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

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

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.

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.


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"

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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    ednamodedarling10 minutes ago

    I am also holding out hope for a NEMO replacement. Maybe Tarzan, Jungle Book, Moana or some sort of hybrid musical revue show. Any of these would fit much better in Tropical Americas. I am ready for them to retire the inferior downgraded version of Nemo.

    Fox&Hound2 hours ago

    Yes we desperately need this ride in AK, even if it is similar to Splash.

    Timothy_Q3 hours ago

    With the news that the DLP Lion King ride will have 3 drops, the tallest being as tall as Splash, and it will have great capacity with 3 seater logs, I'm now hoping even more that they decide to build it at Africa too

    Gremlin Gus16 hours ago

    In my opinion, I think Dinoland should have always been about extinct animals in general regardless of the time period (including dinosaurs), that way, I feel like Imagineering could've done a lot more with that whole idea of extinct animals and how conservation is important and all. In complete fairness, the bar isn't that high for the Encanto attraction to be good as the ride could be very "meh" and it still would be better than what was previously (Though I really am hoping that the attraction is good). The only loss we really are getting is Dinosaur but even then imo, it's not the worst loss that we've had, there's far more "worse" losses like The Great Movie Ride, Splash Mountain, or RoA. Regarding the relevance Encanto has to animals, yeah even as a fan of Encanto I do agree that the film doesn't have that much to do with animals besides butterflies and Antonio's gift to talking to animals. But at the same time, I guess it does make sense to put an Encanto attraction there as the idea for an Encanto attraction does sound like a good idea as it's a popular IP that can draw in crowds and it's not a hard attraction to create as you could do a "book report" telling of the story of the film or what Disney is doing with the attraction in TA with it being set during the film with us experiencing an event/scene we didn't see in the movie. The only problem is however is there really isn't a land they could put an Encanto in without making it a mini-land or a part of a preexisting land as I doubt Disney wants to build a Columbia pavilion in EPCOT for just Encanto and there really isn't any place in MK to put it there as well as Beyond BTMR seems to be either shelfed or merged with the villains land, and seeing as Tropical Americas is based off of the tropical regions of Central and South America and Encanto is set in the rainforest of Columbia, yeah I suppose it does make sense to put it there despite the movie not really being about animals.

    Disney Analyst16 hours ago

    Understood!! I do agree for sure, but I look forward to seeing a properly themed new region in AK.

    KDM3109117 hours ago

    Yes, I mean more that dinosaurs are a popular theme and the area could have been improved instead of just scrapped.

    Disney Analyst17 hours ago

    Fair enough. I prefer the idea of theming it to a specific region, better fits into the park. They could include some fossils if they’d like, it would still work for that region 😅

    MisterPenguin17 hours ago

    The American Society of Chiropracters sent a stern letter to Iger to keep Dinoland as it is.

    James Alucobond17 hours ago

    I assume they mean dinosaurs thematically. Primeval Whirl and TriceraTop Spin don't have too many defenders as far as I've seen.

    Disney Analyst19 hours ago

    I accept your opinion, but this post seems so odd to me… that old area was such trash. A lush garden with no rides would be an improvement 😭💀

    Mr. Sullivan21 hours ago

    Know a lot about appropriately themed holes, do you?

    KDM310911 day ago

    So sad to see it all gone. I am really hoping the Encanto ride is amazing and well themed, and not just a cheap IP insertion with no effort. It better be awesome for what we lost to get it. Still don't see the relevance to Encanto with animals as they really play only a minor role in the plot, but it is what it is. I have to accept that today's Disney does not care about thematic cohesion and all of the parks are becoming essentially interchangeable. It's a shame the billboards were presumably just destroyed, as they were quite attractive.

    DCBaker1 day ago

    Here’s a peek at the area from today: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54446989724_82cdd16d17_k.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54446989709_0636182f94_k.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54445939087_b5ff3577b8_k.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54447042383_3f9371cf34_k.jpg

    mysto1 day ago

    Hey as long as the holes are themed appropriately I'm excited.