Animal Kingdom announcements from D23
Indiana Jones attraction (finally) confirmed
Probably one of the least surprising pieces of theme park news that feels like it’s been a long time coming, Indy is coming to Animal Kingdom.
The attraction will form part of the new Tropical Americas area, set to replace Dinoland USA.
As you can probably tell from the above image, this looks set to replace Dinosaur (RIP. Forever in our hearts
). However, Disney have stated that this will be a different experience to Temple of the Forbidden Eye over at Disneyland, suggesting that whilst the ride system looks set to remain (based on the concept art), it will have a different storyline and set pieces to the existing Indy dark rides.
Given this ride will sit in the new Americas area, it would make sense that it has a theme related to that geographical region.
Work begins later this year, so get your last rides on a Time Rover in while you can!
Encanto dark ride
Indy will be complimented by a new dark ride themed to Encanto. Some may remember this concept was touted at the last D23, though it seemed like it could be on the cards for either MK or AK. It has now been confirmed that this will be part of the new area set to replace Dinoland USA at Animal Kingdom.
The ride will see guests arriving at the family home on the day that Antonio, the youngest character in the film, receives his gift of talking to animals. I think this would suggest that the ride is going to pre-date the film but I’m not sure?..
All that has been said about the actual ride system is that guests will travel on pieces of enchanted furniture from around the house, so I’d expect some sort of straightforward trackless dark ride, probably with the motion bases like Ratatouille has. Seeing how the Rat ride system is now established in Epcot this would also tie in with how Disney seem to like having attractions that share components and bases to streamline maintenance (see Runaway Railway and Rise of the Resistance). Maybe they could end up using the RRR/Rise platform, but it would probably be overkill for an attraction of this scale, and challenging to present the vehicles as pieces of furniture.
The ride is scheduled to open in 2027 alongside the new themed area.
New Tropical Americas area “Pueblo Esperanza“
AK lovers like me will probably be relieved to hear that the area sounds (and looks) like it will by quite sympathetic to the current areas of the park, going for a more authentic and natural appearance, hopefully with the IPs kept inside of the attractions themselves.
The area will also include new dining options, the usual amenities, and a carousel, presumably going roughly where Triceratops Spin currently sits.
Work is set to begin later this year, completing in 2027.
Zootopia Better Together
Another one that was discussed previously and now confirmed is a Zootopia attraction. This will replace It’s Tough To Be A Bug beneath the Tree of Life (for those unfamiliar with it, this is a 4D cinema show).
Although this won’t be the major dark ride we’ve seen in Shanghai, it looks set to at least use some parts from it, with at least one animatronic confirmed.
Personally, I’m glad they’ve gone down this route with this one. As cool as the Zootopia ride over in Shanghai looks, it has no place in Animal Kingdom if you ask me. It’d simply be too cartoony and animated. Keeping Zootopia confirmed to the Tree of Life theatre will ensure it has a presence in the park without being intrusive (as is the case with It’s Tough To Be A Bug).
The new attraction is set to open in winter 2025.
