Disney’s Animal Kingdom could soon look a whole lot different than it does right now.
Animal Kingdom in Disney World
Have you ever heard that there was once an idea to include DRAGONS in Animal Kingdom? Don’t believe us? Look at the signs in front of the park — you may see a dragon or two! But we’re not here to talk about dragons. No, we’re here to talk about some exciting new developments that Disney has planned for a potential new park expansion!
Disney is FINALLY moving forward with some interesting plans for Animal Kingdom! They’ve been teasing their new Tropical Americas-themed land as a replacement for DinoLand…and we just got a few more hints about its progress during an invite-only media event at Walt Disney Imagineering this week!
The project is still in the VERY early stages of development; in fact, Disney just revealed that Imagineers are currently on research trips to Mexico to gather inspiration for the new area.
©Disney
We first learned about this ambitious new project at the 2023 D23 Expo. Disney executive Josh D’Amaro revealed Disney is “building on what makes Animal Kingdom so, so special.“As we said, there’s still a lot that’s up in the air right now, but based on early concept art, we may see experiences inspired by Encanto and Indiana Jones, both of which are “being considered” for the reimagined land.
Mirabel
Below, you can see the concept art for the updated DinoLand area that Disney has proposed.
©Disney
Based on the concept art, we’re wondering if Casa Madrigal (one of the most iconic parts of the movie Encanto) will someday arrive at Animal Kingdom.The possibilities for a Casa Madrigal attraction are LIMITLESS when there is so much happening inside La Casita. Disney even hinted at some FUN Encanto-themed ideas in a special episode of 20/20 titled “Disney100: A Century of Dreams.”
It’s the same concept art!
ABC viewers may have even caught Disney’s nod to Casa Madrigal— could this be a clue of what’s to come? THE Lin Manuel-Miranda even previously commented, “I want to go inside Casita, don’t you? I don’t even know what that would look like, but some genius Imagineer does!”
Casita
Oh, and we’ve got even more news. Disney recentlyfiled a permit with the South Florida Water Management District, and while that may not sound super exciting, it was the LOCATION that got our attention. Why? The permit is for the DinoLand, U.S.A. area of Animal Kingdom!
©SWFMD
The permit that was filed was for a trailer compound. Typically, these types of setups come to big construction areas, which has many wondering what this could mean for the future of DinoLand. The permit outlines that the new compound will also have parking and utilities for those who will be working on-site.
Click here to learn more!
Whew! Now that Disney has confirmed that Imagineers are doing some field research, we can’t wait to see what kind of CREATIVE ideas they may come up with!Want more updates about this possible re-theme? Check out these posts!
- A New Invention Might Mean aMoana-themed Boat Ride Is Coming to Disney World!
- Could Dinoland U.S.A. Be Re-themed toMoanaorZootopia?
- Disney Just Dropped a MAJOR Hint about the Animal KingdomEncantoExpansion!
- A Disney Executive Dropped a Hint About the Possible Animal Kingdom CHANGES!
In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more.
FIRST LOOK at a Possible ‘Avatar’ EXPANSION in Disneyland
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Disclosure: In nearly all circ*mstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited to attend a media preview of Disney’s new and upcoming projects by Walt Disney Imagineering. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ
