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

[Centauri Space Station]

I visit DAK a few times a year and have never waited more than 20 mins for DINOSAUR

 

[JackCH]

GSATs are as important as queues. If a retheme changes nothing about capacity, it should at least raise Guest Satisfaction.

Had to go to the Big List of Abbreviations for that one.

 

[UNCgolf]

How well a park is able to spread crowds has to do with having a somewhat uniform roster of big draw attractions across all corners of the park, regardless whether the park visitation numbers are going up or down.

Right now DAK is leaning heavily on Pandora.
With Encanto and Indy, crowds will be more evenly spread across lands

From a Disney perspective, yes, but from a guest perspective, it will just mean more of the park is crowded. It won't make Pandora less crowded than it already is unless, as @lazyboy97o said, park visitation is stagnant or declines.

 

[Loose Pebble]

From a Disney perspective, yes, but from a guest perspective, it will just mean more of the park is crowded. It won't make Pandora less crowded than it already is unless, as @lazyboy97o said, park visitation is stagnant or declines.

Yeah that's the sad part. If they open an awesome new land and it doesn't lead to more crowds, they may deem it a failure because it didn't lead to increase in attendance. (unless it significantly raises per guest spending, which may be tough without more crowds to push LL).

 

[BrianLo]

Yeah that's the sad part. If they open an awesome new land and it doesn't lead to more crowds, they may deem it a failure because it didn't lead to increase in attendance. (unless it significantly raises per guest spending, which may be tough without more crowds to push LL).

I foresee all the upcoming attractions being monetized quite easily. Even if they are not good, most of them feel destined for LLSP or a top LLMP priority. It is clearly influencing their investment strategy.

What isn’t is their current, somewhat surprising, entertainment spend.

 

[rd805]

It doesn’t really matter if Indy is more in-demand than Dinosaur; Dinosaur already operates essentially at capacity and does not have significant growth potential. Whether the wait is 20 minutes or 2 hours, the ride can only get so many butts-in-seats per hour. Increased popularity will only lead to longer lines, not higher hourly throughput.

It’s the same situation as Maelstrom, Splash Mountain, and DCA’s TOT: they’re spending significant sums of money to increase demand for attractions that don’t have the capacity to meet that demand, which in turn only makes the park as a whole more unpleasant, as larger crowds and longer queues form for the same old operations infrastructure.

For Tropical Americas to have a positive impact on the park, it needs to be more ambitious than a 1-for-1 spinner replacement, an at-capacity re-theme, and a modest busbar dark ride. They seem to be willing to spend the money for a big improvement, but they’re ultimately spending it in a way that won’t make a significant improvement.

Yes, but if you continue investing in all the experiences & not letting the park grow stale without expansion/updates, then all of these new experiences even out. When you just release one new epic ride, and then don't do anything for 4-6 years...that's where Disney has gotten into absurd wait times.

 

[The Leader of the Club]

Yes, but if you continue investing in all the experiences & not letting the park grow stale without expansion/updates, then all of these new experiences even out. When you just release one new epic ride, and then don't do anything for 4-6 years...that's where Disney has gotten into absurd wait times.

Precisely. DAK keeps getting great additions and then nothing else for a decade. It definitely needs a more consistent addition cycle.

 

[BrianLo]

It doesn’t really matter if Indy is more in-demand than Dinosaur; Dinosaur already operates essentially at capacity and does not have significant growth potential. Whether the wait is 20 minutes or 2 hours, the ride can only get so many butts-in-seats per hour. Increased popularity will only lead to longer lines, not higher hourly throughput.

It’s the same situation as Maelstrom, Splash Mountain, and DCA’s TOT: they’re spending significant sums of money to increase demand for attractions that don’t have the capacity to meet that demand, which in turn only makes the park as a whole more unpleasant, as larger crowds and longer queues form for the same old operations infrastructure.

For Tropical Americas to have a positive impact on the park, it needs to be more ambitious than a 1-for-1 spinner replacement, an at-capacity re-theme, and a modest busbar dark ride. They seem to be willing to spend the money for a big improvement, but they’re ultimately spending it in a way that won’t make a significant improvement.

I will say that WDW currently feels like it has some slack. The attendance softening from 2019 peaks is making the entire resort feel quite pleasant. The only reason Dino even sees 20 minute waits is that the park has a bare bones 10H operational day.

Now actually feels like an acceptable time to close/renovate some things without bursting the bubble.

But your greater point is quite valid. They need to prepare for the wave they are about to generate and that does require forward looking actual capacity expansion. Something they are achieving with Magic Kingdom and half heartedly nudging the needle at 2/4 parks.

I’m a bit surprised the DAK project became so anemic, it’s quite a bit less than what they did in 2017 park wide. But I guess the powers that be saw what happened to DAK when it didn’t do anything for going on 7 years now and wanted to get ahead at DHS.

 

[MR.Dis]

Animal Kingdom has been my wife's favorite park for years. People have a poor memory, as it is an untapped gem waiting for some TLC. Pandora officially opened in 2017, so I went back and checked the attendance for 2018. Per AECOM, Animal Kingdom had the second highest attendance in all WDW with over 12 mm guests. The issue is and has been lack of attractions. What they have is good to very good, just very limited. If a family is sending upward of $150 per person, you better darn well give them a full days of entertainment.

 

[flyerjab]

I will say that WDW currently feels like it has some slack. The attendance softening from 2019 peaks is making the entire resort feel quite pleasant. The only reason Dino even sees 20 minute waits is that the park has a bare bones 10H operational day.

Now actually feels like an acceptable time to close/renovate some things without bursting the bubble.

But your greater point is quite valid. They need to prepare for the wave they are about to generate and that does require forward looking actual capacity expansion. Something they are achieving with Magic Kingdom and half heartedly nudging the needle at 2/4 parks.

I’m a bit surprised the DAK project became so anemic, it’s quite a bit less than what they did in 2017 park wide. But I guess the powers that be saw what happened to DAK when it didn’t do anything for going on 7 years now and wanted to get ahead at DHS.

Correct! Leading up to Pandora, they added Tiffins/Nomad Lounge (absolute home runs), added Harambe Marketplace, added expanded shopping areas on Discovery Island, added the ToL roots and the ToL projection shows, attempted the Sunset Safari, built up the viewing area in Asia for the oft troubled Rivers of Light (which I found to be beautiful when it worked) and an additional animal exhibit in the Gorilla Falls trail. When Pandora debuted, this now allowed attempt number one at a full day into night park. Oh yes! They also took almost two years to add a pavilion at Flame Tree Barbecue.

So yes, when Pandora was added they really tried to expand capacity and have a full day park with a night time show. This time, they are updating/adding a newly themed land with 2 popular IPs. This will really draw people into this side of the park, without any thing else to address a capacity increase. Unless with their guest modeling, that they almost certainly do, is telling them that after the first several years + Covid that attendance numbers have fallen and they need to do this to increase it back to where it was when Pandora debuted.

To this I say go for broke with another night time show, add the Bali dancers and music back to Asia, add the streetmosphere back to Pandora and announce the addition of the flume ride in Harambe. The one big issue that DAK has is that Harambe shuts down at night from a ride and animal perspective. Africa needs some thing substantial for guests to do/ride at night. That would help balance things out for a full day experience.

 

[JackCH]

Correct! Leading up to Pandora, they added Tiffins/Nomad Lounge (absolute home runs), added Harambe Marketplace, added expanded shopping areas on Discovery Island, added the ToL roots and the ToL projection shows, attempted the Sunset Safari, built up the viewing area in Asia for the oft troubled Rivers of Light (which I found to be beautiful when it worked) and an additional animal exhibit in the Gorilla Falls trail. When Pandora debuted, this now allowed attempt number one at a full day into night park. Oh yes! They also took almost two years to add a pavilion at Flame Tree Barbecue.

So yes, when Pandora was added they really tried to expand capacity and have a full day park with a night time show. This time, they are updating/adding a newly themed land with 2 popular IPs. This will really draw people into this side of the park, without any thing else to address a capacity increase. Unless with their guest modeling they almost certainly do is telling them that after the first several years + Covid that numbers have fallen and they need to do this to increase attendance back to where it was when Pandora debuted.

To this I say go for broke with another night time show, add the Bali dancers and music back to Asia, add the streetmosphere back to Pandora and announce the addition of the flume ride in Harambe. The one big issue that DAK had is that Harambe shuts down at night from a ride and animal perspective. Africa needs some substantial food guests to do/ride at night. That would help balance things out for a full day experience.

This is exactly why I keep harping on the flume coming to AK… it fits perfectly and addresses a BUNCH of needs.

 

[Timothy_Q]

Other enhancements across DAK could still be coming in time for Tropical Americas like they did for Pandora

Entertainment, restaurants and other small updates don't get announced 3 years in advance

 

[gorillaball]

At least Encanto, Indy will draw considerable more demand than Triceratops and Dinosaur. The shine of new ToL show will help as well.

They should be able to launch a nighttime show in 2027, we'll see if it's sustainable after that.

I think at the very least we get an extra hour in the evenings. The 6 pm standard will be at least be 7 pm.

7p doesn’t offer up much night experience 6 months of the year. Why do they have to keep a consistent close time? What if they toyed with 2-3 nights a week (same nights each week) where it was open 2-3 hours later?

 

[BrianLo]

Correct! Leading up to Pandora, they added Tiffins/Nomad Lounge (absolute home runs), added Harambe Marketplace, added expanded shopping areas on Discovery Island, added the ToL roots and the ToL projection shows, attempted the Sunset Safari, built up the viewing area in Asia for the oft troubled Rivers of Light (which I found to be beautiful when it worked) and an additional animal exhibit in the Gorilla Falls trail. When Pandora debuted, this now allowed attempt number one at a full day into night park. Oh yes! They also took almost two years to add a pavilion at Flame Tree Barbecue.

So yes, when Pandora was added they really tried to expand capacity and have a full day park with a night time show. This time, they are updating/adding a newly themed land with 2 popular IPs. This will really draw people into this side of the park, without any thing else to address a capacity increase. Unless with their guest modeling they almost certainly do is telling them that after the first several years + Covid that numbers have fallen and they need to do this to increase attendance back to where it was when Pandora debuted.

To this I say go for broke with another night time show, add the Bali dancers and music back to Asia, add the streetmosphere back to Pandora and announce the addition of the flume ride in Harambe. The one big issue that DAK had is that Harambe shuts down at night from a ride and animal perspective. Africa needs some substantial food guests to do/ride at night. That would help balance things out for a full day experience.

7p doesn’t offer up much night experience 6 months of the year. Why do they have to keep a consistent close time? What if they toyed with 2-3 nights a week (same nights each week) where it was open 2-3 hours later?

I’ve just done DAK twice at night now (extended, moonlight magic). Forgoing tonight which is another extended evening. I will die on a hill that the park more than adequately provides a full day experience; but one can’t just ride warrior this park.

But it really, really struggles at night. The safari is closed, the trails are closed, the three stage shows are over, no one wants to ride Kali. The park needs evening capacity; priority number one is a lagoon show.

This is exactly why I keep harping on the flume coming to AK… it fits perfectly and addresses a BUNCH of needs.

Another water ride might not be the best choice given the parks struggles with weather. Unless it’s not too splash-y/wet that it leads to avoidance and closures.

 

[Drew the Disney Dude]

One month until walls go up for Encanto!

 

[Blobbles]

One month until walls go up for Encanto!

It’s the beginning of the end of the WDW parks as we know them.

 

[ToTBellHop]

It’s the beginning of the end of the WDW parks as we know them.

Yes, there will be a fortnight of mourning for the beloved TriceraTop Spin. All two of its fans will wear only black.

 

[gerarar]

 

[Blobbles]

Yes, there will be a fortnight of mourning for the beloved TriceraTop Spin. All two of its fans will wear only black.

Chester and Hester respectively. On dinorama, to quote the critic “and nothing of value was lost”

Wondering how the pathways will work. Anyway I think this will be good for DAK long term. And it’ll be interesting to see how different it feels from Dinoland, and the same general sentiment for the other closing sections. Cautiously optimistic for a new generation of Walt Disney world.

 

[danlb_2000]

It’s the beginning of the end of the WDW parks as we know them.

That began a long time ago.