PHOTO - New concept art reveals details of the Africa Marketplace expansion coming to Harambe at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Nov 20, 2014 in "Africa"

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Africa Marketplace concept art

Posted: Thursday November 20, 2014 5:44pm EST by WDWMAGIC Staff

Construction work has been taking place backstage over the last year on a new expansion to Africa at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The new area, called Africa Marketplace will open in Spring 2015, including new merchandise locations, a new quick service restaurant, and a new walkway linking Africa to Asia. Combined with the new Harambe Theater district area, the new additions will more than double the size of Africa.

The restaurant will be called Harambe Marketplace, and will feature a number of walkup windows, offering a variety of African inspired dishes.

The new area and restaurant is planned to open in Spring 2015, and will be located between the Kilimanjaro Safari area and Mombassa Marketplace, in an area that was previously backstage.

Not only will the new Africa Marketplace bring new dining and shopping, it will offer congestion relief to the extremely crowded Harambe. The walkway to Asia in particular should ease the congestion caused by the land currently having only one way in, and one way out.

Africa Marketplace concept art

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Figment2005Jun 15, 2015

The food is definitely some of the best quick service options available in Animal Kingdom, if not on property.

Cosmic CommandoJun 14, 2015

Re-reading the blog post, it does say that they'll have candy apples... maybe there will be a bakery counter after all! I should reign in my inner fanboy until things open... sometimes.

Cosmic CommandoJun 14, 2015

Marlins1Jun 14, 2015

Overall the food in Harambe is pretty unique and the area looks great. Generic desserts for the kids who won't like the authentic stuff is not a big deal IMO.

Mike SJun 14, 2015

They have Chocodiles?!?!?!

Cosmic CommandoJun 14, 2015

I'll admit, I was a little disappointed when I saw that it seems more like a shop than a fresh bakery thingy, but what they did is actually really good. I didn't like the Lion King character stuff, but I do like that they did things like chocolate crocodiles. Overall, I still think it's a plus to an already great looking area.

note2001Jun 12, 2015

Agreed, those have such a nice design but displaying chocolate bars is not going to work in my household. ;) (nor would I want anyone to 'test' them when they're a few years old) I' hope Disney will have a small wooden replicate of the graphic to buy. In fact, I like some of the painted construction fences they have around AK & would not mind seeing miniatures of those as options to buy as well.

DisneyDebRobJun 12, 2015

The chocolate bars have great packaging if that's the final design! One package to eat, one for display. Disney does know how to separate me from my money.:cool:

RayTheFireflyJun 12, 2015

Agreed. Thankfully, clip art Simba seems to only really appear on the products geared specifically to small children. :)

Jon81ukJun 12, 2015

Okay I am being a bit harsh, after looking again, the five pack chocolate bars with the tree of life design is great. But clip art Simba still doesn't look good.

RayTheFireflyJun 12, 2015

I see your point about the clip art, but I thought the products actually were a nice, unique twist on standard items. And there is unique, new packaging for them. Harry Potter is a huge mythical world described in 7 books, giving them a lot to work with in terms of products, whereas Harambe is just a fictional version of real life places.

Jon81ukJun 12, 2015

Other places are reporting it will be a candy store and shop. But those boxed treats look so generic! Why can Universal offer such unique stuff for Harry Potter. Then Disney do a great new counter service area and ruin it with generic looking boxed candy with clip art Simba on it. Why not exclusive art work similar to the FOTLK posters in Harambe?

doctornickJun 12, 2015

Yeah, I was imagining a window, but this sounds more like a shop. And if it is a shop, it might explain the previous confusion where the Harambe Market was reported to get a "merchandise" location.