Disney Chronicles

The 15th anniversary of Disney’s Animal Kingdom is right around the corner! It is on Earth Day, April 22.

At 500 acres, Animal Kingdom is Disney’s largest single theme park. It’s also currently the largest single theme park in the world and is expected to grow larger with it’s plans for an “Avatar Land” expansion, which was announced in 2011 and set to begin construction this year.

The park first opened on April 22, 1998 — appropriately, on Earth Day!

The park is represented by The Tree of Life, a sculpted 145 feet , 50-foot-wide artificial tree.

According to Disney, here are a few of the details of what’s planned for the park’s anniversary.

• Special opening ceremony – Meet at the Tree of Life at 8:40 a.m., to hear from Josh D’Amaro, Vice President of Disney’s Animal Kingdom; Dr. Jackie Ogden, Vice President of Animals, Science and Environment; and Joe Rohde, Senior Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering Creative. Make sure you arrive early for this!
• Earth Day “Party for the Planet” festivities – Special interactive activities that focus on animals and nature will take place throughout the park from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Artists and other vendors will present their work on in Africa and on Discovery Island, with their work available for purchase.
• Opportunity to purchase special 15th anniversary merchandise, available in limited quantities.
• Special food & beverage.

Animal Kingdom’s 15th anniversary is the latest big milestone at Disney World’s parks. The Magic Kingdom recently celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2011, and Epcot marked its 30th last year.

Next year, it will be Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ turn to mark its 25th anniversary.

This entry was posted on April 16, 2013 at 10:55 PM and is filed under DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM with tags Animal Kingdom Anniversary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.