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/* Construction */
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 parks 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 the fall of 1997 the animals were brought in to the park <ref> http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2011/01/kilimanjaro_safaris_at_animal_1.html </ref>. They 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 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 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 to be released in 2000 <ref name= "jim"/>.
Phase II was planned 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>.
