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{{Template:Infobox amusement park
| image=TreeOfLifeday.jpg
| caption='''The Tree of Life is , the icon of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.'''
| theme=Animals, nature, conservation
| opening_date=April 22, 1998
Eisner agreed to the basic premise of the park, commenting that like the Magic Kingdom, Disney should also have an Animal Kingdom. With this objective in mind, Rohde and his team of six Imagineers (Kevin Brown, Zofia Kostyrko, Kevin Brown, Christopher West, Tony Marando and Patsy Tillisch) set out to create a basic outline for the new park.
In July 1990, Joe Rohde and his team flew to Africa to get first hand experience of the type of environment that they wished to create. In total, during the development of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Rohde and his Imagineers visited Africa six times. Using these trips as inspiration, the team eventually used much recalled many of their experience experiences when creating [[Kilimanjaro Safaris]].
As plans for the park continued to develop, Michael Eisner and Frank Wells wondered if simply encountering animals would be a big enough draw for guests. To prove that this was the case, Joe Rohde brought a 400 pound Bengal tiger into a meeting he was having with Eisner and Frank Wells. As Rohde gave his presentation, the tiger sauntered around the room. After feeling the effect of being so close to a tiger, Eisner and Wells relented and live animal encounters would be the focal point of Disney's Animal Kingdom.
During another meeting with Eisner and other executives, the Disney CEO told Imagineers that he wanted a [[DinoLand]] in the new park. Other ideas stemming from these meetings included the Oasis (which would serve as the entryway) [[Safari Village ]] (the parks hub) and Discovery River. By 1992, the basic layout of the park was in place. Guests would enter through the [[Oasis ]] before arriving at [[Safari Village]]. From there, guests could explore the park's other lands including [[DinoLand USA]], [[Africa]], [[Asia]], and the a land dedicated to imaginary animalscalled Beastly Kingdomme.
Finally, after years of development, on June 21, 1995, Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom was officially announced. When discussing the new park, Michael Eisner stated:
Construction on Disney's Animal Kingdom began in August of 1995. Four million cubic yards of dirt were moved and nearly 40,000 plants were added during the park's construction <ref name= "trivia"/>. During this process it was decided that the plants in Animal Kingdom would need to be in the ground for two growing seasons before the animals arrived. This meant that the horticulture team, led by Disney Legend Bill Evans, had until the spring of 1996 to get all the plants in place <ref> http://allears.net/ae/issue863.htm </ref>. This deadline was met, and in the fall of 1997, the animals were brought into the park <ref> http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2011/01/kilimanjaro_safaris_at_animal_1.html </ref>. These animals came 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.
As construction on Disney's Animal Kingdom 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 included in phase one Phase I would be either [[DinoLand USA]] or Beastly Kingdomme <ref name= "jim"> http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2001/01/01/309.aspx </ref>. Disney eventually decided to build DinoLand USA, possibly due to the new movie “Dinosaur” that was set to be released in 2000 <ref name= "jim"/>.
Phase II of Animal Kingdom was to be the completion of [[Asia]], along with 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. Camp Minnie-Mickey was to be essentially a place holder until Beastly Kingdom could be built <ref> http://www.yesterland.com/campmm.html </ref>.
Like the other Disney parks, Imagineers knew that Disney's Animal Kingdom would need a "weenie" or icon to draw guests into the park. The first icon considered for the park was the Animal Carousel <ref name= "book"/>. This three tiered structure would have featured birds, animals and fish that guests could ride on as they went around the carousel. Michael Eisner eventually rejected this idea because he though it was "too frivolous"<ref name= "book"/>., and Imagineers came up with a new icon- The Tree of Life.
