Disney’s Animal Kingdom recently celebrated its birthday and twenty-three years ago I was on its opening training team. My colleagues and I worked very long hours, seven days a week, six months straight, with rare days off to get the park up and running. Memories tend to become rosy in time, but there are some experiences you won’t read about in the official memoirs. In honor of that wonderful park’s birthday, I share some of those priceless memories.

Mud – The day I arrived one of my two bosses—the amazing Sharon Madill (Mark Potter was the other)—showed me what would become [Camp Minnie-Mickey](https://yesterland.com/campmm.html). That day, it was a mud hole with four kiosks and an open-air angular building (the future home to Festival of the Lion King). As she explained, “…and over here will be…” I kept wondering how anything positive could be developed in that mud in the six short months left before opening.

Mosquitos – Pre-opening, they were a big problem. Animal Programs (AP) took a hard line that mosquitos were animals too and that killing them was wrong. The mosquitos didn't see us that way. We were lunch and a walk in the park was an adventure of self-slapping to fight off the hoards. Disney’s Pest Control eventually did what they do and took the sting out of the park.

Air conditioning – There seemed to be this attitude that the park would be both an outdoor adventure and cooler because of all the foliage. The opposite was true. The foliage made the park hotter and the lack of air conditioning in the open-air buildings made time in the park a brutal experience. Misters and other cooling devices were soon installed and the buildings were eventually enclosed.

Guinea pigs – In spite of our workload, we were forever being requested to serve as guest stand-ins. We lost count of how many times we rode Kilimanjaro Safaris and Countdown to Extinction. Trying the food was fun too. Kali River Rapids was not quite ready yet, so we, fortunately, avoided daily soakings.

Jungle Book – in 1998, Disney was enamored with the Julie Taymor Broadway Lion King designs which showcased both the performer and the character being portrayed. Disney, at Disney's Animal Kingdom, leaned into this approach. Journey into Jungle Book at Theater in the Wild went through several Baloo costume changes but never found the correct balance between animated character and live performer. The show was eventually cancelled.

ARTimals –Another challenging attempt was the park’s first parade, The March of the ARTimals. The concept was a Mardi Gras style celebration in an artist colony where artists, wearing artsy animal inspired costumes, marched through the streets. Character performers, trained specifically to NOT talk, were put into costumes that showed their faces. Their discomfort was visible. And the guests, expecting a Disney parade, got something so artsy that they neither understood, or enjoyed it. ARTimals too was eventually cancelled.

Animal Programs vs Operations – The park’s goal of celebrating animals was noble. AP was, unfortunately, overzealous in their approach to this goal. An AP leader, for example, once insisted to me that the mission of Animal Kingdom would have failed if ever a roller coaster was built at the park. I never heard what that leader thought when Expedition Everest, snapped above, was built.

One AP expectation was that every cast member would converse with guests about the animals in their area. It was a worthwhile goal but totally beside the point for costumed, non-talking, character performers. No guest was, realistically, going to approach Mickey Mouse and ask him why gorillas throw feces (they do it as a warning and, although fece toss turned out to be a non-issue, it was a major guest satisfaction worry at the time). I did write a training program for the character performers, but it was more focused on, and relatable to, their actual needs.

Another frustration was the AP overnight experience we were required to attend at Conservation Station. After some lectures about animals and conservation, it was bedtime. We slept poorly, if at all, in sleeping bags on the hard floor as mosquitos and other attendees buzzed all night long. Roused very early the next morning, we got a special pre-breakfast treat: watching animals being operated on! With our very busy days, this well intended experience felt, to many of us, like a waste of time.

The lessons I take from these experiences are many but three come foremost to mind.

1. When you launch a major project, your best people are likely assigned to it. Being the best, there are bound to be challenges, conflicts and differences of opinions. Those differences actually help you deliver a stronger result.
2. Customers get what they want or go elsewhere. When you create something new for them, verify it’s not too far outside their expectations. To do anything else, is to risk costly failure.
3. Successful companies keep on trying until they get it right. Although ARTimals is gone, it’s replacement, Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade, was a huge hit. And building that coaster helped too. It attracted more guests to Disney's Animal Kingdom and furthered the AP message of protecting and preserving the natural world.

Being on the Disney's Animal Kingdom opening team was the experience of a lifetime. If ever you get the chance to contribute to a major project or do something else special or unique, do it. Those opportunities are rare. The memories are priceless.