A flying dragon has recently been spotted flying over the Shafter-Minter Field airport in California. The mechanical flying beast is one of the newest creations that has come to light out of Walt Disney Imagineering, being tested for about 2 hours straight north of their Glendale, California headquarters. Continue after the page break for more details...
The flying dragon exactly matches a March 2010 patent filing that hit the internet shortly after the Avatarland announcement was made, detailing the mechanical creature seen above. It's been nine months since Disney announced their plan to work with director James Cameron and build a new land devoted to Avatar inside Disney's Animal Kingdom. Other than a few occasional references to the project, Disney has remained very quiet on the details of what would be included, as much of it is still being designed and decided upon.
Although it may be easy to immediately link this flying dragon aircraft with the Avatarland project, it could be in development for an entirely different experience. It may be one of the many tests Walt Disney Imagineering runs as part of it's extensive research and development into new technologies and forms of entertainment. Dragons have always been associated with Disney's Animal Kingdom since long before Avatar even made it to the box office. The original logo for the park (pictured above) prominently featured a dragon, front and center. Even if this particular flying dragon has nothing to do with Avatarland, it still brings to mind the never-built Animal Kingdom concept known as Beastly Kingdom. Although it is highly likely this new discovery is going to be utilized for Avatarland, using it for a Beastly Kingdom concept would make this writer's dream for Animal Kingdom come true! Only time will tell just what this flying dragon will be used for, but until then, its fun to dream! Here now are the shots taken of the WDI's flying dragon:
Leave a comment below and let us know what you think the dragon will be used for.