Rumor Alert: The Beastly Kingdom

The rumor about Disney's Beastly Kingdom (or Kingdomme) has been going around for quite a while, since as far back as 1998, and resurfaces from time to time.

Like now.

It goes something like this:

The Beastly Kingdom would be the 5th "land' at Disney's Animal Kingdom, joining Africa, Asia, Dinoland, and Camp Minnie-Mickey.

Or maybe Camp Minnie-Mickey would be absorbed since it was originally supposed to have been 'temporary'.

Dragons and unicorns would be a big feature.

Rumored rides/attractions were "The Dragon Tower", "Quest of the Unicorn" maze, "Fantasia Gardens" (boat ride). Another rumor has it that WDI is thinking up totally new things.

The entrance would be through the Camp Minnie-Mickey area. Since the Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends attraction closed in September, the rumor about new construction has picked up some steam.

And.

Disney-watchers like to point out that the AK logo does indeed have a dragon smack-dab in the middle.

And don't forget the Unicorn parking area.

The rock dragon fountain (looks more like a stegosaurus to me), a remnant from the early planning, is still there, although the dragon fire cave is not. Or at least not 'fired up'.

So it must be gonna happen, someday.

Oh, and another rumor, perhaps the most interesting, has it that Disney laid off the Imagineers who were planning the Beastly Kingdom and these guys were then hired by the place down the road to create "Dueling Dragons" and the "Flying Unicorn".

If it's not true, it does make a great rumor.

Confession # 7: I Bought a Dollywood Pin

As a collector and trader of Disney pins, I made an interesting discovery: Dollywood has some pretty neat pins, too.

No, I haven't made it to Dollywood, yet. That trip is still in the plotting stage.

But I did find some Dollywood pins for sale on eBay and I figured to get some to use as traders on our (future) visit.

But a couple of them won't make it to the trading lanyard.
I'll be keeping these:

Confession # 6: Things I've Seen

that aren't listed in any Orlando guide book ...

... Like the crowd gathered around the Lion King topiary at Epcot during the Flower and Garden Festival ... watching a squirrel! The furface, sitting on Rafiki's head, was as still as, er, a statue, and the (otherwise normal) people were confused as to its origins - was it real (biological) or Disney (botanical) ? Even when it scampered down the topiary figure and into the bushes (animatronic ?), some folks were unsure.
Too funny!

... Like the lady in an EVC (electric cart) loading onto a Disney watercraft. She revved that thing up and leaped the ramp. And was actually briefly airborne. We thought she just might keep going off the other side.
Too exciting!

... Like the 3 Japanese girls singing "It's a Small World" in Japanese while waiting for the boat at Port Orleans.
Too sweet!

... Like Fireman Mickey at the Oogie Boogie dance party at Mickey's-Not-So-Scary-Halloween Party. He was a little fellow of about 2 dressed up as a fireman, complete with a Mickey-eared helmet. He was dancing so earnestly, and his costume must've been very warm, so he barfs on himself, mom cleans him up, and he's back to dancing.
Too Oogie Boogie!

... Like the Disney Cast Member at the Whispering Canyon Cafe having the kids swear an oath: "I promise ... to stay up really late and get up really early ... and to ask for EVERYTHING I see ... and to NEVER, no matter what mom says, go to Universal Studios".
Too hilarious!

... Like the Scooby-Doo at Universal Studios whose costume was so tight that it was obvious it was a boy dog.
Too XXX!

... Like the little girl sitting behind us for lunch at the Crystal Palace trying to get the characters' attention. Instead of whistling (which I can't do either), she would go, "Wheee-uuu-whittt, Pooh Bear / Tigger / Piglet / Eeyore!!
Too funny and sweet!

BurgerQuest

Several years ago there was a discussion in a Disney newsgroup regarding where the best hamburger in WDW was to be found.

IMHO the best burger was (see note) to be found at FoodQuest (5th floor, DisneyQuest).

Photo:allears.net

The general consensus of the group was that Beaches and Cream at The Beach Club had the best burger.

Photo: wdwinfo.com

So we tried it. We were disappointed. Definitely not the best burger and the fries were not particularly good either. 

eithereither. We gave it another try just recently, and, I'm sorry to say, the burger & fries (and a cheese steak sandwich) were tasteless and blah.
We decided to try the Hard Rock Cafe over at Universal Studios.

We had bypassed HRC for years because they do not publish prices on the menus posted outside, which is usually an indication that you'll be paying lots.

The burgers were slightly more $$ than say, those at Le Cellier (Canada's restaurant at Epcot 's World Showcase), but they were very, very tasty and came with a plateful of crispy, spicy fries.

And yes, we will certainly go there again.

Note: Alas, FoodQuest is no longer run by the Cheesecake factory and we haven't been to DQ since the change.

The REAL Jungle Book

I was not an observer to the following event, but it was related to me by someone who knew someone who was.

The bird aviary along the Pangani Forest Trail at Disney's Animal Kingdom is full of various exotic birds (well, duuh) and the occasional local snake which is attracted by the assortment of feathered food possibilities.

It so happened that one particular little snake, browsing for breakfast, was driven out of the aviary by the birds which had been alerted by some sort of avian early warning system.

So the little guy slithered into the gorilla compound.

Now, gorillas are physically impressive; they weigh about 300-400-pounds each and have massive arms and powerful legs. All the better to stomp a little snake. Right? Wrong.


The gorillas spot the little snake and take off at a run for the door leading to the interior shelter, whereupon they began pounding on the door until a Cast member/Keeper opened up. The gorillas shot inside and refused to come back outside for the rest of the day.

The moral of the story: Size does not matter when you're ophidiophobic.

Photo: Allears.net

Sciuridae DisneyWorldified

I'm talking squirrels (sciuridae), specifically those who are fortunate enough to live at Disney World (DisneyWorldified); most of whom have absolutely no fear of anything two-legged, although they do remain wary of anything with wheels and most of the shorter two-legged things.

Some Sciuridae DisneyWorldified have developed a sort of rapport with some aforementioned two-legged things.

Like the little furface who has staked out the Funnel Cake kiosk at Epcot's American Adventure. He/she waits in the bushes until it opens, then once the cooking has started, positions him/herself out in front for optimum begging.*

And another furface cruises the area in front of Off-Kilter's stage in the Canada pavilion. He/she is not shy about approaching those in the front row for hand-outs. There is an Off-Kilter two-legged "regular" who brings a bag of snacks including walnuts and almonds for said furface, who eats the walnuts and takes the almonds into the nearest bushes and (presumably) buries them.

The music/noise bothers him/her not at all.

* I have a feeling this is the same scuiridae that we spotted hanging around a temporary food cart. This bold-as-brass fluffy loitered on the curb behind the cart while the Cast Members were busy getting set up; while they were occupied, furface checked out whatever was within grabbing reach, even foraging inside the cabinets. He/she managed to not get shut up in the cart or stepped on before scampering off.

Note: I'm not in any way suggesting that anyone feed these squirrels (or any others); they are wild critters and do have teeth and just might bite.