Blue Sky Department: Dragonshire

The Beastly Kingdom is yet another of the many legendary lost Imagineering concepts from the 1990s. Originally intended for the space currently occupied by Camp Minnie-Mickey in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, it unfortunately fell victim to budget cuts and the whims of Michael Eisner.

While I’m certainly disappointed that Beastly Kingdom went unrealized, I was never completely impressed with the blue sky designs that were being considered for DAK’s proposed land centered on fantasy and mythological creatures. Taken individually, the ideas for Dragon’s Tower, The Quest for the Unicorn and the Fantasia Gardens boat ride seemed imaginative and intriguing, but collectively I’ve wondered just how they would have ”meshed” and under what central concept they would have been unified to ultimately form the Beastly Kingdom. Each of DAK’s various lands are very distinct in their physical settings. Even the much maligned and controversial DinoLand stays true to a specific geographical context.

In revisiting these lost concepts, I was inspired to create a blue sky concept of my own for DAK’s long abandoned fantasyland. One that has a very distinct setting and also shares the themes of conservation and animal preservation that are strongly associated with just about every other aspect of Walt Disney World’s fourth gate.

My blue sky remains true to the Beastly Kingdom’s original theme, and even reinforces the notion of a signature thrill ride centered on dragons, but adds a strong element of story and background history to bring about a truly immersive environment. Thus the land of Dragonshire is born.

Dragonshire exists in a time when magical creatures are fast disappearing from the world. The small village of Wyrmvale sits at the edge of the land’s Old Forest, where these endangered animals have found refuge from a world that threatens to extinguish them. Protecting them is a mysterious group of Forest Wardens who live in a small, yet still imposing castle. Working closely with the Forest Wardens are the Rangers who search the world for threatened creatures and relocate them to the safe haven of the Old Forest.

Dragonshire is essentially medieval in atmosphere and architecture, yet certainly state-of-the-art high tech in almost all other regards. Rising high above the village of Wyrmvale is DragonSpire Mountain. Deep within the mountain’s labyrinth of catacombs is DragonSpire Quest, the centerpiece attraction of Dragonshire. Guests descend deep below the surface of the mountain in search of adventure, only to come face to face with the last surviving red dragon. The only means of escape are mine cars from a long abandoned mining colony which take riders on a high speed journey through caverns and tunnels that reveal secrets long hidden beneath the mountain.

Disney’s current Living Character Initiative would play a crucial part in the land of Dragonshire. Expanding on the technology that brought Lucky the dinosaur to life, Dragonshire would feature numerous mythological creatures realized in the same manner, as the Rangers constantly transport captured creatures through Wyrmvale on their way to relocating them to the Old Forest. Guests would see and interact with griffins, unicorns, wyverns, and numerous other fantastic creatures as the creatures are escorted by the Rangers to their new home.

The village of Wyrmvale would also include a number of shops themed to its fantasy setting, and a large full service restaurant.

Finally, Dragonshire would be instrumental in turning DAK into an evening park by introducing a spectacular nighttime entertainment extravaganza-- Fire Mountain. Employing fireworks, pyrotechnics, and next generation animatronics, Dragonspire Mountain would become the nightly setting of an elaborate battle between good and evil dragons.

Blue Sky Department: New Horizons

I imagine that there are no doubt many other Disney Park enthusiasts out there like myself who are closet Imagineers. I have longed dreamed up numerous concepts that I thought would be great additions to Disney’s existing venues. So forgive my self indulgence as I finally put into words some of my own blue sky creations and share them with the readership of 2719 Hyperion.

My initial blue sky offering is one that essentially puts the future back in Epcot’s Future World. I have long held that Horizons, in my opinion the very best of EPCOT Center’s first generation attractions, should have been refurbished or even reinvented rather than abandoned completely. Hence, my idea is for a completely new pavilion that would once again introduce guests to future living, but this time on a farther reaching and much grander scale.

Welcome to the 22nd Century. Welcome to New Horizons.

New Horizons would be a Future World pavilion that restores the forward thinking idealism born out of Disney’s landmark attraction the Carousel of Progress and its successor of sorts, the original Horizons.

New Horizons would be located on the west side of Future World, between the Seas and Land pavilions. It would be a large, enclosed pavilion, akin to the Land or Wonders of Life, and house shops, restaurants and multiple attractions. It would essentially reinvent the original Horizons’ concept of traveling through the future and mark a return to much of that attraction’s original mythology.

When guests enter New Horizons, they will immediately arrive at the Futureport and be transported to the 22nd century. This Futureport, unlike its earlier counterpart, is in fact a busy, bustling transportation station in the center of the sprawling metropolis of Nove Cite. A futuristic Grand Central Station of sorts, the Futureport would be the hub of this vast city’s various transportation systems.

New Horizons would feature a number of state-of-the-art, innovative, and very immersive attractions:

The Hovership City Tour - Using ride mechanics similar to Soarin’, this attraction would take guests on a sweeping aerial tour of Nove Cite. Hoverships would sail throughout the city’s maze of skyscrapers, parks, sports arenas and neighborhoods, giving riders a bird’s eye view of what a 22nd century urban center will encompass.

TransExpress Destinations - Employing the very latest in simulator-based ride technologies, TransExpress shuttlecrafts would take guests on high-speed excursions to destinations such as the desert community of Mesa Verde, the floating city Sea Castle, and the orbiting space station Brava Centauri. Guests would literally choose their desired destination upon entering the attraction’s queue area.

The main concourse area of the pavilion would be a next-century version of modern day transportation centers such as airports and rail stations. It would include a food court, a full service restaurant and numerous retail shops. Large plasma monitors would be scattered about, featuring Nove Cite newscasts, weather reports and commercial messages. The visual highlight of this area would be large panoramic windows that would display views of the surrounding Nove Cite skyline. And amazingly, these views of the city’s skyline would reflect real time conditions. In other words, as the sun goes down on central Florida, so would the external views of Nove Cite experience the same transition to nightfall.

A large area of the Futureport would be the home of the Yesterday’s Tomorrows Museum & Retrospective. This attraction would combine walk-through exhibits with a brand new incarnation of Disney’s Carousel of Progress. This Carousel would, over the course of five acts, demonstrate progress from the year 2010 to 2100, effectively bridging the time between the modern age and the pavilion‘s 22nd century setting. Decidedly whimsical exhibits would be expanded multimedia presentations of the original Horizon’s Looking Back at Tomorrow sequences.

Yeah, I know. New Horizons would cost an enormous amount of money. Likely more money than Disney and any corporate sponsor would be willing to spend. But what the heck, the great thing about blue sky dreaming is that there are no financial constraints, and you are limited only by your own imagination.

So what do you think? Is a new incarnation of Horizons something you would like to see at Epcot? Let me know, and also write in with any blue sky concepts you would like to share with the readers of 2719 Hyperion. Who knows, there might even be an Imagineer nearby lurking and listening . . .