Disney Teases 'Encanto' and 'Indiana Jones'-themed experiences for Animal Kingdom's big refresh

Sep 09, 2023 in "Disney's Animal Kingdom"

Gallery / 6 Photos
Tropical Americas Encanto land concept art at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Posted: Saturday September 9, 2023 10:37am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

New experiences inspired by "Encanto" – the Academy Award winning Walt Disney Animation Studios film – and the fan-favorite adventurer Indiana Jones are 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. This latest concept also suggests that Disney has abandoned the plans for Moana and Zootopia in this area of the park.

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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gerarar3 hours ago

Am at WDW for the week and was at AK today. Excavators were on site ripping up the existing concrete and pavement. Only was able to really stop and take a look in the afternoon near closing but active work was happening when I passed by in the morning. Some other photos I grabbed. It's very surreal seeing half the area walled off already. RIP Cementosaurus....not ready for Dinosaur to share the same fate next year.. 848117 848118 848125

Disgruntled Walt1 day ago

If they're going to actually expand Animal Kingdom, I think there's only one logical choice: BEASTLY KINGDOM!!!

James Alucobond1 day ago

Cars isn't really a miniland; it's just part of Frontierland. Monstropolis is, and it's the correct amount of compact for two attractions. Tropical Americas is an overlay of a three-attraction land, so it makes sense for it to follow suit. I genuinely hope Villains has more than two, but we'll see. The real issue is stuff like Galaxy's Edge, Pandora, and Avengers Campus are big examples from recent memory where the attraction density really fell short.

Gremlin Gus1 day ago

TA has 3-4 attractions coming with it (the Encanto attraction, the Indiana Jones attraction, the carousel, and the rumored Indiana Jones themed play area), the Monsters Inc and Cars Mini-Land both have 1 major attraction and 1 smaller attraction, and Villains I think has 2 major attractions coming with it with some smaller attractions probably coming with that land as well. So two rides per new land being the norm doesn't seem to really apply for any of the new lands coming to WDW in the next 5 years

James Alucobond1 day ago

Also, almost every land (minilands excepted) should have at least three attractions. That two became the norm is madness.

gorillaball1 day ago

Sorry, thought I was on a current page when I responded, obviously I wasn’t and plenty of others responded.

gorillaball1 day ago

Yes. No brainer. The land has the infrastructure already, it’s a great land, there is space already alloted.

James Alucobond1 day ago

There are vanishingly few things that haven't been tinkered with in recent memory for them to concern themselves with, so they're pretty much going to have to pick between focusing their efforts on the quoted items, building new, or sitting on their hands.

Tha Realest1 day ago

Why fix those things, when there were perfectly well working areas to tinker with and replace?

ᗩLᘿᑕ ֊ᗩζᗩᗰ1 day ago

And in that order!

Sorcerer Mickey1 day ago

Me, a 20k Leagues Under the Sea fan: "first time?"

Timothy_Q1 day ago

If the second 5 years of this investment plan is not focused on Tomorrowland, Animation Courtyard, LK/Pandora, and Figment/WOL, then they've made a big mistake

James Alucobond1 day ago

I honestly do believe Animal Kingdom will have achieved near-maximization of all currently developed areas with this update, Rafiki’s excluded (though it would be difficult to ever do so given current accessibility). Everything afterward should logically be pure addition, so hopefully that’s actually the direction they take. Meanwhile, Magic Kingdom has one area that could benefit from major redevelopment (Tomorrowland) and HS has two (Animation Courtyard and Echo Lake). Sadly, EPCOT remains the most disheveled despite the last investment cycle favoring it.

Gusey1 day ago

It's the Disney Adventure World model. That park's massive expansion plan was mainly replacing Backlot with Avengers Campus, renovating the aesthetics of the park, adding Frozen and Lion King and importantly adding the lake with several expansion plots so they're ready in the future. Similarly WDW is getting new attractions whilst updating current areas and giving access to more expansion plots. With Tropical Americas, it will effectively "fix" 1 of 2 Animal Kingdom's main problems: Dino-Rama not fitting with the rest of the park and closing too early. If we get a new nighttime show when TA opens, the next update to AK could be a more significant expansion