Disney's Animal Kingdom
Coneption
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.
When Walt Disney World was ready to expanded again in 1989, Michael Eisner (the CEO of Disney) tasked his Imageneers with creating a theme park based on animals. In 1990 a team of Imageneers led by Joe Rohde began brainstorming different ideas for the park. In 1992 the park layout was finally adopted. It was decided that the park would be part zoo and part theme park. The idea for a new animal theme park, was put on hold during the early 1990s. A recession had hit the country, and theme parks were hit hard. Also complicating matters, Disney's newest park-Disneyland Paris, was not doing as well as expected. However in 1994 with the economy picking up, and the recent success of the Disney movie The Lion King, plans for a new theme park were once again put in motion. From 1992-1995 Disney Imageneers studied wild animals in their natural habit (focusing on Africa).
Within Disney however, their was much debate on whether the new park was a good idea. Many worried that the public would not want to visit a zoo when on vacation. Besides the fact that there were zoos all over the country, Disney worried that people thought of zoos as a depressing place with caged animals. Joe Rohde and his Imageneers however, believed in their idea. They explained that the animals would be living in a re-creation of their natural habitat. Their would be no fences, but natural boundaries (such as moats or rocks) that the animals would not cross. Animal Kingdom would not be a zoo, but a place of conservation, that taught guests the importance of nature.
Although the idea of the park was eventually seen as feasible, Michael Eisner and other executives worried that simply seeing animals would not be exciting enough for guests. Joe Rohde and his Imageneers however felt, like Walt Disney, that being in such close proximity to wild animals would be thrilling to guests. To prove his point, Joe brought a 400 pound tiger into a meeting. While he was giving a speech, to persuade the company to build the park, the Tiger walked around the table. The tiger went right next to Michael Eisner before eventually exiting the room. After the demonstration Eisner had to agree with Joe Rohde. He announced the park in June of 1995 and Disney's Animal Kingdom was green lit for construction.
Construction
Construction on Disney's Animal Kingdom began in August of 1995. Like other Disney theme parks, Animal Kingdom was made of of various "lands". The lands in Disney's Animal Kingdom were going to be: The Oasis, Safari Village, Africa, Asia, Conservation Station, Dinoland USA and Beastly Kingdom. Through these lands, Animal Kingdom was supposed to represent, three groups of animals, Current living animals, extinct animals, and mythological animals.
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.
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.
Like the other Disney Parks, Animal Kingdom also as an "icon"-The Tree of Life. The tree of life stands 145 feet tall and is made of mostly steel. Imageneers had a hard time figuring out how to make the tree look authentic, while being able to withstand hurricane winds. On top of all that, the tree would also have to house the 3D attraction It's Tough To Be A Bug. The solution they came up with was actually fairly simple. First they took the structure of an oil rig for the base. 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 man made leaves.
Although the tree itself would have been enough Disney took it a step further. 20 artisans carved over 300 animals into the tree. When the Tree of Life was completed it looked as if the animals themselves were making up the tree. Construction on Disney's Animal Kingdom finished
