Animal Kingdom might as well be called Construction Kingdom right now. The list of projects may not be “long”, but the space that they take up is expansive. This past weekend we spent some time walking around and checking out all of the work that’s being done. Here’s what you can expect to see if you are planning on visiting the Animal Kingdom this fall.
The first thing that you’ll notice is a new parking lot. In anticipation of Pandora and the Rivers of Light nighttime show, Disney is now paving over the grass area at the back of the parking lot. The new lot will keep with the animal naming scheme and be named Yeti. Here’s an overview of the location for Pandora and the Yeti parking lot.
Construction started in late July and seems to be progressing well. Even during the busy summer season there wasn’t a need for an extra parking lot, but with new entertainment and attractions coming in 2016 it’s nice to see Disney planning ahead. Here’s a look at the construction from the ground.
Walking into Animal Kingdom and rounding the corner past the Oasis, we are immediately met with walls surrounding the Tree of Life as part of it’s current refurbishment.
In addition, the area to the right of Disney Outfitters also has walls surrounding it.
Walking to the right of the Tree of Life, towards Dinoland, we see more signage on the walls similar to what is present around The Hub in the Magic Kingdom.
There are more walls on the path to Dinoland, including by the Flame Tree BBQ.
If we look across the lake from the bridge to Dinoland then we see the backside of the construction near Asia, but more on that in a bit.
Walking into Dinoland, more specifically the path to the left of the Dinoland entrance, we see that the construction walls for the Rivers of Light nighttime spectacular have started to pop up as reported.
Continuing down the path we notice that the walls wrap all the way around to the Nemo Theater.
Going past the Nemo Theater and standing on the bridge to Asia, we get a better look at the backside of the walls, and what will eventually be another seating area for the Rivers of Light.
The walls in Asia are much nicer than those in Dinoland. They have richer scenes and even a few Tibetan proverbs.
Walking towards the primate exhibit we see that the theming on the walls ends and normal construction walls are present.
Here is an overview of the scope of the construction for the Rivers of Light seating/viewing areas. The blue areas are the parts under construction.
The primate exhibit is where the Rivers of Light construction ends, but if we continue on to the end of Asia/start of Harambe we notice more walls near the back of Tamu Tamu Refreshments.
Walking across the path we get a different view of the construction going on at the Tree of Life.
As you can see, there is plenty going on at the Animal Kingdom right now and I think the tagline used at the bottom of the Tibetan proverbs says it best:
Disney’s Animal Kingdom is about to show a whole new side!
What do you think of the changes coming to Animal Kingdom? Let us know in the comment section below.
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awesome!
What have the done to my beloved Animal Kingdom!
This is kinda sad to me. I wish they weren’t trying to do it all at one time! AK is NOT my favorite park by far, but it is beautiful to explore and this is really just WAY too much going on at one time. Takes a lot away from the feel of the park.
Great article. Thanks for posting. It always warms my heart to see new construction at Disney theme parks, no matter the temporary inconvenience. It shows there’s still imagination left in the world.
Love the use of maps. It reminds me of my Monday Mapday posts.