, Disney will announce that a new land is developing--Australia!! Now, I'm not really sure on the details but I do have some theories. First off, Africa and Asia each have one big ride and one big walk-through attraction. Dinoland and the Oasis and Discovery Island aren't really the big contenders, so I believe Australia will keep on track with having a walk-through attraction and a ride. The center of Australia will be Koalas, most likely. Koala Country. Kangaroos and Kiwis can be there too but are they really important to what Disney is trying to percieve as Australia? Nah. The ride will have to be some sort of flume ride, a undersea film ride themed around searching for Pixar's Nemo, or a Soarin' Over...clone. Who knows? That's my ideas, and I am definitely sure about the Australia announcement. Disney will probably announce Expedition Everest: Forbidden Mountain at the same time. But I know I'll be watching for the news on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thank you. J.O.
The Finding Nemo stuff is very interesting... if they didn't already have a plan for that in the Little Mermaid theater in Disney/MGM. But I don't see why they couldn't build it here instead.
But Disney has long threatened that if they build Australia, it may ONLY be animals at first. And I don't see them building Forbidden Mountain and Australia simultaneously. Though, if they do, I would certainly expect it to be kangaroo central. Those things are considered rats in Australia so I am sure they would allow Disney to have a few thousand or so.
Unless they can make deals with other zoos, though, I don't see how Australia would be easier than the proposed North America walkthrough. But if they could build the proposed Finding Nemo attraction easily, I would highly suggest they do go with the Australia section with this cheapo attraction.
BTW, all this AK stuff is over at Rate the Rumors so you can talk about them and rate them there, too.
From Anonymous
Posted April 21, 2003 at 12:01 PM
Australia... Great Barrier Reef... Finding Nemo. This would seem to offer Disney a great opportunity to add an aquarium type experience (walk though) to AK.
From Ben Mills
Posted April 21, 2003 at 12:07 PM
I can see this turning into Australia vs Beastly Kingdom.
Choose your side now...
Anyway, this could be interesting, and would definately be different from the other scenery. Maybe they should be put it where Camp Mickey-Minnie is. Just bomb it, I say.
Well, BK would definitely reside where most of CM/M is right now. Australia would most likely go between that and Africa, but I heard massive retooling of CM/M would have to happen to put a land next to it.
But I wouldn't say it was one or the other. We may not see Journey to the Center of the Earth until around 2010, if at all, so the park definitely needs something a little easier in the meantime. So the real competition is North America VS Australia.
I'd go with Australia (rather than N. America). Since the majority of the visitors are North Americans, it would probably be more interesting to see.
Also, this "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" attraction. I've heard of it, but I don't know what it is. I haven't seen info about it on www.wdwmagic.com, so what is it, when is it, etc.
Didn't you check on TPI? It's at Tokyo DisneySea. It's basically the same type of ride as Test Track and the Rocket Rods but inside a volcano.
From J. Dana
Posted April 23, 2003 at 1:40 PM
Camp Minnie/Mickie was actually an "afterthought" almost in the original plans of AK. There's an abundance of backstage land behind Rainforest Cafe for proposed Beastly Kingdom/other land expansion. It's actually designated for future expansion already (which explains the large, vacant field behind the restaurant). Also, there is so much unused--yet attraction-designated--land around Animal Kingdom, space is not an option. The backstage areas of AK are basically trailers only--they can be easily moved to other locations to accomodate AK expansion. Not that this means that building will commence anytime soon. When it opened, planners said AK would take 20 years to mature into the vision intended.
That's too bad, it sounded good. Oh, well ...
I don't see why there could not be an Australia. THey have the animals and the attraction (Finding Nemo) It still fits with the overall themed lands of AK.
Especially if they plan a Finding Nemo ride for Disneyland or DCA. Then they could do their famous cloning. Well, we could hope they would make the attractions a little different.
Finding Nemo would certainly be better than that eyesore Chester & Hester Dinorama thingy!
From Anonymous
Posted October 25, 2003 at 4:31 PM
This is a very facinating idea and opportunity that Disney can now do for the future of AK. They have all that land so why not build it into something? Australia certanily has animals worth seeing and Nemo could be their savior. Don't get rid of camp Minnie Mickey because the Lion King is there!
No doubt since Beastly Kingdom has all but ran out of steam thanks in no small part to Islands of Adventure.
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