If you look at the original logo for Disney’s Animal
Kingdom, the first thing you notice is the Tree of Life: the park’s icon. Beneath
its spreading branches are a lion, an elephant, a triceratops, and a goat. And in
the center of the design there was a dragon with wings outstretched. That’s
because the original Animal Kingdom plan included an area focused on fictional
animals. The “Beastly Kingdom” would have included a dragon-themed dark roller coaster,
a ride based on the movie Fantasia, and a hedge maze called “Quest for the
Unicorn.” When those plans were scrapped, the Imagineers slated to work on it
were let go – and immediately scooped up by Universal Studios, where they
worked on the dragon roller coaster that’s now part of the Wizarding World of
Harry Potter. The area that would have been the Beastly Kingdom is now Pandora –
the World of Avatar. Instead of dragons and unicorns, you’ll find banshees and
direhorses.
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