Changes

After the animals were selected, it was determined how much space the animals needed and how they could be contained in their area. Imagineers used moats, water features, electric fences and "ha-has", and wires and chains were placed on the ground in order to keep animals within their area. In order to make the animals more visible to guests on the safari, Disney implemented "tricks" to encourage staying in certain spots. Hidden food, air condition rocks, cooling and warming waters, and cool breezes are all used to keep animals within view. Disney also decided that they did not want to acquire the animals for the park from natural habitat. Instead, they were brought in from other zoo's or reputable breeders. Backstage, state of the art animal homes were constructed to shelter the animals when they were not "on stage".

The original story that Imagineers created for the Kilimanjaro Safaris, involved guests racing after poachers, trying to rescue a mother and child elephant named Big Red and Little Red. In the original plans for the attraction, guests would be involved in a high speed chase for the last third of the ride. Along the way, they would pass the bloodied corpse of Big Red who was killed by poachers for her tusks. This was done, in order to stress the conservation message that Michael Eisner had championed for the park. Unfortunately, Cast Member previews proved that the sight of the dead elephant was too much for kids (and some adults). After getting a lot of complaints, Imagineers removed the elephant and instead implied Big Red's death in the script. When the attraction opened on April 22, 1998, the corpse was no longer a part of it.