What Could Have Been

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Beastly Kingdom had three planned attractions. The first was a labyrinth that held a unicorn animatronic in its center. The next was a boat ride based on some of the segments from Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. The final attraction was supposed to be the section's E-ticket attraction. It was a coaster that went through a destroyed castle and passed and animatronic dragon in its lair. The dragon seemed like the best selling point given the dragons of Disney, so this was the creature used in marketing, such as the McDonald's Happy Meal toy. Along with this, the dragon remains on the logo of the park as well as on one of the park entrances.

 

Discovery River Boats

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To preview the area, the attraction Discovery River Boats held a dragon shaped rock and a cave that was meant to have the head of a fire-breathing, animatronic dragon sticking out of it. Unfortunately, the budget that could have gone to the dragon went towards an animatronic of Aladar, the main character of the 2000 Dinosaur film. To add ambiance to the dragon cave, the remains of knights were placed near the entrance where fire would blow out of. Parents found this to be too dark for a family park, resulting in the removal of the knights.

 

Use the Space

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The boats were removed not long after opening due to unpopularity and phase two was cancelled thanks to the park's failing attendance levels. The area that was to be Beastly Kingdom would remain as a character meet and greet place known as Camp Minnie-Mickey. All remnants of the dragon cave were taken over by nature and only a small amount of the dragon shaped rock is still visible. In 2017, the area planned for Beastly Kingdom was transformed into Pandora: the World of Avatar. While this is a very impressive area, it leaves some of those who followed Beastly Kingdom's history to wonder what could have been.

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Islands of Adventure

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Some of the imagineers switched sides and started working for Universal, bringing with them their ideas for Beastly Kingdom. Some of these ideas were brought to life in Universal's Islands of Adventure such as the dragon coaster becoming the Dueling Dragons, later renamed Dragon Challenge during the Harry Potter retheming (removed to make room for Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure). Eisner visited Islands of Adventure to see if the new park would bring competition to Disney, and he admitted that he liked how they incorporated some of the ideas from Beastly Kingdom, being the moment he cancelled phase two.

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Wizarding World

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Before the Wizarding World came to Universal Studios, Eisner was trying to convince J.K. Rowling to give Disney the theme park rights to the franchise. The idea was to put Diagon Alley in Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Rowling did not think her property was getting the respect it deserved and pulled out of the deal, opening the door for Universal to propose their own ideas.

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The Dark Kingdom

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There temporarily lied an idea for a fifth park at Walt Disney World in Florida for a park themed to the infamous villains. The centerpiece for this park was supposed to be Maleficent's castle from Sleeping Beauty, which shares an appearance with the dragon's castle from Beastly Kingdom. It became clear that Disney World already took long enough with four parks, two water parks, a shopping district, a golf course, and two mini golf courses that a fifth park would be unnecessary.

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The Future

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While there remain remnants from this forgotten land, it is sad to say that no one will ever see what it could have become. Pandora is a highlight of Animal Kingdom and there are talks of replacing Dinoland with something else. Whatever may come to the future of the parks, I can only dream that somehow, someway, dragons will be involved.