The weather was picture perfect for the Ceremonies, Warm and Breezy and not a cloud in the sky. This event was headed up by the "WDWCelebrations" website, a new site dedicated to recognizing key events and milestones in Walt Disney World. They do this with the full co-operation with Disney management, so all their events are "Official" The site was started by five Disney fans in the spring of 2007 when they became aware that Disney was not going to hold any "Official" celebration of EPCOTS 25th anniversary. They put together and organized "Celebration 25" to honor EPCOT and received over 1,200 registrations for the event. It was after Celebration 25 that they started the site and called it WDWCelebrations.com. I spoke to Jason of the core team and at this time, there are no registrations for the site, just on an event-by-event basis. The next planned event is in September for the "World Wide Weekend"

After registering with the group, there were several events planned for the day. The rededications Ceremony was first at the Tree of Life. Here we listened to opening remarks by Erin Wallace, senior vice-president of operations for Walt Disney World resort. Joining her on the podium was Joe Rohde, senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering and noted primatologist Jane Goodall; all present at opening day in 1998. Here they spoke about the dedication of the cast members, to the shows and attractions that make the Animal Kingdom unique. Jane Goodall said how grateful she was to be here at the 10 year anniversary and thanked Disney and the Animal Kingdom for providing such a beautiful place for the animals. She joking stated that if she was an animal; this is the place she would love to be. Also announced was the re-naming of the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund to the "Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund.

The next big event was a "Conversation with Joe Rohde" in the Theater in the Wild. Here we had a wonderful opportunity to here Joe speak about the Animal Kingdom and how it all began. Sprinkling in humor with a fascinating history of the park, Joe explained how one day in August of 1989, he was called in for a meeting with then Disney Head Eisner who in about 5 minutes stated that Disney should do something with Animals, people like animals and if Disney does something with animals' people would like it. This was the spark that started it all. So Joe and his small team began the ten year planning stage. Armed with a 400 page study of zoos and how they were managed, costs etc, they started with countless concepts and ideas. Joe also showed slides of the early construction of the Animal Kingdom, the early parks designs and explained the biggest challenge was mixing natural landscaping with the animals with the unnatural fictional African town of Harambe, which in Swahili means "Coming Together.

Joe Also explained how the Animal Kingdom is more than just a "Park", but a story, so when people come; they are wrapped up inside this "Story" to whatever degree they want and the Animal Kingdom provides this. The best way to get the most out of the park is to slow down, pay attention to the details and read the park like a novel.

After Joe's talk there were some WDWCelebrations group events, Finding Nemo: The Musical and after that the Expedition Everest Group Ride. At 1:00pm to 2:00pm at the Outfitters store, there was a chance to meet Joe Rohde, ask a few quick questions and get an autograph. We waited over an hour to finally see Joe, but it was worth it! He is fantastic guy and we got our park map personally signed. Next on the agenda was a group meal at the Flame Tree Barbeque. Due to the amount of registrars, there was three seating times between 4:00pm and 6:00pm. At 6:15pm, the WDWCelebrations team donated monies they made from a commemorative DVD for Celebrations 25 to Lou Mongello's WaltDisneyWorldtrivia.com Dream Team project where the money is donated to the "Make a Wish Foundation" for children with life-threatening medical conditions.

To end the day, there was a group photo and the last meet of the day, a group ride on Dinosaur. All in all this was a great way to celebrate Animal Kingdoms "Wild Decade". According to Joe Rohde the Animal Kingdom is still in its infancy and will continue to grow and expand in the coming years. There will by many new surprises awaiting us, and I cannot wait to see what's in store for the next 10 years.