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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999th Happy Haunt6 hours ago

I think everything after 2025 needs to be pushed back at least one year, and waiting for 2030 for Zootopia 3D show is insane

ToTBellHop7 hours ago

I’ve seen this episode before. Disney makes seriously ambitious plans that are then dialed back massively. Happened with the DHS “rebirth”. Happened with Epcot’s. It’ll happen again. Iger is CEO for a couple more years. Anyone suggesting they can predict with any certainty what will or will not be built beyond projects that will be under construction by late 2026 is being disingenuous. I can’t help but laugh at any suggestion of a 5th theme park.

Magicart878 hours ago

Is it too late to pitch my interactive digital talking puppet show for this area? I was thinking in the same vein as Turtle Talk only themed to Emperor's New Groove. Working title: Spit Happens with Llama Kuzco

Unbanshee8 hours ago

Looks like the bone yard will be demolished https://blogmickey.com/dinoland-usa-tropical-americas-project-tracker/

Advisable Joseph9 hours ago

I wonder if that was part of the reason for moving Zootopia, assuming it was going in Dinosaur originally and not a modified Theater in the Wild or a new theater.

PizzaPlanet10 hours ago

I’d think the Bug’s Life to Zootopia conversion would be pretty quick. All the animation could be done in advance, then just a few months to update the theater and effects

Advisable Joseph10 hours ago

Again, the following exchange with Henry Mystic describes a massive strategy change, massive expansion in DAK and DHS in the next decade: So it sounds like Henry Mystic is saying that the plan is for mega-expansion in DAK. Too much demand: need more supply.

Rich Brownn10 hours ago

I'm reminded of a quote from Henry Ford: "If I had asked people what they want, they'd say a faster horse."

KDM3109110 hours ago

The other problem is AK already has relatively little to do as it is, and wiping out an entire land all at once is kind of problematic. Sure, Dinoland only technically has 3 attractions (excluding Nemo, as it is expected to be unaffected by the changes), but 3 attractions in a park with a total of maybe 10 total otherwise, is a large dent. This is why I feel like this will be done in phases rather than all at once, especially since most of the buildings will likely not be being demolished anyway. To me the most likely scenario is that work starts at the Dino-Rama site since it is both the easiest to clear (especially since the coaster is already gone) and the least impactful, while Dinosaur would likely remain open. Then once that is mostly complete, close Dinosaur. Obviously I could be wrong, but in a park with not a ton of attractions, closing 3 all at once seems like a lot, especially since we all know this will take several years to fully complete.

Twirlnhurl11 hours ago

If they leave Dinoland open during construction, I agree. But if all of Dinoland closes (perhaps sans the walkway to the Nemo Musical), the rockwork and other required exterior construction could occur simultaneously to the interior build out. New Fantasyland touches the roof of the working Utiladors on two sides, greatly complicating construction. I am not saying Disney will finish Tropical America's in ~two years. I am saying they can do it without a serious cultural change, if the company assigned the project the cash flow and closed the land to eliminate the need for phasing.

ToTBellHop12 hours ago

They don’t typically add to a park for awhile after dropping a billion dollars on it. It’ll be ten years between Pandora and this forthcoming DAK project. I imagine Tropical Americas will open Spring 2027.

Bocabear12 hours ago

So if they began tomorrow, it would be 2027 before completion based on MMRR...but MMRR did not have to build an all new themed land around it and a new Jungle temple building...Which would push it way beyond 2 years and 7 months... Fantasyland Forest broke ground in 2010, and the final attraction was completed in 2014... and it seemes like things moved much faster 15 years ago....at the current pace 2028 would seem early....especially sine they have no current date to even begin construction and Demo....

Twirlnhurl12 hours ago

I don't think the issue was the construction compthey used. During covid, construction went to a crawl because they wanted to spend less money on construction in a given year: $100 million over two years is $50 million a year. $100 million over five years is $20 million a year. If the cash coming in is less, a business can spend money slower to keep things balanced (or prop up streaming). Prior to covid, some of the really long construction timelines were more about replacing park infrastructure while keeping the park open. If it takes a year to build a new back of house facility building to replace the old one that is in the way of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge and three years to build SWGE, you can't be done in three years because the back of house facility needs to be moved before SWGE construction can begin. So four to five years really was reasonable for SWGE to go in those locations. A better comparison for the timeline to convert Dinosaur to Indiana Jones would be Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, which took about two years seven months.

Bocabear12 hours ago

2 and a half years for a restaurant....when you think about it, there is no possible way they could demo, change the interior of the ride, build the new facades and temple theming along in 2 and a half years...not feasible with the current TDO timelines. and then completely redoing Restaurantosaurus, demo of what's left of Dinoland USA and then re-theming landscape, adding a new spinner and a brand new ground up attraction themed to Encanto? That alone would be 5 years unless they hired all new construction companies they have not been working with.... That whole changeover I do not think they could complete before 2028 at the earliest.... Unless it is done really poorly....