New Zootopia show is coming to Tree of Life theater at Disney's Animal Kingdom

23 days ago in "The Tree of Life"

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Zootopia show concept art

Posted: Saturday September 9, 2023 10:21am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

A new show based on "Zootopia" is being created for the Tree of Life theater at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The current concept for the new "Zootopia" experience has guests visiting the different biomes you only glimpse in the film, traveling with Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, and other characters.

Disney says that Imagineers are currently finalizing the concept, and more details will be coming in the future.

The new show will replace "It's Tough to Be a Bug," although no closures dates have yet been announced.

'It's Tough to be a Bug' theater

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MagicHappens197116 days ago

I believe so. I think Ginnifer Goodwin & Jason Bateman's voices were archival. I didn't watch and don't know how large of a part they had. It's also getting a sequel, so I'd imagine most if not all the actors would come back for the attraction.

solidyne16 days ago

But labyrinthine queues are the best kind of queues!

mickEblu16 days ago

It’s was a shame to lose ITTBAB at DCA even just from a variety perspective. Webslingers isn’t even the best shooter ride in the park. ITTBAB was an amazing 4D show with a fantastic queue. One of the few themed indoor spaces in all of DCA too.

Twirlnhurl16 days ago

Zootopia made $341 million in it's domestic box office run. Additionally, it had a great multiplier of 4.41, meaning that it made the vast majority of its money after opening weekend and that word of mouth was very good. In fact, the only more popular Disney animated film with a better multiplier in the modern era was Frozen at 5.95 (Frozen also came out in the winter, when movies naturally have greater multipliers due to school schedules and the like.) Zootopia was a very popular film. Among non-sequel Disney or Pixar animated films in the United States and Canada, only Frozen ($400 million), Finding Nemo ($380 million), and Inside Out ($356 million) made more in North America. Does it sell as much merchandise as other recent hits (that fewer people saw in theaters) such as Coco, Encanto, or Moana? Probably not. But the Tree of Life theater doesn't have any retail at the exit anyway. So the name recognition and very positive reputation should make it a very popular addition. Let's debate whether it is a good idea or whether it will be artistically meritorious. But let's not pretend this mega-hit is somehow unpopular.

FettFan16 days ago

I’ll agree to this. Though I will add that they should be expanding on current attractions. Kali River Rapids is too short…it is essentially the final scene of the planned Tiger River Rapids which was to move past a few animal exhibits, notably the Tiger enclosures, which after budget cuts were moved to the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Navi River Journey is a lame waste of time and space. It’s barely even half of the length of Gran Fiesta (4m 30 seconds compared to GFT’s 8 minutes), and barely has anything to look at. If not for the Shaman animatronic, it could be called “plastic plants: the ride”. Knock out a few walls, double the flume, and for the love of God, add some life size animatronics of more of the Pandora creatures. We don’t need a giant panther attack, but maybe a herd of the Avatar horses? Or the hammerhead rhino?

erasure fan116 days ago

100%. Animal kingdom suffers terribly from a lack of rides. And before anyone @s me, I know, the park is more than rides, there's walkthroughs, shows... It's still a theme park, in the busiest resort in the world. It needs more rides, especially some mid tier family friendly dark rides. I would say that's more a product of the situation versus the quality/popularity of the ride. Hot day in central Florida, in what is always the hottest feeling park, with limited attractions. Of course it's going to have a wait. It will be the same when splash reopens. It could make current imagination look like it was the greatest ride ever created. But it won't matter, it's going to have lines.

flyerjab16 days ago

It’s a shame that this ride wasn’t fully realized as initially designed - ‘Tiger River Rapids’ I believe? We were there last month and everything was functioning as intended. I just try to imagine it 3 times as long going through an Asian jungle with tigers along the river banks. It would have been incredible. You can tell they had big plans initially as the queue is almost as impressive as the ride itself ended up after massive budget cuts.

cjkeating16 days ago

Whilst I know Kali isn't popular on here and likely scores on the lower end of guest satisfaction however during my recent hot August visits it was comfortably pulling 35-40 minute waits which was on the higher end of the scale for the park (excluding Pandora) with the ride operating efficiently - all boats full and being dispatched before requiring the turntable to be stopped etc.

James Alucobond17 days ago

Animal Kingdom is almost nothing but premier attractions. The aim of the D23 proposal seems to be a refresh of everything that's not already pulling more than its fair share of the attendance weight aside from Kali. Quality should obviously always be a goal, but Animal Kingdom should not cut any existing attraction space and could probably stand to introduce a few more mid-tier attractions and shows to help mitigate wait times and round out a full day at the park.

FettFan17 days ago

No. They need *quality* attractions. Most of animal kingdom is lacking in that respect. That will ultimately fail if they won't do any better than one hidden/hard to find 3D movie with a labyrinthine queue replacing another hidden/hard to find 3D movie with a labyrinthine queue.

James Alucobond17 days ago

It’s incredibly popular elsewhere in the world. They must either be targeting international guests or convinced they can force it to be popular here as well. This park does not need fewer attractions.

FettFan17 days ago

1. For the life of me, I will never understand how Zootopia ever became so overhyped. 2. If they are really going to kill off Bugs Life, I think I would have preferred converting the theater into the original restaurant that was planned for the Tree of Life.

Brer Panther17 days ago

I wonder how many of the celebrity voices from the movie will reprise their roles for the attraction. They got everybody back for Zootopia Plus, didn't they?

ToTBellHop17 days ago

It’s not the track. It’s the amount of motion in the vehicle. I presume the level of violence is required by the movement they are simulating. Driving over steps and the like. Dinosaur opened with a higher height requirement as Countdown to Extinction but was later toned down with the height requirement reduced. I guess that’s an option here.