The Tree of Life is a

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

of a baobab tree at

Disney's Animal Kingdom Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is a zoological theme park at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division, it is the largest theme park in the worl ...

Walt Disney World Resort The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Walt Disney Company. ...

. With over 8,000 branches of very different sizes and about 102,000 artificial leaves, the sculpture debuted when the theme park opened on April 22, 1998. Inspired by the mythological concept of the same name, the Tree of Life features 337 carvings of existing and extinct animal species on its trunk and surrounding roots; after

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall; 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English zoologist, Primatology, primatologist and Anthropology, anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremo ...

's visit, her famous subject David Greybeard was carved into the tree. The sculpture took 18 months to create. Designed and fabricated at Greens Bayou Fabrication Yard in Houston and based on the natural forms of baobab trees, the Tree of Life is located on Discovery Island, roughly in the center of the park. The tree features over 100,000

thermoplastic A thermoplastic, or thermosoftening plastic, is any plastic polymer material that becomes pliable or moldable at a certain elevated temperature and solidifies upon cooling. Most thermoplastics have a high molecular weight. The polymer chains as ...

kynar leaves. At the structure's interior base the 428-seat Tree of Life Theater, which originally housed the 3D film ''

It's Tough to Be a Bug! ''It's Tough to Be a Bug!'' was a 3D film based on Pixar's 1998 film ''A Bug's Life''. The attraction first opened with Disney's Animal Kingdom on April 22, 1998, seven months before ''A Bug's Life'' debuted in theaters, and was housed within t ...

'' from the park's opening on April 22, 1998 until March 16, 2025; the theater will house ''Zootopia: Better Zoogether!'' in Winter 2025. The tree also has a walking path, the Tree of Life Garden, that provides a closer look at the sculpture.

''Tree of Life Awakenings''

The ''Tree of Life Awakenings'' is a series of

projection mapping Projection mapping, similar to video mapping and spatial augmented reality, is a video projection, projection technique used to turn objects, often irregularly shaped, into display surfaces for video projection. The objects may be complex industr ...

shows that debuted on May 27, 2016, as part of the park's new nighttime operating hours. A media preview of the show was presented on April 19, 2016. Four presentations are featured throughout the evening, which have been given names on the '' Rivers of Light'' soundtrack release: * ''Journey'': A playful deer and a watchful hawk. * ''Rendezvous'': A hummingbird and flowers. * ''Gift Giver'': A red fox in a winter setting. * ''Disney Medley'': Animal imagery inspired by ''

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...

'', ''

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American Animated film, animated Coming of age, coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Loosely based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'', the ...

'', ''

Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

'', ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

'', ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...

'', ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

'', ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...

'', and ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...

''. Since then the park has added: * ''First Snow'' (Holidays only, started 2019) * ''Northern Lights'' (Holidays only, started 2019) * A Lion King only projection (October 2021). * ''Beacon of Magic'' (50th Anniversary nighttime transformation, October 2021 - April 2023) * “Avatar-The Way of Water” feature. (2022) * “Mufasa” feature (2024)

Construction

The Tree of Life was under construction from 1997 through 1998 and took a total of 18 months to make with the help of three Disney

Imagineers Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc.—commonly referred to as Walt Disney Imagineering, Imagineering, or WDI—is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construc ...

and ten artists. While the tree is made of concrete, an oil rig is the skeleton of the tree. Soaring nearly fourteen stories tall (145 feet) and 165 feet wide, the Tree of Life is the tallest tree sculpture to exist. Early concepts for the tree began with Dave Minichiello, Dan Goozee, Ben Tripp, Gerry Dunn, and

Joe Rohde Joseph Rohde is an American themed entertainment designer and artist, serving as the Experience Architect for Virgin Galactic. Rohde was previously a veteran executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, the division of The Walt Disney Company that des ...

, all of whom were Disney Imagineers. Senior production designer Zsolt Hormay, Vinnie Byrne, Fabrice Kennel, Eric Kovach, Steve Humke, Joe Welborn, Gary Boundurant, Jacob Eaddy, Roger White, Parker Boyiddle, Craig Goseyun, and Arthur Rowlodge designed and sculpted the animals on the Tree of Life. During this process, primate researcher Jane Goodall insisted that a chimpanzee be added to the list of animals being carved into the tree - specifically David Greybeard, one of the chimpanzees Goodall famously worked with. The sculptors were met with many challenges including the limited time available to carve and detail each animal due to the fast drying time of the cement. Before settling on a theatre-style show inside of the tree, designers considered having a restaurant at the bottom of the tree or access to the top of the tree for park guests to climb up.

Hidden Mickey

The Walt Disney theme parks have scattered " Hidden Mickeys" throughout its rides, buildings, architecture, and more. The Tree of Life is no exception: its Hidden Mickey can be found facing upside-down right above the hippopotamus's eye.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 28.357928, -81.590540, display=title Disney's Animal Kingdom Discovery Island (Disney's Animal Kingdom) Walt Disney Parks and Resorts icons 1998 establishments in Florida Buildings and structures completed in 1998 Artificial trees fr:Tree of Life