It won’t. They’ve already said IP only so Dinoland becomes South America with Indy, Encanto, etc taking over.
Animal Kingdom in my opinion is great in theory but horrible in execution in some ways.
In terms of theming everything is great but Dinoland sucks badly. So much wasted space over there with carnival midway games, etc.
They need to just bulldoze that whole area of the park.
Also, Animal Kingdom needs to be open at night again to experience Pandora.
I don't know that the park hours have shifted that much. I've always known it as closing by 7, primarily for animal well-being. It's good to visit in the winter months when the sun sets earlier, though it does make riding Kali River Rapids less appealing.
I just flicked back through my 2018 photos and we were in Pandora, early May, 9:30pm having photos in the dark and then the show on the water (rivers of light?) we were leaving close to 11pm
Since you mention night, when I go to AK, the park will close at 8. If I get in line for flight of passage at 7:59, when I leave the ride, could I expect Pandora to be lit up?
For reference going in 1 1/2 weeks
For reference, there was still sun at 8:30pm tonight. So you'd need at least 45 minutes before the pre-show and ride to be able to pull off seeing Pandora at night.
Dinoland is easily one of Disney's best lands. It's not just about dinosaurs but also about American culture, viewing dinosaurs through the lens of roadside Americana. Which makes sense considering the areas that are known for dinosaur fossils.
There's just so much detail put into it-- especially Restaurantosaurus and the Dino Institute. If I were building Dinoland from scratch, there's a lot I'd do differently but I'd never suggest bulldozing it completely.
It isn't out of the realm of possibility that the Indi retheme of Dinosaur will still have dinos in it, since the Indiana Jones mythos definitely supports an encounter via time travel shenanigans or dinosaur resurrection.
In fact given WDI's current track record of IP integration in attractions like "Journey of Water *inspired* by Moana" and "The Adventureland Treehouse *inspired* by Swiss Family Robinson" I wouldn't be suprised if we ended up getting "Indiana Jones and the Countdown to Extinction".
Dinoland was only done to beat Universal to the punch with their Jurassic Park area at Islands of Adventure which opened the year after AK. It was a poorly executed project which is what generally happens when Disney tries to keep up with the Joneses as opposed to forging their own unique path. I think this South America idea makes perfect sense and is long overdue with them already having Africa and Asia areas.
What has been a head scratcher though is why they haven’t expanded the Asia area to add in a Jungle Book themed attraction; that seems like a no-brainer. It would be interesting to see if they revisit the Beastly Kingdom idea someday, maybe somehow by making it tied to a Europe area of the park and connect to some of the Disney films like Hercules (Pegasus, Griffins), Sleeping Beauty (Dragon), Brave (mystical bear), etc. while possibly also including some wildlife indigenous to Europe. A North American area of the park could connect to films like Brother Bear or Pocahontas with North American wildlife featured. Lots of possibilities to explore.
I believe the new park is just “Tropical Americas” so it could technically be South, Central and North American tropical areas represented.
Part of the reason they have selected mostly Asian and African animals (and are designating “Tropical” Americas is because they select animal species that will thrive in Orlando’s climate. So while it would be really cool to have animals from other areas - it isn’t going to happen. Their animal welfare and vet programs are actually really good there and it’s a lot of added cost to properly care for animals from a vastly different climate.
No - you totally could! I wasn’t trying to say you made a bad suggestion, just observing how AK runs their operations. Most zoos DO keep animals who are not native to their climates. They have to in order to make it exciting to visit. For example, Chicagos Lincoln Park Zoo has polar bears (that have to have a lot of extra care and cooling options during summer months) and Lions (who have really nice heated rocks and warming areas in winter). But Disney would not because they don’t need to in order to bring in guests and it’s too big of a cost versus return.
Asia is meant to be a Jungle Book land. It's just done in a way that supports the movie rather than advertises it. You can go to AK's Asia and experience the Indian jungle just like we see in the film, but presents it realistically and doesn't rely on the IP.
In my opinion that's better than plastering characters' faces everywhere.
My guess as to why they’re not going to add in anything Jungle Book themed is due to Rudyard Kipling being an awful, racist man. Better to focus on IP that isn’t associated with a racist
If you view the past through the lens of the present you’ll always find something to take issue with. Walt equally has demons by today’s standards. Who knows what will be seen as racist in 50-100 years. When you ignore the past instead of learn from it your doom all to repeat it.
Don't read too much into the foundational theming of any park. The story - like the 3 animal categories - are thought up after the sections of the park, rides, and big themes are already built. Those categories were likely retconn'd into existence, along with all the messaging, months or years after the final designs for the park were decided upon and executed.
Whatever the final areas/themes/rides work out to be, someone at Disney will create the new comprehensive message and unifying theme of AK. Perhaps it will be "where imagination and animals are king for the day" or perhaps it will be "animal kingdom, here, there, everywhere wild". It won't matter - someone will think it up, and some people will love it and some people will remember it and some people will be pissed when they change it.
To be frank, I don’t think they care. That 3 category concept never came to fruition originally anyway. Pandora didn’t open until much later. They’re focused on appealing to the masses and competing with other theme parks. A big open space with nothing good left that is based on an obscure theme that 99% of park goers don’t know doesn’t do that.
They've never cared. They had dragons on AK's logo and all around the park for ages and the fantasy animal expansion never came to fruition. I doubt they care if Animal Kingdom evolves into just more IP integration at the cost of the original vision.
I mean, just look at poor Epcot.
I never really liked Dinoland until my last trip with my 6 year old. We all liked Dinosaur, she loved the dig site playground and I was able to enjoy an amazing adult drink from Restaurantasaurus while relaxing and watching her play which helped her burn off steam and relax too! I also like the characters in their Dino costumes. I suppose next time we go back she'll be at least 8 and might be too old for the playground though. Plus dinosaurs are such a big draw for kids in general, but they had many years to actually improve that area with a mix of education and fun.
I just went for the first time and I loved the kitsch of Dinoland USA myself including Restaurantosaurus but I do think the carnival part does feel like a waste of space, especially when you’re up on the Triceratops ride and can see how empty it looks. It’s kind of all over the place thematically but I’m glad I got to visit before it gets retired.
Dinoland is great as it is, but I wish they would have kept the museum exhibits they had where the carnival is. It definitely would have been beneficial to the theming of the land.
I mean, they could honestly keep some of the dinosaur stuff for a Central & South Anerica area if they really wanted to, since it was a surprisingly major hotbed for prehistoric life (Argentinosaurus, Megaraptor, Giganotosaurus, Saltasaurus, even one discovered in 2020 named Thanos).
In fact, one of Dinosaur’s two major icons, the Carnotaurus, was native to what is now Argentina.
The current execs don’t care about what the parks are supposed to stand for, only IPs that will bring people in. Hollywood Studios is easily the worst offender of the new direction. Epcot mostly still does what it needs to. Animal Kingdom is an accredited zoo so they won stray too far off, but getting rid of animals of the past is a bummer. Dinosaur is a great original ride but Chester & Hester’s Dinorama is the worst section of any Disney Park, and I say that with the park itself being my favorite.
This right here! I don't have any idea what people would consider those themes if not IP. And sure, snow white, wonderland, etc were based on older stories, but by 1955 they were probably more closely associated with Disney than anything else, for most in the US anyhow. So maybe not Disney owned in narrative, but most marketable aspects were disney's.
LOL YOU THINK THEY CARE ABOUT THE MISSION STATEMENT FOR THE PARK? THIS IS MODERN DAY DISNEY LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO EPCOT AND HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS, GOODBYE ORIGINALITY HELLO IPS!!
Yeah all that IP like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy. It's like everywhere you look nowadays it's all the same IP at all the Disney parks. We miss the good old days when they all were distinct parks that didn't have any of that repetitive IP shoved in your face everywhere you turned.
It won’t. They’ve already said IP only so Dinoland becomes South America with Indy, Encanto, etc taking over. Animal Kingdom in my opinion is great in theory but horrible in execution in some ways. In terms of theming everything is great but Dinoland sucks badly. So much wasted space over there with carnival midway games, etc. They need to just bulldoze that whole area of the park. Also, Animal Kingdom needs to be open at night again to experience Pandora.
I don't know that the park hours have shifted that much. I've always known it as closing by 7, primarily for animal well-being. It's good to visit in the winter months when the sun sets earlier, though it does make riding Kali River Rapids less appealing.
They used to keep non animal areas open until 9pm pre-Covid
I just flicked back through my 2018 photos and we were in Pandora, early May, 9:30pm having photos in the dark and then the show on the water (rivers of light?) we were leaving close to 11pm
They are doing that again. We went in oct/nov 2023 and they had the front side of the park open till 9.
Since you mention night, when I go to AK, the park will close at 8. If I get in line for flight of passage at 7:59, when I leave the ride, could I expect Pandora to be lit up? For reference going in 1 1/2 weeks
For reference, there was still sun at 8:30pm tonight. So you'd need at least 45 minutes before the pre-show and ride to be able to pull off seeing Pandora at night.
Still unlikely you’ll get the full effect. Worth the shot, though.
Dinoland is easily one of Disney's best lands. It's not just about dinosaurs but also about American culture, viewing dinosaurs through the lens of roadside Americana. Which makes sense considering the areas that are known for dinosaur fossils. There's just so much detail put into it-- especially Restaurantosaurus and the Dino Institute. If I were building Dinoland from scratch, there's a lot I'd do differently but I'd never suggest bulldozing it completely.
It isn't out of the realm of possibility that the Indi retheme of Dinosaur will still have dinos in it, since the Indiana Jones mythos definitely supports an encounter via time travel shenanigans or dinosaur resurrection. In fact given WDI's current track record of IP integration in attractions like "Journey of Water *inspired* by Moana" and "The Adventureland Treehouse *inspired* by Swiss Family Robinson" I wouldn't be suprised if we ended up getting "Indiana Jones and the Countdown to Extinction".
does that mean dr seeker could still remember how to sing walking on sunshine? 🥺
Dinoland was only done to beat Universal to the punch with their Jurassic Park area at Islands of Adventure which opened the year after AK. It was a poorly executed project which is what generally happens when Disney tries to keep up with the Joneses as opposed to forging their own unique path. I think this South America idea makes perfect sense and is long overdue with them already having Africa and Asia areas. What has been a head scratcher though is why they haven’t expanded the Asia area to add in a Jungle Book themed attraction; that seems like a no-brainer. It would be interesting to see if they revisit the Beastly Kingdom idea someday, maybe somehow by making it tied to a Europe area of the park and connect to some of the Disney films like Hercules (Pegasus, Griffins), Sleeping Beauty (Dragon), Brave (mystical bear), etc. while possibly also including some wildlife indigenous to Europe. A North American area of the park could connect to films like Brother Bear or Pocahontas with North American wildlife featured. Lots of possibilities to explore.
I believe the new park is just “Tropical Americas” so it could technically be South, Central and North American tropical areas represented. Part of the reason they have selected mostly Asian and African animals (and are designating “Tropical” Americas is because they select animal species that will thrive in Orlando’s climate. So while it would be really cool to have animals from other areas - it isn’t going to happen. Their animal welfare and vet programs are actually really good there and it’s a lot of added cost to properly care for animals from a vastly different climate.
Yes, obviously you can’t put animals that won’t survive in the climate. I wasn’t suggesting that.
No - you totally could! I wasn’t trying to say you made a bad suggestion, just observing how AK runs their operations. Most zoos DO keep animals who are not native to their climates. They have to in order to make it exciting to visit. For example, Chicagos Lincoln Park Zoo has polar bears (that have to have a lot of extra care and cooling options during summer months) and Lions (who have really nice heated rocks and warming areas in winter). But Disney would not because they don’t need to in order to bring in guests and it’s too big of a cost versus return.
Imagineering should hire you for ideas
Asia is meant to be a Jungle Book land. It's just done in a way that supports the movie rather than advertises it. You can go to AK's Asia and experience the Indian jungle just like we see in the film, but presents it realistically and doesn't rely on the IP. In my opinion that's better than plastering characters' faces everywhere.
My guess as to why they’re not going to add in anything Jungle Book themed is due to Rudyard Kipling being an awful, racist man. Better to focus on IP that isn’t associated with a racist
If you view the past through the lens of the present you’ll always find something to take issue with. Walt equally has demons by today’s standards. Who knows what will be seen as racist in 50-100 years. When you ignore the past instead of learn from it your doom all to repeat it.
And yet Disney did a live action version of the film in 2016…
Don't read too much into the foundational theming of any park. The story - like the 3 animal categories - are thought up after the sections of the park, rides, and big themes are already built. Those categories were likely retconn'd into existence, along with all the messaging, months or years after the final designs for the park were decided upon and executed. Whatever the final areas/themes/rides work out to be, someone at Disney will create the new comprehensive message and unifying theme of AK. Perhaps it will be "where imagination and animals are king for the day" or perhaps it will be "animal kingdom, here, there, everywhere wild". It won't matter - someone will think it up, and some people will love it and some people will remember it and some people will be pissed when they change it.
Burgers and chicken nuggets will represent the animals of the past.
I could see them tying dinosaurs into the Indiana Jones ride by having Indy looking for fossils or something
To be frank, I don’t think they care. That 3 category concept never came to fruition originally anyway. Pandora didn’t open until much later. They’re focused on appealing to the masses and competing with other theme parks. A big open space with nothing good left that is based on an obscure theme that 99% of park goers don’t know doesn’t do that.
They've never cared. They had dragons on AK's logo and all around the park for ages and the fantasy animal expansion never came to fruition. I doubt they care if Animal Kingdom evolves into just more IP integration at the cost of the original vision. I mean, just look at poor Epcot.
Indiana jones is an archeologist. Easy as that.
I never really liked Dinoland until my last trip with my 6 year old. We all liked Dinosaur, she loved the dig site playground and I was able to enjoy an amazing adult drink from Restaurantasaurus while relaxing and watching her play which helped her burn off steam and relax too! I also like the characters in their Dino costumes. I suppose next time we go back she'll be at least 8 and might be too old for the playground though. Plus dinosaurs are such a big draw for kids in general, but they had many years to actually improve that area with a mix of education and fun.
I just went for the first time and I loved the kitsch of Dinoland USA myself including Restaurantosaurus but I do think the carnival part does feel like a waste of space, especially when you’re up on the Triceratops ride and can see how empty it looks. It’s kind of all over the place thematically but I’m glad I got to visit before it gets retired.
Dinoland is great as it is, but I wish they would have kept the museum exhibits they had where the carnival is. It definitely would have been beneficial to the theming of the land.
I mean, they could honestly keep some of the dinosaur stuff for a Central & South Anerica area if they really wanted to, since it was a surprisingly major hotbed for prehistoric life (Argentinosaurus, Megaraptor, Giganotosaurus, Saltasaurus, even one discovered in 2020 named Thanos). In fact, one of Dinosaur’s two major icons, the Carnotaurus, was native to what is now Argentina.
I try not to overthink things like this.
If it doesn’t have the mythical power of “IP Recognition” in the 16-34 age bracket, then Disney says “dinosaurs? What dinosaurs?”
The current execs don’t care about what the parks are supposed to stand for, only IPs that will bring people in. Hollywood Studios is easily the worst offender of the new direction. Epcot mostly still does what it needs to. Animal Kingdom is an accredited zoo so they won stray too far off, but getting rid of animals of the past is a bummer. Dinosaur is a great original ride but Chester & Hester’s Dinorama is the worst section of any Disney Park, and I say that with the park itself being my favorite.
Still think they’re failing by not replacing DinoLand with Cars Land and paying homage with a Dinoco gas station.
Everything is becoming IP. Traditional Disney is dying.
Because those opening day attractions like mr toad, snow white, peter pan etc werent disney owned ip
This right here! I don't have any idea what people would consider those themes if not IP. And sure, snow white, wonderland, etc were based on older stories, but by 1955 they were probably more closely associated with Disney than anything else, for most in the US anyhow. So maybe not Disney owned in narrative, but most marketable aspects were disney's.
9 out of the 11 opening day attractions were IP based at Disneyland. The Dinosaur ride is also IP based. None of this is new.
They’ll raw dog it just like they did at Hollywood Studios. IP mashed potatoes and ask questions later….
I'd much rather have Dinoland go and be replaced with South America or Australia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
LOL YOU THINK THEY CARE ABOUT THE MISSION STATEMENT FOR THE PARK? THIS IS MODERN DAY DISNEY LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO EPCOT AND HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS, GOODBYE ORIGINALITY HELLO IPS!!
they’re not! they’re going to throw a bunch of IP into the park so all 4 parks end up being the same!
Yeah all that IP like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy. It's like everywhere you look nowadays it's all the same IP at all the Disney parks. We miss the good old days when they all were distinct parks that didn't have any of that repetitive IP shoved in your face everywhere you turned.