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15 Days to 15 Years- 1998

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Welcome to the 15 day preamble to the 15th Anniversary of Disney’s Animal Kingdom! Billed as the “heart of Africa”, the largest animal park in the world thrills with exotic and themed adventures.  For the next 15 days, my co-host Beth (@disneymom2jhe of Pursuing the Magic and The Magical Blogorail founder) and I will welcome 15 talented Disney writers as they tell the story of this park. Today, Mike of Jambo Everyone takes us on our first safari, and shares the sights of 1998. 

So this story begins in 1989. No, that’s not a typo. Instead, that is the year I first became a member of the Bronx Zoo. A few short months later I began my training to become a docent at that world-renowned institution. It was at this time I began to develop my love of animals, zoos and conservation. I spent a lot of time teaching visitors to the zoo about the animals there and the plight that many of them were suffering from. The goal of the docent was always to teach. The idea being if a person knows about the animal, they will care about it. If a person just sees an animal in real life and not television, they will want to see it protected. And that is the idea behind the modern zoo, as well.

I also loved Disney. I was lucky enough to have parents that took me to Disney often. I was there the first year it opened (although I don’t remember that at all). And we continued to go. It was some of the best times I had as a child, teenager, and young adult. As a young docent at the Bronx Zoo, I would often ponder: what would Disney do if they built a zoo? How amazing would those exhibits be? How immersive? And I imagined some of the ideas I would use if I had Disney money building a zoological park.
On June 5, 1995, Disney announced they were going to do just that: build a world class zoo. Yes, I know, they called it Nahtezuh (pronounced “not a zoo”) back then. But it was, in part, a zoo and Disney brought in all kinds of leaders in the industry like William Conway, Director of the Bronx Zoo, and Terry Maples, the man responsible for remaking Zoo Atlanta into a world class zoo. So, no matter what the marketing department thought of the place, it was indeed a zoo. And I loved it.
Then I met my true love, my wife. We got married in October of 1998 and needed a place to honeymoon. We both decided that Disney World would be the place. So in mid-October 1998, we spent a week at the Mouse. To say that we were excited to see what Disney had done with the Animal Kingdom would be an understatement. Don’t forget, this was a time before the internet gave you every detail you could ask for and a far bit more than that. Instead, the information I had came from the Disney magazine and guide books. So, not much.

When my wife and I saw the Tree of Life (my favorite park icon ever), we were hooked. It was already lush. It was already chock full of details. Heck, all these years later I still don’t think I have seen all of the little signs and posters of Harambe. There wasn’t much to the park yet. There was no Jungle Trek, no Everest, no Dinorama. Beastly Kingdom was still in the plans only a few short years away.
There was Dinoland, USA, though, and Countdown to Extinction. We loved that ride right from the get go. In fact, we rode it 8 times and would have rode it 8 more if we had the time. Back then, Dinoland was essentially Countdown to Extinction, Chester & Hester’s, Restaurantosaurus, and the Boneyard. There was also Dinosaur Jubilee, which I miss a lot. This was a tent with fossils set up much like a small Natural History Museum. Dino Institute “grad students” would occasionally give tours. Next to this was the Fossil Preparation Lab. Here, you could watch actual scientists preparing a fossil specimen. At this time. they were working on Sue, the best fossil ever of T-Rex which Disney was working on along with the Field Museum of Chicago. Sue is now in Chicago, but a replica is currently standing on the path to Dinosaur.
There was no Discovery Island either. What’s that you say? How can the island the Tree of Life be sitting on, not be an original? Well, it was there but it was called Safari Village at the time. It was circled by the Discovery River with the Discovery River boats. This attraction did not last long, as it was slow loading and, well, really didn’t show you much. Well, except for the dragon which breathed fire.
But in Safari Village was the Flame Tree Barbeque, one of the best counter services ever at Disney, and back in 1998, it was better than it is now. First of all, we loved the quiet setting and decor (back then there wasn’t nearly as many begging birds). And the food was great. They had this onion relish they put on the sandwiches that was amazing, why they ever got rid of that I will never know, so we ate there several times that trip. After all, the Rainforest Cafe was the only sit down spot in the entire park.
Harambe, however, was much the same. Probably the biggest difference was the Tusker House which was a counter service option back then. The main attraction, even the signature attraction of the park in those early days, was the Kilimanjaro Safari, the home of Warden Wilson, Ms. Jobson, Big Red and Little Red. Back in those days, all of them had a much greater role in the ride than they do now. Heck, all that’s left of the Reds is a poster in the queue. There was a lot more “air” time for Jobson and Wilson through the radio as they helped guide you and relayed the imminent danger that the Reds were in from the poachers (which I still say with a Warden Wilson impression). The end of the safari was a chase seen through geysers and a poacher’s camp. Finally, although Big Red was killed, you did find an AA Little Red being protected by a ranger armed to the teeth. That last bit was deemed too much for the Disney crowd and it wasn’t long before they started lightening the tone of the end of the attraction.

Kilimanjaro Safari was, and is, an amazing attraction. It combines imagineering and zoological exhibitry. It demonstrates what Disney can truly do in this setting. And it’s exactly the kind of thing I imagined I would see when I heard Disney was building a zoo. I am so glad my wife and I decided to honeymoon at Walt Disney World and see the Nahtezuh. We still talk about that first trip, all of those rides on Countdown to Extinction, the first impressions of the Tree of Life, the Jungle Book stage show, and, of course, that darn onion relish.

Who better to kick-off 15 Days to 15 Years than Safari Mike @JamboEveryone?! You must visit his “Bwana Blog“, support the Jambo Everyone Conservation Effort, and celebrate all that is Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  And don’t forget to “Like” him on Facebook!


1999 arrives tomorrow, courtesy of Heidi @HeidiSays, blogger at Heidi’s Head.

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Comments

  1. What a fantastic post to kick off our 15 days! Nice to meet you, Mike. One of my regrets in life is not honeymooning at Disney. I might have to get my hubby to fix that with an anniversary trip one of these years. 😉

    Reply

  3. Great post!! So nostalgic that I found myself saying "Oh Yeah! I remember that!!" Thanks for bringing back some of my favorite memories while sharing yours with all of us. Jambo Mike!

    Reply

  7. Jambo! What an AMAZING post! I am such a fan of the Bronx Zoo (Staten Island girl here) and I too think that Animal Kingdom is a zoo, but also so much more. I absolutely love the theme of the park and the conservation efforts. And the Animals, well, they are just beautiful.

    Thank you so much for sharing.

    Rosanne @ The Disney Point

    Reply

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