In an interview with EW, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro spoke a bit more about potential plans to replace the DINOSAUR attraction at Animal Kingdom with an Indiana Jones-themed ride.
As a quick refresher, Disney announced that the DinoLand USA reimagining would not be bringing Moana and Zootopia to the theme park after all and that a Tropical Americas-themed land would replace the divisive DinoLand area. The shift comes as Disney looks to get more IP-themed areas into the parks, and DINOSAUR is on the chopping block along with the rest of DinoLand USA. Disney released the following concept art.
As you can see, the upper right of the image above contains an Indiana Jones-themed area, where the DINOSAUR attraction is currently located.
In a recent interview, D’Amaro stressed that the concept art wasn’t final, but that he wanted to take theme park fans along for the ride while Imagineers develop the new land and new ideas:
We’ve got so many stories to tell, we have so many things we want to make even better in the theme parks. My plan is to continue to share that with the guests. I know people are like, ‘My gosh, I can’t believe he’s saying this. Is he serious, is he not?’ The answer is, we are absolutely serious.
We know what this business is capable of, we know what our fans expect of us, and we’re going all in. You’re going to see more and more of that. As we make our way through some of these ideas, some of them will become real, and we’ll say that’s specifically what we’re going to do, but I want our guests to be on the journey with us.
Animal Kingdom is about exploration and adventure. I was fortunate enough to have run that theme park, so I know how special it is, and I think there are a lot of stories that we can stay true to Animal Kingdom and express new properties in there, and that’s what you see us starting to do.
Back in September, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to “nearly double” investments in its theme parks to the tune of $60 billion over the next decade. Of that $60 billion, $17 billion is earmarked for Walt Disney World, although Disney doesn’t plan on ramping up that spending until closer to 2030.
Disney has not announced a closing date for DINOSAUR at this time.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
“We’ve got so many stories to tell…”
Original ones? Or just the same tired stories you’ve already told? How about an original attraction? Based on IP that we don’t already know.
Indiana Jones is played out. Nobody cares anymore. But many kids (and adults!) have always loved dinosaurs. They could update the area to something really neat with dinos, like a ride that isn’t incredibly jerky and terrifying for many kids (and adults!). Instead, they’ll shove more IP in.
IP can get old and out of fashion very fast.