The waiting is the hardest part

Image: Disney

Rohde approached Barongi for the first time in 1990. The park opened in 1998. You can fill in the dots from there about how smooth the construction of Animal Kingdom was. To be fair, not everything was Disney’s fault. They always understood that the planning phase for such a monumental endeavor could take several years.

To build the best possible landscape as well as a series of habitable environment for diverse animals, the company would need to perform an unprecedented amount of due diligence for a theme park. Over the course of just a couple of years, they interviewed literally hundreds of zookeepers. They obviously wouldn’t invest so many man-hours and resources into the project unless they felt confident it would proceed.

What no one could anticipate was just how laborious the task would be. Multiple years passed with little tangible progress to show. At the start of 1991, Disney still attempted to keep the project secret from most of its own employees, even as they interviewed zoologists and other animal behavioral experts. Word eventually spread, of course, as non-Disney employees queried on the matter would network with friends gainfully employed there.

Rohde himself expressed confidence that Animal Kingdom would become a reality soon. He recommended Barongi to the higher-ups at Disney, and the conservationist finally became a cast member in 1993 after several years as a secret consultant. His title included oversight of the company’s animal operations. This gave him a job beyond the still in-doubt Animal Kingdom, as he also handled tasks at Discovery Island and The Living Seas. In this manner, Disney protected him in the unlikely event that Animal Kingdom was delayed.

In 1994, Animal Kingdom was delayed.

More than 20 years ago, Disney’s theme parks once again proved susceptible to two things utterly beyond their control: death and taxes. The taxes portion is a cheeky way of acknowledging that the American economy struggled mightily that year. Whenever this occurs, many citizens cut out luxury purchases such as vacations, which directly impacts Disney’s bottom line.

On top of the sluggish economic performance that year, Disney lost one of its titans, too. Frank Wells was the President of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until his death in 1994. Wells took an ill-fated helicopter ride, and he died in the crash. Unfortunately for the theme park zoo project, Wells was also one of the strongest champions of it. In his absence, a power vacuum occurred within the company ranks. Simultaneously, Animal Kingdom lost a key supporter for an expensive project. At a time when money was tight, the lack of an ardent proponent proved to be a crippling setback.

Disney wasn’t done with the internal turmoil, either. 1994 was also the year when Michael Eisner sandbagged Jeffrey Katzenberg, the man most likely to replace Michael Eisner as CEO. The cause of this was, once again, the death of Wells. You can read the details here, but the gist is that Disney wound up paying another $270 million to Katzenberg for his treatment. Before that directive, they wasted millions of dollars in legal fees arguing against his claim. In short, one helicopter crash damaged Disney in multiple profound ways. Animal Kingdom as a concept suffered the consequences of all these issues, causing it to sit on the backburner for another year.

The 500-acre fourth gate

Image: Disney

On June 21, 1995, six years after originally discussed and three years prior to actual opening, Animal Kingdom was confirmed. Buoyed by a 20 percent increase in operating income over the previous six months, the company felt the time was right to upgrade Walt Disney World. Thirty years after Walt Disney shrewdly purchased 27,258 acres of Florida swampland on the down low, his successors at the company directed a significant portion of them to this, the proverbial fourth gate. The public relations department trumpeted the $750 million expansion for its revolutionary nature.

Disney emphasized the park’s strongest selling point. Guests of all ages would have the ability to interact with many of the wildlife species they’d watched on their favorite television programs. Disney planned to import animals from parts of the world few Americans ever visit, giving people unprecedented access to these noble creatures.

Michael Eisner, never one to shy away from publicity, saw this press conference as his moment of glory. From his perspective, Walt Disney World now offered four parks. Half of them had his fingerprints all over them, making him the modern day Walt Disney. While his detractors would blanch at the thought of this argument, there’s also validity to it. MGM-Disney Studios and Animal Kingdom were both his initiatives, and 18 years after the latter park debuted, they remain the two most recent gates onsite.