Indeed, that would seem a rather short time in terms of planning permission and the like.
I remember there being a lot of issues with Excalibur back in 03, and we all know the issues that it sadly faced right from the get go regarding the lake water/IR beams, and lack of maintenance on the animatronics. I still sorely miss the ride as it was straight out of my childhood. I ended up going nearly every week to try and catch it open and remember there being those sorry closed for maintenance signs ... I believe I did end up going on one of the first days that it finally did open, if my memory serves me well, but it was a bloody while back! I remember it having a huge queue, going back way past the animatronic owl right out to the pathway near the stone sword entrance, which clearly demonstrates that it was marketed well, and had a great family theme. It makes me think it is given a lot of unnecessary hate, or at least hate for the wrong reasons and not the right reasons.
A flawed ride, but still created with immense talent from many disciplines within many creative fields back in the days of Farmer Studios. For a ride of that scale and size, it should of been given much more money, not only to provide more theming elements, but also set aside for maintaining the ride in general.