Disney Parks Boss Josh D'Amaro talks more about Disney's plans for Indiana Jones at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Nov 20, 2023 in "Disney's Animal Kingdom"

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Tropical Americas Encanto land concept art at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Posted: Monday November 20, 2023 3:20pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

In a new interview with EW, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro discusses Disney's early plans to bring Indiana Jones to Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

D'Amaro first revealed early plans for Indiana Jones to come to Disney's Animal Kingdom during a D23 fan event this past September.

The new land themed to the tropical Americas would replace the entire Dino-Land U.S.A. area, with Indiana Jones replacing the existing Dinosaur ride, and Encanto replacing Dino-Rama.

Dinosaur is replaced in this concept art with Indiana Jones

Fans were surprised by D'Amaro revealing blue-sky concepts still in the early planning stages and not green-lit. D'Amaro told EW, "We've got so many stories to tell, we have so many things we want to make even better in the theme parks. My plan is to continue to share that with the guests. I know people are like, 'My gosh, I can't believe he's saying this. Is he serious, is he not?' The answer is, we are absolutely serious."

Imagineering Boss Bruce Vaughn said at Destination D23, "Imagine a land filled with authentic experiences from this part of the world. With all of the placemaking and storytelling you'd expect. Look, it's a beautiful region to explore and has been the inspiration for so many magical stories over the years. We're looking forward to bringing all of that to life."

Tropical Americas Encanto land concept art at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Vaughn continued, "Imagineering has been talking about stories from this part of the world; Encanto with Indiana Jones just rose to the top. They give us so much to play with. We have a long way to go now and a lot more to discover. But our team here in Florida is all over it."

New experiences inspired by “Encanto” – the Academy Award winning Walt Disney Animation Studios film – and the fan-favorite adventurer Indiana Jones are being considered for the reimagined land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

D'Amaro's latest comments to EW today suggest that Indiana Jones remains at the forefront of Disney's plans in Florida, and the parks chairman is talking up Disney's ambitions.

"We know what this business is capable of, we know what our fans expect of us, and we're going all in. You're going to see more and more of that. As we make our way through some of these ideas, some of them will become real, and we'll say that's specifically what we're going to do, but I want our guests to be on the journey with us."

D'Amaro also addressed how Indiana Jones may fit into Disney's Animal Kingdom thematically. Much like when Avatar was announced for the park, fans are skeptical about its suitability for a part centered around nature and conservation.

"Animal Kingdom is about exploration and adventure," he says. "I was fortunate enough to have run that theme park, so I know how special it is, and I think there are a lot of stories that we can stay true to Animal Kingdom and express new properties in there, and that's what you see us starting to do."

You can read the full interview at EW.

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Andrew251 minute ago

Hoping for a high-capacity boat ride.

Nickm20225 minutes ago

The river outside the house I believe was just for show. The ride has been rumored as multiple different ride systems (omnimover, trackless, and boat) so not sure which one they will go with, but either way the river outside was separate from the attraction anyway. They could still have the river outside the house, but it's not in the new concept art at least from what we can see. Maybe it's just the wrong angle. I also would be surprised if Encanto is a boat ride, especially when considering how many boat rides are already rumored.

Fox&Hound11 minutes ago

Hasn't it been suggested that the ride is no longer a water ride? Was the river just a part of the concept art when it was a water-based attraction?

Basil of Baker Street23 minutes ago

It been my belief that Disney would be getting away from live animals due to upkeep and some public perception.

RoysCabin5 hours ago

You may be right and I'm just misremembering it a bit. A lot of whether that trope works does come down to what kind of ride it is, how the riders' presences are acknowledged (or not), etc. Like, I get it being used for something like Buzz Lightyear in MK or Mario Kart in Universal; with the option to fire weapons it means you're no longer "passive" on those rides, so some kind of acknowledgement of us at the end makes sense. And yeah, stuff like Dinosaur or Spider-man at Islands of Adventure have us along for the ride in an intense situation, but nobody's acting like "YOU saved the Iguanodon!" or "YOU stopped the Sinister Six!", as Spidey even goes out of his way to tell us we're taking a senseless risk and then saves us along the way. And obviously there's the originator of this concept - the old Fantasyland dark rides where you're supposed to assume the role of Snow White, Peter Pan, Alice, Mr. Toad, etc., so if the ride addresses you in some way it's because you're supposed to be seeing it through your main character's eyes. But yeah, when it turns into something like the new Tiana ride, where we, the riders, are asked to go find the band, it really feels pretty silly at that point, given we're not, y'know...doing anything. Even ones where they're telling us we're on our way somewhere (e.g. Frozen Ever After) strike me as odd; the ride is now projecting an active purpose onto my decision to go on it, rather than working around the fact that, again, I'm just some tourist who's here to experience stuff, not someone who knows the main characters or has some kind of invitation to meet them. I'm trying to recall which Universal rides I was on that gave me that same feeling; might've been something like implying we had anything to do with stuff working out at the Gringott's ride? I can definitely believe that Universal's guilty of the same stuff (or more of it!), but I only had a day there about five years ago, so I'm probably just not remembering well.

Gusey9 hours ago

Any chance the river is behind us in the leaked concept art? I feel like the river is something they've mentioned a few times with this project

doctornick15 hours ago

I tend to agree, but don't think the Safari is a particularly egregious case of this - much like with Dinosaur, I think the premise is that your guide on the safari was the one who needed to go and "save" the elephant and we as tourists were just along with the ride because we were in the vehicle. I don't think there was a concept that we were doing anything to rescue the elephant. To be fair to Disney, I think Universal is much more guilty of overusing and/or ineffectually using that trope.

solidyne15 hours ago

If only.....

SilentWindODoom15 hours ago

Gotta hide that show building somehow.

Nickm202215 hours ago

If Disney does anything right, it's going over the top on fake rocks/mountains

RoysCabin15 hours ago

Whatever rides they put in, I just have to admit I hope they get away from "there's a mission, and we need YOU to help us accomplish it!" ride stories. Like, I know that's the story in Dinosaur, but at the same time it's more that Seeker is using us and we're helplessly riding along with his scheme, not that we, a bunch of passive tourists sitting in a vehicle, are somehow instrumental to his project's success through our own actions. The nature of riding a theme park attraction is that you are passively experiencing something; turning it into "you saved the day!" has always struck me as particularly lame, going back to the initial Kilimanjaro Safari storyline where we "save" the elephants.

Brer Panther15 hours ago

Are they gonna fill the flume with Pepto-Bismol or something?

co1006416 hours ago

We keep seeing a mountainous berm beyond the Casita facade. I wonder if that will make the final cut, or if it’s artistic license…?

Nickm202216 hours ago

Other differences include the enterence is different, along with the river. Plus the enterence to the land looks different in the other leaked piece of art. Also the addition of animals (or at least birds).