Hello and welcome to the Enchanted Ears Podcast, where we discuss anything and everything Disney.

Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom was a big gamble for the Company. A theme park focused more on live animals and conversation than Disney IP was something Disney had not really tried before.

But with the growing success of Disney World as a vacation destination, the time seemed right to build a 4th park.

Luckily for us, Disney’s Animal Kingdom (as it would come to be known) was placed in the hands of legendary Imagineer Joe Rohde, who traveled the globe to make sure the park was authentic as possible.

But that didn’t mean it was all smooth sailing.

As is common with Disney, the park went over budget, lands were cut and when it opened there weren’t many attractions for guests to enjoy.

So join us this week as we take a look back at one of our favorite Disney parks, to see what it was like on opening day.

Submit a question/topic for us to discuss on a future episode.

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Timestamps

00:00 Welcome

01:44 Listener Questions

10:40 Animal Kingdom Stats

13:57 Animal Kingdom’s Impact on Other Zoos

16:20 The Parks Ties to Walt

16:46 The Origins of Wild Animal Kingdom

20:29 Of Course There’s a Universal Park Too

21:40 The Legend of Joe Rohde

27:03 The Original Idea for Animal Kingdom

32:08 Protests About the Park

35:40 Opening Day Attractions

50:18 Looking Back at Opening Day

55:40 See You Next Monday!