Fun Find Friday
March 1, 2013
Location: Asia, Disney's Animal Kingdom
It's time to talk Disney history and how it connects
to the parks today! When Disney's Animal Kingdom first opened, the
Asia section of the park was still in the construction phase and
wouldn't open up until early in 1999 with the signature attraction
which was to be known as Tiger Rapids Run!
I know what you're thinking, "Tiger Rapids Run!?!?"
That's right, Tiger Rapids Run was originally the planned name for
Kali River Rapids (and it was continued to be known as Tiger Rapids
Run until shortly before Asia opened). So why did Tiger Rapids Run
switch their name over to Kali River Rapids?

The answer is quite simple: Although guests could
see tigers while trekking through the woods on the Maharajah Jungle
Trek next door, no tigers could be seen while white water rafting.
Due to this, Disney opted for a name change so they would not
confuse guests and give them false hope of seeing tigers on the
attraction when in reality there were none to be seen.
So how does this history lesson connect us to
current day Kali River Rapids? Well, despite the lack of real tigers
seen throughout the attraction, there is one visible tiger guests
can find, which is located at the top of the first lift of the
attraction:

As soon as you reach the top you'll find one of the details that
never disappeared from the original theme: a tiger. Once at the top
of the lift you will find a rock formation, along with waterfall,
directly in front of your path. If you pay close attention to the
rock formation you will realize that the rockwork actually forms the
face of a tiger!

So there you have it, while Tiger Rapids Run never came into being,
you can still find one tiger on Kali River Rapids just waiting to be
seen!
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