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

[James Alucobond]

I wonder when this area will be done 2027? Again seems like just too soon to announce this stuff even if working on it incrementally.

Probably late 2027 or early 2028. And they’re not working on it incrementally. They’re working on Encanto until it reaches the point in development at which the remainder of the work will take the same amount of time it will to redo Dinosaur and reskin the rest of the area, at which point the construction will subsume that portion as well.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I think they’ll try to at least get Encanto open by late May.

Late May 2027 ?

 

[The Leader of the Club]

Late May 2027 ?

Yes.

They really like late May opening dates. I believe that 7DMT, Guardians, and Pandora all opened the last week of May.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Yes.

They really like late May opening dates. I believe that 7DMT, Guardians, and Pandora all opened the last week of May.

I will be impressed and surprised if its open by May 2027

 

[Gusey]

Considering Tiana's took 1.5 years, I was expecting the same for Indy but if they're still saying 2027 opening, that's going to be a speedy turnaround

 

[Purduevian]

That area is all currently all backstage. They'll likely keep it as backstage so they don't have to theme the show buildings on either side

I think the DINO exit path runs through there currently(blue). Regardless though it may be "backstage" but doesn't seem to serve any purpose at the moment (there aren't any cast buildings there). I would call that an expansion plot.

 

[Gusey]

I think the DINO exit path runs through there currently(blue). Regardless though it may be "backstage" but doesn't seem to serve any purpose at the moment (there aren't any cast buildings there). I would call that an expansion plot.
View attachment 828973

This is the part you circled on the site map, it's all south of the path to Dino Treasures. Either way, they'd have to hide the Dinosaur/Indy showbuilding from this land if they did decide to build here

 

[Purduevian]

This is the part you circled on the site map, it's all south of the path to Dino Treasures. Either way, they'd have to hide the Dinosaur/Indy showbuilding from this land if they did decide to build here
View attachment 828976

Thanks, I definitely misaligned Len's drawing with Google Maps. Anyone smarter than me able to do one of those things where you fad Len's picture in and out over the current land?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Guessing that they want the Zootopia retheme of ITtbaB to be finished before closing DINO.

 

[djlaosc]

Dino was always closing later. Rethemes take like 18 months. New builds add another year, at least.

Didn't Maelstrom->Frozen / TOT DCA->GOTG:MB take something like 15-16 months?

I was always hopeful that Dinosaur would at least be able to make it to the same time period as Fossil Fun Games, but in 2026 (mid-January 2026) - and that would give them enough time to retheme to Indiana Jones ready for Memorial Day 2027.

 

[EagleScout610]

Didn't Maelstrom->Frozen / TOT DCA->GOTG:MB take something like 15-16 months?

I was always hopeful that Dinosaur would at least be able to make it to the same time period as Fossil Fun Games, but in 2026 (mid-January 2026) - and that would give them enough time to retheme to Indiana Jones ready for Memorial Day 2027.

Frozen - 10/4/14 - 6/21/16 (625 days)
Mission Breakout - 01/03/17 - 05/27/17 (144 Days)

 

[ToTBellHop]

Frozen - 10/4/14 - 6/21/16 (625 days)
Mission Breakout - 01/03/17 - 05/27/17 (144 Days)

Indy has more extensive modifications to the building so I’d expect somewhere in the 18-24 month range.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

Why does Disney announce "shovels in the ground" when there won't be any movement for at least a year and a half after they say so.

I feel Disney announces all their projects way too early.

To generate buzz and get people to book vacations based on rough ideas, blue-sky concepts, and talk of "dirt moving". Gotta make that FOMO money.

Because Disney is shoveling the BS

There is dirt moving there. We’ve already seen it. We’ve known this whole time they were gonna do the other half of the area first so they could leave Dinosaur running as long as possible. Why are we pretending they’re not doing anything as if an entire half of the area won’t be under active construction

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Indy has more extensive modifications to the building so I’d expect somewhere in the 18-24 month range.

This is what I want to hear if it's even going to come close to matching Dinosaur in quality. A quick turnaround would have meant an inferior attraction.

 

[spectromagic04]

Why does Disney announce "shovels in the ground" when there won't be any movement for at least a year and a half after they say so.

I feel Disney announces all their projects way too early.

There are currently shovels on the ground. A bunch of stuff is happening backstage behind Dino Rama. Plus ground work starts in January for everything but Dinosaur, boneyard and Resto.

 

[andre85]

I don't suppose there's any chance they expand the building/extend the ridetrack? I recall someone speculated early on they might, but I don't think it was based on anything

 

[EagleScout610]

There are currently shovels on the ground. A bunch of stuff is happening backstage behind Dino Rama. Plus ground work starts in January for everything but Dinosaur, boneyard and Resto.

Who cares about the shovels? Has the ladder arrived? That's when we know stuffs getting serious

 

[ToTBellHop]

Who cares about the shovels? Has the ladder arrived? That's when we know stuffs getting serious

So far, there is a stepping stool.

 

[Karakasa]

Guessing that they want the Zootopia retheme of ITtbaB to be finished before closing DINO.

That's not a bad guess at all.

But honestly I wonder what "Winter" means here. Typically "Holiday" is used for December, so the implication is that the Zootopia show will be up and running by the end of February. If all they're doing is replacing Hopper with Clawhauser and they build Clawhauser off-site, it shouldn't take all that long to turn the show around.

Plus, as pointed out above, just putting in Rocket and changing up the queue didn't take long at all with Mission Breakout, and that was a much more thorough retheming with the queue and all. Muppetvision in California Adventure had an even more rapid turnaround from it to Frozen Ever After, and iirc (someone can correct me here) the theater was still used in some holiday events prior to the official opening of the latter.

As pitched, it seems like they're basically going to leave the theater identical to ITtBaB. Would it take longer than 45 days to remove and install a single AA, shut off Flik, remove the spiders just as a guest-safety thing, and replace the bug-themed posters with mammal-themed posters? It seems like a quick turnaround for modern Disney but given the possible amount of work going into it, it's not impossible.

EDIT: NVM, I've been corrected elsewhere!

It opens in time for Christmas 2025. In Disney-speak, winter is now.

 

[DavidDL]

Hopefully this means I can get a last ride in on DINOSAUR, too, when I head down to watch Muppet*Vision 3D over and over again for the last time.