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

[PizzaPlanet]

For anybody wondering, Finding Nemo - The Musical is now listed as being in Theater of the Wild, no longer Dinoland but also not part of Asia in case if it was getting encompassed with that land
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Weren’t there Dino Institute logos somewhere at the theater? Wonder if those were removed

 

[WorldExplorer]

When everything is sacred, nothing is. Two years ago, people on this very site were critical of Dinosaur, said it was too dark, that it wasn’t enjoyed like Indy at Land and that work needed to be done to fix it. The moment it was announced to be leaving, oh gosh is it a gem. How dare they gut the VERY SOUL of the park?! The absolute rewriting of history with dino-rimmed glasses is eye-roll worthy.

There are hundreds of millions of people on the Internet.

This area was open for 28 years. Animal Kingdom gets 24,000 visitors a day. Even shaving off a few thousand for repeats and pass holders, that means over 204 million people have experienced this land. We will not all agree. If even one percent of those people liked it, that's over a million willing to speak out and say they do not like this change.

I am not obligated to pretend I hate Dinoland just because you saw people saying they hated it before I said I loved it. Nor is anybody else that's a fan.

You wanna talk about eye roll worthy? The fact that adults on here can't understand that when you see people saying things that contradict, those are two different people with two different opinions is eye roll worthy to me.

Please, I invite you to go through my post history as much as you like; come back to me with any reports of posts saying Dinoland should leave.

 

[KDM31091]

What baffles me is that back when DAK was under construction, the Indy ride at DL existed already, and they had the option to put in Dino or Indy. They intentionally chose Dino because it was a better fit for the park, from what I understand. So now, I guess they don't care? And are going back to remake a 30 year old ride? I have to admit, I don't get the logic nor do I really see how it fits the park, but I know today's Disney just doesn't care.

Yes, I get it won't be the same ride. I get that he will be looking for some creature. Will it really fit in the spirit of the park? I'm not sure. Just featuring a creature isn't good enough IMO. Zootopia: Better Zoogether features animals technically, but still makes zero sense being in the tree trunk, whereas ITTBAB made absolutely perfect sense. We will see. I hate to be so pessimistic but after letdown after letdown it's kind of hard not to be.

I'll die on the hill that Dinoland should have been invested in and improved, and Tropical Americas added but for some reason Disney is allergic to allowing DAK to have more than a small handful of attractions.

 

[DisneyDodo]

The app still shows Chip and Dale meeting in the Dinoland that no longer exists… (Donald and Daisy are now meeting in the Oasis)

 

[FigmentFan82]

All the bemoaning of losing Dino land is purely only from a nostalgic point of view. It was never really a great section of the park and value engineered to have something be there. I remember when camp mini Mickey was there and saw festival of The Lion King and its original location, I do not at all miss that value engineered section of the park. What replaced it is far better and superior and tropical America’s will be far better and superior than Dino land USA ever was!

 

[lazyboy97o]

"Why are they retheming it? It's beloved!"

Most of its life: 5 minutes... 10 minutes if it's feeling spicy.... 15 minutes if something has gone horribly wrong...

Dinosaur was a victim of its location yes, but there's also the fact that people didn't really go on it much. Redoing the area around it, and giving it that new touch of life thru Indy will make that capacity utilized and takes less pressure off of things like Everest and FoP and ESPECIALLY Na'vi River Adventure.

I adored DINOSAUR. My first dinosaur toy in my life came from the gift shop, I'm upset its going, but the fact it lasted this long is a miracle. I'm happy it lasted this long, I got my last rides on it, and that it went out with its head high and loved.

It’s so weird when people argue for a lesser experience and greater waits. It’s not actually good for anyone.

 

[KDM31091]

I hate the argument that low wait means low popularity. The ride had great capacity and throughput. Doesn't make it unpopular. POTC routinely has a 15-30 minute wait even on busy days, because of the great capacity and how it eats through people quickly. Does that make it unpopular? No. I am not suggesting Dinosaur was as popular as POTC but it was not unpopular, and Indy will have the same location and same ride system, so after the hype dies down it will be about the same in popularity in my opinion.

 

[KDM31091]

All the bemoaning of losing Dino land is purely only from a nostalgic point of view. It was never really a great section of the park and value engineered to have something be there. I remember when camp mini Mickey was there and saw festival of The Lion King and its original location, I do not at all miss that value engineered section of the park. What replaced it is far better and superior and tropical America’s will be far better and superior than Dino land USA ever was!

Why not invest in Dinoland and give us Tropical Americas? Why is it always an either or with massive amounts of unused land and a roster of <10 attractions?

 

[lazyboy97o]

All the bemoaning of losing Dino land is purely only from a nostalgic point of view. It was never really a great section of the park and value engineered to have something be there. I remember when camp mini Mickey was there and saw festival of The Lion King and its original location, I do not at all miss that value engineered section of the park. What replaced it is far better and superior and tropical America’s will be far better and superior than Dino land USA ever was!

It’s so telling that people have to just keep repeating the false claim that there was no appreciation for Dinoland USA.

 

[EagleScout610]

Pictures I took this morning just now (2/2). Sacrificed the FoP early entry for this!
The entrance/exit sign to Dinoland has been covered up with tarps.
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The walkway to Dinosaur & Restaurantosaurus has rolling planters blocking that path. Nothing currently happening if you peak through the bushes.
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I imagine after the cast event today we'll see the real walls go up around the area like with MV3D

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Two years ago, people on this very site were critical of Dinosaur, said it was too dark, that it wasn’t enjoyed like Indy at Land and that work needed to be done to fix it. The moment it was announced to be leaving, oh gosh is it a gem. How dare they gut the VERY SOUL of the park?! The absolute rewriting of history with dino-rimmed glasses is eye-roll worthy.

False. The same people who are mourning Dinosaur two years ago are still mourning it. And the same people who were critical are still critical. I legitimately haven't seen one single flipflop on this.

 

[Touchdown]

I hate the argument that low wait means low popularity. The ride had great capacity and throughput. Doesn't make it unpopular. POTC routinely has a 15-30 minute wait even on busy days, because of the great capacity and how it eats through people quickly. Does that make it unpopular? No. I am not suggesting Dinosaur was as popular as POTC but it was not unpopular, and Indy will have the same location and same ride system, so after the hype dies down it will be about the same in popularity in my opinion.

But yet every other version of that ride at parks around the world boasts 90+ min waits most of the day. Yet somehow Dino only havd 30 min waits on average. Look it’s clearly the worst version of that ride system. I get that Indy doesn’t fit the park theme but I’m pretty sure the ride is going to end up better liked and more heavily ridden then Dino. I wish Tropical Americas had some animal exhibits, but I don’t know how you can’t, just looking at the rides, think replacing an off the shelf carnival roller coaster and a dark ride that missed its mark with a brand new state of the art dark ride based on a beloved movie with a killer soundtrack and a variation of a widely loved thrilling dark ride beloved and thought to be one of the best attractions at the two best theme parks in the world isn’t going to be a hit.

 

[FigmentFan82]

It’s so telling that people have to just keep repeating the false claim that there was no appreciation for Dinoland USA.

Never said there was no appreciation.
From my perspective, and many others, dinoland was fair to midland.
Of course people find appreciation in all sorts of things. I hope to appreciate tropical americas.
I appreciate pandora way more than camp Minnie mickey. As always, ymmv

 

[FigmentFan82]

Why not invest in Dinoland and give us Tropical Americas? Why is it always an either or with massive amounts of unused land and a roster of <10 attractions?

Million dollar question. Do you have an answer? I don’t. I also won’t miss Dino, it’s fine for those that will

 

[MisterPenguin]

At the very least there will still be the dinosaur sculptures in the Tree of Life, so dinosaurs won't be 100 percent gone from the park. But it's still sad to see them mostly extinct.

Plenty of dino love in DAK. Just look at all those birds!

 

[FigmentFan82]

If Disney ever wanted to wade back into the Dino theme in the future, I would love a land where you are actually back in time

 

[Moth]

It’s so weird when people argue for a lesser experience and greater waits. It’s not actually good for anyone.

I'm arguing for more balanced waits throughout the park.

It's a lesser experience when a ride such as Na'vi River Journey is demanding a 60+ minute wait but can't walk that walk because that ride doesn't earn that wait. This is a move to balance waits throughout the park and make a better exp and to get people out of the Flight of Passage line and to the underutilized other half of the park.

Having Flight of Passage and Na'vi go down in wait time through this means people can actually do those experiences without the pressure of buying into the LL monster or extensive planning that constrains enjoyment of a day at the park. Tropical America as a whole will probably end up leading to extended park hours, which again: will overall help guest enjoyment because it means they have a more extended timeframe to do what they want to do.

Could they have done just the Encanto and carousel part of TA and left DINOSAUR alone? Absolutely! I would prefer that because I don't care for Indiana Jones and think dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures have a major role in the ethos of Animal Kingdom. But that doesn't change the fact that the majority of the general public didn't care for the ride, and for a park that needs capacity and to spread it's crowds out more, I can't help but feel a major alteration like Jones was in order.

Should that alteration have had dinosaurs? Yeah. But Disney doesn't see dinosaurs as a valuable asset. Hence why we're stuck with Harrison Ford.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Pictures I took this morning just now (2/2). Sacrificed the FoP early entry for this!
The entrance/exit sign to Dinoland has been covered up with tarps.
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The walkway to Dinosaur & Restaurantosaurus has rolling planters blocking that path. Nothing currently happening if you peak through the bushes.
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What is this “Dinoland” you speak of? I do not speak the old tongue.

 

[WorldExplorer]

All the bemoaning of losing Dino land is purely only from a nostalgic point of view. It was never really a great section of the park and value engineered to have something be there. I remember when camp mini Mickey was there and saw festival of The Lion King and its original location, I do not at all miss that value engineered section of the park. What replaced it is far better and superior and tropical America’s will be far better and superior than Dino land USA ever was!

My childhood experience with Dinoland is seeing the carnotaurous picture is a kiddie guide and being afraid to be alone because I was sure it was going to show up at the time share. I formed all my opinions as an adult, not nearly long enough ago to be anything remotely resembling nostalgia.

Throwing the word nostalgia around isn't actually a good argument. Sometimes people just disagree with you.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm arguing for more balanced waits throughout the park.

It's a lesser experience when a ride such as Na'vi River Journey is demanding a 60+ minute wait but can't walk that walk because that ride doesn't earn that wait. This is a move to balance waits throughout the park and make a better exp and to get people out of the Flight of Passage line and to the underutilized other half of the park.

Having Flight of Passage and Na'vi go down in wait time through this means people can actually do those experiences without the pressure of buying into the LL monster or extensive planning that constrains enjoyment of a day at the park. Tropical America as a whole will probably end up leading to extended park hours, which again: will overall help guest enjoyment because it means they have a more extended timeframe to do what they want to do.

Could they have done just the Encanto and carousel part of TA and left DINOSAUR alone? Absolutely! I would prefer that because I don't care for Indiana Jones and think dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures have a major role in the ethos of Animal Kingdom. But that doesn't change the fact that the majority of the general public didn't care for the ride, and for a park that needs capacity and to spread it's crowds out more, I can't help but feel a major alteration like Jones was in order.

Should that alteration have had dinosaurs? Yeah. But Disney doesn't see dinosaurs as a valuable asset. Hence why we're stuck with Harrison Ford.

The parks needs capacity. The capacity of Dinosaur was already being used. Just making the wait longer doesn’t increase capacity. And just having higher waits in more places doesn’t make the experience better even if it makes things look more balanced.