Walt Disney Imagineering has filed a Notice of Commencement permit for the installation of set elements at the Tree of Life Theater in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The permit will allow Disney to introduce an all-new Zootopia-themed show, replacing It’s Tough to be a Bug.
Zootopia: Better Zoogether Imagineering Permit
The permit taps WDI favorite contractor Icarus Exhibits to perform the work. Icarus Exhibits has done a lot of work for Walt Disney World in the past, with their work stretching back to the 1990s. More recent work includes the current Test Track reimagining, Toy Story Land, TRON: Lightcycle Run, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Tangled theming at Magic Kingdom, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and much more!
Icarus is a design and build company founded in 1987 just down the road from Disney World. Their specialty is creating intentional, themed designs that bring immersive environments to life – something they’ve been doing with Disney since the 1990s when they first worked with Imagineers at Magic Kingdom.
Icarus has worked on props such as the larger-than-life Toy Story characters in Toy Story Land to themed signage in the TRON Lightcycle Run queue to Food & Wine Festival booths. They have also created props such as the ship atop Docking Bay 7 in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and the static droids that can be found within the land.
For the Tree of Life Theater, it’s unclear how much work will need to be done to bring the retheme to life, but concept art appears to show the theater keeping much of the natural wood look, with the introduction of a Clawhauser Audio-Animatronic replacing the current Hopper Audio-Animatronic.
It’s Tough to be a Bug will have its final day of operation on March 16th, closing permanently on March 17th. The new Zootopia show will open in Winter 2025, but an exact opening date has not yet been announced.
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!
