Fresh from distorting history in its new animated film “Pocahontas,” Walt Disney Co. said last week it will turn to nature next. Young minds will, in a few years, benefit from exposure to a sanitized theme park on wild animals that will complement other Disney outposts of civilization near Orlando.
Construction is expected to begin in September, with the opening targeted for early 1998. Called “Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom,” the 500-acre park will be five times the size of Magic Kingdom, part of the Disney World complex, and may cost upwards of $750 million.
Disney claims it will feature wild animals in their natural habitats, but our guess is that the emphasis will be on its other two proposed sectors: extinct animals and those from mythology.
