Some of the most beloved Disney films are made even more memorable when Disney artists adapt those stories as theme park attractions. Audiences get to experience their favorite characters and songs in a new medium, one that surrounds them in 360 degrees and engages all their senses. Following in the footsteps of classic tales such as Peter Pan and The Little Mermaid, a newer Disney story will make the leap from movie to ride: Encanto.
Disney has announced that an Encanto ride is coming to Walt Disney World in Florida, among many other new rides planned worldwide. We have details on what to expect from the Encanto attraction, a check-in on construction progress, and how it will differ from other rides based on classic Disney movies. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including the opening date of a new attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and how to win an overnight stay inside Cinderella Castle.
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Disney’s First Ride Based on Encanto
Encanto was released in 2021 from Walt Disney Animation Studios, joining other recent hits like Zootopia and Moana as an instant classic of Disney’s modern era. Set in Colombia, the original story told of teenager Mirabel Madrigal, the only member of her family to not possess an innate magical skill. Mirabel’s journey of self-acceptance and the dynamics of her family relationships were qualities many audience members could relate to.
Encanto won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and took pop culture by storm with its songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, especially the phenomenon “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”
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Now, the baton passes from the skilled filmmakers of Walt Disney Animation Studios to Walt Disney Imagineering, the artists who create Disney theme park attractions, as Disney’s first ride based on Encanto is well under construction at Walt Disney World.
The ride will follow the model of a Fantasyland dark ride, the type of attraction made famous by Disneyland standards like Snow White’s Enchanted Wish or Peter Pan’s Flight. These rides are indoors, slow-moving, and family-friendly, with appearances by many characters from their respective films.
The type of ride vehicle for the Encanto attraction has not been revealed. Many of Disney’s recent dark rides, such as Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT, utilize trackless vehicles. In those cases, the floor itself is the tech rather than a track path laid on top of it.
Disney’s decision to build an Encanto ride that opens six years after the film was released demonstrates the company’s tremendous confidence in the property’s staying power. This is the fastest that Disney World has ever built a new ride, from the ground up, based on a movie. Let that sink in. Disney World has been around for 55 years, and Encanto was the film that received the resort’s most esteemed investment the fastest.
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Location of Encanto Ride and Ongoing Construction
Disney is building the Encanto ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World. The ride will be part of a new land called Tropical Americas, along with two additional rides, which we’ll discuss later in this article.
Tropical Americas replaces DinoLand, U.S.A., a former area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom that permanently closed in phases from 2020 to 2026. When Tropical Americas debuts, super fans may be able to find their bearings from what was here before, but the land is mostly new, offering fresh experiences and telling a completely different story from the prehistoric creatures who previously frequented this corner of the park.
The Encanto ride will be housed in a huge new building constructed from scratch. The building is located partially where the Primeval Whirl roller coaster once stood. The rest of the massive building expands the footprint of Disney’s Animal Kingdom into space that was previously backstage.
The front of the building will resemble the Madrigals’ Casita from the movie. Like many Disney rides, the inside is unfathomably deeper than the exterior makes it seem. Behind the Casita façade, the building exterior will be disguised as mountains.
Opening Date of Encanto Ride
Disney has announced that the Encanto ride will open in 2027, but hasn’t shared a specific opening date or season beyond that.
Walt Disney World typically aims to have a huge promotional push every summer. History shows us a long list of Disney World attractions that opened on Memorial Day Weekend, a prime slot to kick off the summer with a bang. Examples include Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in 2022 and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets in 2026.
Given the scale of the Encanto attraction and its current construction progress, a summer 2027 opening may be a stretch. However, that might not be a problem. The makeup of the Tropical Americas project, with three rides of varying scales and construction timelines, means that Disney could theoretically open Tropical Americas in phases, with some of it debuting in summer 2027 and the rest following later in the year. Encanto is easily the heaviest lift among the land’s rides, meaning that in this hypothetical phased opening situation, it would likely open last.
Disney has utilized phased openings for new lands multiple times before, including with the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. In that instance, the overall land and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run opened three months before the land’s marquee attraction, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
What to Expect in the New Encanto Ride
Disney World’s Encanto ride takes place at a specific point within the movie: the day Antonio Madrigal receives his gift of talking to animals.
Antonio’s new room in the family’s Casita is an implausibly vast jungle filled with friendly cheetahs, capybaras, tucans, and other animals. We expect this to be a key component of the ride, connecting it with its placement in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In this way, it may differ from telling the overall story of Encanto to instead focus solely on the unexplored terrain of Antonio’s room.
On a basic level, this seemingly fits with the park. This is Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and the ride will have animal characters. Check. However, Disney’s Animal Kingdom has always ascribed to a deeper commitment in its park programming to instill a stronger message. Specifically, Imagineers’ rubric for Disney’s Animal Kingdom attractions must embody three principles: the intrinsic value of nature, transformation through adventure, and a personal call to action.
To that end, Joan Hartwig, Executive Producer of Tropical Americas, who has been with Walt Disney Imagineering for 36 years, recently shared that in the Encanto attraction, guests will “learn that no matter what our special gifts or abilities are, we’re all part of the ‘familia’ of all living things.”
Further driving this point, Hartwig says Disney’s Tropical Americas land is inspired by “a part of the world where nature doesn’t just surround communities — it shapes them.”
We also anticipate the Encanto ride showcasing Disney’s latest advanced technology with Audio-Animatronics figures. This applies to the human characters and the animals within the ride. It remains to be seen whether these figures would have next-generation, fully sculpted faces, like those recently installed in Frozen Ever After at EPCOT, or if they would utilize front-facing projections onto a moving sculpted face, such as the new skeleton pirate installed in Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland.
It’s also possible that some of the characters may be part of the ride via animated footage rather than Audio-Animatronics figures. For example, in the finale of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom, Tiana, Naveen, and several other characters appear as Audio-Animatronics figures, but Naveen’s family appears in the background as animated characters on a screen.
A Story Challenge with Disney’s Encanto Ride
The timeline of the ride presents an interesting story challenge. If this is the day when Antonio receives his gift, then it’s also the day when Mirabel feels rejected by her entire family. It’s a pretty dark plot point in the film, and it isn’t resolved on that day. This means the Imagineers creating the ride need to choose between a) introducing a conflict they can’t resolve within the story constraints of the ride, which could feel awkward or sad, or b) ignoring Mirabel’s plight altogether, overlooking a key point of the movie but possibly maintaining a more streamlined narrative flow for the attraction.
It’s not unprecedented for Disney theme park rides to change or ignore plot points from their respective films. For example, Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid at Magic Kingdom implies that Ariel and Eric share their first kiss during the “Kiss the Girl” musical sequence, thus breaking Ursula’s curse. That’s not what happens in the movie. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland takes even more story liberties by sending its main character to hell, which isn’t part of the movie that inspired the ride at all.
Another observation about this point in the Encanto timeline: Bruno isn’t here yet. The legendary “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” sequence doesn’t occur on the evening of Antonio’s party, but many guests are sure to expect the song to be featured in the ride in some way. Would Imagineers bend the rules a bit to include the famous tune and its namesake character?
Encanto Ride is Part of New Theme Park Land
The Encanto ride will be one of several attractions in the new Tropical Americas land. The land’s setting will be a fictional village called Pueblo Esperanza, a town surrounded by a rainforest.
A traditional carousel ride will be part of Tropical Americas. So the story goes, a woodcarver in Pueblo Esperanza built the merry-go-round himself, inspired by Disney animal stories as he carved the ride’s steeds. Instead of horses, guests will ride aboard characters from Disney animated films, including The Lion King and Finding Nemo.
The Encanto ride and the carousel are both new attractions that Disney is building from scratch. However, some parts of Tropical Americas will repurpose entities that were previously part of the now-closed DinoLand, U.S.A., including the former DINOSAUR ride.
A new Indiana Jones attraction will recycle the DINOSAUR thrill ride’s Jeep vehicles and infrastructure to tell a new story. The ride will inherently share many similarities with Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland, including the ride system, but this version’s narrative will be completely different, swapping out the curse of Mara for a journey with Indy into a Mayan temple.
A reimagined quick service restaurant will replace Restaurantosaurus, transforming the space into a hacienda in the style of Spanish architecture.
Major Construction Projects Ongoing Throughout Disney World
As huge as the Tropical Americas project is turning out to be, it’s just one of four massive construction sites currently at Walt Disney World theme parks.
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Monstropolis is under construction. The new land based on Monsters, Inc. will feature an indoor suspended roller coaster inspired by the door factory chase from the movie.
At Magic Kingdom, Piston Peak National Park will blend the world of Pixar’s Cars with a salute to the beauty of U.S. national parks. The area will feature a thrill ride mimicking off-roading, as well as a family-friendly ride.
Also at Magic Kingdom, Villains Land will be an entire realm devoted to the classic antagonists of Walt Disney Animation Studios films. Villains Land is still a few years away from opening, but this project is highly anticipated among fans.
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