Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Disney and the Theming of the Contemporary Zoo: Kingdoms of Artifice

Disney and the Theming of the Contemporary Zoo: Kingdoms of Artifice

George, Benjamin H.
Hobbs, Priscilla
Gottwald, Dave

Hardcover

Series: Studies in Disney and Culture

Sports GeneralGeneral Racism & Ethnic StudiesGeneral Sociology

PREORDER - Expected ship date October 1, 2026

ISBN10: 1666928194
ISBN13: 9781666928198
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: Oct 1 2026
Pages: 312
Weight: 1.27
Height: 0.75 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

Equal parts design history, thematic taxonomy, site survey, and practitioner insight, this book places the contemporary zoo in the context of Disney's sizable influence on today's built environment and those who create it.

The 1998 opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World introduced theme park design principles to wildlife display. In this book, Benjamin H. George and Dave Gottwald draw on extensive interviews with over three dozen zoo designers and professionals, landscape architects, and former Disney Imagineers to explore how, in the decades since, zoo designers have adopted and adapted Disney's approach to theming both guest and animal experiences.

Beginning with Tierpark Hagenbeck, the book also serves as a site study covering Animal Kingdom and some fifty zoos around the world which evince its influence as George and Gottwald chart the evolution of naturalist habitat design through immersive theming. Ultimately, this book critically examines how post-Disney zoo environments combine entertainment with education, thus complexifying authenticity with theatricality.

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