The construction of an all-new Encanto-themed attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom has hit an exciting milestone. New aerial photos from friend of the site Bioreconstruct reveal that construction has officially gone vertical for the new attraction. The milestone comes nearly eight months after the groundbreaking ceremony that was held back in January. Here’s a look at what’s new!
Encanto Attraction Construction Goes Vertical for Tropical Americas Project
With about two years left on the clock for a Tropical Americas opening, crews have hit an exciting milestone for the Encanto-themed attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Aerial photos from Bioreconstruct show that portions of the attraction are now “vertical” as Disney builds out what is assumed to be the maintenance area of the building.
In order to better understand what we’re looking at from the aerial photos, let’s get an “aerial” view of the Tropical Americas Land scale model, now on display at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We can see the Encanto ride tucked away in the far back left corner of the land in the photos below.
We can see the attraction’s show building in green from this photo of the model when it was on display at last year’s D23 Expo. Similar to Haunted Mansion, there will be a house facade at the front of the attraction footprint, with a massive show building hidden behind it. Also similar to Haunted Mansion, the “entrance” to the “house” will be on the side of the building, barely visible among the palm trees in the lower left of the photo below.
Another way of visualizing the new show building is possible thanks to the water management permit seen below. The DINOSAUR attraction building can be seen at the bottom of the screenshot, while the Encanto building is the large blob of blue in the middle of the screenshot. For this article about the vertical construction, we’ll be mostly focused on the “back” of the building, which is where it is believed that the maintenance bay is located.
This first aerial photo shows the large crane that has been on site since mid-September. Critically, it also offers our first look at vertical construction with the concrete pour of walls and support columns near the “back” of the construction site.
Zooming out a bit, we can see the construction site as it sits next to the existing DINOSAUR attraction show building (bottom left, image below). The DINOSAUR attraction will be transformed into an Indiana Jones attraction throughout 2026 and into 2027. The DINOSAUR attraction will have its final day of operation on February 1, 2026 before closing.
Here’s a closer look at the vertical construction. We can see walls starting to ride, and even some support columns coming out of the dirt as crews work to bring the Encanto-themed attraction to life.
Here are some more angles of the recent work, including a very interesting element near the rumored “finale” scene of the ride.
Beyond the vertical construction at the back of the attraction footprint, this very deep excavation area is interesting. As you can see, there are four very large forms taking shape. According to an analysis from Touring Plans, this construction area is roughly where the “big finale” is located.
Bioreconstruct even included a video of the helicopter flight over the Encanto attraction construction site at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!
Encanto Attraction Description & Concept Art
Inside the Casita, Antonio has just received his special gift — the ability to communicate with animals — and his room has transformed into a rainforest. The attraction will follow Antonio the day after he received his magical gift. It’s time to go explore alongside him, and you never know what member of the family you might bump into…
Plans for an Encanto-themed attraction being part of the Tropical Americas project were first announced in September 2023 at the Destination D23 event. Since then, Disney has offered new details and confirmed that the concept is moving forward at the 2024 D23 Expo.
For everything you need to know about the Tropical Americas retheme project for DinoLand USA, check out our article below!
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!
Let me guess – none of this will be wheelchair accessible? 😢
The construction site? No. But the attraction and surrounding areas should be accommodating