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

16 hours ago 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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ToTBellHop5 hours ago

The whole land would reopen once it’s all done.

Disnutz3117 hours ago

If they were smart they would pre-fab some the new Indy facade off sight and have it ready to go and be attached when it is closing time. Not really changing the structure just the overlay of a new facade. Start working on the extended outdoor queue if not needed. Have everything ready to go in shipping containers for install. Demo is 4 months. 6 Months to install. 2 Months to program. At least that is how I would do it... Do we think they will open Encanto and the area when it is done or wait till the whole land is ready?

WeNamedTheDogIndiana7 hours ago

As someone going in early May, I'm much more confident in DINOSAUR than M*V3D.

DavidDL8 hours ago

Hopefully this means I can get a last ride in on DINOSAUR, too, when I head down to watch Muppet*Vision 3D over and over again for the last time.

Karakasa8 hours ago

That's not a bad guess at all. But honestly I wonder what "Winter" means here. Typically "Holiday" is used for December, so the implication is that the Zootopia show will be up and running by the end of February. If all they're doing is replacing Hopper with Clawhauser and they build Clawhauser off-site, it shouldn't take all that long to turn the show around. Plus, as pointed out above, just putting in Rocket and changing up the queue didn't take long at all with Mission Breakout, and that was a much more thorough retheming with the queue and all. Muppetvision in California Adventure had an even more rapid turnaround from it to Frozen Ever After, and iirc (someone can correct me here) the theater was still used in some holiday events prior to the official opening of the latter. As pitched, it seems like they're basically going to leave the theater identical to ITtBaB. Would it take longer than 45 days to remove and install a single AA, shut off Flik, remove the spiders just as a guest-safety thing, and replace the bug-themed posters with mammal-themed posters? It seems like a quick turnaround for modern Disney but given the possible amount of work going into it, it's not impossible. EDIT: NVM, I've been corrected elsewhere!

ToTBellHop9 hours ago

So far, there is a stepping stool.

EagleScout61010 hours ago

Who cares about the shovels? Has the ladder arrived? That's when we know stuffs getting serious

andre8510 hours ago

I don't suppose there's any chance they expand the building/extend the ridetrack? I recall someone speculated early on they might, but I don't think it was based on anything

spectromagic0410 hours ago

There are currently shovels on the ground. A bunch of stuff is happening backstage behind Dino Rama. Plus ground work starts in January for everything but Dinosaur, boneyard and Resto.

Disgruntled Walt10 hours ago

This is what I want to hear if it's even going to come close to matching Dinosaur in quality. A quick turnaround would have meant an inferior attraction.

Mr. Sullivan10 hours ago

There is dirt moving there. We’ve already seen it. We’ve known this whole time they were gonna do the other half of the area first so they could leave Dinosaur running as long as possible. Why are we pretending they’re not doing anything as if an entire half of the area won’t be under active construction

ToTBellHop11 hours ago

Indy has more extensive modifications to the building so I’d expect somewhere in the 18-24 month range.

EagleScout61011 hours ago

Frozen - 10/4/14 - 6/21/16 (625 days) Mission Breakout - 01/03/17 - 05/27/17 (144 Days)

djlaosc11 hours ago

Didn't Maelstrom->Frozen / TOT DCA->GOTG:MB take something like 15-16 months? I was always hopeful that Dinosaur would at least be able to make it to the same time period as Fossil Fun Games, but in 2026 (mid-January 2026) - and that would give them enough time to retheme to Indiana Jones ready for Memorial Day 2027.