Disney launched the Animal Kingdom on April 22, 1998 and led to a departure from the standard theme parks and has much more edutainment value.
Costing around $1 Billion it is a very expensive theme park. Changes had to be made and some of the project shelved due to running over budget. One of the areas never developed was Beastly Kingdom which had rides centered around mythical creatures.
The kingdom set in around 500 has over 1700 animals.