Disney's Animal Kingdom® Park News from Disney's Animal Kingdom

Neil chace said:
II'm still holding out some hope that some animals may make the final cut, or are planned for a phase two of the project, but am nonetheless disappointed by their exclusion.
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Not to be a downer, but unless they were hiding some components of the project from D23, it looks like the entire area is going to be built out with what they announced. There is a piece of older concept art with macaws flying over the area, so maybe they would have their macaw flight demo integrated into the are somehow if they still do that. Many of us were hoping for a return to DAK's zoo glory days with some innovative South American animal exhibits, but it looks like the only animals are probably animatronic and on screens from what they revealed.
 
Some thoughts on the recent news and reveal about this section.

On the one hand, I am really disappointed to hear that their new South America-themed land will not feature live animal exhibits, and that will make it difficult for me to justify revisiting this park in the future as the live animal exhibits are pretty much the only reason I dedicated a day to this facility back in 2022 (I am not really a theme park person). It would have been a great opportunity to expand their collection and also have them flex their godlike design and landscaping skills with a theme that, quite frankly, is shocking that they didn't have to begin with. For example, an Amazon-themed exhibit with Disney's level of attention to detail and immersion would have been an amazing experience.

On the other hand, I am still glad that they are replacing Dinoland with a fresh experience. Sorry, but Dinoland really needed to go. That area felt and like it was being ignored by everyone outside of the Dinosaur ride. I think, ultimately, this will still be a good addition for the park, even if it doesn't really favor us ZooChatters.

Also, Disney seemingly moving away from and de-emphasizing their live animal exhibits in favor of new rides isn't really surprising to me. SeaWorld Orlando has been doing the same for years ever since the Blackfish documentary dealt a blow to their public image (correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think SWO has opened a brand new animal exhibit in 10 years, ignoring older exhibits being overhauled or repurposed). And if some recent posts in the North Carolina Zoo News 2024 thread are to be believed, it looks like Busch Gardens Tampa is moving in this direction as well.

I could just as well be jumping the gun here, but we might be seeing a major shift in how animal theme parks will operate and change going forward, not just limited to Disney.
 
Astrotom3000 said:
Some thoughts on the recent news and reveal about this section.

On the one hand, I am really disappointed to hear that their new South America-themed land will not feature live animal exhibits, and that will make it difficult for me to justify revisiting this park in the future as the live animal exhibits are pretty much the only reason I dedicated a day to this facility back in 2022 (I am not really a theme park person). It would have been a great opportunity to expand their collection and also have them flex their godlike design and landscaping skills with a theme that, quite frankly, is shocking that they didn't have to begin with. For example, an Amazon-themed exhibit with Disney's level of attention to detail and immersion would have been an amazing experience.

On the other hand, I am still glad that they are replacing Dinoland with a fresh experience. Sorry, but Dinoland really needed to go. That area felt and like it was being ignored by everyone outside of the Dinosaur ride. I think, ultimately, this will still be a good addition for the park, even if it doesn't really favor us ZooChatters.

Also, Disney seemingly moving away from and de-emphasizing their live animal exhibits in favor of new rides isn't really surprising to me. SeaWorld Orlando has been doing the same for years ever since the Blackfish documentary dealt a blow to their public image (correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think SWO has opened a brand new animal exhibit in 10 years, ignoring older exhibits being overhauled or repurposed). And if some recent posts in the North Carolina Zoo News 2024 thread are to be believed, it looks like Busch Gardens Tampa is moving in this direction as well.

I could just as well be jumping the gun here, but we might be seeing a major shift in how animal theme parks will operate and change going forward, not just limited to Disney.
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To an extent I can see this. Fwiw Busch is also owned by SeaWorld — sorry, Premier Parks. I think the only new animal additions they’ve made to Busch were the animal hospital and cheetah exhibits about a decade ago. (And also some potentially traumatized snakes in the Cobra’s Curse queue.) As for the other major animal parks, it’s a mixed bag. Great Adventure invested in their safari park this year and I think they’ve made occasional animal investments into Discovery Kingdom. We’ll see how that goes under the new executive team. Marineland is exclusively an animal park right now but I’m not sure anyone would be sad to see their animal exhibits go.

As for Disney, I get the calculus of de-emphasizing animal components now. Tickets cost a lot more than they did when The Living Seas or even Animal Kingdom were built. Can I justify a visit to an excellent zoo / safari park for $60? Sure. Even better if it has a few solid rides and shows. For double that? No. The only way you’re getting millions of people a year to pay $110+ to visit DAK is with rides, not animals.

I think the trend is more a result of the current North American operators’ priorities rather than an indictment of the concept. Over in China we’re still seeing new marine life or safari theme parks get built, for better or for worse. SeaWorld just opened a new location in the UAE that has animal exhibits. Chessington’s still going strong in the UK and Everland in South Korea.
 
It's really a shame that they're planning on destroying Dinoland USA. That's always been one of my favorite parts of WDW. It's a great combination of paleontology and nostalgic Americana that reminds me of post Jurassic Park dinomania. A real loss for Animal Kingdom. It didn't over-emphasize IP and fits in with the original vision of the park.
 
Persephone said:
To an extent I can see this. Fwiw Busch is also owned by SeaWorld — sorry, Premier Parks. I think the only new animal additions they’ve made to Busch were the animal hospital and cheetah exhibits about a decade ago. (And also some potentially traumatized snakes in the Cobra’s Curse queue.) As for the other major animal parks, it’s a mixed bag. Great Adventure invested in their safari park this year and I think they’ve made occasional animal investments into Discovery Kingdom. We’ll see how that goes under the new executive team. Marineland is exclusively an animal park right now but I’m not sure anyone would be sad to see their animal exhibits go.

As for Disney, I get the calculus of de-emphasizing animal components now. Tickets cost a lot more than they did when The Living Seas or even Animal Kingdom were built. Can I justify a visit to an excellent zoo / safari park for $60? Sure. Even better if it has a few solid rides and shows. For double that? No. The only way you’re getting millions of people a year to pay $110+ to visit DAK is with rides, not animals.

I think the trend is more a result of the current North American operators’ priorities rather than an indictment of the concept. Over in China we’re still seeing new marine life or safari theme parks get built, for better or for worse. SeaWorld just opened a new location in the UAE that has animal exhibits. Chessington’s still going strong in the UK and Everland in South Korea.
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Seaworld San Antonio recently opened an Aldabra tortoise exhibit with an associated paid encounter and Seaworld San Diego is opening a dedicated jellyfish exhibit plus breeding facility. No idea about Orlando. Although these may be seen as "safe" exhibits, I don't think that's really a bad thing. DAK could easily sprinkle in some smaller exhibits with species that aren't huge commitments but seemingly chose not too. I guess it simply isn't seen as worth it and while I understand wanting to include more rides for the average person to enjoy, couldn't someone buy a ticket to any of the other Disney World parks if they didn't care much for the animals?
 
I’m sorry but I don’t think this is as big of an issue as everyone thinks it is. Yes it would have been nice to have animals in the South American area but it makes sense why they wouldn’t include them considering how small the area is.
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The lower building will house the Indiana Jones ride and shouldn’t change at all, and the Encanto ride will go on the grey empty space in the middle. Factoring in those two rides there would be no space left to do any major animal exhibits. But let’s say they choose to not do the Encanto ride and just build an animal exhibit on the current Dino-fair area, there wouldn’t be enough space to do much of anything. It just doesn’t make sense to add a South American animal exhibit when they don’t have the space to execute it properly.
 

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Westcoastperson said:
I’m sorry but I don’t think this is as big of an issue as everyone thinks it is. Yes it would have been nice to have animals in the South American area but it makes sense why they wouldn’t include them considering how small the area is.
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The disappointment I think is that Disney defined zoo excellence with the Africa and Asia zones, and people were hoping to see what they would do with an equivalent neotropics zone when news of a Tropical Americas zone emerged.

The news that this will not happen is also likely confirmation that there will probably never be a live animal neotropical zone, or any other new live animal zone, which is sad for people who enjoy DAK as a zoo. Sad, but not surprising, as the last live animal zone was added almost 30 years ago now.
 
DavidBrown said:
The disappointment I think is that Disney defined zoo excellence with the Africa and Asia zones, and people were hoping to see what they would do with an equivalent neotropics zone when news of a Tropical Americas zone emerged.

The news that this will not happen is also likely confirmation that there will probably never be a live animal neotropical zone, or any other new live animal zone, which is sad for people who enjoy DAK as a zoo. Sad, but not surprising, as the last live animal zone was added almost 30 years ago now.
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That’s just my point though it doesn’t confirm anything about live animal exhibits because Disney likely didn’t have a choice in the first place. They wanted to put something new on top of the old Dino area but didn’t have enough space to put animal exhibits. It doesn’t mean they won’t do it.
And yes Disney has chosen to build rides over exhibits recently but that isn’t a symptom of a lack of interest in animals, it’s because Disney refuses to build anything original today. If you look at the announcements they made for their other parks the new rides and attractions are all related to some form of Disney IP. When was the last time you can remember Disney opening an original ride or area?
I don’t know if Disney has decided to they will no longer be bringing new animal attractions to animal kingdom. They have the space in the northern part of the park to do so. But I don’t think this will be the nail in the coffin. I was reading some articles earlier today about the new announcements and people don’t seem too happy about how IP based new projects have become. I mean they are going to replace the Rivers of America with a Cars ride in Orlando, which is insane. I am going to hope at some point soon Disney will realize they need to bring back their creativity and with that new animal exhibits will come to Animal Kingdom.
 
Astrotom3000 said:
Also, Disney seemingly moving away from and de-emphasizing their live animal exhibits in favor of new rides isn't really surprising to me. SeaWorld Orlando has been doing the same for years ever since the Blackfish documentary dealt a blow to their public image (correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think SWO has opened a brand new animal exhibit in 10 years, ignoring older exhibits being overhauled or repurposed). And if some recent posts in the North Carolina Zoo News 2024 thread are to be believed, it looks like Busch Gardens Tampa is moving in this direction as well.

I could just as well be jumping the gun here, but we might be seeing a major shift in how animal theme parks will operate and change going forward, not just limited to Disney.
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I think this is nail on the head. A lot of the defenses that apply to core zoos are harder to apply to a theme park setting, and I think most people realize that for a theme park, the thrill rides are the primary selling point and the animals can't be a top priority, just in a business sense. While thrill rides have a wide appeal right now, I think a lot of laymen would still be concerned about the effects of nearby roller coasters on animal welfare, a subject that has come up on zoochat before as well. Unfortunately in the wake of Blackish, the animals become an unnecessary risk for bad publicity without providing a real added value, especially once you move past those needed for a basic safari ride.

I think it's a shame but far from surprising.
 
Westcoastperson said:
That’s just my point though it doesn’t confirm anything about live animal exhibits because Disney likely didn’t have a choice in the first place. They wanted to put something new on top of the old Dino area but didn’t have enough space to put animal exhibits. It doesn’t mean they won’t do it.
And yes Disney has chosen to build rides over exhibits recently but that isn’t a symptom of a lack of interest in animals, it’s because Disney refuses to build anything original today. If you look at the announcements they made for their other parks the new rides and attractions are all related to some form of Disney IP. When was the last time you can remember Disney opening an original ride or area?
I don’t know if Disney has decided to they will no longer be bringing new animal attractions to animal kingdom. They have the space in the northern part of the park to do so. But I don’t think this will be the nail in the coffin. I was reading some articles earlier today about the new announcements and people don’t seem too happy about how IP based new projects have become. I mean they are going to replace the Rivers of America with a Cars ride in Orlando, which is insane. I am going to hope at some point soon Disney will realize they need to bring back their creativity and with that new animal exhibits will come to Animal Kingdom.
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Disney says they have eleven acres for this new land. Eleven acres is plenty of space to include a few rides and also animal exhibits, so I don't really buy this space argument. It's all a question of what is being prioritized. Especially since South America doesn't have any of the large megafauna that Africa and Asia do (barring jaguars and Andean bears), it wouldn't take nearly as much space to design a good South American exhibit than one for the other continents. They easily could've done a lot even dedicating two acres of space to animal exhibits.

Furthermore, I'm truthfully just as upset about Indiana "I Hate Snakes" Jones joining Animal Kingdom than I am about the lack of new animal exhibits too. Indiana Jones has absolutely nothing to do with the themes of Disney's Animal Kingdom, and paired with the lack of new animal exhibits just adds insult to injury.
 
To expand on what I and a few others have said, people need to understand that, at the end of the day, Animal Kingdom is a theme park first and a zoo second. It operates like a theme park, is priced like a theme park, and thus, business decisions are made like a theme park. Unlike zoos, Animal Kingdom has to compete with other similar attractions, and the competition isn't just limited to the Orlando area. The majority of visitors, the ones that actually matter to Disney's bottom line, do not go to Animal Kingdom for the animals; they go for the rides, attractions, and experiences. As much as we all would have loved to see new animal exhibits in the new South America zone, that's not what will ultimately drive attendance.

Remember that Animal Kingdom suffered slumping attendance in the early-mid 2000s and it was a brand new ride (Expedition Everest), not a new animal exhibit, that boosted attendance.

Disney is not only competing with Busch Gardens, SeaWorld, and Universal, but their competition is getting fiercer; the former 2 have just opened brand new family-oriented roller coasters this year (a trend that has been picking up steam in the industry as a whole) and the latter is in the midst of building an entirely new theme park in Orlando, set to open next year. Disney needs to offer major new experiences in order to remain competitive and relevant. New animal exhibits are just not going to cut it these days when the money and space is better spent on new rides and attractions that are guaranteed to draw crowds.

Also, 11 acres may seem big at first, but you have to keep in mind that Disney's rides and attractions are far more complex and involving than what you'd find at your typical amusement park, so they take up a good amount of space. That space is also needed for dining, shopping, and various attractions. Also remember that Animal Kingdom draws far higher crowds than a typical zoo, so everything from the paths to the facilities to the rides need to be designed with this in mind. Suddenly, 11 acres isn't as big as it sounds.

Yes, Disney is ultimately doing what they think is best for their bottom line (which isn't inherently bad, I mean, those theme parks are not cheap to operate), but it's a little more complicated then that. To reiterate, I think all the major animal theme parks are working to downplay the zoo aspects while emphasizing the theme park elements, especially in response to the Blackfish film and the huge industry-wide debates and controversies it generated.

And of course, all of this applies to Busch Gardens and SeaWorld as well, the latter probably more so than either Disney or Busch.. None of those parks have opened any new animal exhibits in the last decade, and have been focused entirely on rides and attractions. That's just the nature of the industry these days.

Am I still disappointed that the new area will not include new animal exhibits? Of course. But l also believe that this is ultimately the right move for Disney. Two things can be true.
 
I would take an aviary at this point. Disney’s are top notch. A third wouldn’t even add that much space. I know above I’ve given reasons why I don’t expect any large new animal exhibits but 10,000-ish square feet for birds sounds plausible, right? If its particularly big they might be able to put capys in.
 
BlobfishBoy said:
Regardless of the priority for rides, with them being featured in Encanto, it seems like adding at least a capybara exhibit would be an easy win with all visitors.
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Was there rides included? I thought it was a meet and greet and overhaul of the area. Even a coati or jaguar exhibit would make sense due to the importance in the movie.
 
I think it's weird that they've got an exhibit for a neotropiocal animal in the area already and instead of building around it they seem to be doing away with it. At best I'm hoping for some terrariums here and there, possibly in the Indy ride queue similar to how Busch Gardens has done it.
 
I also had the time to visit the park recently, and listed below are some new additions that I saw during my visit.
  • At Discovery Island, a new set of Cotton-Top Tamarin triplets were born! With all three being out on habitat as we speak!
  • Along with these triplets, the tamarin exhibit now has a shade cloth, which covers over a portion of the meshed exhibit.
  • Out on Kilimanjaro Safaris, there are now two Mountain Zebra foals in the West Savanna. I don’t know if these births were previously announced, but I can confirm that they are now on exhibit.
  • Also on Safari, after several unsuccessful attempts to see her on habitat. I finally saw (0.1) Corra the African Elephant calf up close with her family!

  • Perhaps, most significantly, the mixed species yard in the Maharajah Jungle Trek has been replanted with all new grass and plants! As of right now, none of the animals were introduced to these plants; but I’m glad that it no longer feels like a barren dust-bowl.*
 
In preparation for the new Tropical Americas land that’s anticipated to open in 2027. (1.0) Marley the American Crocodile has been relocated to another facility; which at this time, Disney did not confirm as to where he was moved to.

His now-former habitat is completely drained of water, and all signage relating to his species was removed indefinitely.
 
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