Disney’s Animal Kingdom is gearing up for significant new additions in the near future, including an Indiana Jones thrill attraction and Disney’s first-ever Encanto ride. The efforts are part of sweeping expansions throughout Walt Disney World. At neighboring parks, Disney is building Villains Land and a Monsters, Inc. doors roller coaster. As Disney’s properties continue to rank among the most-visited theme parks in the world, Animal Kingdom is ready to welcome more guests into new experiences.
Join us below as we explore 6 new rides and additions coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, with thorough context for what each experience means to the legacy of the park, along with concept art and the latest construction progress. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including Disney Cruise Line rule changes and Disney+ subscriber perks.
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Changes Ongoing at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Large-scale changes at Disney’s Animal Kingdom seem to arrive in huge waves every decade or so. The park opened in 1998. Its signature thrill ride, Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, arrived in 2006, followed by the major investment of Pandora – The World of Avatar in 2017. We’ve now come around to another cycle of big changes for the park, with many exciting projects in motion.
The modern Animal Kingdom era is its first without the guiding hand of Joe Rohde, the park’s lead designer and longtime creative executive. Rohde retired in 2021. Read our interview with Joe Rohde for his insights into the park’s thesis. Many of the projects in the works for the park are currently being overseen by Executive Creative Director Joan Hartwig, who has over 30 years of experience at Walt Disney Imagineering.
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Animal Kingdom is a special park to me personally, as it’s where I worked during my time as a Walt Disney World cast member. As part of my merchandise delivery route, I walked the park literally hundreds of times and came to deeply appreciate its passionate heartbeat and the purpose it serves to guests, to Disney, and to its animals.
There’s a lot ahead as Walt Disney Imagineers charts a course for the future of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Holistically, these plans add more family-friendly experiences to the park and freshen up existing thrill rides. Below, we’ll explore each coming attraction individually.
If Animal Kingdom is your favorite Walt Disney World theme park, make sure to read our coverage of a Lion King attraction Disney planned for Animal Kingdom but never built, as well as a look back at the park’s Pocahontas wild animal show and Tarzan concert.
Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto
Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto will be the first Encanto ride in the world when it opens at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The family-friendly ride will not have a height requirement. It will be a dark ride, theme park lingo for a slow-moving indoor attraction with story-focused scenes.
The story takes place inside the Madrigal family’s Casita. Riders are visiting on the day in the story when Antonio receives his gift of talking to animals. Walt Disney Imagineering has teased special effects for the ride’s sets that will bring Casita to life.
The ride vehicles will appear to be jigsawed together from furniture throughout the house!
Audio-Animatronics animals will populate the ride, along with members of the Madrigal family.
Here’s a look at construction. The frame of Casita is in place, awaiting its plaster and theming. Behind it, the huge ride building will be disguised as mountains and rolling hills.
Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto is just one component of a larger project called Tropical Americas. This new land also includes two more rides, which we’ll discuss below. Tropical Americas replaces DinoLand, U.S.A., which fully closed in February 2026 following several years of individual attractions closing. Tropical Americas will open in 2027. Disney has not announced a more specific timeframe than the year.
While some components of the Tropical Americas land repurpose facilities previously used for DinoLand, the Encanto ride will reside in a completely new building constructed from scratch. It’s massive! See more details for Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto here.
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El Carrusel de los Animalitos
El Carrusel de los Animalitos will bring a family-friendly carousel ride to Disney’s Animal Kingdom as part of the Tropical Americas project.
Each ride vehicle will resemble a Disney animated character. Here’s a sneak peek at most of them. They are adorable! Character selections include popular animal friends like Simba from The Lion King and Heihei from Moana, as well as some more obscure critters like Heimlich from A Bug’s Life.
Within the story, a local woodcarver has fashioned these animals after his favorite stories.
This October 2026 photo shows construction progressing for the shelters over the ride and its queue.
New Shopping and Dining
The new Tropical Americas land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom takes place in a fictional village called Pueblo Esperanza. This lively haven in the middle of a rain forest is home to more than just rides.
A reimagined dining location will repurpose the former Restaurantosaurus of DinoLand, U.S.A., and transform it into a fresh space that fits the aesthetic and culinary style of the Tropical Americas land. Disney has not announced a name or menu for this quick service restaurant.
The future quick service restaurant will retain the same basic shell of Restaurantosaurus, but, by and large, this will feel like a new eatery.
Here’s a look at construction as of October 2026, with the basis of Restaurantosaurus in place, as new architecture and ornamentation are put into place.
Nearby, what was previously Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, a gift shop, is similarly retaining its basic form as it becomes a new store for Tropical Americas.
Where once shelves were filled with dinosaur action figures, guests will soon shop for all things Encanto and Indiana Jones. Speaking of the adventurous professor, he’s coming to Animal Kingdom with a ride of his own.
Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent
Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent will repurpose the former DINOSAUR thrill ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom into a new story.
The revamped ride will keep DINOSAUR’s Jeep ride vehicles, but rather than going back in time to save an iguanadon, riders will instead join Indiana Jones as he explores an ancient Maya temple.
Inevitably, the adventure gets dangerous when Indy opens a portal to the underworld. Guests will come face to face with the Tsukán, a snake-like creature brought to life as a huge Audio-Animatronics figure. See more details about the ride and its snake.
The temple façade is progressing at the entrance to the attraction, with the top seeming to be complete.
Now that we’ve covered every component of Tropical Americas, here’s a wide view of the entire construction site to grasp its scale. This is anticipated to be a huge win for Animal Kingdom when it opens in 2027. As big as Tropical Americas will be, though, there’s still another project on the way elsewhere in the park.
New Yeti at Expedition Everest
Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain has notoriously had a broken yeti for two decades. The Audio-Animatronics monster in the final scene of the popular roller coaster was originally programmed to move, but complications required Disney to make the yeti immobile shortly after the ride opened in 2006.
The figure was never fixed, and for 20 years, it has stood still under a flashing strobe light. This placeholder-turned-permanent-effect has been dubbed “disco yeti” over the years. The idea is that riders are moving so fast, they might not notice the monster is motionless.
Disney revealed in August 2026 that the yeti will move once again in the future, but a timeline hasn’t been announced. Rohde recently remarked that the old figure will likely be replaced altogether rather than fixed.
Recently Opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
The soon-to-open experiences described above follow other recently opened attractions at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Zootopia: Better Zoogether! opened in November 2025, replacing the long-running 3D show It’s Tough to be a Bug! inside the Tree of Life. Guests join Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde for a 3D special effects show that features an impressive Audio-Animatronics figure of Clawhauser the cheetah. Disney updated the show a few months after it opened with a clearer script, better effects, and a new character.
In tandem with the opening of Better Zoogether!, Disney opened the Zoogether Day Gathering Spot, a character greeting location for Judy and Nick. The name comes from the holiday celebrated in the new attraction, and the meet-and-greet is right next to the entrance to the show. It replaced the Wilderness Explorers Clubhouse, where Dug and Russell from Up formerly greeted guests.
Bluey’s Wild World at Conservation Station opened in May 2026, transforming the area of the park formerly known as Rafiki’s Planet Watch. The basic structure of that land and its real medical facilities remain in place, but with Bluey theming and a small-scale show featuring live appearances by Bluey and Bingo walk-around characters. There’s also a new habitat with animals from Bluey’s home of Australia.
Guests must take the Wildlife Express Train from the park’s Africa section to reach Bluey’s Wild World. The train ride now features narration by Robert Irwin. Read our report from visiting Bluey’s Wild World.
Animal Kingdom has also made headlines this year for a wildly popular new dessert snack: the Cookie Dough Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich, served at the Terra Treats snack stand and at the snack cart outside of the Island Mercantile store. A festive new version of the treat is coming for the holiday season.
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