Zootopia and Moana Blue Sky concepts may be moving forward as senior Imagineers are spotted at Disney's Animal Kingdom

By WDWMAGIC Staff · Friday August 18, 2023 10:30am ET · "Disney's Animal Kingdom"
Zootopia and Moana Blue Sky concepts may be moving forward as senior Imagineers are spotted at Disney's Animal Kingdom

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Dinoland U.S.A. Blue Sky Concept Art

Dinoland U.S.A. Blue Sky Concept ArtDinoland U.S.A. Blue Sky Concept Art

At the September 2022 D23 Expo, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro laid out some "Blue Sky" plans for reimagining DinoLand U.S.A. at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Alongside Imagineer Chris Beatty, Josh shared that the company is looking at Zootopia and Moana attractions to be added to the park, including a log-flume type ride.

Today, senior members of Walt Disney Imagineering, including Chris Beatty (pictured below) were seen touring Disney's Animal Kingdom, specifically the DinoLand U.S.A. area.

DinoLand U.S.A. is made up of the thrill ride Dinosaur and Triceratops Spin kids' ride. The Primeval Whirl coaster is now closed, and the ride has been demolished, freeing up land for new development. Dinosaur itself has frequently been associated with various re-Imagining projects that use the existing ride system but with a new story and IP.

Earlier this year, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that a sequel to Zootpia is in the works, adding strength to the likelihood of the blue-sky plans for Disney's Animal Kingdom being realized.

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Just seen Chris Beatty and a gaggle of Imagineer type people leaving Chester and Hester. Unfortunately they were just walking out under the cementosaurus towards the ex Rivers of Light arena (which Chris did a general hand wave towards) before heading towards Asia.

On a separate note for those who don’t visit the Dinosaur thread all of the animatronics are now working/have been fixed in the last week or so even the ones that haven’t worked for months. So make of that what you will.
↩ replying to cjkeating
Great spot!
↩ replying to cjkeating
Great spotting. Honestly if they built the Moana thing from the Asian bridge to everest wrapped in the nemo show and did a South Pacific Australia animal theme in that are but left dinosaur, the boneyard, and restuarantasurs alone I wouldn't hate it.
↩ replying to sWANNISAX
I think that’s the most effective use of money and would actually add capacity compared with today. Retheming Dino is silly.
↩ replying to ToTBellHop
well I don't know about silly... but seems there are other ways and adding instead of repurposing is really needed.
I have always thought that Chester and Hester area would make a great spot for a Pacific Rim/ Oceania land...Moana et-al and would make sense with the Nemo show and theater right there.
While I don't find the dinosaur section to be very compelling, people seem to like it...they could do more with it to reinforce the theme after adding in the South Pacific section....
↩ replying to Bocabear
Retheming it to Zootopia is the height of silliness.

Retheming it in general is not a great idea, especially since it would mean giving the park (which is already lacking in attractions) one fewer for the construction period, but if they actually made several additions first to alleviate that problem and then had a great idea that fit the park it could work.

They'd be much better off just doing a renovation/refurb of Dinosaur that turns into a high quality attraction, though. The park should keep dinosaurs.
I would agree... I think the dinosaur area is stale but necessary... It would be nice to have the newly themed area complete with a couple new attractions, then take down what is left of the Dinosaur area for a refurb and reboot... make the land more engaging since it is now more compact. and the Chester and Hester area could close to a full refurbishment and it would just take the spinner out during the reconstruction...which is not too much to bear.
And they have attendance issues at DAK now. Wait till Dinoland goes away for 3 years.
↩ replying to ToTBellHop
I'm okay with Moana area or something additional to replace PW.

This is where I would personally rank my preference regarding Zootopia.

1) Leave Zootopia out of AK but stick Zootopia somewhere else (DHS or MK); Leave as is.
2) Put Zootopia somewhere else in AK. Use an expansion pad and some of portal to get there.
3) Retheme Wildlife Express Train to add capacity and replace Conservation Station with Zootopia land - Note: I don't love this but it's better than wiping out Dinosaur
4) Replace Dinosaur with Zootopia land (worst idea)
↩ replying to sWANNISAX
While I think Dinosaur is pretty terrible I would be supportive of this plan. Dinosaur at least fits the park way better than Zootopia
If they at least add something else before taking something away...that might be a good idea...Remember when they were saying that as soon as Pandora opened they were going to fix the Yeti? LOL
if TDO ever actually did start fixing and adding to DAK you can bet they would shut down Dinosaur, Everest, Nemo THeater and Chestter and Hester all at the same time...for 3 to 4 years...lol
↩ replying to UNCgolf
I enjoy the current ride but I think a remake would be the right move. Just make sure it's full of cool animatronics with one or two showstopper animatronics!

Keep the pre-show though! 👀
The park has capacity issues now.

If anything, Dinoland should get a full refresh and an additional land should be added.
↩ replying to drew81
The Dino-Rama replacement should probably be followed with something in Pandora. It makes sense for the park and is right up Iger’s alley.
↩ replying to drew81
South America needs to be added ASAP. There's so many cool animals they could have there; the Amazon rainforest would make for a perfect trail. Maybe even an exhibit "in" the Amazon river. The Amazon rainforest is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, so I think it's important to tell more people about that.

The food options would be fantastic. The architecture for the buildings & theming would be so cool too.

You'd have IP options with Up (some conservation themes in that film with saving Kevin & her babies) & Emperor's New Groove (maybe a flat ride for this one). Maybe Encanto too, but I think the idea of having that in Magic Kingdom is more fitting tbh.

I think a South America land should also have an E-ticket in the vein of Everest too; find a cool mythological animal from South American cultures to base a ride around.