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

[Mike S]

It’s his shtick; he rails against any poster who expresses anything remotely positive about Dinosaur, and now apparently Indy at DL.

Universe of Energy and Great Movie Ride too.

 

[Timothy_Q]

I think the move from Moana to Encanto is in part because of their desire to have Encanto in the parks quicker than the MK plans would allow.

With Encanto and Moana being the biggest hits of the last decade, and Moana already having a presence at Epcot

Now I'm just curious if the Moana flume will live to see the day somewhere else

 

[haveyoumetmark]

Unpopular opinion but I would be perfectly happy if they kept the animals in discovery island and the northern half of the park. This area can be lively and spectacular without having to be a zoo.

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

Tell me how Indy belongs in Animal Kingdom. What about him, besides his fear of snakes, has anything to do with the park's animal theme?

Indy exists in a fairly grounded reality and is often put against the forces of nature in the films. Nature also reclaims pretty much any ancient tomb or temple that Indy explores. It would not be a stretch at all to include a number of animals on one of his adventures.

Let’s not pretend Dinosaur needed a deep message about conservation to fit into the park, it has always been a thrill ride where guests are simply humbled by the power of nature. I have no doubt an Indiana Jones attraction would be able to retain that aspect.

Edit: this isn’t to say Indiana Jones fits just as good as Dinosaur, just saying that it’s totally not as much as a stretch as the other properties considered for this area.

 

[SpectreJordan]

Tell me how Indy belongs in Animal Kingdom. What about him, besides his fear of snakes, has anything to do with the park's animal theme?

That's the main downside to it. I'm sure they can find a way using an artifact or something.

But I'm just happy that corporate is even allowing them to discuss this franchise after that bomb.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Indy exists in a fairly grounded reality and is often put against the forces of nature in the films. Nature also reclaims pretty much any ancient tomb or temple that Indy explores. It would not be a stretch at all to include a number of animals on one of his adventures.

Let’s not pretend Dinosaur needed a deep message about conservation to fit into the park, it has always been a thrill ride where guests are simply humbled by the power of nature. I have no doubt an Indiana Jones attraction would be able to retain that aspect.

Rather, let's not pretend that The Robert Iger Company gives a damn about a park's integrity or meaning. It just sticks IPs anywhere and everywhere. And it's so futile. I've been watching Universal Epic Universe building updates, and oh my god it's going to be epic indeed. Especially the Universal Monsters area. And to think I used to believe that Universal Parks were wannabes. Silly me. I can't wait for Epic to open!

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Do we think they'll clone an existing Indy or make something new? It would be neat to have it involve dinosaurs in some way with a new story.

Oddly enough there was a novel about him and dinos..

 

[DisneyOutsider]

Is it actually blue sky? This concept art looks really detailed and like they've honed in on things from last year. Maybe the concept hasn't been greenlit to start construction, but I imagine they have money earmarked already so it's just a matter of when rather than just throwing ideas out there like last year, but maybe I'm totally wrong.

I wonder who spearheaded the changes because the plans last year were really bad and felt like an IP mandate. This feels like a more natural progression of the park and like the people in charge actually understood that it would've ruined Animal Kingdom's flawless themed design.

It's pretty clear from the words that they're using that none of this is green-lit. It seems to echo the tone of the D23 Conference blue sky segment.

I don't doubt that it's further along than it was back then... But they stopped short of actually committing to this.

 

[haveyoumetmark]

Indy exists in a fairly grounded reality and is often put against the forces of nature in the films. Nature also reclaims pretty much any ancient tomb or temple that Indy explores. It would not be a stretch at all to include a number of animals on one of his adventures.

Let’s not pretend Dinosaur needed a deep message about conservation to fit into the park, it has always been a thrill ride where guests are simply humbled by the power of nature. I have no doubt an Indiana Jones attraction would be able to retain that aspect.

Edit: this isn’t to say Indiana Jones fits just as good as Dinosaur, just saying that it’s totally not as much as a stretch as the other properties considered for this area.

This is a sophisticated take that’s bound to go over the heads of those who just wanna be upset. But fabulous analysis!

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Pretty funny that people who screech over the idea of Zootopia (a movie with animals in it) being put into Animal Kingdom are happy with Encanto (a movie NOT about animals) being wedged into Animal Kingdom. Whereas many other people might feel that the real reason Encanto is being shoved into that round hole is that the movie, while a box-office failure, had a song that got popular for some reason. And of course representation had to be shoved into WDW somewhere...

Yeah, this is where that "Animal" connection fits in..

Where they probably won't focus on it to make it a Mirabel M&G instead.

 

[UNCgolf]

Yeah, uh huh. Since when is Animal Kingdom about South America? It's supposed to be about ANIMALS. Including fictional ones (remember Beastly Kingdomme?) How hard is THAT for anyone to grasp?

Animal Kingdom isn't only about animals, but there are a lot of unique animals in South America that Disney could feature if they wanted to. It offers an avenue that could very easily tie into the park's overall themes.

Zootopia isn't about animals. If you think Zootopia is a good fit for Animal Kingdom, you also think Robin Hood is a good fit for Animal Kingdom. It does not offer the avenue that South America does, unless they essentially divorced the characters from the movie entirely -- and then you're still dealing with what are basically people dressed up as animals.

No one is saying this is a perfect fit -- it's certainly not. But it's a much better fit than Zootopia, so there's relief.

 

[DKampy]

I remember everybody complaining about how does Avatar fit into Animal Kingom… and IMO Pandora fits in beautifully with the message and themes of the park

I am just happy that Zootopia has been ditched… although I still don’t like the idea of a show in the Tree of Life… I think ITTBAB is still more appropriate there

 

[wdwmagic]

I am very happy to see Indy finally looking likes it's going to happen at WDW. It is easily one of WDI's best attractions, and to see Dinosaur use the same track and deliver such a sub-par experience in comparison just isn't right. Hopefully a new version of Indy can be even better than the original and really a stand-out experience.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Animal Kingdom isn't only about animals, but there are a lot of animals in South America.

Zootopia isn't about animals. If you think Zootopia is a good fit for Animal Kingdom, you also think Robin Hood is a good fit for Animal Kingdom.

When you don't know what you're talking about, you're better off not talking at all.

Pandora isn't about Animals....No matter how much you squint..

 

[DavidDL]

… Let’s not pretend Dinosaur needed a deep message about conservation to fit into the park …

Yeah, it didn’t need one because its subject matter helped to fulfill the parks original core vision, which was to be a celebration of animals past, present and imagined. While Dinosaur may not have had a deep rooted message behind it, it still brought attention to the extinct animals of our planet and had a queue that had some light education (being a literal museum).

Indy does feel at home aesthetically, I’ll admit, in DAK. -and the man himself at least has a habit of wanting to preserve relics of the past and history in general so there is that they can work with.

I liked the idea another poster in this thread had of maybe playing up an “Indiana Jones and the Lost World” type of angle. Indy could absolutely end up in a sort of “primeval” area untouched and undiscovered by man on one of his many adventures and it would be a great way to include not just Dinosaurs but lots of extinct species.

Including but not limited to, the Titanoboa, perhaps?

Titanoboa - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

But I won’t get my hopes up or give Disney the benefit of thinking this creatively. It’ll probably just be another Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

 

[Phineas]

Give me a capybara meet and greet experience and AK will finally be a whole day park for me.

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

Just blue skying here, but if you took Disneyland’s IJA queue theming and mixed it with animal exhibits it could be AWESOME, either as part of an actual ride queue or a standalone walk through attraction.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Just blue skying here, but if you took Disneyland’s IJA queue theming and mixed it with animal exhibits it could be AWESOME, either as part of an actual ride queue or a standalone walk through attraction.

I doubt will see any new Animal exhibits anymore in AK..Busch Gardens stopped it and their more focused on rides now more than their animals. The last animal exhibit were the Asian otters in 2019.

 

[UNCgolf]

Pandora isn't about Animals....No matter how much you squint..

The theme of Animal Kingdom isn't just "animals", though.

Avatar wasn't a great fit, but Joe Rohde etc. did a good job making it work. There's really no avenue to make Zootopia fit without fundamentally changing the IP.

Again, this isn't about Encanto and Indiana Jones being an amazing fit for the park. It's that it's easier to make them work without seriously hurting the park than it would ever be for Zootopia. It's an improvement over what they previously teased.

 

[Thepuma]

A replacement for the whole Dinosaur land was way way overdue. A terribly dated and unnecessarily uncomfortable ride with 80s looking Dinosaurs and a baron land around it.

They need a total revamp and ASAP as it is becoming a ghost town part of the park.