Disney previews model of Encanto and Indiana Jones expansion at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Apr 04, 2024 in "Disney's Animal Kingdom"

Gallery / 2 Photos
Dinoland U.S.A. Blue Sky Concept Art

Posted: Thursday April 4, 2024 10:42am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney Imagineering has released a behind-the-scenes look at work underway on bringing the Encanto and Indiana Jones expansion to Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

In the video, we see a working model for the new lands and some details of research trips to the Yucatán Peninsula for inspiration on creating the lush landscape of the land.

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."

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The Leader of the Club2 hours ago

Don’t get me wrong, I love ENG. I would love to see Yzma’s lab coaster end up in Villains land. Animal Kingdom just doesn’t feel like the park for that particular concept. A dark ride following Kuzco & Pacha through the jungle could work, but I think people would be disappointed it’s not the lab coaster.

HauntedPirate4 hours ago

bmr15914 hours ago

I personally haven't complained about Encanto, but TENG is set in Peru, which is Tropical Americas and has a main character who is turned into a llama.

The Leader of the Club4 hours ago

I’m gonna push back on Emperor’s New Groove a bit. What does a coaster through Yzma’s lab have to do with the theme of DAK? Because she can turn people into animals? We sit here and complain that Indy and Encanto are just cramming IP in without regards to the theme, then do it anyway when it’s an IP that we have nostalgia for.

bmr15916 hours ago

Watch out, world, here he are.

TheMaxRebo6 hours ago

Wish has "You're a Star" which is a pretty fun song and fits "Star"light Thinking only of these two properties I do think Wish makes more sense to be a float in the nighttime parade and TENG would make for a better attraction

lazyboy97o6 hours ago

The success of the “roller coaster themed like India or whatever” came after Disney’s California Adventure and was still ignored.

celluloid6 hours ago

The character is thee primary reason for the IP. Adventure Is Indiana Jones, and what is Indiana Jones' relationship to animals? What images does that evoke? are the kinds of questions asked if a property was tied in. Primarily, Indiana Jones' connection with animals is his fearing of snakes while raiding temples and covering them with gasoline and setting them on fire. Your description and idea is great as far as what can be done, and we know he can be made to fit, but it also makes the character ironically enough inconsequential. It is not that your idea (and likely, they are coming up with one like it) are bad. But exploring and raiding are not the same. The same framework you wrote is Expedition Everest with the mythical creature as the diety protector, and there was more care to that then plopping Indiana Jones on that adventure, because its not quite a fit. (It was argued against getting Indy in AK for a long time)

KatiebugFan6 hours ago

Because the TENG is better than Wish and TENG is set in Peru which is in the Tropical America zone (I believe). Plus TENG has "Pull the lever Kronk" what does Wish have?

KDM310916 hours ago

People love to hate DCA 1.0 and to some extent I get it, it didn't have much of the Disney "magic" to it. However, it was completely devoid of IP. Just original ideas. Could have been executed better, but at least there was an attempt. I wonder if the initial flop of it is what scared them and sealed the fate of virtually everything being IP only moving forward.

Ghost937 hours ago

The Emperor's New Groove flopped in theaters, but was a major success on home video. Disney wouldn't have given the movie a direct-to-video spinoff or Disney Channel TV series if it saw no value in the franchise. I don't hate Wish like most people on here, but the two films aren't really comparable. I don't see any kind of devoted cult following for Wish.

Sir_Cliff7 hours ago

Animal Kingdom was at least originally about the relationship between humans and animals, if I remember correctly. In that case, Indiana Jones can fit if it is being used as a framework for exploring temples dedicated to animal deities by, for example, a Mayan civilisation. I don't think you really need to compromise either the theme of the character or the land in that regard: Indiana Jones is excavating this temple to X deity/ies and you are invited to visit it, you have interactions with the animal deity/ies, he gets annoyed with your misadventures and perhaps plays a role in saving you, and off you go. I don't think that kind of framework either compromises Indiana Jones' character or the theme of the park. It's more or less what happens in the other Indy rides, so I can't imagine it will be much different.

Gremlin Gus8 hours ago

Tbf, Emperor's New Groove is a more liked film than Wish

Giss Neric12 hours ago

Ya'll want Emperor's New Groove representation at the parks when the movie underperformed at the box office but also complain why Wish got it's own float in the Starlight parade when the movie also underperformed.