My, how the park’s first 7 years have flown by! Today, we’re “lucky” that Beth from A Disney Mom’s Thoughts remembers Disney’s Animal Kingdom 2005.
The year was 2005. Animal Kingdom was 7 years old. It was still pretty new and trying to be considered a “full day” park. While I did visit Animal Kingdom in February of 2005, I honestly don’t remember much about that trip. I have very few pictures to share (which include none from Animal Kingdom) and I can’t find my park map from that trip. All I can find is my copy of Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World 2005 which has a park map in it along with descriptions of all the attractions. In 2005, Camp Minnie-Mickey only housed the Festival of the Lion King. Asia was in the process of building Expedition Everest. In DinoLand U.S.A., you could see Tarzan Rocks! in the “Theater in the Wild.”
One thing that was special to Animal Kingdom in 2005 was the introduction of “Lucky the Dinosaur”. Lucky was a roughly 8foot-tall green dinosaur that pulled a flower cart. He was led by “Chandler the Dinosaur Handler”.
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| Lucky the Dinosaur image from disneyparks.disney.go.com |
Lucky was introduced at Disney’s California Adventure and came to DinoLand U.S.A. at Animal Kingdom from June to August in 2005. After his short stay at Animal Kingdom, he was moved to Hong Kong Disneyland for the grand opening of the park. Lucky was the first free-roving audio-animatronic figure ever created by the Imagineers at Disney. His flower cart hid the computer and power source. Lucky could move, talk, and respond to guests.
What memories do you have from Animal Kingdom in 2005?
We certainly have memories of Beth’s work for 40 Days to 40 Years and 30 Days to 30 Years!! You will want to read more of Beth’s (@adisneymom) Disney thoughts on her blog, Facebook and Twitter.
Jodi Whisenhunt of @MagicalMouseSch brings us the Legend of the Forbidden Mountain; Disney’s Animal Kingdom 2006 tomorrow.
We were there in 2005 and I actually have quite a few pictures from that trip. My parents went along and this was a park they were interested in, since they hadn't seen it before. I don't remember running into Lucky anywhere though!
We DID get to meet and stroll alongside Lucky that summer, but my photo "dig" hasn't uncovered him… yet!! We might have passed by you Heidi! Thanks for the memory Beth. 😀
Love the picture of Lucky in his Ears! It's amazing what memories you hold onto throughout your life!