Be sure to visit

In the Spring of 1998 Disney released press kits introducing the world to, “A New Species of Theme Park.” The press kit boxes included a video, several slides (along with a Disney’s Animal Kingdom slide viewer), a built-in map complete with trivia questions and answers, and a pamphlet describing what Disney’s Animal Kingdom was and what it was about.

Looking through the booklet now, you can see how, like the animals the park represents, Disney’s Animal Kingdom has evolved; Journey into the Jungle Book is no longer, and Countdown to Extinction has long been extinct, at least in name anyway, and the Safari Village has become a homage to the original, albeit much smaller, Walt Disney World wildlife preserve, Discovery Island. Pouring over the guide a little deeper, an even larger piece of Disney’s Animal Kingdom is missing entirely. That piece is Asia, which the pamphlet gives no information on whatsoever, though it is mentioned as opening in 1999, along with the forthcoming attraction Tiger Rapids Run (or Tiger River Rapids Run), on the press kit’s map. Taken as a whole, the brochure is a great time capsule of what Disney’s Animal Kingdom had in store for all adventures when it roared open.