Disney’s Animal Kingdom is undergoing a significant construction project that will bring two of Disney’s most beloved stories to this Walt Disney World theme park. The project will introduce a new land to Disney’s Animal Kingdom that will include three new rides when it opens in 2027.
There’s still a long way to go until then, but construction crews have now installed what might just be the beginnings of Disney World’s next iconic, picture-perfect structure. At Mickey Visit, we cover the latest Disney news, like the launch of Disney’s biggest cruise ship ever and cast member changes to restore the guest experience.
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What’s Coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 2027
A new land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom called Tropical Americas will depict a fictional village called Pueblo Esperanza. This land replaces DinoLand, U.S.A., which closed in phases over the past few years and officially shut down for good in February 2026.
Within Tropical Americas, new Encanto ride will take place inside the Madrigals’ casita. Riders are visiting on the day Antonio, the young boy in the film, receives his gift of being able to talk to animals. While Disney hasn’t announced the ride system, expect a family-friendly ride in the style of a modern Fantasyland dark ride.
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Disney is constructing the Encanto ride from the ground up in a new building. Meanwhile, an Indiana Jones ride will repurpose the now-closed DINOSAUR’s ride system. Inside, riders will be immersed in a new story about Indy exploring an ancient temple.
A third ride in Tropical Americas will be a carousel with ride vehicles shaped like favorite Disney animal characters.
As a reminder, the photo above is what this area looked like when DinoLand, U.S.A. was still almost fully operational, in October 2024 before construction began. The only attraction already torn down by that point was the Primeval Whirl roller coaster.
Tropical Americas is one of several massive construction projects in motion throughout Walt Disney World. Others include Monstropolis at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as well as Piston Peak National Park and Villains Land, both at Magic Kingdom. These are all projects of significant scale that will take up huge parcels of space.
The ride is set to open in 2027, but no specific date has been announced yet. We break down predictions of when the new rides will open at Disney World here.
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Construction Overview of Tropical Americas in Late February 2026
Now that DinoLand, U.S.A., is fully closed, we can start to get a lay of the land for how the attractions and facilities of Tropical Americas will be situated among one another.
In the photo above, Discovery Island is just out of frame in the bottom right corner of the photo. As guests enter Tropical Americas from this spot, they’ll encounter a vibrant town square with the carousel on their left.
As they venture farther into Pueblo Esperanza, visitors can hang left to visit the Madrigals at the Encanto ride. This ride will be housed in a huge, new building, expanding the footprint of this area significantly beyond the real estate of DinoLand, U.S.A., and into what was formerly a backstage area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Or, upon entering Pueblo Esperanza, guests can veer right to eat at a dining location that will reuse Restaurantosaurus’s facilities. Continuing past the restaurant, guests can queue up for the Indiana Jones ride in what was formerly the DINOSAUR ride building.
It’s the Encanto ride in particular that we’re excited about today because it just reached a significant milestone in its construction.
Encanto Ride Construction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
The Encanto ride will reside inside a huge building that construction workers built fast. Just four months ago, this area was largely still dirt and foundational work. Now it’s a multi-level building with a roof.
Although the Encanto ride will take up a large amount of space, much of the building is expected to be out of view or otherwise disguised to guests from ground-level. This is typical of Disney attractions.
The same will be true with the Encanto ride. In this case, the themed entrance guests will see depicts the Madrigals’ Casita from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Oscar-winning 2021 film. This structure will connect to the main show building, which will partially be disguised by trees along its exterior walls and themed mountainous structures on its roof. The rest of the building will be hidden backstage.
These elements are seen in the scale model of Tropical Americas currently on display in Walt Disney Presents, a walkthrough, museum-style experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Look closely at the top left of the photo above for reference.
At the construction site, this structure just reached a significant milestone. Crews just installed the beginnings of the steel framing that will eventually become Casita!
It may not look like much now, but this is a future iconic Walt Disney World building. Among the architecture coming to Tropical Americas, the Madrigals’ Casita is easily the most recognizable structure. Guests are already emotionally attached to in a special way. We can imagine families turning the corner after entering Pueblo Esperanza, seeing Casita for the first time, and being so excited to finally visit the Madrigals in person.
See the outline of the future house above.
A Special Imagineering Process at Work
Before we move on to the Indiana Jones ride construction, we have to point a cool step in the Walt Disney Imagineering creative process. Currently backstage at Disney’s Animal Kingdom are a collection of rectangles of various shades and textures. They look at if someone removed a chunk out of a wall. On the contrary, the inverse is happening.
These rectangles are tests of Imagineering disciplines referred to as character paint and character plaster. Before building entire exterior surfaces, Imagineers want to see how each surface looks in Orlando’s natural light. This way, artists can make adjustments as needed to the colors or materials, the paint and plaster, respectively, or the walls before creating the entire structure.
It’s fun to imagine how we might see these surfaces show up within Tropical Americas or perhaps in other various projects Disney is planning.
For more about this step in the creative process, we recommend reading The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, an official Disney book written by Imagineers. We now continue with our construction tour, headed to Indiana Jones next!
Indiana Jones Construction at Defunct DINOSAUR Building
What was formerly themed as the prestigious Dino Institute will eventually resemble ancient ruins, as seen in the concept art above.
DINOSAUR closed for good on February 2, 2026, and now Disney Imagineers and construction workers are transforming the thrill ride into a new Indiana Jones attraction.
The Indiana Jones attraction was already much along than the Encanto ride right from the moment DINOSAUR closed, as the show building, track, and ride vehicles for Indiana Jones are all already in place. Even with all the work to be done on the scenery and new characters along the ride path, that’s a significant head start compared to Encanto still being built from the ground up with a long way before the Encanto ride resembles anything close to its final form.
Of course, we can’t see most of the progress of the Indiana Jones ride because it’s all taking place inside an enclosed building. However, Disney didn’t waste any time in demolishing themed elements on the building’s exterior entranceway, as seen above.
As a reminder, seen above is what this area looked like while DINOSAUR was still open in January 2026.
I hope Disney saves the statue of Aladar the iguanodon, which stood in the fountain outside of DINOSAUR’s entrance. Before Aladar was in this spot, a triceratops stood there instead. Disney preserved the triceratops, and guests can still see it if they take some of the backstage tours offered at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It would be nice if the triceratops and Aladar were buddies.
Carousel Construction in the Heart of Pueblo Esperanza
Elsewhere in the Tropical Americas construction site, prep work continues for what will become the land’s new carousel ride. The round shape of where the carousel roundtable will eventually be placed is visible, though the roundtable itself is not yet in place.
To the left of the carousel in the photo above is vertical construction on what may be a shaded queue for the attraction.
A few remnants of DinoLand, U.S.A., theming remain, but they’ll eventually be removed. Still in place are the marquee signs for Restaurantosaurus and Dino-Bite Snacks, as well as the water tower with “Eato-osaurus” written on it.
There’s so much more progress to come as Tropical Americas continues on toward its 2027 grand opening at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We look forward to bringing you the latest updates right here on Mickey Visit.
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