Happy 20th Anniversary Animal Kingdom!
Today, Earth Day 2018, Animal Kingdom celebrates its 20th anniversary. A celebratory ceremony was held in the park today to mark the occasion and an updated version of the bird show featuring characters from the Pixar film ‘Up’ has been created to mark the parks 20th year. Disney have also released a variety of merchandise to celebrate the parks 20th anniversary.
Animal Kingdom has come a long way since opening day in 1998. When the park first opened it only had two lands, Africa and DinoLand USA. The main opening day attraction was the extremely well designed ‘Kilimanjaro Safaris’. As you know, the Safari has remained one of the most popular attractions in the park and, in my opinion, is still one of the most impressive attractions ever created by the Disney Imagineering team.
The Asia section of Animal Kingdom opened a year after the park first opened. However, it wasn’t until April 2006 that the now iconic attraction in Asia, Expedition Everest, would open.
Several other attractions and shows have been added to the park since it first opened in 1998.
In 2016, Animal Kingdom debuted its first ever night-time show. The show was based on the new live action ‘Jungle Book’ film. The show was set on the Discovery River lagoon and gave guests their first opportunity to sit in the new 5000 seat theatre built at the edge of the lagoon.
Originally, Disney had announced that the Rivers of Light show would be debuted in 2016. However, due to technical reasons, Disney were unable to meet this target. It was not until February, 2017 that the Rivers of Light show was able to replace the poorly received Jungle Book show.
In 2017, the brilliant Pandora-World of Avatar opened at Animal Kingdom. The main attraction in this area, Flight of Passage, is one of, if not the best, screen based attractions in the world. The other attraction, Navi River Journey, is a very well themed boat ride and features one of the best animatronics ever to be put in a Disney attraction.
The whole area is extremely well themed and full of intricate details. A huge reason why Pandora has been hugely successful, like a lot of other sections of Animal Kingdom, is down to the fantastic work of Joe Rohde and his creative and hugely talented team of imagineers.
With destinations ranging from the snowy peaks of Mount Everest to the African savannah and even the fictional world of Pandora, it is safe to say this park is one of the most unique destinations within themed entertainment.