DAK 'Encanto' and 'Indiana Jones'-themed experiences at Animal Kingdom

[KDM31091]

Disney can fix up attractions, while also adding new attractions that don’t replace / retheme / take over what’s already loved.

For me, I only hear people complain when there’s too many walls up at once, kinda of like Disneylands current state (space down, railroad down, splash down, etc). I can’t say I’ve ever heard mass Hysteria about new experiences that aren’t controversial takeovers, unless that new experience is just awful.

Exactly. I don’t want to ride Tron and I didn’t enjoy Rat, but hey, they replaced nothing, so who cares.

 

[GoofGoof]

I realize that Chester and Hester was a cheap compromise and not meant to last and so I try and put aside my bias towards it and accept it leaving. Completely reskinning all of the land, though, I think is way overkill and a waste of effort and money, especially in a park with so little to do. Dinosaur, Boneyard, and Restraunt O'saurus are fine and form a coherent area together, and they're spending a lot of money to screw with/remove them instead of building something else.

I totally get it and I don’t disagree that this would not have been my top priority for AK. With an unlimited budget I would have done this plus add 3-5 new attractions. A new land (behind Asia) with 2 major attractions and shops, restaurants, shows, etc, a lion king ride in Africa and 1 or 2 minor attractions to fill out the day. With all that added maybe we would need a new nighttime show and later park hours too . Since there’s never an unlimited budget and they allocated more of the capital budget this time around to MK, I would have prioritized a new land for AK first then the stand alone rides and this project last. I do get that a new land would cost much more than this project which is almost certainly why they opted for this.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

People rode it. It had a Fastpass! It was also “the spin cycle” on must-dos so everyone had to do it! IYKYK

Its hourly capacity was a little more than Peter Pan.

People definitely rode it, but it really wasn’t too popular. It also had pretty bad operations and a ton of downtime, which is why the hourly capacity was likely a lot worse than its theoretical.

 

[KDM31091]

I don't see how the park will even survive with Dinoland & Bugs Life closed when it has so little to do. I know this has been repeated ad nauseum but they should be adding to the park, not just reskinning and replacing.

 

[Grantwil93]

I don't see how the park will even survive with Dinoland & Bugs Life closed when it has so little to do. I know this has been repeated ad nauseum but they should be adding to the park, not just reskinning and replacing.

I'm guessing it's possible that Dinosaur will stay open until Zootopia opens. Or close to it. 16 months is generally the timeline on reskins recently so they might leave it open longer than we think and do all the other work until then.

It's also possible they add extra showtimes to the shows in the park to try to compensate.

 

[GoofGoof]

I don't see how the park will even survive with Dinoland & Bugs Life closed when it has so little to do. I know this has been repeated ad nauseum but they should be adding to the park, not just reskinning and replacing.

My guess is that Dinosaur will stay open at least through 2025 along with restaurantasaurus and maybe boneyard while the carnival area closes. So they will “only” lose 1 low capacity ride and some carnival games plus the theater show. Zootopia opens end of 2025. Dinosaur to Indy should “only” take 18 months so could close early 2026 after the holiday season and after Zootopia is back. If it’s ready Encanto and area could open before Indy (similar to FLE where Mine Train was later or SWGE where RoTR came later).

 

[GoofGoof]

I'm guessing it's possible that Dinosaur will stay open until Zootopia opens. Or close to it. 16 months is generally the timeline on reskins recently so they might leave it open longer than we think and do all the other work until then.

It's also possible they add extra showtimes to the shows in the park to try to compensate.

I type slower

 

[Timothy_Q]

I know this has been repeated ad nauseum but they should be adding to the park, not just reskinning and replacing.

The way I see it Disney has finally "completed" the park as it was originally envisoned for opening day had it not been for the DLP cutbacks across the entire company that essentially left half of the park on the cutting room floor

Pandora fulfilled Beastly Kingdom's part
Tropical Americas fulfilled the original plans for Dinoland that featured 2 signature rides and a land that felt cohesive with the rest of the park in terms of scope and quality

It took decades, but DAK will finally have 4 full fledged lands around a hub
After this there will be nothing left to fix and they can focus on actual additions, hopefully starting with the Lion King ride

 

[GoofGoof]

The way I see it Disney has finally "completed" the park as it was originally envisoned for opening day had it not been for the DLP cutbacks across the entire company that essentially left half of the park on the cutting room floor

Pandora fulfilled Beastly Kingdom's part
Tropical Americas fulfilled the original plans for Dinoland that featured 2 signature rides and a land that felt cohesive with the rest of the park in terms of scope and quality

It took decades, but DAK will finally have 4 full fledged lands around a hub
After this there will be nothing left to fix and they can focus on actual additions, hopefully starting with the Lion King ride

Let’s hope it doesn’t take decades more to get to the 5th full land (no Rafiki doesn’t count)

I 100% agree that Tropical Americas looks like it will be so much more cohesive with the rest of the park. Lion King ride makes sooooo much sense. Each land would have 2 main rides with most having a show or smaller attractions sprinkled in.

 

[rle4lunch]

People definitely rode it, but it really wasn’t too popular. It also had pretty bad operations and a ton of downtime, which is why the hourly capacity was likely a lot worse than its theoretical.

Figment has a fast pass.....

 

[Drew the Disney Dude]

@Drew the Disney Dude did say boat ride during the presentation so I think there was some confusion on that.

This is my fault for making an assumption based off the concept art. I made an assumption in the moment and I was wrong. The art does look like a boat ride, but it's not. A trackless ride would make sense with how the Casita could move us around. My apologies for the incorrect reporting.

 

[spectromagic04]

My guess is that Dinosaur will stay open at least through 2025 along with restaurantasaurus and maybe boneyard while the carnival area closes. So they will “only” lose 1 low capacity ride and some carnival games plus the theater show. Zootopia opens end of 2025. Dinosaur to Indy should “only” take 18 months so could close early 2026 after the holiday season and after Zootopia is back. If it’s ready Encanto and area could open before Indy (similar to FLE where Mine Train was later or SWGE where RoTR came later).

Not sure about boneyard but both Dinosaur and restaurantosaurus are surviving the 1st phase of closings. I’m guessing Dinobites stand connected to Resto and Trilobites also survive.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

I'm really hoping Dinosaur stays open till at least September 2025. I'm going back most likely in July for the first time since 2017, and Dinosaur is very close to my favorite ride (at least it was back then).

 

[Grantwil93]

Let’s hope it doesn’t take decades more to get to the 5th full land (no Rafiki doesn’t count)

I 100% agree that Tropical Americas looks like it will be so much more cohesive with the rest of the park. Lion King ride makes sooooo much sense. Each land would have 2 main rides with most having a show or smaller attractions sprinkled in.

I think the lion king ride will be a Tron situation where it'll be completed in Paris first and then announced to start building following the completion of the Tropical America's area. Unless ppl hate the ride or something.

Just shift the crews and utilize the new construction trailer park/staging they are building behind Asia

 

[Grantwil93]

This is my fault for making an assumption based off the concept art. I made an assumption in the moment and I was wrong. The art does look like a boat ride, but it's not. A trackless ride would make sense with how the Casita could move us around. My apologies for the incorrect reporting.

No big deal! Right now, I'm leaning omnimover over trackless. Though the art kinda reminds me of Figment more than something like spaceship earth. Given the model and what has been said about the ride, they might go omni over trackless to avoid needing elevators to change elevation.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Just shift the crews and utilize the new construction trailer park/staging they are building behind Asia

The crews don’t work for Disney. They work for the contractor and subcontractors which are hired on a per project basis. Even if it was the same contractors, the people who do things like finish paint aren’t the same ones doing site prep work.

 

[vagabondarts]

No big deal! Right now, I'm leaning omnimover over trackless. Though the art kinda reminds me of Figment more than something like spaceship earth. Given the model and what has been said about the ride, they might go omni over trackless to avoid needing elevators to change elevation.

If the omnimover isn’t a new iteration of the system which can slot cars out in a spur for ADA and slower loading guests, then slot back into the chain, then what’s the point?

 

[UNCgolf]

The crews don’t work for Disney. They work for the contractor and subcontractors which are hired on a per project basis. Even if it was the same contractors, the people who do things like finish paint aren’t the same ones doing site prep work.

This is crazy talk.

When you hire someone to paint your house, they do the plumbing and electrical work too.

 

[Brer Panther]

The way I see it Disney has finally "completed" the park as it was originally envisoned for opening day had it not been for the DLP cutbacks across the entire company that essentially left half of the park on the cutting room floor

Except for the presence of dinosaurs and mythical creatures (aside from the yeti).

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

I don't see how the park will even survive with Dinoland & Bugs Life closed when it has so little to do. I know this has been repeated ad nauseum but they should be adding to the park, not just reskinning and replacing.

Hollywood Studios survived off ToT, RnR, Muppets, Indy, and Star Tours for like three years.