It’s been a long time coming, but at Destination D23 in September Disney finally confirmed that Dinoland USA will be replaced. Specifically, they’re saying it’s going to be replaced by a land themed to “Tropical Americas”. In this post, I’m going to highlight my five biggest hopes for this transformation.
What we know So Far
So far we know basically nothing about the Dinoland USA replacement. We know it is planned to be themed to “Tropical Americas” (think South America, Central America, and Mexico). We know Encanto and Indiana Jones have been mentioned as possible influences. Other than that…nothing. We don’t have a timeline or any clear information on what new rides or overlaid current rides to expect.
Find a Way to Keep The Boneyard
Bias alert: my kid loves the Boneyard. The Boneyard is a playground with both a traditional climbing / slide area and, across a bridge, an area to dig for dinosaur bones. Besides arguably Tom Sawyer Island, it’s the largest space for kids to play freely at Disney World.
Epcot has a playground and some fun areas in Future World. Hollywood Studios missed an opportunity for something epic in this regard with Andy’s Backyard. But the bottom line is that I hope they find a way to keep this. I think Zoe will get less and less use out of it going forward, but I think even if my other hopes come true, it will still be great part of a day at Animal Kingdom for future families with small kids.
My specific wishlist item here—a Casita (Encanto) themed play area. I honestly believe such a space has the potential to be one of the best spaces Disney has ever built. The multi-section design of The Boneyard plays into this, as you could easily walk through a “door” across the bridge into a new world.
Get The Ride Count Back Up
This sort of goes without saying, but they need to build at least one fully new, additional ride. Dinoland USA formerly had three rides: DINOSAUR, TriceraTop Spin, and Primeval Whirl. It lost Primeval Whirl, reducing the count to two.
It’s pretty clear that Animal Kingdom needs more rides, not just a new land. The park has eight rides right now: Flight of Passage, Na’vi River Journey, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids, Expedition Everest, TriceraTop Spin, DINOSAUR, and Wildlife Express Train. Wildlife Express Train is arguably a stretch, and even if it’s counted the park still has the lowest ride count at Disney World.
Give Us Original Rides
Disney indicated Indiana Jones would be a part of this new land, and that makes me worried for two possibilities.
First, they could re-theme DINOSAUR as Indiana Jones Adventure, the Disneyland ride with the same technology and nearly identical track layout to DINOSAUR. This doesn’t seem super likely to me. It’s just too obvious and would come off as too…unmotivated. IMHO. (Indiana Jones Adventure is an awesome ride, though.)
More likely in my mind is that they bring a version of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, a coaster at Disneyland Paris, as a replacement for Primeval Whirl. This feels somewhat more likely, as the ride is mostly unknown to American audiences and could basically fit right into the physical and metaphorical gap left by Primeval Whirl.
The big problem with this one is that it’s a coaster that goes upside down and has a 55 inch height requirement. That’s 7 inches higher than the 48-inch requirement Primeval Whirl had (and which is still the highest requirement at Disney World).
With four rides without height requirements, I don’t think Animal Kingdom needs a fifth without a height requirement, but the park already has one of the best coasters at Disney World (Expedition Everest), so I’m not sure going hardcore thrills is the right approach.
My “reach” hope is that they take the time to add a new, genuine E-ticket attraction. Flight of Passage is still a fantastic ride, but Animal Kingdom needs more to keep people coming back and to keep them in the park from 9AM to 9PM.
Do It In Two PArTs
This is pretty straightforward. If you want a new land to be as good and cohesive as possible, it needs to be built in one go. You can’t do it piece by piece. Piece-by-piece design results in a land feeling uncanny when paint colors don’t fade just the same, or a facade designer left between two parts of the project, or whatever else.
But you can’t close The Boneyard, TriceraTop Spin, and DINOSAUR all at once. The park just can’t go 2-ish years with such a low attraction count. Luckily, there’s an obvious, good, in-between solution: leave DINOSAUR open while you build everything else, then replace DINOSAUR.
DINOSAUR is physically disconnected from the rest of Dinoland USA. When it gets replaced, if the facade is a little off, no one will notice because it won’t be immediately next to the first part of the land. The work on the ride itself will take place away from guest sight anyways.
Now, maybe I’m wrong and people won’t make the long walk through Constructionville USA just to get to DINOSAUR, but I think the ride is worth that.
Ditch the Carnival Games
I don’t have a better way to address the carnival games other than to say I find them icky. I’ve played them and won a stuffed triceratops for Zoe, but I just don’t like the carnival games of chance element in a Disney park. It’s an off-putting moneygrab. (To be clear, I’m actually well aware it’s a business and the whole thing is a moneygrab. But good moneygrabs use tact.)
What’s Next?
Hopefully we hear more from Disney on this in early 2024. Once the holidays have passed and people really start booking 2024 trips, it’ll be a good time to tell guests what to expect. For my part, I’m hopeful that we’ll have something spectacular to look forward to, even if we have to wait a bit for it to get here.
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