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

[HMF]

I appreciate this article and the level of research Imagineering is putting into this ride and section of the park.

The ride focusing on the 'intrinsic value of nature' through the lens of Mayan culture sounds both wonderful and more fitting to AK. Obviously, no amount of homework can produce a good ride or themed area, but articles like this give me a lot of faith. We know the bones of the ride are great and I hope they've also taken in feedback from TBA. At least this time signs point to thrills and tension remaining core to the ride and story.

I hope we have lots of Mayan references and callbacks throughout the town of Pueblo Esperanza and that the play area is Mayan themed too. That will really help bring this inline with the theming elsewhere in AK.

There used to be an entire section of a certain attraction exclusively dedicated to Mayan and Aztec culture, not that the majority of guests really understood it.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Authentically Disney. Uniquely Mayan.

 

[Tom Morrow]

That blogmickey article, although seemingly enhanced with AI filler text, is reassuring. It does seem to indicate that they understand the assignment well in making the land itself and Indy fit with the park in similar vein to how they made Pandora fit. It also does sound like more care is being put into Indy than a simple Disneyland copy "but make it about an animal or something" like was assumed.

Interestingly, it said nothing about Encanto other than it’s being built from scratch. They mentioned that the carousel is an important piece of the story of the land. I still have hope that they will reconsider it being a Disney IP carousel. I get why they're doing Encanto, but the carousel truly should be just cultural and artistic.

 

[Bocabear]

I think they are going for artistic and cultural representations of Disney IP....So hand carved-looking folk art-styled versions of your favorite Disney characters.... I wonder what Sven and Elsa will look like? lol

 

[Tom Morrow]

I think they are going for artistic and cultural representations of Disney IP....So hand carved-looking folk art-styled versions of your favorite Disney characters.... I wonder what Sven and Elsa will look like? lol

It just doesn't have to be Disney characters at all though. Artistically carved versions of the animals in the region and perhaps folklore from the region would do so much to tie the land together. If there's one thing I wish Disney would reconsider about this project, since its not too late, it's this. People will ride a carousel regardless of what the animals on it look like, so why not just go all-in on the story of the Pueblo Esperanza? One attraction not tied to IP would do so much to have this land pair well with Africa and Asia in being "real world" locations.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I agree 100% but at least the example showed at D23 looks nice and I believe is actually hand carved?

Anything is better than the plastic critters on the Toy Story carousel at DCA - that thing makes me feel angry every time I see it!!! Fortunately emotional whirlwind is just down the path. Haha

 

[James Alucobond]

I agree 100% but at least the example showed at D23 looks nice and I believe is actually hand carved?

It also helps that Kevin is canonically supposed to be a South American species. If they were all IP animals that could at least reasonably be found in the region, it would help significantly, but the only artwork available implies characters like Eeyore and Timon are potentially in the mix.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I think I would also be okay with this if it were a case where you wouldn't know they were Disney character representations unless you knew to look for that, kind of like how Regal Eagle at Epcot is a Muppets restaurant but it isn't obvious if you don't look closely.

Like for instance, have a lion, meerkat, and warthog be grouped together, but not specifically make them Simba, Timon, and Pumba.

 

[Andrew C]

It just doesn't have to be Disney characters at all though. Artistically carved versions of the animals in the region and perhaps folklore from the region would do so much to tie the land together. If there's one thing I wish Disney would reconsider about this project, since its not too late, it's this. People will ride a carousel regardless of what the animals on it look like, so why not just go all-in on the story of the Pueblo Esperanza? One attraction not tied to IP would do so much to have this land pair well with Africa and Asia in being "real world" locations.

Are any animal attractions confirmed for Tropical Americas?

 

[Bocabear]

they didn't have to be any sort of Disney character....they could have all been the Alebrijes...fantastical mythical animals....from Coco. That would have added a nice cultural nod without being literally Disney characters.... and at night, when the ride starts moving the lighting could have transitioned to UV blacklight and they could have all lit up which would have looked amazing and fun...before the ride stops, the lights could transition back to normal carousel lighting... It could have been a wonderful nod to Coco and added a bit of wow factor to it....

 

[HMF]

I think I would also be okay with this if it were a case where you wouldn't know they were Disney character representations unless you knew to look for that, kind of like how Regal Eagle at Epcot is a Muppets restaurant but it isn't obvious if you don't look closely.

The fact that Regal Eagle is themed to Sam next to what is a major serious attraction looking at American history is evidence to me that they really don't understand who the character is supposed to be.

 

[gorillaball]

Are any animal attractions confirmed for Tropical Americas?

Confirmed there will not be any.

 

[MisterPenguin]

The fact that Regal Eagle is themed to Sam next to what is a serious look at a major serious attraction looking at American history is evidence to me that they really don't understand who the character is supposed to be.

Sam is a patriotic eagle.

Don't know how you could have missed that.

 

[Jayspency]

Confirmed there will not be any.

That kind of defeats the purpose of having a South American themed land in the animal park and not Epcot.

 

[eddie104]

That kind of defeats the purpose of having a South American themed land in the animal park and not Epcot.

We already had this discussion pages ago.

Disney building any new animal exhibit in the foreseeable future is pretty much out the picture. I can only see them upgrading and expanding current facilities.

Ever since Blackfish in 2013 that basically destroyed Sea World the general public is a lot more critical on Animal conservation and zoos as a whole.

Personally I think it would be irresponsible for them procure any more Animals unless absolutely necessary.

 

[Brer Panther]

You don't think they'll eventually remove all the animals entirely, do you?

 

[lazyboy97o]

We already had this discussion pages ago.

Disney building any new animal exhibit in the foreseeable future is pretty much out the picture. I can only see them upgrading and expanding current facilities.

Ever since Blackfish in 2013 that basically destroyed Sea World the general public is a lot more critical on Animal conservation and zoos as a whole.

Personally I think it would be irresponsible for them procure any more Animals unless absolutely necessary.

The park has added new animals…

 

[Gremlin Gus]

We already had this discussion pages ago.

Disney building any new animal exhibit in the foreseeable future is pretty much out the picture. I can only see them upgrading and expanding current facilities.

Ever since Blackfish in 2013 that basically destroyed Sea World the general public is a lot more critical on Animal conservation and zoos as a whole.

Personally I think it would be irresponsible for them procure any more Animals unless absolutely necessary.

Conservation Station is adding Australian animals to the new Bluey experience coming to there. The only reasons I could see Disney not putting any animal exhibits into Tropical Americas is because of 1. Lack of space in the land to put any exhibits, 2. Disney wanting there to be nightlife in AK to open AK for later hours in the future.

Also I don't think Blackfish has anything to do with Disney not wanting to put any new animals in, because as far as I am aware, Disney's conservation program at AK does a pretty good job at taking care of the animals there, so I don't see there being any hard public pushback for putting more animal exhibits (...Unless you happen to be PETA, but even then, they're pretty much despised even among the public sooo)

 

[Turtlekrawl]

We already had this discussion pages ago.

Disney building any new animal exhibit in the foreseeable future is pretty much out the picture. I can only see them upgrading and expanding current facilities.

Ever since Blackfish in 2013 that basically destroyed Sea World the general public is a lot more critical on Animal conservation and zoos as a whole.

Personally I think it would be irresponsible for them procure any more Animals unless absolutely necessary.

I would say a vocal minority is more critical.
The general public still has a favorable opinion of zoos, especially if animals have larger habitats as they generally do in DAK.

 

[HMF]

You don't think they'll eventually remove all the animals entirely, do you?

Only if PETA bought a controlling share in WDC.