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

[Jumping Fountains]

I don’t want to be pedantic but he is literally an archaeologist. It’s a little more complicated than “he is a literally a raider.” He is a hero not a villain. Is Seeker a raider too because he wants to steal an iguanadon? We are splitting hairs here. Sorry you don’t see how it fits.

I think part of the issue is that archaeologists from earlier eras were raiders, even if they intended their objects to go in museums. I’m not against Indiana Jones stuff (enjoy the movies!), but just was chiming in to note that various professions haven’t existed in vacuums - there are part of their time and at various points in history, they look like heroes and villains).

 

[Poseidon Quest]

I'm reminded of a quote from Henry Ford: "If I had asked people what they want, they'd say a faster horse."

That's a really good point, I'm probably going to steal that.

 

[McMickeyWorld]

He is literally a raider.

A bit late, and I hope not to create a discussion. A good video is this one; it's in Spanish, but the automatic subtitles are enabled.

 

[Tha Realest]

I seriously doubt it's ready by 2026 since work has not begun in any significant capacity at this point, and more than likely Dinoland won't close until January 2025. Even a full year is pushing it to retheme Dinosaur and rebuild Dinorama as something else, especially given recent construction timelines (i.e. slow). I feel like we're looking at 2027 at best for the entire area to be completed.

It does seem like every structure/building outside of the carnival area will likely remain and just be redressed, since they are not terribly old buildings to begin with. No real reason to demo and start over.

I’m willing to extend some grace on the timelines issue . Some of that could be Covid/supply chain/labor issues. GMR-> MMRR was 2.5 years.

I don’t want to be pedantic but he is literally an archaeologist. It’s a little more complicated than “he is a literally a raider.” He is a hero not a villain. Is Seeker a raider too because he wants to steal an iguanadon? We are splitting hairs here. Sorry you don’t see how it fits.

I mean, both Dinosaur and (now) the Indiana Jones film series involve time travel…

 

[capsshield]

I would have to imagine that they are working on or have finished blueprints and surveys done if they are setting up an area to house construction and imagineering. If not by the time that area is prepped they should have that stuff done.

I see no reason why work won't start before summer especially if funding has started. I'm betting spring or summer 27 for tropical America and 28 for lion King or pandora
A lot of projects are wrapping up or just wrapped up and I think these rumors will start to become reality in Florida within months, and about a year later in California site prep will start to take shape for Disneyland forward.

 

[Advisable Joseph]

@MisterPenguin, there was more talk about reusing the train:



Who is "Lee"?

EDIT: Lee is @Lee. How convenient!

More info: the train speculation may be confusion over this exchange:

For what it's worth...

Using a ride to transport guests to Pandora may be the best way to accomplish the task.

But...if Disney wants to go that route...they might oughta hurry.
The park up the road is thinking along the same line for a little future magic. :lookaroun

Like a motion simulated train ride from platform 9 3/4 in King's Cross to Hogsmeade? :ROFLOL:

Close...

 

[KDM31091]

ain't no way they are going to make 2027 with "Tropical Americas"... Half this year is already gone and there have been no shovels in the ground and no official closing date for Dinosaur. So we are probably looking at a closing happening in 2025 at this point, and with a complete gut except for the ride system, that is going to take at least 2.5 years let alone completely rebuilding the entire land to create a village...and then the Encanto ride will be a ground-up build....2028-2029....

This is kinda my line of thinking. Don't see the existing Dinoland closing before 2025 at this point.

Again, I'd think they will wait til D23 to "officially" announce it, and that's in August. By then, it's not a good idea to close a large chunk of the park before the busy holiday season. So to me it seems like Dinoland will survive 2024 and close early in 2025.

 

[ToTBellHop]

This is kinda my line of thinking. Don't see the existing Dinoland closing before 2025 at this point.

Again, I'd think they will wait til D23 to "officially" announce it, and that's in August. By then, it's not a good idea to close a large chunk of the park before the busy holiday season. So to me it seems like Dinoland will survive 2024 and close early in 2025.

They could start Encanto earlier.

 

[Advisable Joseph]

More info: the train speculation may be confusion over this exchange:

There is also this speculation about the transition to Pandora by Eddie Sotto, former Senior Vice President of Concept Designffor Imagineering. He also mentions an idea to use Jungle Cruise to transition to Indiana Jones at Disneyland:

It will be interesting to see how story driven this transition will be. Part of the magic and power or a world is it's reveal. It's magical appearance or transformation or gradual dissolve from one place to another. Disney parks borrow from the "cross dissolve" in films where each world softly fades over the other with a neutral ground in the middle. We usually use landscaping that is common to both worlds as a bridge and the music fades in and out. Sometimes a portal does this as it does in DL Toontown or the MSUSA RR Station at Disneyland. This is a "fade to black/fade in" type transition. "Dissolves" usually happen in movies because the change if edited directly (smash cut) would be too jarring, so in that respect, so can a land if the premise changes. Tomorrowland just happens, you don't have to take a "Time Machine" to get there, the transition does that, although I'd love that to be one way to arrive.

FWIW, i'd like to see a ride that reveals in a story then dramatically ends in Pandora and you get off the ship and explore it yourself like a Tom Sawyer Island experience, filled with interactives and maybe even other rides. Like Kevin's description, (i.e. the indoor Mermaid area at TDS), it's a ride feeding an indoor land. If you did not want to do the ride, maybe you can enter another way so this is not forced on you, but I would love to see someone do that right. This has not been done because there is the argument that the capacity of the ride limits the land or it's going down, but you could have more than one way to get there.

We tried to make the JC take you to Indy at DL, dropping you off at the distant Temple in the Jungle (African Veldt) with a footpath back, that way if the JC went down or you need to meet someone there, etc. you could.

 

[flyerjab]

When we walked through DAK yesterday our first stop was at Dinosaur. For what it is worth, the animatronics all worked. I guess I never realized that half of the prehistoric world was shrouded in some sort of mysterious darkness where you could literally see nothing.

The entirety of Dinoland was very dead. I mean, I can’t understand why. Who wouldn’t want to spend money on overpriced carni style games or lounge in some odd open space that looked like it once contained an attraction of some sort?

Seriously though, this area is so contained that they could wall off near the Boneyard and the other entrance beneath the big Dino without any sort of disruption to the flow of guests. It will be interesting to see if this is done piece meal or all at once.

 

[Ayla]

I’ve seen this episode before. Disney makes seriously ambitious plans that are then dialed back massively. Happened with the DHS “rebirth”. Happened with Epcot’s. It’ll happen again.

Iger is CEO for a couple more years. Anyone suggesting they can predict with any certainty what will or will not be built beyond projects that will be under construction by late 2026 is being disingenuous.

I can’t help but laugh at any suggestion of a 5th theme park.

I am glad I wasn't the only one that snorted when I read that.

 

[Andrew25]

When we walked through DAK yesterday our first stop was at Dinosaur. For what it is worth, the animatronics all worked. I guess I never realized that half of the prehistoric world was shrouded in some sort of mysterious darkness where you could literally see nothing.

The entirety of Dinoland was very dead. I mean, I can’t understand why. Who wouldn’t want to spend money on overpriced carni style games or lounge in some odd open space that looked like it once contained an attraction of some sort?

Seriously though, this area is so contained that they could wall of near the Boneyard and the other entrance beneath the big Dino without any sort of disruption to the flow of guests. It will be interesting to see if this is done piece meal or all at once.

DAK has capacity woes, but like you mentioned, I don't think Dinoland's closure will impact things as much as people expect for it to.

A lot of the capacity "lost" at DAK can be (somewhat) easily salvaged elsewhere:

• Harambe Market can take over the "American" standard fare of burgers/chicken temporarily
• Digsite - Street entertainment
• Dinorama Games - their closure will have no impact
• Dinosaur - biggest loss, but I'd take the temporary hit. Worst case scenario is a 15-minute increase at other attractions.

At best, we can see additional showtime or two added for Lion King/Nemo later in the day.

 

[flyerjab]

DAK has capacity woes, but like you mentioned, I don't think Dinoland's closure will impact things as much as people expect for it to.

A lot of the capacity "lost" at DAK can be (somewhat) easily salvaged elsewhere:

• Harambe Market can take over the "American" standard fare of burgers/chicken temporarily
• Digsite - Street entertainment
• Dinorama Games - their closure will have no impact
• Dinosaur - biggest loss, but I'd take the temporary hit. Worst case scenario is a 15-minute increase at other attractions.

At best, we can see additional showtime or two added for Lion King/Nemo later in the day.

Not for nothing, but I believe they upgraded the seating in Harambe Market recently. Also, the menu has completely evolved from when it opened. They offer bowls now, a little reminiscent of the bowls at Satu’li. Makes me wonder if this is being done in advance of Restaurantasaurus closing. Satu’li can’t really absorb much more due to its popularity. Harambe Market May need to pick up some slack.

 

[Andrew25]

Not for nothing, but I believe they upgraded the seating in Harambe Market recently. Also, the menu has completely evolved from when it opened. They offer bowls now, a little reminiscent of the bowls at Satu’li. Makes me wonder if this is being done in advance of Restaurantasaurus closing. Satu’li can’t really absorb much more due to its popularity. Harambe Market May need to pick up some slack.

The Harambe Market project was already underway I believe prior to any of the D23 related announcements, especially before any concrete details were made. It did receive a new menu, but not sure if it's moved. They kind of need a dedicated "safe" restaurant for burgers/tenders, and I'd want them to avoid impacting Flame Tree BBQ lol

 

[ToTBellHop]

The Harambe Market project was already underway I believe prior to any of the D23 related announcements, especially before any concrete details were made. It did receive a new menu, but not sure if it's moved. They kind of need a dedicated "safe" restaurant for burgers/tenders, and I'd want them to avoid impacting Flame Tree BBQ lol

So you'd be upset if Flame Tree just served burgers and fries with BBQ as a condiment option?

 

[Andrew25]

So you'd be upset if Flame Tree just served burgers and fries with BBQ as a condiment option?

Yes, because the pork at Flame Tree is a fantastic option

 

[ToTBellHop]

Yes, because the pork at Flame Tree is a fantastic option

What if it was a pork/beef blend burger? With artisanal yellow American cheese.

 

[Andrew25]

What if it was a pork/beef blend burger? With artisanal yellow American cheese.

Put a brioche bun and I'll accept.

 

[Jumping Fountains]

We're in this situation because there's only a handful of IPs that can kind of fit into AK, that would also be considered by the Disney of 2023. The same Disney for which a ride like Everest, the Safari, KRR or CTX is sadly beyond comprehension.

Let's hope they avoid the worse case scenario of just building Frozen Ever After, but with Encanto characters and songs.

Am I an outlier for not wanting a lot of songs in my dark ride? I did enjoy the Splash Mt music (zip..) and, do they use “heigh hi” in mine train (only been on it once, so don’t recall!). Music/audio is obviously huge in attractions and ones I love (eg Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc), but I am pretty underwhelmed with the 21st-c Disney songbook. (I still don’t get why “Let it go” is such a hit, let alone “we don’t talk about Bruno”?) Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen them in their respective films, where the stories/characters carry them? I really like Coco, but think the actual songs are weak (love the visuals, instrumental stuff, and themes). I kind of feel like they should swing bigger with some rides and not just rely on a song to be the big moment - ideally I’d like a ride/attraction experience to bring more immersion or delight than what could be accomplished by throwing in a songtrack or parking a child in front of a film on Disney+. The more I write, though, the more I think I’m probably in the minority here. Glad others have love for this type of thing!

 

[erasure fan1]

(I still don’t get why “Let it go” is such a hit, let alone “we don’t talk about Bruno”?)

I'm right there with you. I'm an outlier with these as well. I don't hate them, but I was a bit surprised they blew up the way they did. Lol