Animal Kingdom

Giraffe at Animal Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.Lake Buena Vista, Florida: The newest and largest theme park in the Walt Disney World complex in central Florida, Animal Kingdom is an entire theme park dedicated to animal conservation. With almost 10 million guests a year, it is the fifth most visited theme park in the country.

Opened in April 1998, Animal Kingdom is dedicated solely to animal conservation. All rides and attractions focus on specie conservation and education. Since its opening, the park has been accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquarium for meeting and exceeding the standards of education, conservation and research.

The park is layout like many of the other Disney theme parks with a wagon wheel layout. At the center of the wheel is the fourteen story Tree of Life, the icon of the park. The Tree of Life is found on Discovery Island and outward from there are the lands of The Oasis, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Africa, Rafiki’s Planet Watch, Asia and Dino Land USA. The park encompasses over 500 acres making it the largest Disney theme park in the world.

Much care and detail go into conservation of the animals. Since its inception, the park has witnessed the births of four elephants, eleven giraffes and eight white rhinos. In 2006, two of the parks white rhinos were released into the Uganda Ziwa animal sanctuary and by 2009 they have already reproduced, marking the first birth in Uganda in over 25 years. So it proof that the research being done at Animal Kingdom does not just benefit the animal in the park, but also provides help for animals throughout the world.

Because so much focus is on maintaining a safe environment for the animals, Animal Kingdom is the only Disney park not to feature a fireworks show nor does it stay open late. On evenings in which the park stays open a little later, most of the animals are moved to their night quarters or access to that area of the park is restricted.

One of the most popular rides in the park is the Kilimanjaro Safari. This ride attraction is larger then the entire Magic Kingdom park. Here guests board specially designed safari trucks and head out into the plains for an up close look at the animals. As you travel through the safari, you encounter a special mission and the wild ride ensues. The safari is home to many animals including giraffes, zebras, gazelles, hippos, elephants, crocodiles, lions, cheetahs and many more African safari animals.

The newest attraction to the park is Expedition Everest. The roller coaster features a runaway train being chased by the Yeti. The ride added to park in 2006 features a 320 foot mountain, the largest mountain created by the Disney Imagineers.

When the park was first opened, its slogan was “nahtazu”. When you visit the park, it will not take long to see what they were going for in the slogan, Animal Kingdom truly is “not a zoo”.

For photos from the park, visit my Animal Kingdom photo gallery.

Updated August 10, 2010.

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