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

[lazyboy97o]

This is crazy talk.

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

You jest, but I’ve seen it tried. It did not go well.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Ultimately, when you have a park like Disney's Animal Kingdom, you will have to create more things out of whole cloth in order to tie those new attractions back to the themes of the park. Since that's a non-starter for today's Disney company, you need to pick the stories and the parts of those stories that work. For me personally, there are story treatments for Encanto and Indy that seem to work.

If Coco is a Oaxacan carousel with the Coco name attached, I'll take that too. That's a tie back to real world culture and their stylistic interpretation of animals that has already been represented in the architecture of the park.

Looks like I wasn't far off.

I love the story treatments for Indy and Encanto. The Critter Carousel is a bit of a stretch, but the art direction is 100% appropriate. This isn't Jessie's Critter Carousel, this is a carousel of Disney characters done in a way that evokes Alebrijes. They could have put this carousel in Discovery Island instead of Tropical Americas, but whatever.

 

[Grantwil93]

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

If anything, expect a logo change at some point. Once Dinoland is done converting.

I could see a banshee out front and a Yeti to replace the dragon/dino in any logo based stuff

The did joke about the logo stuff at D23

 

[KDM31091]

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.

Makes sense. Dinosaur being the biggest draw it makes sense to keep it open the longest (of course I wish it weren't closing at all, but here we are). The Restaurantasarous is a solid "standard" QS with "normal" amidst the more exotic options in AK food so again makes sense to keep it open. Trilobites is almost outside of the land anyway, so I don't see why it needs to close at all -- if anything I'd figure they just rename it, switch out the sign, and keep it as is, essentially.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

When do people think Dinosaur actually will close?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Out of everything announced for WDW - Encanto and the parade are the only things I genuinely want to experience.

I do think the carousel will be nice as well - fits the mood and the theme and is a good all-ages attraction.

I don’t think Indiana Jones is a natural addition to Encanto - so I’d just plus up dinosaur and the area and make it separate if it was me.

 

[BigRed98]

When do people think Dinosaur actually will close?

Late Summer/Early Fall 2025 is my guess.

 

[Haymarket2008]

When do people think Dinosaur actually will close?

I'd be shocked if this made it past Feb/March of next year.

I'm really curious to see when walls go up around the carnival section.

 

[doctornick]

Late Summer/Early Fall 2025 is my guess.

That's my thought too. Second half of 2025. It won't be until the Zootopia show opens at least.

 

[disneyC97]

Clearly most of the budget went to the Tiana, Louis, and Mama Odie animatronics, if nothing else.

And New Orleans research trips!

 

[KDM31091]

There’s a tiny part of me hoping Dinosaur is just upgraded and spared since the area is so seperate anyway. Maybe they will run out of money after Encanto. I can dream.

Let’s hope we get it through the holidays and they at least do some of the fun holiday decorations in what will be left of Dinoland

 

[tissandtully]

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.

Not your fault, most of the stuff they've revealed lately has been boat rides!

 

[EagleScout610]

When do people think Dinosaur actually will close?

Personally I'm guessing after Zootopia opens, which is winter 2025. Gives them time to take Everest, Kali, and Pandora down for refurbishment to get them ready to carry the park roo

 

[MisterPenguin]

That's my thought too. Second half of 2025. It won't be until the Zootopia show opens at least.

Personally I'm guessing after Zootopia opens, which is winter 2025. Gives them time to take Everest, Kali, and Pandora down for refurbishment to get them ready to carry the park roo

Just remember, DHS went down to 3 rides while other areas were being built.

TA work is supposed to start this year, 2024, which would make not closing the ride until Winter of 2025 seemingly untenable.

 

[EagleScout610]

Just remember, DHS went down to 3 rides while other areas were being built.

TA work is supposed to start this year, 2024, which would make not closing the ride until Winter of 2025 seemingly untenable.

Valid point. I was thinking of how MK took Big Thunder down for a short refurb before closing Splash, so maybe they'd do the same in AK

 

[KDM31091]

By "winter of 2025", do we mean like, December 2025-January 2026, or December 2024-January 2025?

 

[EagleScout610]

By "winter of 2025", do we mean like, December 2025-January 2026, or December 2024-January 2025?

Probably the 2nd option, but as Penguin said they're starting TA work this year, so it could be possible Dino makes it to spring but not summer.

 

[josiah mazelin]

If Dinosaur truly has to go and be themed after something more "tropical americas," I wish they would do an Emporer's New Groove ride instead. Running from panthers, going to Yzma's lair, exploring Machu Pichu, etc. Nonetheless, why can't they just keep Dinosaur, The Boneyard, and Dino-Bites as a smaller Dino-land USA? They can put Tropical Americas in the old space for Chester and Hester's DinoRama, but still keep some of the Dino stuff. Also, Dinosaurs were known to be in South America. Why can't the two lands co-exist? Dinosaur could remain, and just have a tweak to the storytelling. You could be going back in time to the south american rainforest, or Indiana Jones could be leading you on an expedition in the jungle.

 

[Fantasmicguy2]

Out of everything announced for WDW - Encanto and the parade are the only things I genuinely want to experience.

I do think the carousel will be nice as well - fits the mood and the theme and is a good all-ages attraction.

I don’t think Indiana Jones is a natural addition to Encanto - so I’d just plus up dinosaur and the area and make it separate if it was me.

I'm ok with Indiana and Encanto together. They fit in Tropical America-land as opposed to an Enchanto-land. It's a bit more old school to have a land based upon more than one IP. Pre Harry Potter days

 

[DC0703]

Agreed. I think Indy is generally seen as old news, been there done that kind of property. Not that that means it's unpopular of course. But, do I foresee a turnout like Pandora? No. Especially when the ride is not fundamentally any different, so people who don't like Dinosaur for motion reasons still won't like Indy.

I disagree. Indiana Jones Adventure in Disneyland opened almost 30 years ago and it is still one of the most popular rides in the park. While some might not like Dinosaur for motion reasons, many others simply find the ride lackluster. Having ridden them both, IJA is vastly superior to Dinosaur, despite the same ride template.