Disney's Animal Kingdom Original Artwork - Part One

Here is an article that i've promised to you a loooong time ago. It took me some time but this two parts Animal KIngdom original artwork article will show you more WDI renderings you've ever seen about this beautiful park, one of my favorite.

Let's begin with a bird eye view of the whole park. Released at the opening, it's an interesting rendering as we can see the Asia land - not yet build at that time - and most of all, the never built Beastly Kingdom.



let's have a look at the entrance with this first concept-art - a never realised concept.



Here is another early and never realised concept for the entrance by Joe Rhode.



Artist Gerry Dune did also a proposal for the entrance with this rendering.



Here is a Bryan Jowers rendering for the Genesis Gardens.



Joe Rhode did also this Oasis carousel concept, never realised.



Let's move now to the Tree of Life. You have a beautiful rendering at the top and below, a Dan Goozee concept-art.



Another Tree of Life concept by Dave Minichiello.



Here is an early concept for the whole island by Gerry Dunn and Joe Rhode.



Artist Ben Tripp did also this view toward the Tree of Life.



I've also added one or two pictures of models or imagineers at work, and here is one with a WDI imagineer working on the model of the Tree of Life.



Here is a picture of the Discovery Island model.



You may not know it but different concepts were envisioned for the show under the Tree of Life. As we know, the one which was realised is the "It's tough to be a bug" show. Here is a rendering for it.



Artist Bryan Jowers did a concept for a "Wonders of Nature" show...



...And Dave Minichiello did another one for a Lion King character show.



Here is a rendering showing the Creature Comfort shop interior by Karen Conolly Armitage.



On the east of Discovery Island is Camp Mickey, here is two Joe Warren artwork for it.




A Jim Heffron plan for the Pocahontas show theater...



...And a scenic design concept by Joe Warren.



Artist Jim Heffron did this design and elevation for a new bridge.



Let's move to Africa with this view of Harambe by Tom Gilleon.



A great rendering of the Kilimandjaro Safaris savannah by Ben Tripp.



Another view of the savannah and animals by Ned Mueller.



The famous sequence of the suspended bridge.



This Tom Gilleon artwork below is supposed to show Kilimandjaro Safaris, but if you look closer, it shows a raft ride and the temples on the left looks more Asian than African...except if the imagineers did envisioned another raft ride for Africa...



Some artwork for the research station by Mark Shumate.



A great concept-art for the Harambe train station by Zofia Kostyrko.



A rendering of the Wildlife Express train by George McGinnis.



And another one for the Wildlife Express locomotive.



As we know, the train bring the guests to Conservation Station, and here are three renderings showing it.



Always about Conservation Station, another concept-art by Zofia Kostyrko.



Some years after its opening, the Asia land opened at Animal Kingdom. Here is an Asian market concept by Joe Rhode.



A beautiful rendering by Ned Mueller for the tiger overlook.



Also by Ned Mueller, this concept for the grand ballroom.



Kali River Rapids is Animal Kingdom's raft ride, and here is a concept-art by Ned Mueller.



Always by Ned Mueller, this concept-art shows the burning forest sequence of the ride.



Before the Kali River Rapids concept was chosen, other "Asian raft ride" concepts were envisioned. Here are two renderings of these early concepts.




We will end this first part with this Alex Wright artwork for the Kali River Rapids FastPass structure.



Be sure to don't miss the part two of this Animal Kingdom original artwork article next week!

All artwork: copyright Disney - WED Enterprises.

Many thanks to Mark Taft for some of the renderings. I strongly suggest you to have a look on Mark's site Insights and Sounds, it's always interesting with rare pictures or renderings and Mark is posting new articles almost every day!

Some of the renderings are coming from the great "Imagineering Field Guide to Disney's Animal Kingdom" where you will learn all the WDI secrets in the making of the park. You can find it on Amazon.com from only $3.87!

The Disneyland Paris Frontierland Stunt Show that never was

Recently, i found on the excellent Mark Taft Insights and Sounds web site this rendering below. It's labelled "EDL - for Euro Disneyland which means that this concept-art was done in the early 90's when the park was still called by this name. And it shows the facade of a stunt show arena envisioned for DLP's Frontierland - a "western" stunt show, of course.



In his article Mark was wondering "How seriously was a stunt show for Frontierland considered?" and hoped that i may have the answer as i am the one who wrote the book about the park.

Unfortunately, Mark's article was posted in March 2008 and i am a little bit late for the answer! However, i asked Jeff Burke who was Frontierland's show-producer if he ever heard about this project. And here is his answer:

"I don't recognize this specific illustration, but there were discussions, after the Park had opened in 1992, to build a stunt show arena where the Chapparal Stage now stands. The discussions of Frontierland's own stunt showplace ended when operations said it would be too much of a repetition of the "Buffalo Bill Wild West Show" in Downtown Disney."

Another former imagineer friend sent to me these additionnal infos: "There were a number of discussions concerning a live western show in Frontierland, including a small rodeo which was not done due to the strict animal protection laws in France. This is why the animals in the original petting zoo were moved behind a fence after opening so that the guests could only pet an animal when it approached the guest on its own.

As to the stunt show, this was developed under the Entertainment department on their own rather than Imagineering which was probably why it was not well known. An outside consultant was brought in and I seem to remember a model might also have been done. It was essentially a comic gun fight with exploding buildings and such but, as Jeff said, it was cancelled because of the clash with the Buffalo Bill show.

After that, the Chaparral stage came into existence to house any number of live entertainment shows."

So, there we have the answer about this mysterious rendering. The park DID envisioned a stunt show in Frontierland, but they finally cancelled it because of the Disney Village dinner show - translate: if we have a stunt show in Frontierland, people won't come - and pay - for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.

Although i must admit there is a kind of logic in their decision, i think it's a pity that a "western" stunt show don't exist in Frontierland instead of the Chapparal Stage. A western stunt show is a classic in theme parks - think about the Universal's Wild Wild West stunt show - and it would have give more life in the back of Frontierland...

And you, what do you think about this Frontierland stunt show that never was?

Artwork: copyright Disney

Many thanks to Mark Taft for this interesting rendering. I strongly suggest you to have a look on Mark's site Insights and Sounds, it's always interesting with rare pictures or renderings and Mark is posting new articles almost every day!

" Walt and El Grupo " Dvd released ! Walt Disney and Animation Artists in South America - 1941

The awaited Dvd of "Walt and El Grupo" is released today and for those of you who didn't had the luck to see it - i.e, basically everybody living outside the U.S - it will be a fantastic opportunity to discover this rare footage of Walt Disney and Disney Studios animators filmed in 1941 during their legendary trip in South America.

You can order the Dvd directly on the Disney and more Amazon Emporium HERE at special price of $19.99 (instead than $29.99). And below you'll find the movie trailer and rare pictures from a LIFE magazine photographer who joined "El Grupo" during their trip, it should give you a better idea of what this historical movie is about.



In early 1941, before U.S. entry into World War II, the United States Department of State commissioned both a Disney goodwill tour of South America, intended to lead to a movie to be shown in Central and South America as part of the Good Neighbor Policy. The tour took during ten weeks Walt Disney, his wife Lilly and a group of sixteen great artists from Walt Disney Animation as well as composers from the Walt Disney Studios to South America, mainly to Brazil and Argentina, but also to Chile and Peru. The movie, of course, now known as "Saludos Amigos" was made up of four different segments. Donald Duck stars in two of them and Goofy stars in one. It also features the first appearance of the character José Carioca.



But the Disney group was not alone, as LIFE photographer Hart Preston was there too and did a fantastic photographic report for LIFE magazine. It is these very rare pictures that you will see today, probably for the first time.

We will begin by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. On the top, Walt and Lilian Disney going for a tandem bike ride in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, June 1941. Below Frank Thomas, on the left, is standing with Walt Disney on a beach of Rio de Janeiro.



Precisely, in the next pictures we'll see Disney and his group going on a Brazilian beach...




Where Walt with his camera filmed some young cariocas...





Another great picture of Walt filming on a beach of Rio de Janeiro.



Meanwhile, Disney artists like Lee and Mary Blair created great watercolours that will serve as inspiration for the future movie.






They've also study the brazilian vegetation in botanical gardens...









And even waterfalls...



..And animals like this parrot - who knows, may be his painting by Lee Blair was the one who inspired the character of Jose Carioca?




Or may be it was this parrot?




Near a beach of Rio, Lee and Mary Blair meet and greet young cariocas...







...while on the other side of the road Disney artist Herb Ryman was doing sketches of animals.





The group went also in mountain villages...



...where Herb Ryman did some interesting paintings.




Here are two sketches of Frank Thomas, in the first one Pluto meet an armadillo...



And this one shows Dopey with a Brazilian monkey.



After the work the Disney group is relaxing...




...and for Walt, it's lunch time!...



...before some party later in the evening.



The Brazilian premiere of Fantasia also happened when they were in Rio de Janeiro.



And Walt Disney gave a presentation about animation with the help of three of his animators.



In a Brazilian nightclub performers entertained an audience which included Walt Disney.



And in the Urca Casino nightclub, dancers put on a floor show for the benefit of Walt Disney and his movie crew.



The group then moved to other countries, in Argentina to see the famous "gauchos"...



Or in Peru to see peruvians villagers...



While in Peru, they went also on Lake Titicaca to film sequences that will serve as inspiration for the Donald segment in Saludos Amigos. On the pictures, Walt is the one who holds the camera.








Hope you enjoyed this pictorial article with these rare LIFE pictures of the Disney South-American tour. All of them are coming from the fantastic LIFE photographic archives which are now avalaible to anyone in a special section of Google Images HERE.

To order the Walt and El Grupo Dvd directly on Amazon just go on the Disney and more Amazon store HERE



Pictures: copyright Disney and Time-Life - All rights reserved