Tropical Americas General Discussion - Opening 2027

[rageofthegods]

I’m annoyed that the parks barely had anything concrete to announce but it just dawned on me why nothing got the green light:

Hulu.

They’re stuck starting the valuation and buyback process and it’s going to be billions going out of Disney’s balance sheet, so they’re just priming the pump for when they can get to these things.

In related news, the new attraction in AK will be a jungle playground featuring the Predator. Unfortunately, his invisible camo will be permanently activated for budget purposes.(/sarcasm)

This makes a lot of sense actually. Can't really commit to anything big and expensive when you're still not sure how much cash Comcast is about to squeeze out of you.

 

[snayberry]

I think this looks great. If this gets built, AK will finally become a well rounded park.

 

[Blue]

Really hoping that the "Tropical Americas" name is not official since this would basically just be South America. Not sure why Indiana Jones is included when the IP already has a decent presence (and room for expansion) at Hollywood Studios, but I guess it does fit.

Mainly glad to see the Coco/Encanto land at Magic Kingdom go away since combining them always felt wrong to me.

 

[tielo]

No idea what these 2 ip's has to do with Animal kingdom. Above that, looking at the latest movie flop for Indie and this ride it 20 years to late. But as we say at Disney, it's better than nothing...

 

[Nick]

Really hoping that the "Tropical Americas" name is not official since this would basically just be South America. Not sure why Indiana Jones is included when the IP already has a decent presence (and room for expansion) at Hollywood Studios, but I guess it does fit.

Mainly glad to see the Coco/Encanto land at Magic Kingdom go away since combining them always felt wrong to me.

Probably because should this actually happen, it opens the door for them to get rid of IJSS (and probably the Backlot Express) at DHS for a more immersive area such as the Zootopia land a few years down the line once Shanghai exclusivity runs out.

 

[Magic-Man]

No idea what these 2 ip's has to do with Animal kingdom. Above that, looking at the latest movie flop for Indie and this ride it 20 years to late. But as we say at Disney, it's better than nothing...

They don't, but it's much easier to theme a land to South America for the animals and fit the rides in as a compromise. As long as I don't have to walk through a city in the most natural theme park in the world I'm fine with it.

 

[MikePat]

So what animal is obviously going to be in the Indiana Jones retheme of Dinosaur?

 

[Nick]

No idea what these 2 ip's has to do with Animal kingdom. Above that, looking at the latest movie flop for Indie and this ride it 20 years to late. But as we say at Disney, it's better than nothing...

The latest movie flopped, but like, the ride isn't based around the new movie (if it's the ride we would think it is with no major changes) and also as has been proven many times, IP relevance doesn't matter when it comes to actual attraction quality.

 

[belloq87]

A few things:

1. "Tropical Americas" is an infinitely better idea for a semi-coherent themed land than two half-baked Moana and Zootopia mini-lands.
2. Literally rendering dinosaurs extinct from the park is a tragedy that nobody should be cool with.
3. What do Indy and ENCANTO, fundamentally, have to do with animals? I haven't seen ENCANTO, so I'm genuinely asking in that case. Indy is rhetorical... because a fear of snakes does not count.
4. Still no significant expansion to the park's ride count?

 

[Grabnar]

A few things:

1. "Tropical Americas" is an infinitely better idea for a semi-coherent themed land than two half-baked Moana and Zootopia mini-lands.
2. Literally rendering dinosaurs extinct from the park is a tragedy that nobody should be cool with.
3. What do Indy and ENCANTO, fundamentally, have to do with animals? I haven't seen ENCANTO, so I'm genuinely asking in that case. Indy is rhetorical... because a fear of snakes does not count.
4. Still no significant expansion to the park's ride count?

I think they're just looking for IPs that fit South America because it's biodiverse and easy to get animals for.

Encanto has a supporting character that can speak to Animals. Building an expansion on the story of the movie you could totally shoehorn that into a ride, trail, and M&G with basically no effort.

 

[Nick]

4. Still no significant expansion to the park's ride count?

I've seen a few people mention this and wanted to address it real quick from my POV:

First of all there is no ride there right now. We lost a ride and it wasn't even a good one.

Just because the technical ride count wouldn't be increasing doesn't mean the park isn't getting better in this. If Encanto happens and is a D or E, that's far better ride quality than when Primeval Whirl was there. I would also say if Indy is essentially a DL clone, that's an upgrade over Dinosaur.

Complaining because it's not an expansion to me is like complaining that we aren't getting a fifth park. Would an expansion be nice? Sure. But dinoland would still be a mess. You need to fix what you have before you can think about expansion imo. By fixing the Dinoland plot and putting a new show in Tree Of Life, they will have made changes within the past lets say 10 years to pretty much the whole park and the only thing left to do at DAK is expand after they finally get the Dinoland area sorted out.

So expansion is inevitable at DAK going forward, but tbh Dinoland is a part of the park I almost never visit so if this is a new area that has really nice theming and good rides, then yes, I will consider it an expansion even if it technically isn't one because there would be more things in the park that I actually care about.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Really hoping that the "Tropical Americas" name is not official since this would basically just be South America. Not sure why Indiana Jones is included when the IP already has a decent presence (and room for expansion) at Hollywood Studios, but I guess it does fit.

Mainly glad to see the Coco/Encanto land at Magic Kingdom go away since combining them always felt wrong to me.

South America also includes part of the arctic circle. This is both Central and northern parts of South America

 

[tielo]

The latest movie flopped, but like, the ride isn't based around the new movie (if it's the ride we would think it is with no major changes) and also as has been proven many times, IP relevance doesn't matter when it comes to actual attraction quality.

Maybe I didn't write the sentence very clear but I never meant to say the Indie attraction at DL is bad, I wrote that it doesn't fit the THEME of the PARK at all.
I know why Disney does it, they want to market the poop out of all the reskins they have presented to give the impression WDW has a ton of new magical rides (while Epic Universe is opening) and at the same time saving time and a ton of money as (almost?) no new rides are being build.

 

[Crypt Keeper]

I don't want this at all.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Not sure if I would call Primevil Whirl a ride. More like an affront to God's design.

On the one hand, the real issue with low ride counts is capacity. This land would give us additional capacity in the form of what, given the entrance layout, looks to be a Mystic Manor clone (i.e., a high capacity 5+ minute dark ride). Additionally, Dinosaur's capacity and the capacity of the land itself would be better utilized with more popular offerings and IPs.

On the other hand, every time something new gets added to Animal Kingdom, an influx of people who were probably skipping out on the park due to low offerings begin attending and inflating wait times. Such an issue would be mitigated if the rest of the park was built out to accommodate the insane crowds you saw during the initial operating period of Pandora.

 

[belloq87]

I think they're just looking for IPs that fit South America because it's biodiverse and easy to get animals for.

Encanto has a supporting character that can speak to Animals. Building an expansion on the story of the movie you could totally shoehorn that into a ride, trail, and M&G with basically no effort.

Fair enough.

I've seen a few people mention this and wanted to address it real quick from my POV:

First of all there is no ride there right now. We lost a ride and it wasn't even a good one.

Just because the technical ride count wouldn't be increasing doesn't mean the park isn't getting better in this. If Encanto happens and is a D or E, that's far better ride quality than when Primeval Whirl was there. I would also say if Indy is essentially a DL clone, that's an upgrade over Dinosaur.

Complaining because it's not an expansion to me is like complaining that we aren't getting a fifth park. Would an expansion be nice? Sure. But dinoland would still be a mess. You need to fix what you have before you can think about expansion imo. By fixing the Dinoland plot and putting a new show in Tree Of Life, they will have made changes within the past lets say 10 years to pretty much the whole park and the only thing left to do at DAK is expand after they finally get the Dinoland area sorted out.

So expansion is inevitable at DAK going forward, but tbh Dinoland is a part of the park I almost never visit so if this is a new area that has really nice theming and good rides, then yes, I will consider it an expansion even if it technically isn't one because there would be more things in the park that I actually care about.

Are we even sure the Encanto area would be getting a ride?

And if the Indy ride is a straight clone (i.e. no change to storyline to make it about animals in some way), then I wouldn't call that an immediate upgrade over Dinosaur. Dinosaur fits the park, an unchanged Indiana Jones Adventure does not.

 

[GA-MBIT]

And if the Indy ride is a straight clone (i.e. no change to storyline to make it about animals in some way), then I wouldn't call that an immediate upgrade over Dinosaur. Dinosaur fits the park, an unchanged Indiana Jones Adventure does not.

An upgrade in regards to theming, or capacity? It's hard to argue that Indiana Jones has more to do with animals or conservation than the general idea of Dinosaurs, so I agree with you on a theming level. But as much as I love it, I feel like Dinosaur probably runs at an overall negative in terms of capacity. With no change to the ride itself, a retheme to Indy would definitely get more people to jump in line and fill that capacity to where the park needs it to be.

A lot of the additions to WDW of late have been replacements and not additions, but comparing the in-practice capacity held by Maelstrom, Backlot Tour, Dinosaur, Ellen, Great Movie Ride, and comparing that to FEA, Rise, Guardians, M&M, and potentially Indy Orlando is night and day. In a perfect world we would be getting both big-budget renovations like these alongside lots more pure expansions like Rat or Tron, but didney gonna didney.

 

[MikePat]

Whether you agree with the thematic ties of what the IPs in "consideration" are replacing, I guarantee to everyone that the Encanto attraction in "consideration" will be an improvement compared to what existed before with Primeval Whirl.

 

[GAcoaster]

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Are we even sure the Encanto area would be getting a ride?

The exterior layout in the high-res concept art is nearly identical to that of Mystic Manor, with the entrance to the left of the house on the berm.