Small Fanfare for DAK's 10th

[TDLFAN]

We all got up bright and early and went to DAK to celebrate the park's 10th anniversary. Many fans were at the front gate by 8:15am and everyone was excited to be there. I know I was.
It was nice to see some familiar Micechat faces in the crowd, like NBodyHome, and OFTErik.. and even Jim Hill from JimHillMedia and Doobie Moseley from Laughing Place, among other guests.
The small ceremony started on time at 8:40am, and with little fanfare, recognitions and speeches were made, and sadly... NO announcements of new additions to DAK were made. Still, it was a sunny morning and a great day to be at DAK...

Happy 10th Anniversary DAK!! We love you!

Now to some photos from this morning's happenings:

Sign welcoming guests at the ticket windows:


Lines of guests bright and early:


These ladies and their two children had the distinction of being DAK's first guests in the park this morning. Nice to see Disney recognizing alternative lifestyles in such prominent park moments...


The Press was already in place when we entered DAK:


The Ceremony begins:


Speeches by some Disney manager...can't remember her name.


A new logo for Disney's Worldwide Conservation Fund is revealed:


CMs watch the ceremony:


More CMs watch the ceremony in progress:


Conservationist Jane Goodall talks to the crowd and she even offered a zany moment which was reminicent of "When Sally Met Harry"'s famous "I am having what she is having!" scene...


HERE HE IS!!! TDS' Mr. Hightower in the flesh!!! Joe Rhode speech was quite lively and was a hit with the crowd since HE was the only one thanking the fans for the park's success...


Celebration continues after the speeches:


Ceremony finale:


There were flying faux birds and even Mickey Mouse made a surprise appearance in the background during the ceremony's finale (not seen on this photo):


Limited Edition Pins commemorating the anniversary:


Commemorative Teeshirt for the event:


HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY DAK!!!! WE YOU!!!

[Melonballer]

Thanks for the coverage.

[MJMcB]

darn

[PEZZ Lightyear]

Very nice!

Thanks for the coverage!

Wait, that was already said...

Thanks for the great commentary and pictures!

[xalesa]

Hey, thanks for sharing this!

[mikeland]

Very cool! Thanks.

[seenoevil]

I wish I could have been there! 10 years ago, this coming December was my first trip to WDW, with DAK being my favorite park! I'll have to wish it a belated anniversary this December. Thanks for the report, TDLfan.

[KingEric]

I just got back, and I LOVED LOVED LOVED!

[AlwaysImagineer]

I wish I could have gone!It sounded like you had a great Time! Thanks for the report!

[insidethemagic]

We've has uploaded a high-quality 16x9 video shot from the media platform of the entire Animal Kingdom 10th anniversary ceremony this morning, followed by interviews with Joe Rohde and Dr. Jane Goodall:

http://www.attractionsmagazine.com/blog/?p=440

A tripod-shot version of Joe Rohde's entire presentation will be coming later today.

Enjoy!

[MasterGracey]

Great report. Thanks for the shots!

Thats a great t-shirt, too. Would've loved to get one of those

[tayakaleb]

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

[RandySavage]

Thanks for the photo/video reports. I appreciate the things that Rohde said and I applaud his humility. Like he said, Animal Kingdom is definitely a place to be savored slowly, not rushed through. Unfortunately, when I was there in April a great number of the little habitats around the Tree of Life and in the Oasis were empty with their signs covered... No lemurs, no duikers, no otters, no capybara, no agouti, etc. Makes it more difficult to enjoy the small pleasures.

Additionally, I noticed that the dragon was still prominent in TDLFan's photo of the 10th Anniversary banner. It strikes me that if adding fantasy animals (ie BK) has been abandoned, then that dragon would disappear from newly-designed print logos (as on the banner). That it hasn't could be a hopeful sign.

Can anyone suggest where online I could find a piece of of rare, but published concept art for the originally-planned Asian raft safari (the piece was similar to the one on Mark's blog - it showed elephants, ruins and large, square yellow rafts)?

And slightly unrelated, does anybody know where I could find a multi-part article written a few years ago (possibly by Kevin Yee) that discussed a hypothetical tournament to decide which was the world's greatest theme par k (ie. DisneySea versus Animal Kingdom; Epcot versus Disneyland, etc.)? I think Disneyland emerged the victor.

Thanks!

[mark]

Thank you for sharing this report- I so wanted to be there.
Randy, somewhere I have seen the concept art you are talking about- I just cannot remember where. Let me think about it, and I may surprise myself by remembering!

[mark]

By the way, it was really fun writing this 10th anniversary post for my blog- long but fun- to look back. I was hoping we would have something today to look forward TO...