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

[Marc Davis Fan]

The Theater in the Wild area (including its RoL bleachers) seems like it will serve as a good visual/spatial buffer between Serka Zong and Pueblo Esperanza, in the same manner as it did for Serka Zong and Dinoland, and in the same manner as the “thematically neutral” walkways between Harambe and Anandapur as well as between Pandora and Harambe. Turning it into a themed environment might have a deleterious effect much like if they expanded Africa and Asia into each other, or expanded Pandora and Africa into each other. Those buffer zones are a really important and overlooked part of the success (indeed brilliance) of DAK’s design.

Speaking of this, I hope the Pueblo Esperanza structures aren’t disruptively visible from across the lake in Serka Zong. As others have noted above, it would be an understatement to say that visual immersion is DAK’s strong suit… DAK might be the best park in the world at this, rivaling even DisneySea. If sightlines are considered properly, Tropical Americas will raise the high water mark even further…

Also, presumably somebody will remember to remove the Dino Institute logo from Theater in the Wild (although it would be kinda cool as a tribute, despite being confusing to future guests), and while they’re at it, maybe there’s a budget for some additional greenery being planted out front (it is “in the wild” after all)…

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

As I’ve said before, I’m very much looking forward to this land. It is far and away the most promising thing WDW has announced and the only one that I wouldn’t cancel if I had the ability to do so. It’s also great that it’s a traditional multi-IP land.

Going back to a broader view and considering Disney’s performances over the last decades, it’s a huge indictment of the company that, since the focus shifted to single-IP lands in 2010, Disney has utterly failed to build any such areas equal to Uni’s Potter lands in Orlando. Cars Land is on that level in California, but we’re getting an ill-fitting knock off, Monsters Land is a cheap and destructive overlay, TSL is a sad joke, and SWL and Pandora are both good but fall short of Potter. The first shot Disney has is Villain Land (taking the Villains as one IP, similar to Uni’s Monsters), which won’t open until around 2030 at the most optimistic. That’s 20 years after the first Potter Land, by which time Uni will have opened two more Potter areas plus at least three other IP lands that appear to be of similar quality.

Universal has been chasing their own success and failing as well. They horribly tried to retrofit their single IP lands into their main park while making a weird mismash of the theme of the park. If Disney gets trouble for it, Universal should too.
The original concept for what IOA was also got thrown out pretty quickly. I'll also say that the new DK ride looks very underdone so I would not call that of similar quality to the OG HP. Harry Potter was a great land... once. They copy and pasted the same idea with new shop names 3 times in one city and called it a day and it kinda shows with the last one where they just flat out ran out of ideas for how to make the last one connect to Harry Potter still so now you travel through time and space because??


I'm kinda tired that huge things like this are never talked about when EU/Universal is in the equation but the moment Disney does do something similar to compete, it blows up.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Universal has been chasing their own success and failing as well. They horribly tried to retrofit their single IP lands into their main park while making a weird mismash of the theme of the park. If Disney gets trouble for it, Universal should too.
The original concept for what IOA was also got thrown out pretty quickly. I'll also say that the new DK ride looks very underdone so I would not call that of similar quality to the OG HP. Harry Potter was a great land... once. They copy and pasted the same idea with new shop names 3 times in one city and called it a day and it kinda shows with the last one where they just flat out ran out of ideas for how to make the last one connect to Harry Potter still so now you travel through time and space because??


I'm kinda tired that huge things like this are never talked about when EU/Universal is in the equation but the moment Disney does do something similar to compete, it blows up.

EU/ Universal has a lot of problems, but they aren’t the ones you mentioned. For instance, I suspect you’re referring to the idea that IOA was based on written material, but that was always something fans projected onto it. As to the Ministry… a wizard did it.

Universal swerved onto the wrong track after the pandemic, but EU papers over a lot of the cracks. We’ll see what happens if things don’t improve after that park opens. WDW, however, has been on the wrong track for over 25 years.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

EU/ Universal has a lot of problems, but they aren’t the ones you mentioned. For instance, I suspect you’re referring to the idea that IOA was based on written material, but that was always something fans projected onto it. As to the Ministry… a wizard did it.

Universal swerved onto the wrong track after the pandemic, but EU papers over a lot of the cracks. We’ll see what happens if things don’t improve after that park opens. WDW, however, has been on the wrong track for over 25 years.

See I disagree with that. As a newer park fan, I love the track that WDW has been on. Every new experience I have ridden has been generally pretty good.


Universal Studios also lost its theming when it did Minions. I really feel like EU is their attempt to make 4 wizarding lands tbh and while some of them are super compelling, I feel like in actuality they came up short based on what we know. The ride systems for the Nintendo rides don't really match the experience well. Universal has been on the wrong track since MUCH before the pandemic when they decided that they would take two parts of the Tram tour to make full rides out of (both being some of their lowest rated rides), the new Dreamworks land is pretty eh even for a kids area. Maintenance has been overall terrible with a few specific rides. These are all problems that Disney parks have been dragged for but Universal gets through no problem :/

 

[SaltyP]

With Indiana Jones, I think the ride will be good to great, but what I'm really curious about is how they are going to pull of the queue. IMHO the queues for the other two versions are absolutely stunning and really transportive, I'd put them on the same level as RoTR when it comes to enhancing the ride experience and adding to the story. I really hope they manage to live up to Crystal Skull and Forbidden Eye, but those are mighty big shoes to fill and I'm not sure they have the sauce like that anymore.

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

With Indiana Jones, I think the ride will be good to great, but what I'm really curious about is how they are going to pull of the queue. IMHO the queues for the other two versions are absolutely stunning and really transportive, I'd put them on the same level as RoTR when it comes to enhancing the ride experience and adding to the story. I really hope they manage to live up to Crystal Skull and Forbidden Eye, but those are mighty big shoes to fill and I'm not sure they have the sauce like that anymore.

This is a very good point. I've been lucky to ride DL's and TDS's IJAs, and in both cases, the queue should get much of the credit for the strength of the overall experience... perhaps a lot more than most riders realize.

The CTX queue area doesn't seem to have nearly as much space... unless they open up the side of the building and expand (which seems unlikely). The rotunda needs to be turned into something extraordinary, and perhaps we'll see a good use of the current preshow spaces...

 

[Nickm2022]

After going in Dinoland one final time yesterday I can say the land is definitely on its final legs. But I also thought of something. Anyone know the height of the land? Because as I walked throughout the park, Everest rises above Asia, Pandora the mountains, Discovery island the Tree, (Africa being the exception), do we know how tall TA is. As in the concept art the Encanto home, or at least the hills look pretty tall and should make for a good way to figure out how close you are to the land

also side note, why is the Nemo building still there. It's in such a important area and should become an expansion of Tropical America or as a prep site for the hopefully in development nighttime drone show in the future

 

[SaltyP]

This is a very good point. I've been lucky to ride DL's and TDS's IJAs, and in both cases, the queue should get much of the credit for the strength of the overall experience... perhaps a lot more than most riders realize.

The CTX queue area doesn't seem to have nearly as much space... unless they open up the side of the building and expand (which seems unlikely). The rotunda needs to be turned into something extraordinary, and perhaps we'll see a good use of the current preshow spaces...

The TDS queue's main room is really quite impressive, isn't it? Feels like a set ripped right out of Temple of Doom

 

[celluloid]

The TDS queue's main room is really quite impressive, isn't it? Feels like a set ripped right out of Temple of Doom

I loved it when I went. The always wet bottom level with skeletons in it is Incredible.

 

[SaltyP]

I loved it when I went. The always wet bottom level with skeletons in it is Incredible.

Really cliche to say at this point, but WDI and OLC is a match made in heaven. They almost always cook

 

[celluloid]

Really cliche to say at this point, but WDI and OLC is a match made in heaven. They almost always cook

They were trusted and it shows.

 

[splah]

This I can speak for specifically. That is not true at all and never was. It is absolutely designed and planned to be the superior version. At least on paper it is and everyone involved I’ve spoken to believes it will be but as we know until it opens we will see if the public perception feels the same way.

As far as budgets in general Disney has always stated that the second half of the 10 year plan will see the bulk of the money. So if true there is a lot more coming.

I hope superior means fully realized sets and almost no projections.

 

[SaltyP]

I hope superior means fully realized sets and almost no projections.

Projections when used well are pretty incredible and can add a lot. If they're good, I'm not going to complain about their inclusion.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

I like the idea of tropical americas and I bet the new ride in that track and platform is going to be great but with the volume Disney gets I think it would be better for them to have Dinoland and Tropical americas and if they must the could get rid of that street fair.

 

[UNCgolf]

I'd say it's much worse now because of all the cuts and changes since, to say nothing of show quality.

I wasn't factoring in stuff like show quality -- just what's there now vs. 1993 if everything was functioning perfectly.

It was a better park in 1993, but the gap between then and now is not remotely as wide as the difference between EPCOT then and now.

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

I loved it when I went. The always wet bottom level with skeletons in it is Incredible.

I went with a friend who’d studied Mayan religious beliefs and temples in school… and the queue was so detailed and accurate that she could actually explain the meaning and purpose of everything we were looking at (including, if I recall correctly, that pit for human sacrifices you’re referring to).

Since the new temple is also Mayan, assuming an adequate budget (which supposedly they’re getting), this might be a perfect “test” of whether current Imagineering can live up to its predecessors…

 

[celluloid]

I went with a friend who’d studied Mayan religious beliefs and temples in school… and the queue was so detailed and accurate that she could actually explain the meaning and purpose of everything we were looking at (including, if I recall correctly, that pit for human sacrifices you’re referring to).

Since the new temple is also Mayan, assuming an adequate budget (which supposedly they’re getting), this might be a perfect “test” of whether current Imagineering can live up to its predecessors…

Here is hoping. With an animal and harmony focus. If we lose a bit of Indy in it, I would rather they go all out and all in.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Indy is being thrown in here as a convenience. Encanto was/is the goal for driving new attendance to this area of the park. I suspect with almost certain budget cuts, we're going to be very disappointed in the Indy ride.

The irony is, the Indy conversion doesn't even have to be done. The Dino Institute could have been built in South America (I know, the land is called DinoLand USA, but that backstory could be altered along with the land), considering it sends you back in time to that geographic region. How do I know that? Well, the only Carnotaurus skeletons ever found were in Argentina.

 

[KDM31091]

Indy is being thrown in here as a convenience. Encanto was/is the goal for driving new attendance to this area of the park. I suspect with almost certain budget cuts, we're going to be very disappointed in the Indy ride.

The irony is, the Indy conversion doesn't even have to be done. The Dino Institute could have been built in South America (I know, the land is called DinoLand USA, but that backstory could be altered along with the land), considering it sends you back in time to that geographic region. How do I know that? Well, the only Carnotaurus skeletons ever found were in Argentina.

This is the part that puzzles me too. There is really no need to retheme Dinosaur at all.

 

[Bocabear]

This is the part that puzzles me too. There is really no need to retheme Dinosaur at all.

well....kind of if they are trying to do a Tropical Americas theme... Yes it could probably be fine, but it would look odd to have the outpost restaurant and a Dinosaur museum in the middle of the jungle in Colombia...Better to add the IP amd make it a fresh new adventure... Dinosaur was not the best version of the Indiana Jones ride... Now it has a chance to be a better attraction, and to really add to the storyline of the area...