Was the "Beastly Kingdom became Lost Continent" story ever verified?

[GA-MBIT]

With the new Dueling Dragons-themed Horror Nights house this year, I was digging back through some old theme park history and kept bumping into this same story again and again. The story goes that Disney Imagineers working at Animal Kingdom designed Beastly Kingdom as one of the headlining lands for the new park, but once Eisner realized that the budget wasn't large enough, he cut the Beastly Kingdom land to instead prioritize the much cheaper Dinoland U.S.A.. Some retellings specifically note the film Dinosaur as a reason. The Imagineers, scorned by the costcutting of the latter Disney Decade, jumped ship to work on Universal's Islands of Adventure, where they were able to finally fulfill some semblance of the original plan for Beastly Kingdom through The Lost Continent, Merlinwood, and Dueling Dragons.

I've heard this story for over a decade now, but where did it come from? Does anyone have a primary source for this? A book, interview, podcast, old forum posts or discussion from insiders? or was it just hearsay from early theme park fandom? I'm legitimately curious if anyone has any knowledge on the origins of this story, which seems to me almost like theme park legend at this point.

 

[Brian G.]

Was all hearsay.

 

[GA-MBIT]

That would make sense. It's crazy how much it's ingrained into the community. I've heard it repeated in Brian Krosnick's reputable work at Theme Park Tourist, Jenny Nicholson's multi-hour Avatarland video goes over it, I've heard it treated as fact by a ton of fans over the years, and yet it seems like it could have no more basis than any other fan rumor.

It does just feel like the perfect storm for a longstanding theme park rumor though, right?

1. It's Anti-Eisner.
2. It revolves around a known, abandoned land concept that diehard Disney fans are unable to let go.
3. It fans the flames of the Disney Vs. Universal fan wars.

 

[Brian G.]

That would make sense. It's crazy how much it's ingrained into the community. I've heard it repeated in Brian Krosnick's reputable work at Theme Park Tourist, Jenny Nicholson's multi-hour Avatarland video goes over it, I've heard it treated as fact by a ton of fans over the years, and yet it seems like it could have no more basis than any other fan rumor.

It does just feel like the perfect storm for a longstanding theme park rumor though, right?

1. It's Anti-Eisner.
2. It revolves around a known, abandoned land concept that diehard Disney fans are unable to let go.
3. It fans the flames of the Disney Vs. Universal fan wars.

The Truth Effect at its finest. Now, I'm sure there were small ideas that were used here and there but the overall scope of The Lost Continent was already thought out before they came over.

 

[JonsMovies]

There is concept art out there for the main E-ticket which involved a roller coaster through a tower with a large dragon animatronic.

That ride concept likely evolved into Everest but may have also partially inspired DD.

Details and images:

Remnants of a Lost World - Walt Disney World's Beastly Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom is a theme park devoted to wildlife and the wonders of the natural world. But have you ever wondered why there's a dragon on the Animal Kingdom logo? Let's take a trip

www.micechat.com

 

[MikePat]

The idea of dragons, unicorns, myths, etc. aren’t original ideas to Beastly Kingdom folks...

 

[GA-MBIT]

It seems totally reasonable that two seperate parks designed by different companies, one park themed to "Animals" and the other themed to "Adventure", could have independently come to the idea for a Dragon rollercoaster, an attraction themed to Unicorns, and an overall fairytale aesthetic within a land. I can just imagine people back in 2004 or so jumping to the exact opposite conclusion for the reasons and narratives I listed above.

I wonder though, how much do we know of Eisner's decision making with Animal Kingdom and Beastly Kingdom/Dinoland? Would he have been the one to make that call? Do we have any interviews from Imagineers about the design process there?

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Yeah, it's almost certainly an urban legend.

Also--Brian Krosnick is an incredibly gifted and entertaining writer, but I LOL at the notion that the '90s were a "frustrating time for those in themed entertainment" (to quote the article you reference). I get that they weren't perfect but I'd wager that well over half of my favorite things at Disney and Universal parks were from that decade.