The History of Camp Minnie Mickey at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Disney Parks History

Camp Minnie Mickey Entrance Sign Disney's Animal Kingdom

Camp Minnie Mickey is the only former section of Disney's Animal Kingdom, and it has a complicated history, however short it was.

Disney's Animal Kingdom was supposed to be about three main types of animals, the real, the past, and the mystical, but it only opened with two.


Beastly Kingdom was set to be a major section of the park featuring multiple attractions, but when the park was going overbudget it was the section that was relegated to the phase two of the park, being replaced with the purposely temporary land Camp Minnie Mickey, set as a North American camp featuring Mickey and Friends characters.

This land had no attractions, only featuring two shows and a meet and greet building with Mickey and Friends.

Camp Minnie Mickey Goofy Disney's Animal Kingdom

The characters all met in special woods themed outfits in a camp-like setting alongside various figures of other Disney characters.

Pocahontas Stage Show Disney's Animal Kingdom Disney World

One of the two shows of the land, Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends was themed based on one of Disney's newest princesses at the time, also featured the performances of many live animals. It lasted a decade in the land but did shut down before the rest of the land. It was known for frequent interruptions due to issues with the live animals.


By far the most famous part of the land was the Festival of the Lion King. This show featured reused Lion King floats from a Disneyland for a stage show retelling iconic moments and songs from the film in a unique way.

This became one of the most popular parts of the park, and likely prolonged the survival of the entire land.

Eventually the land closed in early 2014. While Beastly Kingdom did not replace it, a land that was spiritually similar did.


Pandora World of Avatar opened in its former location in 2017, finally giving the park a full land dedicated to the mystical creatures of our imaginations, still connected with the larger themes of conservation of the park.

Much of what made up Camp Minnie Mickey moved elsewhere in the park and was not entirely lost in the closure. Festival of The Lion King moved to Africa, and the character meet and greets were all relocated elsewhere in the park.

Camp Minnie Mickey may not have been the most impressive land, but it gave the park several great shows and served as a placeholder until the park was ready for a more extensive expansion.


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