Walt Disney World has announced big expansion plans for Animal Kingdom, with a new Encanto magical Madrigal Casita to the Tropical Americas land alongside Indiana Jones Adventure. This post shares details, concept art, and everything we know about the plan–plus comprehensive commentary.
This news was announced during the “Horizons:Disney Experiences Showcase” or Parks Panel presentation during the 2024 D23 Expo at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro offered a sneak peek at concept art for the future in addition and teased what was to come in a few years.
This was just one of several blockbuster announcements for Parks & Resorts at Horizons, during which D’Amaro revealed several ‘shovel to soil’ projects that will come online in the next 5 years, including 8 things that will debut before the end of 2025. He and head Imagineer Bruce Vaughn followed through on their promise to deliver concrete details and not just tease more ‘Blue Sky’ possibilities.
One of the tentpole additions for Walt Disney World is Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom.Welcome to Pueblo Esperanza.
Construction on this new 11-acre section of the park is set to begin later this year, as permits have already been filed and work is underway on backstage facilities for makeshift Imagineering project offices.
Just like Harambe, the Tropical Americas area feels lived in, with a long, rich history.The space will be lush and sprawling, featuring a large fountain in the center where the villagers like to gather and tell stories. Additionally, a woodcarver has created a giant working carousel featuring his favorite animals from Disney stories. It’s a new take on a classic attraction that young families are going to love.
The first-ever “Encanto” themed ride-through attraction is coming to Animal Kingdom, featuring the beloved Madrigal family from the Walt Disney Animation Studios film.
Inside the Casita, Antonio has just received his special gift — the ability to communicate with animals — and his room has transformed into a rainforest. It’s time to go explore alongside him, and you never know what member of the family you might bump into.
Guests will journey through the magical Madrigal manor in vehicles inspired by furniture that has been brought to life. Going beyond the film’s story, guests will journey into Antonio’s jungle-themed room. They’ll encounter characters like Mirabel and Bruno.
Construction on the Tropical Americas land is set to begin this fall and will open in 2027. Contrary to our original expectation, it does not appear that Tropical Americas will open in phases. Instead, the current land willclose in phases, with work commencing almost immediately on the Encanto attraction while DINOSAUR stays open a bit longer so guests can say goodbye.
Turning to commentary, this sounds a lot like Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland. That trackless dark ride is one of the best in the world (we both rank it #2 on our respective lists), and is a compelling reason to visit HKDL all by itself. (Fortunately, there are plenty of other reasons to visit–not just Mystic Manor.)
I think everyone kind of expected this. The story of Encanto lends itself to a ride through a magical Casita, and there are obvious parallels to Mystic Manor right in the concept–especially since both houses are not haunted in “scary” or ominous ways.
With that said, I haven’t heard anything to suggest this is a trackless dark ride. It seems like Walt Disney World kind of got carried away opening trackless rides back-to-back-to-back and now is backing away from trackless. I do think the ride system is a huge asset to Mystic Manor, and the ride wouldn’t be nearly as good as Omnimover, but here’s the thing–we don’t know if this Encanto attraction actually is similar in style to Mystic Manor, or if it’s just coincidental narrative overlap.
What I will say is that even with the scant details released thus far, Tropical Americas sounds like a fitting land for Animal Kingdom. While I don’t think skepticism was unfounded or unfair, especially since Animal Kingdom is the one thematically pure theme park at Walt Disney World, I was surprised that some fans were so vocal in their criticism.
This is especially the case given that both Encanto and Indiana Jones have ties to the exploring, the natural world, and other thematic and story beats that–to me–make them potentially logical fits for Animal Kingdom. At the very least, more logical surface level fits than Avatar, and look how well that ended up turning out.
Anyway, with each new morsel of information we get about Tropical Americas, it strikes me as even more of an “Animal Kingdom” land. Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself–unlike Pandora, I do think they’ll need trails and animal exhibits to fully fit into the park–but so far, so good!
This is positive news from one simple and fairly undeniable perspective: Animal Kingdom desperately needs more attractions. We’ve been over all of this before, but Animal Kingdom is the cheapest park at Walt Disney World. It’s the lowest 1-day ticket price (and has been since that launched) and Lightning Lanes always cost the least there. There’s also a reason why it’s the one park without Multi-Pass tiers.
Regular readers of this site know this, as we’ve hammered home time and time again that crowds and long lines are the easiest to “beat” at Animal Kingdom, so you don’t need to pay extra to skip the lines. This is discussed in countless posts, including in our Best Time-Saving Strategies for Walt Disney World, which says all you need to know for DAK is “don’t go during the middle of the day.”
The reason for this is also pretty straightforward, which is that attendance is significantly lower at Animal Kingdom than any other park at Walt Disney World. Lower attendance reinforces the reality that Animal Kingdom is the park with the most urgent need for additions. The post-Pandora bump is officially over, and we strongly believe that Animal Kingdom will be the biggest “loser” once Epic Universe opens. It’s already the case that most guests skip Animal Kingdom if forced to choose–and that’ll be doubly true once Universal starts pulling away vacation days.
The ‘downfall’ of Animal Kingdom in the evening started pre-closure, but has only accelerated since. Rivers of Light is gone for good and there’s no dedicated nighttime entertainment beyond the Tree of Life Awakenings. And those are only offered during the times of year when Animal Kingdom is open at night, which is pretty much only in the winter due to earlier sunset times.
A new nighttime spectacular would help, but that can only do so much, as observed with Rivers of Light. That was unpopular for multiple reasons, but the bottom line is that there has to be enough to keep people in the park past mid-afternoon. If guests are done with all of the rides and shows they want to experience by 3 pm, they aren’t sticking around until 9 pm, regardless. There need to be more attractions to bridge the gap, so to speak. Nighttime entertainment and offerings alone cannot fix the problem.
While diehard Walt Disney World fans (like us!) clamor for Animal Kingdom to stay open later, there’s a good reason for the earlier closing time: lack of demand. This is what all of the above about avoiding crowds and not buying Lightning Lanes gets at. If you arrive early or stay late, you’ll find Animal Kingdom to be the least crowded park at Walt Disney World.
To be entirely honest, I’m somewhat surprised that Animal Kingdom still closes as late as it does (7 pm or 8 pm most nights), as crowd levels do not dictate it. Walt Disney World management probably fears that if the park closes any early, attendance would drop further, as shorter hours would signal to guests that it’s not “worth” as much as the other parks. That could create a vicious cycle of lower demand causing shorter hours causing even lower demand.
All of this reinforces the reality that Animal Kingdom is the park at Walt Disney World with the most urgent need for new attractions. Pandora – World of Avatar is still incredibly popular, but it alone doesn’t have the drawing power. That’s especially true for the aforementioned guests who are budgeting their time and see DAK as the lower-value park in terms of hours and offerings (rides, nighttime spectaculars, etc.)
Tropical Americas, featuring Encanto and Indiana Jones, will help with that. But this alone probably still isn’t enough. The latter is only a reimagining and not a net addition (although Indiana Jones Adventure will certainly be more popular than DINOSAUR, meaning its longer line will keep guests “occupied” for a bigger chunk of the day).
Encanto will be a new ride, but even that is an indirect replacement for Primeval Whirl. So really, what Tropical Americas does is return Animal Kingdom to the ride count it had ~5 years ago. It’ll do so with more popular and crowd-pleasing attractions, but it alone won’t be enough to make Animal Kingdom an all-day park.
We more or less already know this because the 2019 ride roster wasn’t enough to get people to stay until Rivers of Light. That’s why this is a good addition from a practical perspective–Animal Kingdom needs help more than any other park at Walt Disney World. Given that, it’d be nice if Disney also announced something else–whether it be the rumored Lion King ride, new kite show, or something in between the two–in order to turn it into a full-day park for the average guest.
Ultimately, we’re looking forward to seeing Animal Kingdom expanded and having its ride roster increased to a more formidable on par with the other parks. Regardless of everything else, the realities of operations and attendance dynamics dictate that Animal Kingdom receive more to capture and maintain guest’s attention and time.
As for whether these particular intellectual properties are good choices, thematically and otherwise, that’ll truly come down to execution. All else being equally, I think this is a much better choice than Moana and Zootopia lands replacing Dinoland–and by an incredibly wide margin. We already know Indiana Jones Adventure is great, and an Encanto dark ride a la Mystic Manor could also be fantastic.
I’m confident Imagineers can do the Tropical Americas setting justice, regardless of IPs. Suffice to say, there’s serious home run potential with this pitch. Even though Joe Rohde is no longer around to shepherd this expansion, there’s (hopefully) enough reverence for Animal Kingdom’s thematic integrity within Imagineering to make sure these movies are properly contextualized in the park.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of the Encanto magical Madrigal Casito attraction announced for Animal Kingdom? Do you think this will be a trackless dark ride or an Omnimover? Expect it to an Encanto-ized Mystic Manor, or its own unique attraction? Excited or underwhelmed by the Tropical Americas plan? Or, are you in wait and see mode with this? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
