New permit suggests major expansion at Disney's Animal Kingdom is a go

Mar 18, 2024 in "Disney's Animal Kingdom"

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Tropical Americas Encanto land concept art at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Posted: Monday March 18, 2024 6:15pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

A new permit filed by Walt Disney Imagineering suggests that the previously announced "Blue Sky" Indiana Jones and Encanto expansion project at Disney's Animal Kingdom is now green-lit and ready to begin.

Disney's Animal Kingdom WDI Trailer Compound Permit

The permit outlines plans to install a Walt Disney Imagineering project trailer compound behind Kali River Rapids and a parking lot for more than 300 vehicles. The area has a backstage roadway and walkway leading to DinoLand U.S.A. These types of facilities are common for large construction projects that we have seen in the past, including the Fantasyland redevelopment at Magic Kingdom and Pandora at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Disney's Animal Kingdom WDI Trailer Compound Permit

While the permit does not detail any specifics on what project the trailers are for, this is likely the first stage of beginning the previously announced "Blue Sky" Indiana Jones and Encanto redevelopment of DinoLand U.S.A.

Disney has two big dates in the coming months that could be used to announce the Animal Kingdom expansion: the Annual Shareholders meeting on April 3 and the 2024 D23 Fan Event in August.

Disney announced in September 2023 that new experiences inspired by "Encanto" – the Academy Award winning Walt Disney Animation Studios film – and the fan-favorite adventurer Indiana Jones were being considered for the reimagined DinoLand U.S.A. at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

New experiences inspired by “Encanto” and the fan-favorite adventurer Indiana Jones are being considered for the reimagined land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

The new land themed to the tropical Americas would replace the entire Dino-Land U.S.A. area, with Indiana Jones replacing the existing Dinosaur ride, and Encanto replacing Dino-Rama.

Dinosaur is replaced in this concept art with Indiana Jones

Dino-Rama is replaced with Encanto

Imagineering Boss Bruce Vaughn said, "Imagine a land filled with authentic experiences from this part of the world. With all of the placemaking and storytelling you'd expect. Look, it's a beautiful region to explore and has been the inspiration for so many magical stories over the years. We're looking forward to bringing all of that to life"

Tropical Americas Encanto land concept art at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Vaughn contninued, "Imagineering has been talking about stories from this part of the world; Encanto with Indiana Jones just rose to the top. They give us so much to play with. We have a long way to go now and a lot more to discover. But our team here in Florida is all over it."

In addition to Encanto and Indiana Jones, Disney has also previously confirmed that a new show based on "Zootopia" is being created for the Tree of Life theater at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Zootopia show concept art

The current concept for the new "Zootopia" experience has guests visiting the different biomes you only glimpse in the film, traveling with Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, and other characters.

Disney says that Imagineers are currently finalizing the concept, and more details will be coming in the future.

The new show will replace "It's Tough to Be a Bug," although no closures dates have yet been announced.

'It's Tough to be a Bug' theater

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Advisable Joseph2 hours ago

Also This suggests a path going all the way to Rafiki's is viable, contra other claims in this thread. What could "long term land use" mean?

Advisable Joseph2 hours ago

@MisterPenguin, there was more talk about reusing the train: Who is "Lee"? EDIT: Lee is @Lee. How convenient! Does "take the hospital fully offstage" mean building a new hospital? An old comment from when Avatar was going to go to the north: , YMMV:

PREMiERdrum7 hours ago

Using some of the greenhouse area to expand just north of Kali =/= getting anywhere near expanding north to Planet Watch. I've known of pitches to eliminate the train, relocate the petting zoo, and take the hospital fully offstage, but never anything that included expanding that far north. It's not feasible, for like a million reasons.

James Alucobond8 hours ago

What’s the capacity of the train anyway? I’d kill to have them move the train to the front of the park as transit between AK and AKL and then use that space for better access to the expansion pad, but that’s probably logistically impossible.

MisterPenguin8 hours ago

It's marked "conservation" and "unsuitable" Which means, to use it, Disney would have to purchase undeveloped land elsewhere (and a lot more than the area of the land they want to use). And then, spend a lot to make the land suitable by dropping tons of dirt on it. https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/maps-of-the-reedy-creek-2010-2020-plan.935133/#post-7935693

Advisable Joseph8 hours ago

That's the west bank of Reedy Creek. Currently conservation lands.

UNCgolf9 hours ago

I guess it would be on the RCID maps somewhere if it was usable or potentially usable.

ToTBellHop9 hours ago

Not sure the land is usable. Maybe I can haunt whatever land they put there in 2080.

UNCgolf9 hours ago

Have they also considered the below area? I'm sure it would be even further into the future because the aforementioned plot would make more sense/be much easier to develop first, but I'm curious if it's a possibility or if there is something preventing development here. It would also allow for a massive expansion.

DisneyDean979 hours ago

So you're saying it'll probably be themed to Zootopia 5 and Live Action Moana 3

ToTBellHop9 hours ago

Yes, it’s a huge plot. We all know how long these expansion plots sit around…and with current plans, we are talking 2040s probably…

UNCgolf9 hours ago

I kind of doubt they were planning to use the entire plot, though, at least all at once -- mainly because it would be an absolutely massive expansion. It's basically the same size as Pandora, the Oasis, and Dinoland USA combined. It's also bigger than Africa/Asia combined, minus the animal trails and Safari. They do need to expand there eventually. I assume they could also expand east/northeast of Everest/Kali.

ToTBellHop9 hours ago

There have been plans for here in the past, but the train would have been removed. It’s obviously pushed off given current plans.

UNCgolf10 hours ago

Completely agree -- I've been shooting this idea down for a while here. They might eventually expand all the way up to Conservation Station, but I think that's a very long way off. It's just not feasible without a tremendous amount of work. That wouldn't get to Conservation Station, though, unless they built an expansion that essentially doubled the size of the current park (excluding the Safari).