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

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

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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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rd8053 hours ago

both rides are great. Indy is definitely superior --but that has a lot to do with the temple being multi-levelled, and just a better IP. Dinosaur is a wonderful ride, and has served a purpose since Day 1 AK -- but Indy will give AK a ton of life & make lines a little longer for this specific attraction. PLUS - a better queue, better themed area. This will be an upgrade.

Disgruntled Walt4 hours ago

I'm a bit offended by all of the "Who cared about Dinosaur until now?" people here. Dinosaur is a magnificent attraction and I have ALWAYS thought so, as have my siblings, parents, friends. I'm not afraid of roller coasters, but I thought @WorldExplorer described my feelings about it to a tee in this post. As for what is replacing it, I've laid out many times here that I don't see how it could possibly be as good as what is there, but especially because of what it is replacing. Talk about expectations...people better temper those right now. Better to be impressed by something that exceeds your tiny expectations than to be disappointed greatly in something that doesn't measure up to what was there before (or what's across the continent at Disneyland). Do we have any reason to believe, based on their recent efforts, this will be an improvement?

Professortango119 hours ago

The ride path of Dinosaur will likely not change. That is a slightly reduced version of Indy. As of the show scenes, the concept art shows differences between the two existing versions, but the room layouts will likely be similar since Disney isn't one to reinvent the wheel. Moving doors have been a headache and sadly cut from DLR and never used at TDS, so the current Security Station will likely be similar to what is at TDS with one door and some projection mapping. Chamber of Destiny will likely be the concept art with the giant cross and maybe some effect regarding the animal tied to the attraction. The big question is whether they will have a big room like the other Indy's as I know the current path cuts through that room instead of winding out for the Mummy section. It will be interesting to see how they retrofit a revamped version of Indy into a ride building that is similar, but a bit truncated.

WorldExplorer19 hours ago

I've never been on Indiana Jones. Do we have reason to believe all the stuff people say makes it better will be added here? Because it sounds like some pretty large effects that would take a ton of construction (a whole other level?) and it already sounds like what they're building has a different plot than that ride.

Brer Panther20 hours ago

I, personally, like Dinosaur. Always have (well, at least since I first went on it). And I doubt Iger's Disney can create an attraction just as good as it, Indiana Jones theming or otherwise.

WorldExplorer23 hours ago

I love Dinosaur because it gives me, someone who is terrified of rollercoasters, a chance to have a really big thrill. I've descensitized myself to it by now, but when I was still new to it it was a HUGE rush. Not because the car rocks a lot, which, yes, it will also do in Indiana Jones. That's important, but it combines with the ride's setting and animatronics to make it really scary. I don't think it gets enough credit for that; this is a ride that, by all rights, is relatively tame on the actual physical thrill element (no drops or loops or anything), and yet it has a reputation for being one of the scariest things in the parks. It's because of its show elements. Nothing else in the park is like that. We're never getting a ride with this tone again. I think that's sad. Yes, I understand they used to be better, and I really wish I could've experienced them when they were (the whole implied carnotaurus chasing you sounds amazing), but until I saw someone on here mention that it I had no idea and was very sufficiently scared by what it is now.

rle4lunch23 hours ago

I will say that Indy has a frustratingly large amount of downtime, and for about 5 years (and directly after covid sanctions were lifted), the ride had about 50% of the effects turned off for about a year or so after the parks fully opened. We've been about 10 times (San Diego to Anaheim is 99 miles) in the last 3 years, and while many of the effects are back up and running, the ride is starting to feel it's age. I will die on the hill though in the opinion that it carries so much more energy than DINOSAUR ever did. DINO is so cheesy. Hell, even Mission Space got more love in a shorter amount of time that DINO ever has/did. The writing has been on the wall for it for a long long time.

Marc Davis Fan23 hours ago

This is really interesting. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences in such detail. I think one of the issues is that Dinosaur and Indy should be judged on their own merits, as completely different experiences, just like different omnimovers (e.g., Haunted Mansion "vs" Spaceship Earth). I grew up loving Dinosaur and it's still (even it its lessened form) among my favorite WDW attractions. At the same time, when I first went to DL and rode Indy without the knowledge of its relationship to Dinosaur, and without knowledge of the comparisons/hype, I was absolutely blown away. However, I took my father to DL a few years back, and we went on Indy after I'd told him that it's the same ride system as Dinosaur (which he also loves)... and he was disappointed just as you were! (This comparison game has also been unfair to Dinosaur, because the fan community knows it as derivative of Indy - which undersells it by preventing it from being viewed on its own merits.) This creates a problem: unlike most Indy riders in DL who usually judge it on its own merits, many/most will be like you and my father - having gone on Dinosaur and knowing this is the same ride system and layout. The good news is our insiders (e.g.,. @Moth) have suggested this will be an improved variation on the existing Indy rides. I hope it's improved enough to clearly exceed Dinosaur even for those making the comparison, but that won't necessarily be as easy as many think...

Professortango11 day ago

I can say that I was a fan of Ellen's Energy Adventure. I really loved that ride and how it kept evolving throughout the ride time. Maelstrom...I liked the trolls a lot, but the rest of the ride was just okay. Frozen isn't a well-crafted ride, but the effects and sets look better now. Even if it lacks the fun of the previous attraction.

MLevell1 day ago

So I first visited Animal Kingdom a few months after it opened and my favorite ride was Countdown to Extinction, on the next visit it was called Dinosaur but it was still my favorite ride. Living only a 2 and half hour drive away I made frequent visits to the parks in the 90's through the mid/late 00's and when it came to Animal Kingdom it was all about Dinosaur. As the years went on though I became aware that out in California there was an Indiana Jones ride that was similar to Dinosaur and this became a bit of a dream ride for me, a combination of one of my all time favorite rides with one of my all time favorite film series, and in 2019 I finally got to go to Disneyland and ride Indiana Jones Adventure... and I was disappointed. It's not a bad ride for sure but after around 15 years of building it up in my mind I was certainly disappointed, it lacked the energy, thrills and scares of Dinosaur and it was also a bad representation of Indiana Jones without Ford's likeness and a bad impression buried in the quiet audio mix. This disappointment with Indy was so at odds with conventional fan wisdom that in 2021 I decided to go back to Animal Kingdom to see if my memory was cheating, but no Dinosaur still blew me away and even with the new Avatar additions it was still my favorite ride in the park, and as soon as I got off I immediately got back in line to ride it again. On my 2nd visit to Disneyland in 2022 I re-rode Indy, and now with my expectations in check enjoyed it more, but my opinion on which is the better ride has not changed. I believe that Tropical Americas will be an overall improvement for the park from a lot of metrics. but I can't help but predict that my personal enjoyment of the park will be greatly reduced by the removal of Dinosaur. I hope Disney proved me wrong.

MisterPenguin1 day ago

I can't. Bob ordered it. It's a little know fact that he suffers from ornithoscelidaphobia. Please don't tell him I'm one.

rle4lunch1 day ago

I think the biggest disappointment I had with DINO was when I eventually got to ride Indy at DL (I had ridden DINO first, before my first visit to DL). From that point on, every time I rode DINO all I felt was how many opportunities WDO missed when developing essentially the same exact ride system/track. There's ZERO fun felt on DINO in comparison to Indy, no matter how far they crank up the soundtrack (last few times riding DINO it's been excruciatingly loud). All I feel, is, well, nothing. To date, I've road both Indy and DINO a lot, but Indy still has the kinetic fun, frantic pace and good set pieces (when it's not in B mode). On DINO, it's like, ooohhh, look, a vegetarian dino... oooh no,,,, the pterodactyl is gonna get us.... ooohh, no,,, not our dinosaur... picture time with the carnotaurus... now let's scurry before the asteroid hits.. it's all so blasé

EagleScout6101 day ago

You're the president of Animal Kingdom! You can save Triceratops Spin for you and you alone all of us!

Sneaky1 day ago

I agree that dinosaur has been kinda limping along. While some closures of rides recently were 100% premature and those rides couldve lasted (COUGH COUGH GMR), sometimes it’s just time for a ride to go. Even if a ride is good, like DINOSAUR, it’s been kinda decaying, and it isn’t connecting with guests as much anymore. It had a good respectable run, it will be missed, but it’s time for a change. Even if it was to stay Dino themed, a massive overhaul still would’ve been needed. I still feel like dinosaurs could’ve worked at dak, but idk. I feel like even though we dislike change a lot as parks fans, i feel this category of closures in recent years is bigger than we’d like to acknowledge. Now replacements are a whole other category. The fact that it was time for a change could mean less if the change isn’t good.