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

[ednamodedarling]

I get the feeling the Encanto ride will be a standard book report with no specific ties to DAK, so it can be easily cloned to other resorts (like FEA)

While Indy will get a setting/storyline that feels very connected to the park/land, considering how maleable the IP is, all you really need is a couple Indy appearances and the theme song, and everything else can be original (and it won't be cloned)

I would like to believe they are developing some kind of Dinosaur adjacent ride experience with the ENCANTO property ... storyline being the animals have escaped and we have to help antonio bring them back. With appearances from the other characters throughout.

 

[DisneyDodo]

I would like to believe they are developing some kind of Dinosaur adjacent ride experience with the ENCANTO property ... storyline being the animals have escaped and we have to help antonio bring them back. With appearances from the other characters throughout.

Development on this ride started well before Encanto was suggested as a property going to BBTM. It’s unclear how long after D23 2022 Disney shifted to the Tropical Americas concept for Dinoland, but it’s safe to say that WDI was deep into development of the Encanto ride.

So the question is, to what extend were they willing to go back and change things about the ride to better fit the themes of DAK? Small things like the dialog are simple to change. If this ride does in fact use the LPS ride system as rumored, it would be relatively easy to make tweaks to the ride path. But I doubt they would want to reconfigure the entire layout of the show building, for example, to support a total rewrite of the story.

 

[Timothy_Q]

Development on this ride started well before Encanto was suggested as a property going to BBTM. It’s unclear how long after D23 2022 Disney shifted to the Tropical Americas concept for Dinoland, but it’s safe to say that WDI was deep into development of the Encanto ride.

So the question is, to what extend were they willing to go back and change things about the ride to better fit the themes of DAK? Small things like the dialog are simple to change. If this ride does in fact use the LPS ride system as rumored, it would be relatively easy to make tweaks to the ride path. But I doubt they would want to reconfigure the entire layout of the show building, for example, to support a total rewrite of the story.

If nothing else they can at least scatter a few more animals around

 

[MisterPenguin]

If nothing else they can at least scatter a few more animals around

 

[OSUPhantom]

If there ends of being a Coco carousel I imagine it’ll be themed to the alebrijes then with Indy likely being some story around a mythic/legendary animal the Tropical Americas may end up kind of being the spiritual successor to Beastly Kingdom…

 

[PREMiERdrum]

If there ends of being a Coco carousel I imagine it’ll be themed to the alebrijes then with Indy likely being some story around a mythic/legendary animal the Tropical Americas may end up kind of being the spiritual successor to Beastly Kingdom…

OG concept AK buffs would be thrilled with the direction Tropical Americas is taking.

 

[celluloid]

If there ends of being a Coco carousel I imagine it’ll be themed to the alebrijes then with Indy likely being some story around a mythic/legendary animal the Tropical Americas may end up kind of being the spiritual successor to Beastly Kingdom…

Yikes. What a whimper of a spiritual successor considering the bigger ticket is likely an opening day attraction rethemed and the park is only Net 3 rides since it opened nearly 20 years ago.

 

[sedati]

OG concept AK buffs would be thrilled with the direction Tropical Americas is taking.

Is it going to have a Fantasia Boat ride?

 

[OSUPhantom]

Yikes. What a whimper of a spiritual successor considering the bigger ticket is likely an opening day attraction rethemed and the park is only Net 3 rides since it opened nearly 20 years ago.

Certainly one way to look at it…

 

[Timothy_Q]

If Beastly Kingdom had never been a thing and Disney decided to build a medieval european land at DAK today people would complain SO MUCH that it doesn't fit the park

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

OG concept AK buffs would be thrilled with the direction Tropical Americas is taking.

If Beastly Kingdom had never been a thing and Disney decided to build a medieval european land at DAK today people would complain SO MUCH that it doesn't fit the park

If this had been an actual new land instead of a reformat of an existing one that had a much better and more fitting foundation, I don't think you'd have seen quite as much flack against it. Dinoland still remains much more clear and true to the park's intent though, fixable flaws aside.

But I'd argue that Beastly Kingdom was much more clear with its message of representing "fictional animals" than Encanto, Coco or Indiana Jones will be. Even if they do add a few scattered real South American animal exhibits to try and offset these poor fitting intrusions.

 

[KDM31091]

It is sad that they simply want to shove IP wherever and grasp at straws to try and make it fit/ make sense. Unfortunately they just don’t seem to care about the storytelling anymore or making things make sense. They will phone it in and make an attempt, but there’s really not much about encanto or coco that makes sense for the park.

It’s similar to the renaming of the studio park at DLP to Disney Adventure World. Make it as generic as possible so they can shove whatever they want in.

 

[celluloid]

It’s similar to the renaming of the studio park at DLP to Disney Adventure World. Make it as generic as possible so they can shove whatever they want in.

Well said. Goes back to desperation, limiting to the synergy edict and homogenization discussions.

 

[James Alucobond]

If this had been an actual new land instead of a reformat of an existing one that had a much better and more fitting foundation, I don't think you'd have seen quite as much flack against it. Dinoland still remains much more clear and true to the park's intent though, fixable flaws aside.

I don’t see what’s wrong with the foundation for the new land or what makes Dinoland “more true” to the park’s intent. Tropical Americas fits in very well with Asia and Africa assuming they stick to the existing village format. The execution of the attractions is what will ultimately tell us if it works as well, but it’s also worth keeping in mind that for the majority of visitors, there was only one ride in this area before that wasn’t utter garbage.

 

[MouseEarsMom33]

I am actually surprised at all the complaints that I have been seeing about Dinoland going away. It's one of the emptier parts of the park. The theming of it just seems off with the rest of the lands in AK. I feel like Tropical Americas fits in much better with Asia, Africa, and Pandora than a carnival-themed area about Dinosaurs. Dinoland feels like it should have been at Hollywood Studios instead. Whenever I am in Dinoland, I feel like I am at a regular theme park and not a Disney park. Seeing what Disney is doing with Tiana's Bayou Adventure and all the critters, I would be really surprised it there are not animal references or actual animals within Tropical Americas.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I don’t see what’s wrong with the foundation for the new land or what makes Dinoland “more true” to the park’s intent. Tropical Americas fits in very well with Asia and Africa assuming they stick to the existing village format. The execution of the attractions is what will ultimately tell us if it works as well, but it’s also worth keeping in mind that for the majority of visitors, there was only one ride in this area before that wasn’t utter garbage.

Tropical Americas isn't the problem. The attractions are what I was referring to.

 

[James Alucobond]

Tropical Americas isn't the problem. The attractions are what I was referring to.

Oh, gotcha. Got thrown off by the word “foundation”.

 

[doctornick]

If Beastly Kingdom had never been a thing and Disney decided to build a medieval european land at DAK today people would complain SO MUCH that it doesn't fit the park

I was think it the other day in that one of the supposed attractions for Beastly Kingdomme was based on Fantasia and you could say the exact same things about that which many people note with the IPs being suggest - not really about “real” animals or nature, just using an IP to tie in without regards to the park’s mission statement, no elements of conservation, animals are human surrogates as opposed to behaving like animals, etc.

I’m sure the land would have been good if it were built but probably wouldn’t meet the standards some impose on the park now

 

[KDM31091]

I think the Tropical Americas premise is fine but throwing in random Coco and Encanto rides, not so much.

I also still feel like dinosaurs deserve some part in the park. I’m hopeful that out of pure cost cutting, some of the existing dinos will remain in the conversion to Indy but who knows.

 

[Incomudro]

It is sad that they simply want to shove IP wherever and grasp at straws to try and make it fit/ make sense. Unfortunately they just don’t seem to care about the storytelling anymore or making things make sense. They will phone it in and make an attempt, but there’s really not much about encanto or coco that makes sense for the park.

It’s similar to the renaming of the studio park at DLP to Disney Adventure World. Make it as generic as possible so they can shove whatever they want in.

They're hammering square pegs into round holes while exclaiming "It fits!"