Encanto Attraction Milestone Marked by Beam Signing With Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle and Cast

24 days ago in "Tropical Americas"

Gallery / 5 Photos
Disney's Animal Kingdom Cast Signing Steel Beam for Encanto Show Building

Posted: Friday January 16, 2026 10:35am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle joined Cast Members this week at Disney's Animal Kingdom to mark a milestone for the Encanto attraction in Tropical Americas. Together, they signed a steel beam that will become part of the ride's show building, a tradition that recognizes the people behind the project as construction moves forward.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Cast Signing Steel Beam for Encanto Show Building

The signed beam will be installed as part of the Encanto ride structure, permanently embedding the Cast Members' contributions into the attraction.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Cast Signing Steel Beam for Encanto Show Building

This milestone comes as Tropical Americas continues to advance across the former Dino-Rama area. With steel now rising for the Encanto attraction, the project has entered one of its most visible phases of construction.

Tropical Americas Construction - January 12, 2026

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James Alucobond22 minutes ago

Said in the thread about the vastly more expensive replacement for a land that suffered from the realities of budget nearly three decades ago.

MisterPenguin1 hour ago

They don't ascribe a budget, let's say, for $100M, and then in the middle of construction slash it to $50 and tell WDW to deal with it. They *think* it will cost $100M. Allocate $100M. And then start to build what they hope will be only $100M. But when cost overruns occur, then they have to reduce scope to stay in budget. WDI still gets $100M and are told to deal with it. So they "cut corners." But not because they're clawing back allocated funds, but because the project costs more than they projected. That's not "cheap." TWDC is allocating $17B for WDW. It isn't being cut. It just may not be enough to build everything they were hoping for. They're not stingy, they're profligate.

Disney Analyst2 hours ago

Double extinction event.

WaltWiz19013 hours ago

amended those for you (I'd argue the first one applies not only to trackless rides, but to IP-based dark rides in general) - and the only thing that void can really only be chalked up to is the higher-ups being put in charge of the parks over the past decade-plus or two A. being allergic to taking risks and B. not knowing their audience. maybe the needs for that wretched "IP mandate" and to ride the Wizarding World's coattails wouldn't be so bad if they meant taking a wild card approach with the least likely of IPs to cook up something truly special instead of limiting the newer generation to what's hot and letting them phone it in because the aura of "Hey look, I'm an Imagineer!" has a greater impact on them than the experience they're being assigned to create? they had a solution to that problem even before they created the problem...

999th Happy Haunt3 hours ago

Don’t buy it since it was never a “real” skeleton. They’re likely talking about the Dino queue Carnotaurus skeleton since that one is an actual fictional depiction that exaggerates a real Carnotaurus.

Streetway Again3 hours ago

Actually pretty investing plst from a reply to a post by Alicia Stella on this matter.

dmc4933 hours ago

Ah well didn't know all that. Yeah it's a shame

Gremlin Gus3 hours ago

Also progress for Tropical Americas as of today from Blog Mickey https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+w_1173+to_auto+ret_img/media.blogmickey.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/09155051/dinoland-usa-demolition-0209-2026-6-2048x1366.jpg https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+w_1173+to_auto+ret_img/media.blogmickey.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/09155056/dinoland-usa-demolition-0209-2026-3-2048x1366.jpg https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+w_917+to_auto+ret_img/media.blogmickey.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/09154414/dinoland-dino-sue-marked-demolition-0209-2026-2.jpg https://media.blogmickey.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/09154412/dinoland-dino-sue-marked-demolition-0209-2026-1-2048x1152.jpg

Moth3 hours ago

I think the cast has a ton of historical relevance as it was due to the Walt Disney Company that the original fossil of Sue didn't end up in the hands of a private collector and has remained easily accessible to studying. If I was Disney I'd still flaunt that fact. It's a cast, yeah, and I've seen the real one in person, but it still saddens me to see it get trashed.

Streetway Again4 hours ago

Gremlin Gus4 hours ago

Yes it's just a cast of Sue, the real Sue is in the Natural History Museum of Chicago. But it really sucks they didn't salvage it, would've been better if they moved her somewhere else :(

AidenRodriguez7314 hours ago

That’s for a decent reason. When you’re talking about a theme park attraction. It’s atleast partially permanent save for very few instances. It’s a huge risk that directly can impact guest experiences for years/decades. Compare that to a flop of a movie which is basically a set and forget. No one is still making threads about how much Home on the Range sucked in a way that actually damages Disney as a brand. People bring up bad rides all the time no matter how long after they’ve been torn down. A movie studio can handle 3-4 flops in a row. A theme park really can’t do that.

999th Happy Haunt4 hours ago

Really bad move, even if it’s not the real deal it’s still a historic piece. Would it be so hard to put it on Discovery Island somewhere?

dmc4934 hours ago

It's just a cast right? Disappointing that they couldn't find a group to donate it to, but it's not like they're putting fossils in a trash compactor either I guess