The Tree of Life, the centerpiece of Disney's Animal Kingdom (Walt Disney Co.).

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The open-air safari truck bounces along the rutted dirt road, through muddy puddles and over a rickety bridge.

Suddenly, a grassy clearing. Then a quick gasp from safari-goers. A few feet away loom two giant white rhinos. And just beyond a lion glares menacingly from a rocky perch.

Welcome to Disney's latest magic - turning 500 acres of central Florida ranchland into a swath of Africa and a whole lot more.

Animatronic critters? Not this time. The company that made a cartoon mouse into an American icon now is placing its bets on real animals - about 1,000 of them. Its newest theme park, Animal Kingdom, officially opens Wednesday as part of the vast Disney World complex, and already all the endings aren't happy ones. Several of the transplanted animals have died, causing a swirl of controversy.

''This is not about fantasy,'' says entertainment chief Doug May of the park's attractions. ''This is a park about reality.''

Well, almost reality. After all, animated characters from such Disney hits as The Lion King, The Jungle Book and Pocahontas get their own shows. So do dinosaurs.

The park's centerpiece is the Tree of Life, a towering, 14-story man-made structure that's so big it has its own attraction inside (a 430-seat, 3-D theater). It's part of Safari Village, one of five themed areas. The others:

• Africa. Head out by truck into the 110-acre savanna to see hundreds of animals from giraffes to lions. Cleverly hidden ravines and man-made boulders keep the most dangerous animals at bay and give the feel of a real safari. There's also a train to an educational area called Conservation Station and a petting zoo.
• Dinoland USA. Yes, here the creatures are animatronic. And it's one of the few places to have a thrill ride - an in-the-dark chase called Countdown to Extinction. Dinoland is also a chance for Disney to preempt nearby rival Universal Studios, which has hired Steven Spielberg to design a Jurassic Park dino area for its new park opening in 1999.
• Camp Minnie-Mickey. Meet Mickey and other characters in an Adirondack setting. Pocahontas and The Lion King both have shows.
• Asia. Much of this area won't open until 1999, when Disney adds a fast-paced whitewater thrill ride through a rain forest. For now, visitors find a stage show featuring 30 species of birds.

All this, of course, takes lots of money and lots of space. Disney has both.

The company has poured a record-setting $760 million into the park, Orlando's first in nearly a decade. And it made it five times the size of its first enterprise, southern California's Disneyland.

Tourists take in the Kilamanjaro Safari at Disney's Animal Kingdom (Walt Disney Co.).

The park also is a departure from most of Disney's past ventures. Here it's subdued, almost quiet.

Instead of the frenetic energy of the Magic Kingdom's Main Street, visitors to Animal Kingdom first encounter meandering paths through a lush jungle. There they find exotic creatures such as tree kangaroos, two-toed sloths and brilliant macaws.

Instead of the dancing Disney characters that make up the lighthearted parades at other Disney parks, May designed an artsy daily march of what he calls ''living art.'' A 14-foot sea creature, for example, looks as if it's made of stained glass.

His criteria: ''If it feels like it belongs in a theme park, it's out. If it feels like it belongs in an artist colony, it's in.''

The park also has a sometimes not-so-subtle conservation message, including the Conservation Station area that's devoted to educating visitors.

Such seriousness has raised questions about whether Animal Kingdom will draw the same kind of capacity crowds as the Magic Kingdom.

Disney officials say they're not worried. But in recent months advertising has touted the park's ''thrilling attractions'' more than its animal conservation theme.

''It's not a zoo,'' head designer Joe Rohde says. ''It is a theme park about animals.''

Live animals in theme parks, of course, have their drawbacks. Disney already is getting flak from animal rights groups such as the 20,000-member Performing Animal Welfare Society, which has called for a boycott.

And, even before opening, it has had to deal with the public relations stain of a dozen animal deaths, starting with a 6-year-old female black rhino that punctured its stomach after swallowing a stick in September.

Earlier this month, the company was forced to make changes to the safari ride after two exotic African birds were run over by the trucks that carry tourists. And last week the Department of Agriculture, which regulates zoos, launched an investigation into the string of deaths.

Theoretically, Disney could lose its license to display animals (most of which came from other zoos) if federal violations are found.

But that's unlikely.

After an outcry from historians and preservationists sunk its plans for a history theme park outside Washington, D.C., in 1993, the company was careful this time to line up wide support for Animal Kingdom from some of the nation's leading conservationists and zoologists.

A panel, including the president of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the director of ZooAtlanta, helped with park design and guidelines for managing the animals.

Disney also has hired some of the nation's most respected zoologists to run the park - so many, in fact, that some now joke about a Disney-created ''zoo brain drain.'' The National Zoo in Washington lost three of its top managers to Disney. The Minnesota Zoo outside Minneapolis-St. Paul lost one, as did the St. Louis Zoo.

''It left a gap,'' says Bob Hoage, a spokesman for the National Zoo. ''But it's also providing an opportunity for young managers to move up.''

Wall Street analysts already are predicting success. Unlike Disney's Paris park, which got off to a rocky start when it opened six years ago, Animal Kingdom has a ready audience among the record crowds now heading to Orlando.

PaineWebber's Christopher Dixon predicts attendance will hit 10 million to 11 million a year by 1999 - enough to put it among the top five parks nationwide.

''Right now nobody seems to know what it is,'' Tim O'Brien of Amusement Business says of Animal Kingdom. ''There are animals there but it's not a zoo, and there are rides there but it's not a theme park.''

But ''if there's one thing I've learned,'' he says, ''it's not to underestimate the Mouse.''

By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY

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