Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.
DETAILS OF ASIA IN DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM
By Jim Korkis
Asia, the first expansion area added to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, opened in 1999. Just as the park’s Africa section is set in the fictional village of Harambe, guests to Asia find themselves in the tiny fictional Kingdom of Anandapur. The area echoes architectural themes from India, Nepal, Indonesia and Thailand.
“One of the deepest impressions made on the Walt Disney Imagineers creative team during research trips to Asia was the way that many Asian cultures integrate their secular lives with their spiritual lives,” stated John Kavelin, WDI senior show producer. “The sacredness of life is reflected in the way they decorate their homes, public buildings, and trees.”
image (c) Josh
It took extra effort for Imagineering to bring that sacred, spiritual aspect of Asian culture to this area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom without favoring any one practice over another, so Imagineers respectfully wove elements of many different cultural traditions into the details.
The bollard lights around the north gibbon temple are shaped like Thai spirit shrines. In Thailand, these shrines would be found in every garden. A Nepalese design was used for similar lighting elements in the Maharajah Jungle Trek, although they were actually hand carved in Bali.
The back story for Asia tells of the Chakranadi River that is born from the snowmelts in the Himalayas. Its nurturing waters soon reach warmer regions, where it feeds the dense jungle resulting in unrestrained growth everywhere in Anandapur, especially the numerous trees.
The four decorated trees throughout the Asia area represent spiritual traditions in Asian culture. Typically, a grand old tree may be draped in honor of its venerable spirit or for loved ones who have departed this life.
People often say prayers at the tree then drape it in colored garlands or sashes. If the prayers are answered, the people return to hang bells near their garland. Tradition declares that the cloth must remain hanging no matter how old or tattered it gets.
To simulate this practice, WDI used faded cheesecloth (indicating that these were older garlands) as well as multicolored fabrics from India and Singapore, and bells from Indonesia, India and Nepal. The first cast members working in the area hung cloth on some of the trees.
According to Imagineers, “The flags represent messages of strength, wisdom, peace, and compassion, while the scarves pay homage to loved ones who have departed. When the wind blows, the message is spread to the fabric of the universe.”
“We’ve combined multicultural approaches to honoring the spirit of the trees,” said Kavelin.
Those accurate draping of the trees owed much to Vijay Sharma, who was a park security guard working the Maharajah Jungle Trek. She was from India, and she told Kavelin and his team that she could help drape the trees with prayer flags from her own personal experience in doing so, and they eagerly accepted her offer.
She could also read the Nepalese and Indian news clippings that were used to paper the ceiling of the entry building to the Maharajah Jungle Trek.
“She proved absolutely invaluable to the accuracy of Asia,” said Kavelin. “She helped edit out newspaper articles that were inappropriate. One turned out to be about a political assassin.”
Vijay also helped the team of Imagineers write labels on crates and packages and correct spellings and terminology. As a tribute to her assistance, she was cast as the face in the Kali River Rapids attraction.
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