Disney's Animal Kingdom is a theme park 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 (2 km²). 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 and exceeded the standards in
Education, Conservation and Research.
Shortly after the Animal Kingdom opened, Disney advertised the park using the fictional word
"nahtazu". Pronounced "not a zoo," the word emphasized that the park was more than animal
displays found in a typical city zoo. Disney stopped using the phrase in January 2006.
In 2008, the Animal Kingdom hosted approximately 9.54 million guests, ranking it the fifth-most
visited amusement park in the United States and eight-most visited in the world.