Disney's Cryptozoo

    I have two seemingly very different passions. Disney is my foremost passion, one that I am very open sharing with the world. My other passion is Cryptozoology, the study of hidden animals. Surprisingly, there are many ways that my two passions overlap.
    You may be asking yourself how the two may be connected but they have been connected for around 50 years. One of the icons of Disneyland is the Matterhorn. Adding another layer of adventure to the already innovative “I’m going to fly out of this bobsled and die” ride is an encounter with an Abominable Snowman, a cryptid. This Yeti has been made into pins and merchandise. He has his own Vinylmation figurine. He is a Disneyland icon. He is not Disney’s only Yeti.
    At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, another mountain is an icon. Expedition Everest stole some if the spotlight from the Tree of Life. Everest is looming presence in DAK that pulls you in with an air of mystery and adventure. Screams emanate from the mountain as it expels a train. The source of this fear and energy is a Yeti. The Yeti or “Abominable Snowman” is a bipedal hominid believed to be a close cousin of the Bigfoot and a descendent of the Gigantopithicus. Interestingly, almost every culture on Earth has Bigfoot-like creature in their folklore and at DAK you can come face to face with one of them.
    The queue is an acting museum to the folklore and investigation surrounding the Yeti. As you wind around the exhibits look around and see how this creature seems to be a perfect blend of the biological and the spiritual. Will the Yeti ever be proved to exist? Probably not There is still much we do not know about the world around us and new species are discovered every day.
You can see many cryptids and former cryptids at DAK. If you are lucky enough to see an Okapi on your next Safari, you are looking at a former cryptid. The Western world scoffed at the idea of big brown horse with striped legs but it was only recognized in 1887. The logo of DAK features the real, the extinct, and the fantasy of the animal world. A parade of animals features a dragon, an elephant, a dinosaur, an antelope, and a unicorn. The next time you pull your car into a spot of the Unicorn Lot, think about the animals that were, are, and could be then look around and may just spot one.


WDW Cryptid Checklist
-    Yeti
-    Okapi
-    Unicorn (Lot)
-    Dragon (hint there are lots)
-    Nessie (hint at DTD)
-    Trolls
-    Ghosts (not a Cryptid but Paranormal)