The World of Forgotten Disney

18 Anniversary

"Welcome to a kingdom of animals... real, ancient and imagined: a kingdom ruled by lions, dinosaurs and dragons; a kingdom of balance, harmony and survival; a kingdom we enter to share in the wonder, gaze at the beauty, thrill at the drama, and learn."

―Michael D. Eisner, April 22, 1998

*Sings the beginning of Circle of Life, while holding a stuff animal up in the air*

Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba

Sithi uhm ingonyama

Ingonyama

Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba

Sithi uhhmm ingonyama

Ingonyama

Siyo nqoba

Ingonyama

Ingonyama nengw' enamabala

*Coughs* Sorry I don't really sing for that long. :D *Throws the stuff animal*

Today, April 22 2016 marks the -18th Anniversary of Animal Kingdom! AND happy Earth Day! The park is as old as meeeee. The video up top, is the VSH commercial of its opening in The Lion King 2 tape. Ah so many memories.....Now you know why I keep saying I'm old. :P

Tid Bits:

Animal Kingdom is the largest of all parks in Walt DisneyWorld.

There are more than 300 carvings on the Tree of Life. It took 10 artists and three Imagineers working full-time for 18 months to create all of them. The Tree itself is 145 feet tall and 160 feet wide. And even though it's not real it's base is actually an oil rig, made to withstand Floridian hurricane winds. It's topped with more than 102,583 transparent leaves in five shades of green.

Certain plants that grow in the park were selected by Durgha Kali, a female elephant living in Nepal. One of Disney's landscape architects rode the elephant to collect seeds; when Durgha Kali came across plants she liked, she would pick them with her trunk and hand them to her rider.

The Carnotaurus baddie in the Dinosaur! ride isn't an exact representation of the real carnotaur—this one has bigger thighs, knobbier skin, and more height—so Imagineers decided it was a new sub-species. They named it "Carnotaurus robustus Floridana," meaning "Stout meat bull from Florida.

In 2014, Camp Minnie-Mickey was closed down to make way for Avatar Land.

Beastly Kingdom was a section that was to be built in Disney's Animal Kingdom. The section was never built and the land that was to be used for this area was turned into Camp Minnie-Mickey.

Annnnddd that's allllll *Roars* 

Bonus, Disney animals that I drew. Remember I did NOT trace, all free handed:

And you all ready saw Shere Khan so that's all! :D

Always a D.R.E.A.M. (Disney Rules Everything Around Me)