[[Image:TreeOfLifeNight.jpg|thumb|The Tree of Life, the icon of Disney's Animal Kingdom.]]Disney's Animal Kingdom is a theme park located in [[Walt Disney World]].
==Coneption==
[[Image:AnimalKingdomGuideMap.jpg|thumb|The current guidemap to Animal Kingdom]]
Although the plans for Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1989, the idea of the park can be traced back to Walt Disney himself. When designing the attraction the [[Jungle Cruise]] for Disneyland, Walt wanted guests to see real animals. Walt felt that being close proximity to real animals would give guests a unique and exciting experience. Eventually however, it was decided that real animals would be too unpredictable and each ride on the attraction would not get an even experience.When the Jungle Cruise opened it featured Audio Anamatronic animals, who were much more predictable and consistent than live ones. Although Walt never got to see it, Disney's Animal Kingdom took his basic idea and expanded it to a much larger scale.
Animal Kingdom cost nearly 1 billion dollars to built. Four million cubic yards of dirt were moved and 40,000 plants were added. It was decided that the plants in Animal Kingdom would need to be put in for two growing seasons before the animals arrived. This meant that the construction team had until the Spring of 1996 to get all the plants in place. This deadline was met, and the fall of 1997 the animals were brought in. The animals were brought in from various zoo's or wildlife preserves around the world. A few animals were also from the wild, but were too injured to be re released. In total Animal Kingdom is home to over 1,700 animals.
[[Image:AnimalKingdomSerfariElands.jpg|thumb|Elands grazing on the Kilimanjaro Safari]]
As construction continued, funds for the new park began to dwindle. Eventually it was decided that Animal Kingdom would have to open in three phases. The first phase would consist of The Oasis, Safari Village, Africa, Conservation Station, and an unfinished Asia. Also in phase one would be Dinoland USA or Beastly Kingdom. Disney eventually decided to build Dinoland USA, possibly due to the new Dinosaur movie that would be coming out in 2000. Phase II would be the completion, with Phase III being the construction of Beastly Kingdom. Due to the park not being completed on opening day, Camp Minnie Mickey, a place where guests could meet various Disney characters was created as a temporary land. Besides the lands, the park would feature the Kilimanjaro Safari which would allow guests to see the animals in a natural way, as if they were on Safari.
In 2001 change came to Dinoland USA with the addition of Midway Games (later renamed Fossil Fun Ground) and the TriceraTop Spin. The Fossil Fun Ground features dinosaur themed carnival games, while TriceraTop Spin was a dinosaur themed "Dumbo" attraction.
[[Image:ExpeditionEverestAtNight.jpg|thumb|Expedition Everest opened in 2006.]]
The next major changes came to Animal Kingdom in 2006. In Dinoland USA, Finding Nemo- the Musical replaced Tarzan Rocks, which had been their since 1999. Finding Nemo- The Musical is a Broadway style show which uses live entertainers and puppets to tell the story of the 2003 Disney movie Finding Nemo. Also in 2006, Expedition Everest was built in Asia. The attraction was a roller coaster set in the Himalayas and includes a close encounter with the fabled Yeti. By including the Yeti in the attraction, Disney's Animal Kingdom finally featured a mythical creature. In 2008 the popular Yak and Yeti restaurant opened in Asia as did Donald's Safari Breakfast at the Tusker House Restaurant.