JACKSON — In the Walt Disney film, "The Jungle Book," King Louie the Orangutan sings "I want to be like you." Perhaps that's what was running through the minds of the executives at Six Flags Entertainment.

The Texas-based company announced today that is combining its Wild Safari animal preserve and Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson, creating a single attraction it says will be the world’s largest theme park, about 10 acres larger than Disney World’s Animal Kingdom in Florida.

"In essence, what we’re doing is expanding the footprint of the park to be the biggest in the world," Six Flags’ Chief Executive Officer Jim Reid-Anderson said.

Earlier this month, Six Flags said that beginning next season, it will no longer allow guests to drive their own vehicles through the Wild Safari as they’ve been allowed to do since the preserve opened 38 years ago. Instead, guests will board open-air, safari-type vehicles that will take them off-road and closer to the animals, similar to the experience at Animal Kingdom.

They’ll even be able to pet or hand-feed some of the animals, and can ride a zip line above them for an extra fee.

The new 510-acre facility will be called Great Adventure; the section that includes the animal preserve will be known as the Safari Off Road Adventure. The Hurricane Harbor water park will remain as a stand-alone park but will introduce Big Wave Racer, an 1,800-foot toboggan ride that will barrel down about 40 feet into a pool, officials said.

The 350-acre animal preserve, which will be house 1,200 animals from around the world, will be home to the fictional Wild family, which has "traveled the globe to bring the most interesting and exotic creatures to their home in Jackson," Reid-Anderson said.

Six Flags Great Adventure Wild Safari 20 Gallery: Six Flags Great Adventure Wild Safari

But with an all-inclusive ticket, visitors can also take advantage of 13 roller coasters, including three of the world’s top rated, along with other rides and attractions. Ticket prices are not expected to rise next year, officials said.

Six Flags officials said the company will spend several million dollars to upgrade the animal park. The company reinvests 9 percent of its annual income into park upgrades, Al Weber, the chief operating offficer, said without elaborating.

While acknowledging the drive-thru concept was popular with visitors, he said the company decided to end it to increase the number of visitors.

"We’re going to have 17 vehicles and they’ll leave every two minutes," he said. Each safari bus, with no windows and a canvas roof, can carry 40 passengers. "I really believe more people will go through," he said.

Park visitors will enter the preserve near the log flume and the arena, instead of from the current, separate gateway for Wild Safari.

"Wild Safari may be slightly bigger, but Animal Kingdom has the powerful Walt Disney brand behind it," said Amy Schein, an editor at Hoovers, a research subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet.

Animal Kingdom also plans to build a new area next year based on James Cameron’s "Avatar," the highest grossing film of all time, she said.

The makeover in Jackson will include eliminating some of the roadway private vehicles use now and changing parts of the terrain.

Reid-Anderson said unlike passenger cars, the safari vehicles "can go off road, down hills and through small lakes.

"The drivers will be able to stop at certain points to show animals as they are grazing and walking. It’s an educational experience we may not have been able to give before," he said.

Passengers will make a stop at Camp Aventura, where guests will be able to hand-feed or pet some animals. A zip-line ride over the camp will be available for an additional fee. Disney offers none of those amenities.

Disney officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Guests will be able to drive their own vehicles through Wild Safari until Sept. 30. When it was a drive-thru, Wild Safari was considered the largest of its kind outside of Africa. Several smaller, independent drive-thru parks still operate in at least nine other states.

Six Flags’ has 15 properties across the country, but the largest is in New Jersey, where it owns 2,200 acres. By comparison, its next biggest parks are Six Flags America in Maryland and Six Flags St. Louis, both of which sit on about 500 acres. Other parks range from 300 acres in size down to water park-only sites that are as small as 12 acres.

Related coverage:

• Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson to revamp Wild Safari section