I cannot believe it has been 10 years since I took my first adventure in Animal Kingdom! It seems like just yesterday I was checking out this new park with my toddler. Now the toddler is almost a teenager and the park is hitting those tween years! I would say that tween fits what this park is like now. It’s not brand new anymore and it has gotten a little more attitude with the addition of Everest. It is growing up more and more each year and I can’t wait to see what is to come! I wasn’t in Animal Kingdom on opening day but I was there just a couple weeks after that so there was no way I was going to miss the 10th anniversary – no matter how busy things are around here! I may have to put in some extra hours to catch up on work but it was well worth it to attend this event! The guys from WDW Celebrations had a great schedule of events for us to enjoy! I met up with Annette at the Theater in the Wild where Joe Rohde gave a wonderful speech along with a cool slide show of photos and sketchs from the planning days of the park. Later he was even signing autographs for guests. We didn’t have enough time to get in line for that, but Annette did grab a quick photo we will post later. The rest of the day included Finding Nemo, Everest, and a History Walk which began with a visit from the VP of Animal Kingdom! It was so great that she took time out of her busy day to come and talk to our group! Unfortunately I had to leave after the walk since I had to come home to an inbox full of things to do and my pre-teen who wasn’t that happy that he didn’t get to join me today. I missed out on dinner, a presention to DisneyWorldTrivia.com’s Dream Team, group photo, and the last ride on Dinosaur. I am sure Annette will jump in with part 2 and tell us all about that though! Here are some photos from my wild day:
It is always great to meet clients in person! Hi Maureen!
The Guys from WDW Celebrations – thanks for all your hard work guys!
The VP of Animal Kingdom – Val
Val even took time to answer questions.
Ok since Annette has a busy schedule so she forwarded me a couple photos to add to my post instead.
Joe was very nice to pose quickly for us!
The guys from WDWCelebrations presented Lou with a check for $500 for the Dream Team!
3 Comments
Vickie
Wow! What a fun day!! I would have loved being able to be at Joe Rohde’s talk. I look forward to Part II!
Joanne
That does sound like a great time. Does make me a little nostalgic too. I was at the AK soft opening. I remember how excited I was to be among the first people there!
mlm8363
I didn’t know you gals were serious about using this picture on your website! Kudos to Mouse Fan Travel and WDW Celebrations for putting this all together. It was fun and educational. I could hardly believe it when Jane Goodall spoke in chimpanzee language and Joe Rohde is quite a character.
Maureen