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

[Cmdr_Crimson]

"We can't compete with Jurassic Park, let's just give up on making anything else with dinosaurs and let Universal have a monopoly on them" thinking has been a plague on Hollywood. Like I'm pretty sure you weren't supposed to take the Simpsons bit seriously.

Hey, when they found out that the Velociraptor encounter was doing well out at Universal. Disney too wanted a piece of the Raptor pie when they had a land roaming Raptor named ...Val for some reason..And it was the same branded costume Universal was first using but painted differently before they upgraded their versions..
Disney version.

Universal version

 

[KDM31091]

It seems absolutely ridiculous to me to remove dinosaurs entirely from the park, when it is one of the cornerstones of the park. Disney doesn't care about thematic integrity anymore. It's just whatever they think will sell more merch at the end of the day, and Encanto is a currently popular IP, so throw it in...

Hopefully, they have decided on something else and even more hopefully, this is an actual addition to the park and not just a retheme that doesn't add capacity. I don't know why Disney is always so intent on replacing and not adding new attractions.

Was looking forward to riding Dinosaur one last time during our late April/early May trip. May not get that chance now.

I feel like you will be able to then. More than likely at least some amount of notice will be given before it closes, and I also feel like they will close Dinoland in phases if that is what they have decided they are doing. The DinoRama area would require full demolition, whereas the Dinosaur ride is a retheme of an existing system, so IMO they would probably close the carnival area first, clear it, and close Dinosaur later. Of course, I could be wrong. The park really can't afford to lose the entirety of Dinoland at once.

 

[DisneyDean97]

Was looking forward to riding Dinosaur one last time during our late April/early May trip. May not get that chance now.

I'm pretty sure you'll still have the chance

 

[DisneyDean97]

So the question is, is this a trailer compound or the project, or are the moving something to make room for the project? If it was a just for this project I am not sure why they would have put it so far back, but the parking is all gravel which would seem to indicate temporary.

staging area for the Dino project. there's no room behind Dinoland to stage for this project.

 

[James Alucobond]

I mean, will they? We'll find out...

You know the answer.

 

[monothingie]

So the question is, is this a trailer compound or the project, or are the moving something to make room for the project? If it was a just for this project I am not sure why they would have put it so far back, but the parking is all gravel which would seem to indicate temporary.

This is not construction staging, it appears to be mostly WDI offices. With lots and lots of parking.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns out to be something else.

 

[Disney Analyst]

 

[James Alucobond]

This is not construction staging, it appears to be mostly WDI offices. With lots and lots of parking.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns out to be something else.

If they were permanent offices, the parking lot likely wouldn't be entirely gravel.

 

[danlb_2000]

staging area for the Dino project. there's no room behind Dinoland to stage for this project.

But this is not a staging area, this is offices. A construction staging area would still be needed. Construction staging could go in that area but closer to the park.

 

[discos]

Did WDI ever set up offices like this when they built Pandora? If they didn't then this whole set up seems like maybe something even bigger will be coming to AK. Maybe its more than just a Dinoland replacement.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Did WDI ever set up offices like this when they built Pandora? If they didn't then this whole set up seems like maybe something even bigger will be coming to AK. Maybe its more than just a Dinoland replacement.

I don’t know if they did for Pandora, but they do it for most major expansions.

 

[lentesta]

Get a load of this idiot in the Orlando Sentinel (no paywall) on Friday:

Testa expects a full-blown, revamped DinoLand, once the site of Primeval Whirl, a coaster that closed in 2020 and demolished in 2021.

“I think, again, you’re going to see a big thrill ride, you’ll see a family-friendly, possibly dark ride, possibly water-based ride, sort of intermediate thing like Na’vi River Journey [at Animal Kingdom], and then you’ll see a third ride, which is, you know, the Magic Carpets of Aladdin [at Magic Kingdom] or something like that,” he said.

If I was a betting man instead of the devout religious stock y'all know and love, I'd say Dinosaur becomes Raiders of the Lost Ark-timeline Indiana Jones. Or put another way, there's probably a memo going around with words like "Don't Batuu this, okay?" scrawled at the top.

And just from talk around the water cooler, Dinoland becomes "South America", with culture, flora, and fauna from that region (plus maybe Mexico, so "The Americas"?). I could be wrong there, that's just based on vibes.

I am moderately surprised AK goes before DHS and MK. I didn't hear much about this until fairly recently. I'm very confident in the MK expansion, but now less so about DHS. Just because I don't think they can do 3 big projects in Florida simultaneously.

 

[lazyboy97o]

This is not construction staging, it appears to be mostly WDI offices. With lots and lots of parking.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns out to be something else.

Yes, Walt Disney Imagineering controls the offices but they are used by the project team that includes the contractors, architects, engineers and other vendors.

 

[danlb_2000]

Was looking forward to riding Dinosaur one last time during our late April/early May trip. May not get that chance now.

I think you will be ok. SFWMD permits often get filed months in advance, and this is just for offices, and this area will take time to build. There would also still need to be permits for a construction staging area, and for the actual project itself. Of course this doesn't mean that they couldn't close Dino early.

 

[PSUDisney77]

I'm pretty sure you'll still have the chance

I know Disney's construction is at a snails pace lately, besides the Tiana retheme. My son is so into dinos right now. Don't know if he'll be scared but I'm pretty sure he'll at least want to give it a go.

 

[danlb_2000]

Did WDI ever set up offices like this when they built Pandora? If they didn't then this whole set up seems like maybe something even bigger will be coming to AK. Maybe its more than just a Dinoland replacement.

Yes...

 

[James Alucobond]

“I think, again, you’re going to see a big thrill ride, you’ll see a family-friendly, possibly dark ride, possibly water-based ride, sort of intermediate thing like Na’vi River Journey [at Animal Kingdom], and then you’ll see a third ride, which is, you know, the Magic Carpets of Aladdin [at Magic Kingdom] or something like that,” he said.

Wait, so ... thrill to replace Dinosaur, dark ride for Encanto, and spinner to replace TriceraTop, but where does a water ride come in? Or is that a qualifier on the dark ride? Encanto being a two-fer with an outdoor section that takes you through the Caño Cristales they showed around Casita would be cool.

 

[discos]

Yes...

View attachment 773668

That area seems tiny in size compared to what the new permit suggests, no?

 

[danlb_2000]

That area seems tiny in size compared to what the new permit suggests, no?

Yes, the Avatar trailers were a 12-wide, the new permit shows a 4-wide, and 2 16-wides for WDI, a future 4 wide for WDI and future 16-wide for a contractor. The "future" ones really suggest to me that at least part of this is a move of existing facilities.

 

[discos]

Yes, the Avatar trailers were a 12-wide, the new permit shows a 4-wide, and 2 16-wides for WDI, a future 4 wide for WDI and future 16-wide for a contractor. The "future" ones really suggest to me that at least part of this is a move of existing facilities.

That would make sense if they need to move some of those backstage facilities behind Dinoland