Disney Canceled 3 BIG Projects in Animal Kingdom

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is Disney World’s fourth theme park, which opened on Earth Day in 1998. 

While Animal Kingdom today is about to change drastically with a land overhaul and a new show in the Tree of Life, the park we know today would have been entirely different if three big projects had never been canceled. 

Animal Kingdom is a unique park as it takes elements of a zoo, your favorite Disney characters, and different attractions to make one cohesive theme park. While the park has been open for almost 27 years and has seen new additions like Pandora — The World of Avatar and Expedition Everest, the park could have been home to even more attractions. Let’s dive into three abandoned projects that were initially planned for Animal Kingdom.

Beastly Kingdom

For Disney fans, Beastly Kingdom may be one of the most well-known canceled projects at Disney World. When you walk into Animal Kingdom, you may notice that there is a Unicorn parking lot, a dragon on one of the ticketing booths, and even a dragon featured in the Animal Kingdom logo. But why are all these mythical creatures represented, and why are there no attractions based on them in the park?

Animal Kingdom wanted to have a whole land based on mythical creatures, and it was to be called Beastly Kingdom. With Beastly Kingdom, the park would be able to represent animals of the present, past (dinosaurs), and mythical. While it was not set to open with the park, it seemed that Disney was pretty confident that it would eventually be built to the point that they included creatures like dragons and unicorns in parts of the park.

 

This land had a light and dark side planned and would feature three attractions, including Dragon Tower, Quest for the Unicorn, and Fantasia Gardens.

On the dark side of Beastly Kingdom, a suspended roller coaster, Dragon Tower, was being developed. Guests would enter an old castle and board bat-shaped suspended coaster cars in an attempt to steal treasure from the dragon. This attraction was planned to be mainly outside, with some indoor elements.

While we did not get the Dragon Tower suspended coaster, the good news is that Disney World is now confirmed to be building its first suspended coaster. It was announced at D23 that a Monsters, Inc. suspended door coaster would be making its way to Hollywood Studios.

Back to Beastly Kindom, in the center of the land, there would be a hedge maze called Quest for the Unicorn. While going through the maze, you would encounter mythical creatures and, at the end, get to visit the unicorn’s hidden grotto.

While Disney World is not home to any mazes, an Alice in Wonderland maze attraction was built in Disneyland Paris. 

Finally, the land would be home to Fantasia Gardens (not to be confused with the Fantasia Gardens Mini Golf Course near the Walt Disney World Swan Reserve.) This area would include a swan boat ride. Magic Kingdom used to be home to swan boats, but Beastly Kingdom’s version would consist of mythical characters from the Pastoral Symphony portion of the film Fantasia. 

Beastly Kingdom was eventually scrapped and turned into Camp Minnie and Mickey, which would later be turned into Pandora — The World of Avatar.

The Excavator

While DinoLand, U.S.A., is on the brink of full extinction, this part of the park had different plans for the now-closed Dino-Rama. 

It is no secret that Dino-Rama, including TriceraTop Spin and Primeval Whirl, were built due to budget constraints, but there was something much more exciting planned for this area. Initially, a ride called The Excavator was planned. This attraction would have been a wooden runaway mine car roller coaster that ran through an abandoned dinosaur dig. In concept art for The Boneyard, you can actually see this wooden coaster in the background. 

While we were never given The Excavator, eventually, the idea of a runaway train coaster came to fruition when Expedition Everest opened in 2006.

Tiger Rapids Run Boat Ride

While you can go on a safari at the Kilimanjaro Safaris, Imagineers thought of an idea to take guests to see animals on a winding stream as well. Unlike the Jungle Cruise in Magic Kingdom, which uses animatronic animals, this boat ride was originally set to use real animals but was eventually abandoned.

As the attraction was being built, more elements were taken out of the Tiger Rapids Run, and an unsuspecting drop caused delays in the ride’s opening.  Eventually, the ride turned into the thrill ride we know today with a name change, so no one was disappointed that there were no tigers. While this ride did get built as the now Kali River Rapids, it is interesting to think about how different this ride would have been from the Tiger Rapids Run.

It is interesting to think about what Animal Kingdom could have been like if these projects had not been canceled. Regardless, the park is set to change in significant ways when the Tropical Americas-themed land, Pueblo Esperanza, opens as the replacement to DinoLand, U.S.A., and the Tree of Life opens a new Zootopia-themed show.

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Disney Canceled 4 BIG Projects in Magic Kingdom

What do you wish ended up being built at Animal Kingdom? Let us know in the comments!

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