Notice of Commencement Filed for the Tropical Americas Expansion at Disney's Animal Kingdom

May 23, 2024 in "Disney's Animal Kingdom"

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

Posted: Thursday May 23, 2024 2:12pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney Imagineering has filed Notice of Commencements for the Tropical Americas expansion coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The latest documents filed today are for installing trailers at the new Imagineering project compound at the back of the park and are assigned to Modular Building Systems International. 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 almost certainly the first stage of the previously announced "Blue Sky" Indiana Jones and Encanto redevelopment of DinoLand U.S.A. We expect to hear a lot more about this at the 2024 D23 Fan Event in August.

The Walt Disney Company announced last year that it is developing plans to accelerate and expand investment in its Parks, Experiences and Products segment to nearly double capital expenditures over the course of approximately 10 years to roughly $60 billion.

Disney revealed 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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rd8054 days ago

hitting the tri-fecta is the ultimate in summer park planning lol

celluloid5 days ago

I have always enjoyed Toon Lagoon to JP because of this. You can choose to wait and cha ge after JP or before if you do t mk d bejng damp vs soaked.

SoFloMagic6 days ago

You can see the clearing from the hill on Everest. I was blown away by how much they've taken out back there.

Gremlin Gus7 days ago

So minor update to this but based off of some videos I've seen recently about TA, it does seem like all the trees from behind the former Primeval Whirl have been cut down. Idk how obvious this was, but I thought I should let everyone know just in case

DisneyHead1237 days ago

😂 Yeah, and AK tends to be a little more subtle with theming so I don’t necessarily see a wrap-up moment where they verbalize the moral of the story. But Indy messing with natural forces and getting more than he bargained for is 90% likely, to my mind. I kinda think Encanto will be the more difficult one to blend in, thematically. That one may be more “Well, it’s a butterflies and rainbows fairytale but it’s enclosed”.

Slowjack7 days ago

Now you've got me picturing Indy on the hunt for a mythical treasure and the ride ending with him saying, "Knowledge was their treasure. Their treasure was knowledge." But to your point, sure, I could see a story which ends with Indy getting clapped back by nature.

MisterPenguin8 days ago

And ospreys.

ᗩLᘿᑕ ֊ᗩζᗩᗰ8 days ago

I think it's cause we can't talk about TBA in the Tiana threads. OT or some such nonsense.

danlb_20008 days ago

Cool, it's gone vertical! :)

truecoat8 days ago

Now that Epic is in previews, he can move on to this and the Cars projects.

JD808 days ago

I'd love to see ne aerial shots. However I'm sure bioreconnstruct is having more fun taking pictures of Epic.

Gremlin Gus9 days ago

Sources comes from a website I can't put here for some reason Seems like they might be doing some utility work right now, though I'm curious to see what's going on in the backstage area as it does look like they're focusing on clearing that out for the Encanto showbuilding

EagleScout6109 days ago

At the last moment they've switched to a CARS theme it seems

truecoat9 days ago

How about a ride where you drive a Multi-Troop Transport crushing as many trees and animals as possible. After the ride, they show you how much ecological damage you've caused.