Discovery River Boats Dragon

Character Description and History

The Discovery River Boats Dragon was a planned character that would tie in the Discovery River Boats with the planned Beastly Kingdom expansion of Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Perhaps the biggest draw of the Discovery River Boats was to be the Dragon Rocks area. Here, Imagineers initially hoped to created a preview of the planned Beastly Kingdom. To do this, Imagineers wanted to have guests to pass by a rocky cave which had various deceased knights outside. As the boats passed by the mouth of the cave they would have heard a loud growl. As the guests finally got past the cave and focused their attention elsewhere, the dragon's head would have lunged out. After the boats were at a safe distance the dragon would have unleashed its fire breath on the water.

The dragon itself would have been a copy of the sleeping dragon found beneath the Disneyland Paris attraction Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant. Imagineers had planned to use the front 1/3 of the dragon, originally designed by Terri Hardin . The dragon would be placed on a retractable rig that would be built inside the cave.

When Animal Kingdom went over budget however, the scale of the Discovery River Boats was reduced. Instead of seeing the dragon, guests would hear the beast growling. After the boats passed by a large ball of fire would come flying out of the cave. Following the closure of the Discovery River Boats, this effect was turned off, although the cave itself could still be seen from Camp Minnie Mickey.