“Field Guide to Disney’s Animal Kingdom” reveals how the Imagineers built WDW’s wildest park yet

Jim Hill

17 years ago

What can you say about the “Imagineering Field Guide” series? It started out strong with the “ Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World” guide back in 2005 and then got better last year with the “Epcot at Walt Disney World” guide. And now? “The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World” (Disney Editions, June 2007) may be the best book yet in this on-going series.

Of course, that may be because Alex Wright (i.e. the author of the “Imagineering Field Guide” series) actually worked on Disney’s Animal Kingdom. 15 months prior to the opening of WDW‘s fourth theme park, Wright came on board at WDI and then helped design sets & props for DAK (You can see some of Alex’s work directly below) …

… Then after Animal Kingdom opened in May of 1998, Wright stayed with the projecy for an additional 2 1/2 years. Working with Joe Rohde, DAK’s lead designer, as the Imagineers fine-tuned this theme park. Spending time inside Animal Kingdom observing how Disney World guests were really experiencing this theme park, then doing what they could to improve that experience. More importantly, making sure that DAK actually told the sorts of stories that Rohde really wanted to tell.

“That’s what I think is truly unique about Disney’s Animal Kingdom,” Alex explained. “That this theme park is so closely modeled on Joe’s view of the world and his style of storytelling.”

Mind you, during the seven years that this project was in active development, Rohde blew through an awful lot of ideas. As he struggled to come up with just the right way to start out his epic tale about animals. One version of this theme park’s entrance area would have sent WDW visitors up the ramp into Noah’s Ark …

… With this Ark then being DAK’s icon. You know, like how Cinderella Castle is the Magic Kingdom‘s icon and Spaceship Earth is Epcot‘s?

Speaking of Epcot … According to Wright, that WDW theme park actually provided an early template for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As Joe tried to strike just the right balance between education & entertainment. Trying to inform Disney World visitors how truly interconnected everything on this planet is by creating the “Oasis Carousel” …

… Which was supposed to have been this ornate fountain that would have been located toward the front of the theme park, where DAK guests could have literally be able to see the “Circle of Life” spinning around.

Obviously, that eco-friendly fountain never made it off of the drawing board. But — then again — neither did the original version of DAK’s Tree of Life. Which Rohde envisioned as this 14-story-tall structure with an observation deck which would have given visitors a killer view of WDW’s newest theme park as well as the rest of the resort.

But that idea eventually fell by the wayside. As did the Imagineers’ first two concepts for the show that was to have been presented inside of the Tree of Life. One version of this DAK attraction would have had the show hosted by Mother Nature herself, while yet another take on this attraction was to have been inspired by Disney’s “The Lion King.” In this version of the show, Rafiki was to have taught young Simba & Nala about (you guessed it!) the “Circle of Life.”

It’s these sorts of stories that make the “Disney’s Animal Kingdom” book the best installment of the “Imagineering Field Guide” series. Where Wright uses his intimate knowledge of how this place actually came together to talk about the Imagineers struggled to create a theme park that didn’t feel like your typical Disney theme park. That took WDW visitors to parts of the globe that they had ever ever seen before. Not to fairytale castles, the distant future or Hollywood & Vine. But — rather — this place where men & women could feel a real connection to nature. Where they could then learn to slow down and really appreciate all of the beauty that surrounded them.

That said, given that Alex recognizes that not Disney theme park fan is at one with nature, he also made sure that the latest edition of his “Imagineering Field Guide” series features lots of behind-the-scenes peeks at WDI. Take — for example — this set of storyboards from “Dinosaur” …

… Which reveals how the guys back in Glendale went about staging many of the effects-filled sequences in this thrill ride.

In short, Wright does a beautiful job with the “Imagineering Field Guide to Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.” Balancing this book between the theme park that we almost got (Witness yet another concept for the park’s entrance below. Which — in this version — was to have really played up the dinosaurs that you would have seen while touring DAK’s “Dinoland U.S.A.” section) …

… as well as the theme park that we actually did get. Which is now enjoyed by millions of visitors each year.

“So what’s up next for Mr. Wright?,” you ask. Well, This hasn’t been officially announced yet … But you should probably expect Alex to take a break from writing books about Walt Disney World for a while, as he now concentrates on completing the “Imagineering Field Guide for Disneyland.”

Which — based on how well the first three books in this series turned out — I’m sure will be one fun read.

Your thoughts?