Disney's Animal Kingdom is an animal theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort. The fourth park built at the resort, it opened on April 22, 1998, and it is the largest single Disney theme park in the world, covering more than 500 acres (202 ha). It is also the first Disney theme park to be themed entirely around animal conservation, a philosophy once pioneered by Walt Disney himself. Disney's Animal Kingdom is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, meaning they have met or exceeded the standards in Education, Conservation and Research.
The Tree of Life, a sculpted 14-story (145-foot-tall [44 m]), 50-foot-wide (15 m) tree, is the centerpiece and icon in Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park. Tourists can walk around the whole park to see all 325 animals carved in the bark of this massive tree attraction.
In 2010, the park hosted approximately 9.7 million guests, ranking it the fourth-most visited amusement park in the United States and seventh-most visited in the world
