Disney Shares New Details About DINOSAUR's Closing Date at Animal Kingdom

Dec 03, 2024 in "Dinosaur"

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Dinosaur overview

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Posted: Tuesday December 3, 2024 10:30am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

In an update shared today, Disney provided new insight into the future of DINOSAUR at Animal Kingdom, suggesting the ride will remain operational through 2025 before closing permanently to make way for the Tropical Americas expansion.

Dinosaur overview

The update encourages guests to experience the ride while they still can, stating:

"While you're visiting, make sure you 'go get that dino' at DINOSAUR. We've previously shared this attraction will be closing to make way for the new Tropical Americas land – 2025 is your year to visit before it goes extinct!"

In an infographic, Disney says "THROUGH 2025 Go get that dino ... before extinction"

This announcement marks the clearest indication yet that DINOSAUR will remain a part of Animal Kingdom's lineup throughout next year, giving fans more time to experience the thrill ride before its eventual transformation, with a closing date sometime in 2026.

Tropical Americas Concept Art

DINOSAUR has been a cornerstone of Animal Kingdom since the park's opening in 1998, immersing guests in a time-travel adventure to save an Iguanodon from extinction. As part of the broader reimagining of Dinoland U.S.A. into the Tropical Americas, the ride will eventually be replaced by a new Indiana Jones attraction, which Disney says will feature a journey through a newly discovered Maya temple.

Indiana Jones Attraction Concept Art

While demolition and construction are set to begin in parts of Dinoland U.S.A. as early as January 2025, this new update confirms that DINOSAUR will remain open for the time being, allowing fans one last opportunity to experience the prehistoric adventure.

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celluloid2 hours ago

Yep. That would be great, but that is not just minimal holding a door or hanging ingredients from rope with boulder. That would involve more.

TheMaxRebo2 hours ago

Could definitely be something where Indy is in search of something and when he finds/takes it it awakens a Mayan God and elements of nature turn on him until he is able to put it back and "learns a lesson"

DisneyHead1234 hours ago

I think Indy always had a tinge of anti-hero about him. It was supposed to be charming and lovable but he was never a hero in the style of, say, Clark Kent, who really has to save the day in the end. It’s not uncommon for Indy get his a** kinda handed to him and to barely make it out alive, sometimes sans treasure or whatever he was looking for. I don’t see a metaphorical beatdown by the power of nature being at all of out character. It would be weird if it ended with Indy going “Golly gee guys, now I’ll recycle!!”, of course, but if a gruff and peeved Indy barely walks away? Still conveys the same point about messing with nature.

The Leader of the Club4 hours ago

The way to make Indy work in Animal Kingdom is keeping the plot similar to Skull Island at IOA. People come to a sacred place with impure intentions, despite warnings from the natives, and find themselves at odds with their surroundings. When hope seems lost a fantastical force appears to rescue them, leaving them with a profound sense of reverence for the land.

Disstevefan14 hours ago

Since they did not change the ride system, Tiana is still a fun log flume (when its running) I presume they are not going to change the ride system for Indy so this will also still be a fun ride too.

James Alucobond4 hours ago

You said just a few posts ago that they would have to bend IJ's character. My only point was that they will not because his character barely shows up and does not do anything in the context of other versions of the ride that would inherently contradict content more appropriate for AK, which could easily be threaded throughout the entire temple portion of the ride during which he has always been absent. I am not saying that I'm confident they will succeed in having content that fits in well during that section of the ride, but it would not require any alteration to his character to achieve that end.

celluloid4 hours ago

They don't have to change the character, it means they just plop the same formula and the IP it is based on is not a fit for the park. So if the character does not feature details in the ride that alter him to fit the theme, and the IP does not fit the theme... That means the park was bent to get IP in. The character is the title and main character, and arguably THE IP of the film. He is a serial adventure story character. If your best argument is his presence is largely irrelevant, then the park took the hit. IP can be chosen to put in very well be it reference or main concept of a major attraction. It is not mutually exclusive. "The IP is only there minimally" is not really a strong argument to say it is done well in fitting. That just proves the point.

James Alucobond4 hours ago

You can feel however you want about IP going everywhere. I'm just saying that his presence in every version of this ride is basically to say a sentence at the start, disappear for the vast duration of the ride, dodge a trap, and then note, "Whew! That was a close one," at the end. The general substance of his character and his history is largely irrelevant to this attraction, assuming it is similarly formatted. There is no reason to assume they have to "change" his character to fit as you suggested when we've seen that he'll probably be largely inactive and minimally present.

celluloid5 hours ago

So then those should ask themselves, does your description sound like a character and IP involved with the theme or the park's throughline or IP slapped in that does not fit without bending the IP or the park?

James Alucobond5 hours ago

Pandora needed to be a deep thematic fit because it was the pervasive basis for an entire land. By contrast, Encanto and IJ will be singular attractions slotted into a larger land formatted the same way as the other village/attraction complexes in the park. Pueblo Esperanza is additional connective tissue for the overarching AK theme to play out beyond "Encantoland" or "Indianaland". As to your issue with IJ specifically, I get the argument from a franchise standpoint, but based on the other two IJ attractions in the same format that have been built elsewhere, his presence in the ride itself will be so ridiculously minimal that it'll be little more than a cameo. It barely matters what his history with animals is because he'll probably show up for all of five seconds total to hold a door closed and/or dodge a boulder.

celluloid5 hours ago

Yes. That right there. Man's relationship with the natural world. Indy through that lense has the negative side and is not questioned in the source IP with the character being non dynamic. If you have Indy the guy who hast to learn a lesson, he is not a hero of the ride's IP. Since that is not what is going in, it is just Adventure. Indy's carelessness or selfishness is never questioned nor even seen as that in the property. So that is the best case so the theme of the park does not change, but the character does. It can fit, but you bend the character a way that is not known in any of the IP, which mean, you bend the character. If you don't, you bend the park.

Timothy_Q5 hours ago

The theme of DAK isn't about humans and animals getting along though The park is meant to be the relationship between man and nature, both the positive and the negative sides of it Many of the original DAK attractions touched upon the negative side Kilimanjaro (poaching), Kali (logging) and ITTBAB (humans' hatred of bugs) You don't have to turn Indy into an animal lover for him to fit the park His indifference or carelesness towards nature can be woven into the story of the ride

celluloid6 hours ago

This. Where as for Awesome Planet(even with subtle Ty Burell IP real estate joke connection) they nailed it.

Bocabear6 hours ago

I would argue it is a nice walk-through in an area that needs activation since they just tore down half of the buildings in this area and there is nothing else going on.... I don't hate the Moana walk-through, but just because it is soething in an area of nothing, doesn't make it fit into the theme of the area....It doesn't feel attached to The Seas in any way... it is a sort of standalone thing that relates to nothing but itself.... This would have been a beautiful addition to the Animal Kingdom or Adventureland.... but unless they build more to relate to it...make it relate to the rest of the "World Nature" area which is poorly defined and completely lacks any sort of cohesion, it is always going to feel a bit misplaced....