Changes

Like the other Disney Parksparks, Imagineers knew that Disney's Animal Kingdom also has an would need a "weenie" or icon “The Tree of Life”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 stands 145 feet tall and is made of mostly steel.  Initially, Imagineers had a hard tough time figuring out how to make create the massive icon <ref name= "tree "> http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2012/06/tree_of_life_at_disneys_animal.html </ref>. The tree had to look authentic, while being able to withstand hurricane level winds<ref name= "tree"/> . On top of all that, the tree would also have to house the 3D attraction [[It's Tough to be a Bug!]](the attraction was chosen over an earlier idea of having a restaurant inside the tree)<ref name= "tree"/> . The solution Imagineering Eventually however, Imagineers came up with was actually a fairly simplesolution.  First, they took the structure of an oil rig for the base<ref name= "tree"/> . 45 secondary branches were then added to the tree, followed by 756 tertiary branches and finally 891 end branches. The Tree was then covered with 102,583 manmade man-made leaves. After the structure was complete, 20 artisans then carved over 300 animals into the tree<ref name= "tree"/> . When the Tree of Life was completed it stood 145 feet tall and looked as if the animals themselves were making up the tree. Construction on Disney's Animal Kingdom finished in the spring of 1998trunk<ref name= "tree"/> .