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

M

MR.Dis

Well-Known Member
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

flyerjab

Well-Known Member
BrianLo said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
Last edited:
JackCH

JackCH

Well-Known Member
flyerjab said:
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.
Click to expand...
This is exactly why I keep harping on the flume coming to AK… it fits perfectly and addresses a BUNCH of needs.
 
G

gorillaball

Well-Known Member
mattpeto said:
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.
Click to expand...
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

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
flyerjab said:
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.
Click to expand...
gorillaball said:
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?
Click to expand...

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.

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

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.
 
B

Blobbles

Well-Known Member
ToTBellHop said:
Yes, there will be a fortnight of mourning for the beloved TriceraTop Spin. All two of its fans will wear only black.
Click to expand...
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.
 
rle4lunch

rle4lunch

Well-Known Member
BrianLo said:
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.



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.
Click to expand...

Agree with a log flume not being the ideal fit here. With the rapids ride (even though it's about 2 minutes too short), MK has their flume. I'm guessing the VAST majority of WDW customers buy park hopper tickets. Why have 2 flumes? Come up with something better than a ride that's going to have 50 years of maintenance problems and already exists in MK in one iteration.
 
B

Blobbles

Well-Known Member
danlb_2000 said:
That began a long time ago.
Click to expand...
Now, it reaches completion. I imagine that Disney has had a LOT of rides it has wanted gone, and is finally getting the chance to change them now. We’ve seen it with Dinoland, bugs life Tom Sawyer, a new show for CBJ, ect. And I imagine this won’t be the last. Next couple years will probably be the test of which rides will truly stick around for the long term. Sans three Cabs, which can’t really go logistically, if I were you and was a fan of any rides on the older or “underrated in your eyes” attractions of any sort of popularity, I’d go enjoy them now. No insider info but I imagine that a lot will not survive the “ten year plan” Disney has for wdw.
 
rd805

rd805

Well-Known Member
rle4lunch said:
Agree with a log flume not being the ideal fit here. With the rapids ride (even though it's about 2 minutes too short), MK has their flume. I'm guessing the VAST majority of WDW customers buy park hopper tickets. Why have 2 flumes? Come up with something better than a ride that's going to have 50 years of maintenance problems and already exists in MK in one iteration.
Click to expand...

I'd love to see a new water-ride, and to me it makes sense at AK as it is such a HOT theme park. I'm not sure if it accurate, but i feel like there is lack of shade, or air flow, or something that just seems to make AK seem warmer to me. I also love the idea of multiple water parks in the same park -- if you are going to get drenched, why not do it twice rather than park hop/dry off, and then get wet again? To me, it's a no-brainer.
 
JohnD

JohnD

Well-Known Member
flyerjab

flyerjab

Well-Known Member
wdwmagic said:

Disney Imagineering Files Notice of Commencement for Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom​

www.wdwmagic.com

Disney Imagineering Files Notice of Commencement for Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom

Disney Imagineering Files Notice of Commencement for Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom
www.wdwmagic.com www.wdwmagic.com
Click to expand...
I love seeing this! It’s step 1 of many more steps to be taken over the next 5 years to add modern, state of the art attractions/experiences to each park. This is when Bioteconstruct starts taking routine flyover photos that are dissected and torn apart on Disney social media sites everywhere. All of the minutiae you can’t see in the models and concept art will start to get a bit more clear.

This will be akin to when Pandora started construction in 2014. I can’t count how many times I made the family stop so I could take photos of the floating mountains in back of Rainforest Cafe just so that I could post them here.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom