Welcome back for another Animal Kingdom History Lesson! We are counting down until April 22nd, the 15th Anniversary of Animal Kingdom! This time we will be discussing everyone’s favorite painter (using the Colors of the Wind of course!), “Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends”!
Opening with the park in 1998, this show, originally called “Colors of the Wind, Friends From the Animal Forest,” was located in the Camp-Minnie Mickey area of the park. In the show, Grandmother Willow and Sprig, both really neat animatronic puppets, talked with Pocahontas, a live performer, about different animals that were featured in the show.
The underlying meaning of the show is conservation, which is a park-wide motif throughout DAK, but it was all very lighthearted. The show started with the noises of trees being cut down, but, of course, Grandmother Willow knows that all the woodland creatures each know the secret to saving the forest. Many live animals were included in the show, including doves, snakes, and other forest creatures.
The show was in an outdoor theater, so the weather was a factor in its performance schedule, but it usually performed multiple times a day. The show closed in September of 2008 (That is 10+ years!) and nothing ever replaced the area.
Do you miss the show? Would you like to see it return? If Grandmother Willow knows everything, can she give me the winning lottery numbers? Let me know in the comments below!
Now, this is the last REAL attraction that has gone the way of the dodo at DAK, but I could do another compilation article on Dinoland U.S.A. (Countdown to Extinction and McDonald’s sponsorship) if people are interested, so leave a comment below!
Also, for those wondering, our Live Tweets are taking a short break as March, April and May are my busiest months at school (Darn AP Testing…), but they will return in June!
Until Next Time…It’s Nahtazu!
(Photos courtesy of LaughingPlace.com and flickr user PeterPanFan)
Actually, both Grandmother Willow an Sprig were performed by puppeteers :)
I would LOVE to see this show come back one more time! Pocahontas is my absolute favorite. Maybe make it into some limited time magic? A girl can only dream.
In Rochester, NY this show lives on, as the last trained racoons to portray Meeko were donated to our zoo to live out their days.
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