Beastly Kingdom: Disney's Abandoned Myths Come to Life at Animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom was initially planned to have areas themed to creatures of the present (from places like Africa and Asia), the past (i.e. dinosaurs, part of the now-closed DinoLand, U.S.A.), and the imagination.

The idea was to create a radical new concept, an 'animal' theme park, which no one had done before. However, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner intervened, suggesting that building all the animal sections at once was not feasible. Eisner's decision led to the first phase of the park focusing on traditional safaris and park sections based on Africa and Asia.

Eventually, dinosaurs were added 'because we've got the Dinosaur movie coming out [and] everybody loves dinosaurs!' as Rohde explains.

The original plan for a mythical creatures land called Beastly Kingdom was put on hold. However, it wasn't entirely abandoned, elements of it would be incorporated into future expansions. One example is Camp Minnie-Mickey, which served as a placeholder in the southwest corner of the park before being repurposed for Pandora - The World of Avatar.

Pandora fulfilled the original vision to represent animals living, extinct, and imagined. Rohde notes that the Na'vi are technically a fantastical creature, but their story revolves around an 'eco-myth' that made more sense than the classic myth of rides and attractions themed to creatures like unicorns and dragons.