Tropical Americas w/ Encanto & Indiana Jones to replace DinoLand?

[Disneyhead]

Dinosaur had quite a few problems for me. I will preface by saying I love the Dr. Seeker pre-show.

But the ride for me was too dark. And very rough. I grew up destroying Jeeps off road (literally). But off roading works because you can see the terrain you are about to drive over and lean/brace accordingly. When you can't see it, or it is non-existent due to a motion base, you kinda just get tossed around like a rag doll.

 

[Grabnar]

Dinosaur had quite a few problems for me. I will preface by saying I love the Dr. Seeker pre-show.

But the ride for me was too dark. And very rough. I grew up destroying Jeeps off road (literally). But off roading works because you can see the terrain you are about to drive over and lean/brace accordingly. When you can't see it, or it is non-existent due to a motion base, you kinda just get tossed around like a rag doll.

It really needed some love, great idea in concept but they really let it go to seed, particularly in the last few years as it became clear they were going to replace the entire area.

Will be interesting to see how the construction impacts the marathon route in Jan, it generally goes straight through Dinoland

 

[Nick]

They’re gonna announce this is closing in September at D23 I bet.

 

[IzzyB]

It really needed some love, great idea in concept but they really let it go to seed, particularly in the last few years as it became clear they were going to replace the entire area.

Will be interesting to see how the construction impacts the marathon route in Jan, it generally goes straight through Dinoland View attachment 22077

My guess is they loop it thru pandora and that side instead of the dino side and out the front entrance of the park. I am sure re-routing the DisneyRuns is nothing new for them with the construction they have over the years. They will figure it out.

 

[Grabnar]

My guess is they loop it thru pandora and that side instead of the dino side and out the front entrance of the park. I am sure re-routing the DisneyRuns is nothing new for them with the construction they have over the years. They will figure it out.

The Pandora side would be cool but I think it narrows and branches too much there for that many runners. That said I’d take some more time in AK over all of the time in the Blizzard Beach parking lot

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Standard hurricane season/summer thunderstorm prep. The park's foliage always seems "lighter" this time of year as they cut branches and palm fronds to reduce the burden of cleanup in case of storms. They did a nasty job over by Nemo theater (where Tropical Americas isn't making any form of impact) and you can see BoH quite clearly. Same in Pandora and parts of MK.

It really needed some love, great idea in concept but they really let it go to seed, particularly in the last few years as it became clear they were going to replace the entire area.

Will be interesting to see how the construction impacts the marathon route in Jan, it generally goes straight through Dinoland View attachment 22077

My guess is they loop it thru pandora and that side instead of the dino side and out the front entrance of the park. I am sure re-routing the DisneyRuns is nothing new for them with the construction they have over the years. They will figure it out.

IzzyB beat me to it, pretty sure RunDisney modified its route through Epcot last year to accommodate some of the Communicore Hall work a few days before the run.

 

[Nick]

So if Dinosaur and Triceratops have to close (on top of Primeval Whirl being closed and demolished for quite a bit now), that will put the park in a big capacity and ride struggle for a bit.

I’m glad they are (seemingly) addressing it, but I believe the ride count will be down to five (unless you count the rafiki train), which is how bad things got at DHS when GMR was closed and they were building SWGE.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

So if Dinosaur and Triceratops have to close (on top of Primeval Whirl being closed and demolished for quite a bit now), that will put the park in a big capacity and ride struggle for a bit.

I’m glad they are (seemingly) addressing it, but I believe the ride count will be down to five (unless you count the rafiki train), which is how bad things got at DHS when GMR was closed and they were building SWGE.

20% reduction in theoretical capacity. Big chunk of capacity going offline... but Dinosaur is pretty much a walk-on/deserted for the first and last 2 hours of park ops most of the time. Park will get bad, but not as dramatically as you think. Probably tack on an additional 10-15 minutes for each ride.

 

[IzzyB]

20% reduction in theoretical capacity. Big chunk of capacity going offline... but Dinosaur is pretty much a walk-on/deserted for the first and last 2 hours of park ops most of the time. Park will get bad, but not as dramatically as you think. Probably tack on an additional 10-15 minutes for each ride.

Agreed, Dinosaur doesn't generate high waits so this isn't like an E Ticket ride going down. I do think they may wait to bring this down until January and start on the Dino USA part first, but we will see.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Agreed, Dinosaur doesn't generate high waits so this isn't like an E Ticket ride going down. I do think they may wait to bring this down until January and start on the Dino USA part first, but we will see.

My expectation is that they rip the band aid and just go straight to work on Indy. From the last piece of concept art, the Restorantosaurus portion of the land is mostly the same with some minor touchups that could easily be done in a few months.

 

[Nick]

Agreed, Dinosaur doesn't generate high waits so this isn't like an E Ticket ride going down. I do think they may wait to bring this down until January and start on the Dino USA part first, but we will see.

Eh, honestly to me why wait? Sooner you close, the sooner you can get to work on this whole project. I wouldn’t be surprised if they want it to open in phases either meaning Indy opens in say 2026 and the full land opens in 2027 or something like that.

 

[ReelJustice]

Eh, honestly to me why wait?

Because I want to ride it one last time

 

[IzzyB]

Eh, honestly to me why wait? Sooner you close, the sooner you can get to work on this whole project. I wouldn’t be surprised if they want it to open in phases either meaning Indy opens in say 2026 and the full land opens in 2027 or something like that.

Agreed, I can see it going both ways. Just saying DinoUSA can be shut down tomorrow and it doesn't really impact capacity and that will be a ground up brand new ride where Indy replacement won't be ground up and therefore take less time was my thought.

But also agree they could decide to shut it all down and open Indy earlier. They are two different themes and are not tied together even though being done at the same time.

 

[TheUniC6]

A sign the end is near. I remember back in 2017 the year before Bugs Land was sent to the great theme park in the sky, Disney refused to fix the peeling mural on the ITTAB building and even downgraded the 3D glasses from the Bug eyes to the generic yellow ones on Midway Mania.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

I know Bio almost never flies over WDW anymore, and he doesn't really have any reason to, but if he did, I wonder if we'd see construction for the Tropical Americas staging site by now.

EDIT: I'm also hoping we see more permits in the coming months. We've already gotten BTMR and staging permits, but in the lead-up to D23, we should be seeing more official building permits like we did before the great announcement deluge of 2017.

 

[LikeMike]

So if Dinosaur and Triceratops have to close (on top of Primeval Whirl being closed and demolished for quite a bit now), that will put the park in a big capacity and ride struggle for a bit.

I’m glad they are (seemingly) addressing it, but I believe the ride count will be down to five (unless you count the rafiki train), which is how bad things got at DHS when GMR was closed and they were building SWGE.

Yet prices will still go up…and people will stay pay them.

To obscurely quote the Magic Mirror in the Shrek 4-D pre-show: ‘Ah you’re all doomed anyway.’

 

[HandsomePete]

I’m Team Indy when it comes to Dinosaur but I’m struggling to see what any of this work is really going to accomplish. I think they’ll see a slight uptick in ridership and satisfaction scores when it switches over to Indy, but I don’t see the value of an Encanto book report attraction. It just seems like they think they’re unlocking new customer markets or something when these will do nothing to extend someone’s day at the park.

 

[belloq87]

I mean, an Encanto dark ride will be an increase in park capacity over the current status quo (technically it will be replacing lost capacity). I'm not inherently pro-Encanto as a theme, and I think the park still needs more rides, but giving people more things to do (compared to what's there today) will add value for guests visiting.

 

[Andysol]

but I don’t see the value of an Encanto book report attraction. It

Because they’re going to sell Margaritas like crazy.

“but Andy, Colombia doesn’t have Margaritas”

Well, Orlando tourists will beg to differ. And they sure as hell haven’t heard of Canelazos.

 

[Mad Dog]

I mean, an Encanto dark ride will be an increase in park capacity over the current status quo (technically it will be replacing lost capacity). I'm not inherently pro-Encanto as a theme, and I think the park still needs more rides, but giving people more things to do (compared to what's there today) will add value for guests visiting.

and an Indiana Jones ride that plays to a full capacity queue will also help. Plus, more guests mulling/walking around the area in shops etc. will help overall capacity. The last couple of times we were in AK, that whole Dino area was close to empty of guests.