LP Lotion: Animal Kingdom Turns 10
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On Earth Day, April 22nd, Animal Kingdom celebrated its 10th birthday. The normal rope drop ceremony was replaced with a special ceremony to honor the occasion. Speaking at the ceremony were Executive Vice Pesident of Operations Erin Wallace, World Renowned Conservationist Jane Goodall and Walt Disney Imagineering's Joe Rohde. Also in the ceremony were dozens of Cast Members from all over the park. Below is complete video and pictures from the ceremony as well as transcripts of the speeches given by Jane Goodall and Joe Rohde.

Jane Goodall: World Renowned Conservationist
How exciting it is for me to back here to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Disney's Animal Kingdom having been here ten years ago when the Animal Kingdom was first opened. And every time I come back I feel a sense of "gosh, if I was an animal out of my natural habitat this is where I would like to be." I feel so grateful to the Walt Disney Company and to the Animal Kingdom and all of its wonderful hard working staff for providing such an amazing home for these animals. I woke up this morning and outside my window there was giraffe, some kudus, there were roan, and all of them just enjoying the early morning sun coming through the mist. What a way to wake up! How wonderful it is to be here with more than 100 young people and their mentors from our Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots Global Youth Organization and other youth organizations who share a similar philosophy. (Ducks fly by quacking loudly) You see that always happens! That's great. So these young people are helping with conservation and humanitarian programs all around the world. The 100 who are here representing hundreds and thousands of others. And many of our projects have been recipients of these grants from Disney's Worldwide Conservation Fund and we're really grateful. Its helped us and will will help us to do wonderful things. So it's, I believe, a place where everybody who comes will go away with a feeling that these animals here are special, that they deserve our love, our care. That we do not want a world where these animals vanish entirely from the wild places. That we need to conserve wild places and to do what we need to to help people living in poverty in those areas and all of those things are happening here. So I am just so proud and grateful to be here and I want to end up by .. I'm sure that the chimpanzees, if they knew, they would want to be congratulating you too because money has helped them. So I'm going to end up with a chimpanzee thank you. (chimpanzee vocalization)

It's wonderful to be standing here with Joe Rohde. I remember sitting with Joe Rohde in the early days when the plans were being drawn up for this Animal park and now here we are today more than ten years later, side by side, Joe Rohde.

Joe Rohde: Walt Disney Imagineering
Thank you, Jane. You know the first time I heard Jane do her great chimpanzee vocalizations I was a 17 year old freshman in college. I had sneak to away from my job to go watch her in the auditorium do this. And I never would've dreamed ... and one of my fondest memories from the opening day ten years ago is Jane Goodall congratulating us on doing a good job -- just really an amazing thing.

Ten years young, millions of people have come through here and seen the things we've done and I guess you could stop and congratulate yourself but really this is kind of an ongoing story. We at Imagineering and we at the Disney Company, we're story tellers and anyone who has ever told a story knows you've got to watch your audience, you've got to tell the story directly to people, you've got to see how the story is working, you've got to work that story or it kind of falls on the table and that's what we do every day. It's something that stays alive. It changes, we change, it'll change as you change, it's really kind of a story telling relationship between us the storytellers and you the story audience that we build together everyday as we experience the places around us. And what I particularly love about the stories at Disney's Animal Kingdom is that these stories are about truth. They contain truth within them. These stories are connected to the real world. In our first ten years we've not only told stories about conservation but we've gone out and acted upon those stories in the real world so that we are part of that story ourselves. And that's kind of exciting. That you can tell a story and actually be a character within that story out in the world doing real things that really happen with real stuff. They say a dream that you wish will come true but really a dream that you strive for and sacrifice for and push for everyday can come true too. And that's what we've done, we've done both here. Just as our work in creating exciting entertainment is never really done so is our work to conserve the world of nature that's at the very heart of this story -- that's never done. Just as we hope to bring joy and inspiration to our guests, we hope that they take that inspiration out into the world. See it everyday in the living world around them and act upon that inspiration -- that's kind of the heart of Animal Kingdom. It is a place where .. it isn't just a place where you come here, a little place surrounded by a wall, a little garden in the middle of nowhere, it's like the epicenter of an entire world of nature that's really all around us everyday and that all of us can experience in every way. Ten years is really kind of a baby step for Animal Kingdom. We hope to grow older and wiser and younger at heart with each new stride into the future, none of which would be possible without all of you who come and enjoy the things we do. And so I would like to take this moment, ten years in, and hopefully many many years into the future to thank you for your support and enthusiasm that you bring to us. Thank you all.

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Videos

Three video clips are available that together make up the entire ceremony. Click below to view.

As the sounds of woodwinds and drums fill the air, a procession of cast representing the various areas of Disney's Animal Kingdom take their places in front of the Tree of Life.
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Not only are park performers represented but ride operators and shop keepers are also part of the procession.
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Erin Wallace, special guest conservationist Jane Goodall, along with Walt Disney Imagineer and Disney's Animal Kingdom lead designer Joe Rohde arrive.
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