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

[James Alucobond]

My problem with this is that it's just a replacement of what's already there, so its not adding any capacity to a park that already struggles to make its case for a full day. Just redoing the drapes and the pillows.

Primeval Whirl has been dead for a while, always had terrible capacity, and was unhelpful on days with poor weather since it was outdoors. I would hope the new attraction is addressing all of those issues. But yes, the carousel and IJ are obviously lateral moves.

 

[DoTheImpossible]

My problem with this is that it's just a replacement of what's already there, so its not adding any capacity to a park that already struggles to make its case for a full day. Just redoing the drapes and the pillows.

I still think it will have the same effect as an expansion. The current space is not a draw to people. This re-themed area will draw guests from other areas of the park much more heavily than Dinoland did.

 

[LSLS]

Primeval Whirl has been dead for a while, always had terrible capacity, and was unhelpful on days with poor weather since it was outdoors. I would hope the new attraction is addressing all of those issues. But yes, the carousel and IJ are obviously lateral moves.

Also doesn't account for the playground loss which, while not a crazy throughput, still helped. This has been by far my biggest complaint with about 90% of what Disney has done the last decade, it's not giving MORE, it's giving different.

 

[pdude81]

Also doesn't account for the playground loss which, while not a crazy throughput, still helped. This has been by far my biggest complaint with about 90% of what Disney has done the last decade, it's not giving MORE, it's giving different.

Boneyard is packed a lot of the time.

 

[eddie104]

My problem with this is that it's just a replacement of what's already there, so its not adding any capacity to a park that already struggles to make its case for a full day. Just redoing the drapes and the pillows.

I felt the same as well however the overall scope of this project is a win-win in my book.

Turning a fairly unpopular low budget area into something worthy at a Disney park outweighs the cons.

This area had to be addressed one way or another and with current IP mandate it was an easy target for the chopping block.

 

[James Alucobond]

Also doesn't account for the playground loss which, while not a crazy throughput, still helped. This has been by far my biggest complaint with about 90% of what Disney has done the last decade, it's not giving MORE, it's giving different.

It’s difficult to account for because it doesn’t cycle people the same way a normal attraction does. It’s a loss, but it can’t necessarily be tied to increased wait times. Some portion of playground visitors may be taken out of the queue pool for some amount of time, but with the way things currently work, they may just be waiting for their next IL, waiting for a rider swap, or waiting for others in their group who are dining. It’s a case where I think it’s potentially possible to offset with other non-attraction entertainment or shopping options in the land even if people might have preferred the playground.

 

[doctornick]

Also doesn't account for the playground loss which, while not a crazy throughput, still helped. This has been by far my biggest complaint with about 90% of what Disney has done the last decade, it's not giving MORE, it's giving different.

Yeah, losing the boneyard - seemingly unnecessarily since it can be easily rethemed to an archaeological site and they don’t really need that space - is the big issue here. Just keep that and I’d be pretty happy with the other changes.

 

[Timothy_Q]

Also doesn't account for the playground loss which, while not a crazy throughput, still helped. This has been by far my biggest complaint with about 90% of what Disney has done the last decade, it's not giving MORE, it's giving different.

I agree, but I feel we may finally be turning the corner on WDW focusing on getting actual expansions

Moana, BBTM, whatever DHS gets, Lion King, would all be expansions
Not to mention Tron and Ratatouille replaced nothing

 

[danlb_2000]

It is interesting that the contractor on these is a company that just sets up these sorts of building. On the big projects the permits for the construction trailers normally come from the general contractor on the whole project. It's possible these are being treated as long-term WDI/contractor offices as opposed to something that is just for the project.

 

[cjkeating]

It's possible these are being treated as long-term WDI/contractor offices as opposed to something that is just for the project.

I think it has hinted that these will become the DAK WDI base for projects beyond Tropical Americas so this makes sense.

 

[LSLS]

I agree, but I feel we may finally be turning the corner on WDW focusing on getting actual expansions

Moana, BBTM, whatever DHS gets, Lion King, would all be expansions
Not to mention Tron and Ratatouille replaced nothing

That's the hope at least. Yeah, from the insiders as of now, they look like expansions, which would be a good thing. But we are a long way from those actually coming in as expansions. Sorry, I'm just pessimistic at this point.

 

[KDM31091]

I too am tired of replacements vs additional capacity. AK suffers the most from a lack of a full days worth of attractions. And as far as I’ve seen, the Tropical Americas will be a lateral move, with no actual increase in number of attractions. This combined with the fact that losing dinosaurs entirely in the park makes zero sense, makes me very unexcited about this project.

The scope of the permits, number of trailers being installed etc makes me think that will be a semi permanent base for projects, and not just this one project.

 

[Timothy_Q]

I too am tired of replacements vs additional capacity. AK suffers the most from a lack of a full days worth of attractions. And as far as I’ve seen, the Tropical Americas will be a lateral move, with no actual increase in number of attractions. This combined with the fact that losing dinosaurs entirely in the park makes zero sense, makes me very unexcited about this project.

The scope of the permits, number of trailers being installed etc makes me think that will be a semi permanent base for projects, and not just this one project.

The number of attractions may not be increasing compared to when Primeval Whirl was open but I'd argue it'll still be an increase in quality and it'll make DAK overall a better and more complete park

An unthemed exposed track spinning coaster for an indoor dark ride is a huge improvement in my book

It will also likely increase hourly capacity and add a much needed all ages attraction to DAK

 

[Bocabear]

DAK only needs about 6 more of those.... lol
I wonder why they don't add and enhance the theming along the river and bring back the boats as a form of transportation/ attraction around the park...add a couple more stations...the way they do it at Tokyo Disney Seas...with no show on the lake, it would be a lovely ride around the park on shade covered boats.... another thing to do...without a crazy big build....and a fun ride that would preview all the thematic "lands" in the Animal Kingdom...

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

But it's not the same thing is it? That was my point. You're arguing a different point. Some people would say it's a downgrade of theme. There is no one-to-one correspondence. Retheme != Upgrade. Therefore to claim it's getting an upgrade because it's getting a retheme as though it's a fact, is wrong. It's an opinion, as you've inadvertently indicated in your use of the word "view". I can provide dictionary definitions of the words if you still think they mean the same thing or that one implies the other.

The reason people are suggesting this retheme will be regarded by most as an upgrade is because the show elements and special effects will be significantly more ambitious than what exists currently.

It's not people trying to conflate the meanings of retheme and upgrade. It's because this retheme is pretty objectively set to be an upgrade. Obviously individual mileage may vary, but the intention here is to upgrade the attraction in multiple noticeable and expensive ways.

I personally love Dinosaur! myself and wish it weren't leaving, but seeing what they have planned has me pumped despite my predisposition. It's an ambitious transformation.

 

[Cariad]

>dial of destiny is saved from being one of the biggest bombs of all time by The Flash existing
>gets a whole land
?????

Dial of Destiny was spoiled by Phoebe Waller Bridge, a flavour of the month actress.

 

[Gusey]

I wonder why they don't add and enhance the theming along the river and bring back the boats as a form of transportation/ attraction around the park...add a couple more stations...the way they do it at Tokyo Disney Seas...with no show on the lake, it would be a lovely ride around the park on shade covered boats.... another thing to do...without a crazy big build....and a fun ride that would preview all the thematic "lands" in the Animal Kingdom...

The Discovery River Boats had low capacity, nothing to see from that viewpoint apart from the dragon cave and some water sculptures and closed because there were too many complaints. The two stations were converted into character meet and greet spaces, one now becoming just a shaded seating area in Asia. I don't think Disney will be bringing them back unfortunately.

 

[Brer Oswald]

The reason people are suggesting this retheme will be regarded by most as an upgrade is because the show elements and special effects will be significantly more ambitious than what exists currently.

It's not people trying to conflate the meanings of retheme and upgrade. It's because this retheme is pretty objectively set to be an upgrade. Obviously individual mileage may vary, but the intention here is to upgrade the attraction in multiple noticeable and expensive ways.

I personally love Dinosaur! myself and wish it weren't leaving, but seeing what they have planned has me pumped despite my predisposition. It's an ambitious transformation.

This remains to be seen. My expectation is that there will be slightly nicer looking sets, less animatronics, and a whole lot of projection mapping. Remarkable to some, but painfully average to me personally.

 

[osian]

The reason people are suggesting this retheme will be regarded by most as an upgrade is because the show elements and special effects will be significantly more ambitious than what exists currently.

I am aware of that, but shall we go back to the original post that made me make a comment on it that people are now misunderstanding? Someone said:

"Well, there will be an upgrade as we now know it will be rethemed to Indiana Jones"

That does actually sound like they are conflating retheme with upgrade. It will be an upgrade because it will be now no longer be Dinosaur but it will be Indiana Jones. It will be upgraded to Indiana Jones. A retheme is automatically an upgrade. It's the next version so it's an upgrade. It wasn't an opinion. It was stated as fact. People do use retheme, upgrade, update etc interchangeably. Retheme != Upgrade. And also Most != All. If most people are of an opinion, it doesn't mean it's a fact and that all are.

I defined retheme as a change of theme. I defined upgrade as taking something to another level or standard. (an update would be taking something to the next version number). An upgrade doesn't necesarily occur because we know the theme is changing, which is what the original comment said, although an update would be occurring.

That's all.

Please do not blow this out of propotion.

Then people staretd aguing with me that a retheme could result in an upgrade, and I replied yes, it could also be a downgrade, but that's not the point I was making, and I said they were arguing a different point. Now I'm, being blamed for misunderstanding everything.

It's not worth bothering about, honestly, but I do wish people would read properly what was siad. We all know what we mean but people didn't read or understand what I was saying in context to what I was replying to. To get ot the bottom of the controversy you have to go back to the beginning for context, and people just aren't bothering to do that.

Just...let it go. (obligatory random inappopriate IP insertion)

PS. I love IJ in Anaheim, I've often wanted it in WDW, or closer to home. But a. it seems a terrible fit for Animal Kingdom, and b. Disney does not have an unblemished record with doing rethemes/upgrades/updates, so I'm just being that little bit cautious about declaring it an amazing attraction when the permits haven't even been granted yet.

 

[doctornick]

I think it has hinted that these will become the DAK WDI base for projects beyond Tropical Americas so this makes sense.

At the very least we have the announced plans for Zootopia replacing ITTBAB as well as the rumored Lion King Ride (in Africa) in addition to whatever is planned for Tropical Americas/Dinoland replacment.