Fun Facts About Disney’s Animal Kingdom!

Carl Trent

Do you know what the biggest park is at Walt Disney World? It’s the Animal Kingdom. Walt Disney World’s newest theme park is one of the resort’s most interesting places.

Check out a few of the fun facts about Animal Kingdom:

• At 580 acres, Disney’s Animal Kingdom is 5 times the size of the Magic Kingdom, making it the largest Disney theme park in the world! Kilimanjaro Safaris covers over 110 of those acres – that attraction alone is equivalent to the size of the Magic Kingdom.
• If you were to look at an aerial view of the Animal Kingdom, you would notice it’s shaped very closely to the continent of Africa. Check out a map of this theme park and you might notice Africa’s likeness.
• The Tree of Life stands 14 stories high, is 50 feet wide, and displays 325 animal carvings. It took 18 months for 10 artists and 3 imagineers, working full time, to complete those animal carvings.
• The first birth to take place at the Animal Kingdom was that of a kudo – a large African antelope.
• The large rock structures on Kilimanjaro Safaris are climate-controlled (cooled) to encourage the lions to sit in view of the ride vehicles.
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom is home to over 1,000 animals, representing more than 250 species. The Animal Programs team performs more than 600 animal wellness check-ups per year. Lab technicians have analyzed over 10,000 samples of poop since Animal Kingdom opened.
• Hungry? More than 2,000 pounds of vegetation is fed to the animals per day! 40,000 worms are fed to the animals each week – including meal worms, red wigglers, night crawlers and wax worms! And the Disney Dieticians also order more than 80,000 crickets per month to be included in the animals healthy diet!
• Despite it’s name, nothing about the Tree of Life is living. The tree is made up of concrete, fiberglass, cement-like plaster, paint and other materials. The tree sports just under 103,000 ‘leaves’ that were designed to withstand the sun’s UV-rays and prevent fading.