

And that's before more rocks were brought in to build Pandora - The World of Avatar, which opened last year.ġ0. That's twice the volume of rockwork in the Mount Rushmore sculptures.

To create this animal-friendly environment, 500 workers used a million square feet of imported rockwork to create the landscape before opening day. Animal Kingdom sits on what once was a huge, barren flatland of nothing but miles and miles of sand dunes. They've been conditioned audibly so that each species responds to a sound designated just for them, such as a cowbell for zebras and a coach's whistle for giraffes.ĩ. Getting them into their enclosures is easier than you might think. At night, after the park closes, the animals retreat to shelters for security and care purposes. Things like water features, moats and camouflaged fences keep the animals within their designated living space while making it appear that they're roaming free in their natural environment.Ĩ. So what's keeping them locked in? Lack of visible animal barriers is a true innovation by Disney it had never been done on this scale before. The animals in the park seem to be living out in the open, in the wild. Shadows are strategically painted across its surface, and glaciers and crevices are craftily etched to make the mountain appear more massive than it actually is.ħ. At Animal Kingdom, forced perspective helps bring the Expedition Everest mountain range to life. Disney uses a technique called "forced perspective" to make its structures like Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle look taller than they are by scaling higher stories smaller. That's because the prominent peaks are not meant to depict Everest they represent the fictional Forbidden Mountain, one that's accessed while trying to get to Everest, the smaller peak on the far right, behind the taller ones.Ħ. If you've been to the real Mount Everest (or have seen a photo of it), you might wonder why the roller coaster version of the mountain doesn't look like the real thing. The structure's unique, scraggly texture is created by crumpled aluminum foil embedded into its concrete surface.ĥ. The mountain featured in the roller coaster Expedition Everest tops out at 199.5 feet high, making it the tallest mountain in all of Disney's theme parks worldwide.
