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

[AlexYun_]

Agree 100%. That’s why Encanto Land made no sense for MK but Villains Land would fit nice. The lands at MK should be more general where IP based rides that fit the land would be fine IMHO.

That being said, the Radiator Springs Racers ride could maybe fit as a ride in Frontierland with the mountains and desert theming. Not my first choice for sure, but better than a stand alone Cars Land.

It could blend in well right behind Thunder Mountain, yeah

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Agree 100%. That’s why Encanto Land made no sense for MK but Villains Land would fit nice. The lands at MK should be more general where IP based rides that fit the land would be fine IMHO.

That being said, the Radiator Springs Racers ride could maybe fit as a ride in Frontierland with the mountains and desert theming. Not my first choice for sure, but better than a stand alone Cars Land.

Definitely how I meant it in my thinking - just an addition to Frontierland, not a whole land ... so maybe just do the restaurant and Radiator Springs Racers, not the smaller rides as well

 

[No Name]

There’s no chance they build Radiator Springs Racers on the heels of signing a new contract with GM.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Frozen in Norway is fine. My issue is the book report ride. Maelstrom was better, as a view into Norway’s history and present. I wish Frozen used their characters to tell a similar story about Norway. I’ve been to Norway, it’s an incredible place with a rich history.

This is my whole point. Using Frozen characters to tie into real world Norway would be fine, but that's not what they did. It's almost the Arendelle pavilion at this point (not entirely, though, which is good).

They opted for a story treatment on the ride that made no effort to ground the attraction into anything relevant to Norwegian society. Even the meet and greet had a backstory about summering in Norway.

The other side of this is that Frozen is such a huge franchise for the company that the attraction does a disservice to the franchise.

As for the projected faces, it works great for the trolls and horribly for the humans.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Reasons I think (emphasis on think) this announcement might have some more weight to it than your regular Blue Sky crap Disneys been doing lately, is they released the concept art. They never tend to do that if its still that much up in the air. They didnt with Moana/Zootopia and they didnt with the first Epcot future world overhaul blue sky. So there's that.

Secondly, in the announcement they announced the land Tropical Americas coming, with what would inhabit it being the blue sky element. Doesnt that mean the theme is set, yet the IP is still to be debated over?

I commented on that as well. I could see the concept art evolving (say, how Toy Story Land evolved), but I'm guessing Tropical Americas ultimately gets built.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'd keep Encanto contained to the ride & Meet & Greets. That IP in DAK is already pushing it, I don't think it should have a musical show too. I'm not the biggest fan of that Nemo show but it's cute & fits the park well enough.

I figure that the cheap roadside theming of Dinosaur is what won the execs on that land over Beastly Kingdom back during the budget cuts. I don't believe that's what anyone wanted to do with Dinosaurs during the initial brainstorming phase.

I really wish they could've gone back & fixed the land into a more proper Dinosaur land. Maybe one day it could still happen. The dinosaurs "returning" to Animal Kingdom, in the expansion plot above Asia, like a decade after Dinoland closes would be great marketing tbh.... That's if they ever decide to use that expansion plot though. -_-

My understanding was that the choice was Excavator vs. Dinorama and Dinorama has more capacity and could be built quicker.

I've been staring at this Tropical Americas concept art for a while and I'm starting to think that the Animal Kingdom plans also include Coco. Personally I'd rather have Coco at Epcot, but I think this is where things are heading.

• The buildings bare a closer resemblance to the town of Santa Cecilia in Coco then the village from Encanto
• The entrance into the area includes the multi-colored banners as seen in Coco
• The entrance includes a bell tower, similar to the church in Coco
• The area can represent multiple IPs (we already know about Indiana Jones and Encanto)
• Disney already has two Coco restaurants planned for the near future (Disneyland Paris and the Disney Treasure Cruise ship) so I think it's plausible and cost-effective to re-theme Restaurantosaurus.

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Also the concept art shows a large gazebo that most people think is a covered re-themed Triceratops Spin. I think there are two possibilities for a retheme. The first being Antonio from Encanto's animals, the second being the Alebrijes (specifically Pepita the flying jaguar) from Coco. The Alebrijes makes sense for two reasons: they are flying mythical animals, two the covered area would be dark enough for glow in the dark paint to be used.

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I suggested a carousel on some of the Flame Tree BBQ seating footprint as a way to add a flat ride to DAK. My suggested had Oaxacan stylized animals to fit the Discovery Island theming. If you do this same carousel with a Coco / Oaxacan style it would present a very logical transition from the main Discovery Island hub.

 

[TP2000]

Yeah, if they want to do Cars Land in WDW, put it in DHS.

It's been over a decade since Cars Land opened. WDW hasn't done a thing with it, other than clone Mater's Junkyard Jamboree into a Toy Story ride under a rain covering. My bet is that Cars Land stays a Disneyland Resort exclusive.

 

[J4546]

I hope so, cars land is a great exclusive land that and the best part of ca.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨︎ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

There’s no chance they build Radiator Springs Racers on the heels of signing a new contract with GM.

Why would that matter?

 

[No Name]

Why would that matter?

Obviously GM wouldn’t want them to build Radiator Springs Racers at WDW because it would just naturally lessen the popularity of Test Track, even if Test Track is a better ride. Disney isn’t going to bite the hand that feeds them. If they build RSR, they risk losing the sponsorship and having another car-themed attraction they’d probably want to retheme to Cars anyway. It’s never going to happen.

 

[SilentWindODoom]

I think the Dinosaur ride is fairly popular, but the land is not. I've really only seen people talk positively about that land in theme park fanatic circles & it's usually just about the story, not the quality of the land itself.

The ride, gift shop, Resaturantasurus & Digsite are good. But the ugly parking lot carnival never should've existed.

Dinosaurs belong at Animal Kingdom. And I've been hoping they just cut the carnival away and make that and Nemo Oceania or something... and...

Wow. I just looked at the satellite. I never realized how incredibly small the carnival actually is now that Primeval Whirl is gone. It's a fraction of Dinosaur's ride building. There's so little room there.

I've always looked at Indy and felt jealous, but... I just wish we could keep dinosaurs. Even if we did an Americas section including parts of both since the Americas have been the home to many premiere dinos. But putting Indy or something into that building just seems like such a juicy peach to everyone involved.

I really hope Coco doesn't come to Animal Kingdom. You can stretch Encanto & Indy to fit Animal Kingdom but there's no way to make Coco work. It'll be even worse if it's just for a flat ride or restaurant; the theme doesn't fit & then they're wasting the IP on something stupid like that.

Save Coco for the Beyond Big Thunder plans. I actually really like that plan & Big Thunder going into Mexico/Coco works really well.

Three! That’s THREE IPs being considered for Animal Kingdom that don’t fit the park! Ah, ah, AH!

(Four if you count people saying Journey of Water should be there.)

 

[fgmnt]

I don’t see how you can take any of this announcement seriously if walls are not up at Dinorama by February 2024.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I don’t see how you can take any of this announcement seriously if walls are not up at Dinorama by February 2024.

Because that’s a completely arbitrary date with no relation to the actual design process.

 

[fgmnt]

Because that’s a completely arbitrary date with no relation to the actual design process.

I mean, it shouldn’t be treated as an effective announcement if they are not even in a position to build before D23. it’s just an idea. i don’t think that’s controversial.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I mean, it shouldn’t be treated as an effective announcement if they are not even in a position to build before D23. it’s just an idea. i don’t think that’s controversial.

Even projects that have opened were generally not in a position to build when they were announced. That’s just not when Disney announces projects and it’s nothing new. Even if they were that far along, there are all sorts of ways to sequence work.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I don’t see how you can take any of this announcement seriously if walls are not up at Dinorama by February 2024.

I take it seriously as something they are considering, like they said, but not expecting any work to start any time soon

 

[DAK1928]

Regardless of it coming to fruition there is at least a proposal which is good enough for us Disney history nerds to speculate endlessly about until it either becomes official or becomes a "Disney that never was" youtube video essay

 

[Jrb1979]

I take it seriously as something they are considering, like they said, but not expecting any work to start any time soon

It's hard to get excited for something that is most likely going to change multiple times and not be built any time soon.

 

[lcielia]

If they are able to reimagine Indiana Jones Adventure’s storyline and aesthetic to make it about some sort of mythic or prehistoric creature(s) rather than the god Mara, then I’ll be more than happy with that ride’s inclusion in Animal Kingdom. You can keep a lot of the specific ride scenes themselves the same since they’re disconnected from the overall theme. But…if it’s literally an exact copy and paste…that will be disappointing.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I think there is a greater than 0% chance that Dinosaurs stay in DAK and even in that ride.