The next five years are shaping up to be one of the most exciting times for Disney park fans across the globe. Newly-named Chief Executive Officer, Josh D’Amaro, is spearheading the “supercharge” $60 billion investment in the Parks and Resorts division.
Within this investment, guests will see the largest expansion in the history of the Magic Kingdom, which will welcome Piston Peak, a Cars-themed area to Frontierland, and the first-ever Disney Villains-themed land, inspired by the Disney Villains.
At Hollywood Studios, guests will be able to set foot in Monstropolis, the first-ever Monsters, Inc.-themed land in a Disney park, which will also feature a suspended roller coaster, the first of its kind in a Disney park. Additionally, this park will also welcome other enhancements such as the return of the Magic of Disney Animation to the Walt Disney Studios area (replacing Animation Courtyard), a retheme of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring The Muppets, and an overhaul to Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run featuring the Mandalorian and Grogu.
Out on the West Coast, Disney California Adventure will receive much of the attention, as the park will welcome several new attractions and areas, including the second-ever Avatar-themed destination, a Coco-themed boat ride, and two new original attractions to Avengers Campus.
In addition to the theme parks, Disney Cruise Line will welcome several new ships to their fleet, with the most recent addition being the Disney Adventure.
However, the first major landmark of this supercharge expansion will occur at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, with the addition of the Tropical Americas replacing DinoLand U.S.A. This land will open in 2027, marking the first significant milestone under the new leadership.
This brings us to the purpose of this piece: What will the future of Disney’s Animal Kingdom look like following the opening of the Tropical Americas next year? Will this park remain the fourth choice in the Walt Disney World catalog, or will it finally be viewed on the same level as the other three parks?
Background
To determine which direction Animal Kingdom is heading, we first need to analyze some historical data. Attendance has always been an issue for Animal Kingdom when compared to the other three parks at Walt Disney World. Given that this park does not have the same lengthy list of attractions as the others, it is often the one guests skip if they are only visiting on a short trip.
The year 2024 was no different as Animal Kingdom sat 15th in total attendance, according to the Themed Entertainment Association report (TEA), with 8,800 (in thousands) total guests. This was the lowest of the four Walt Disney World parks and even ranked behind both Universal theme parks (Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure).
Hollywood Studios was the No. 3 WDW park in terms of attendance, but was far more visited than Animal Kingdom, as it drew 10,300 (in thousands) total guests.
While the lack of several illustrious attractions hurts Animal Kingdom on the surface, this park has also been neglected for nearly 10 years, prior to the opening of Tropical Americas. While the other three theme parks have seen major expansions during this period, with headliners including TRON Lightcycle/Run, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Animal Kingdom has been completely overlooked.
The last prominent addition to this park came back in 2017 with the opening of Pandora – The World of Avatar. Yes, exactly 10 years to the date of the Tropical Americas’ opening.
At opening, Pandora drew massive attendance for the park and became a must-do on all Walt Disney World trips. According to data from Queue-Times.com, Disney’s Animal Kingdom saw a massive attendance surge in 2018 and 2019, largely attributed to this expansion.
During this same time frame, Animal Kingdom drew more annual guests than Hollywood Studios and quickly established itself as a full-day experience.
Unfortunately, given that the park has been borderline neglected since the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance has steadily declined, despite a few minor enhancements. This is the primary reason the Tropical Americans expansion was greenlit for this park: it needed a major boost to draw guests.
In fact, plans to reimagine Dinoland U.S.A. began back in 2022 during the D23 Expo when then-Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Chairman D’Amaro teased the possibility of Zootopia and Moana-themed areas coming to that side of the park. While these ideas never came to fruition and were eventually shifted to the Tropical Americas, with Encanto and India Jones serving as the anchor IPs, Disney has long planned to enhance this theme park.
Next year, guests will have the opportunity to visit Pueblo Esperanza, a hyper-realistic area enriched with deep storytelling and realism, similar to the village of Harambe in the Africa section of the park.
This new 11-acre themed land will include “one of the largest quick-service restaurants” at Walt Disney World, according to Disney, and will feature three new attractions. In the center of the land, where The Boneyard once stood, a carousel featuring woodcarvings of famous Disney animals will serve as one of the primary “weenies” to draw guests into the area.
Where Dinosaur (formerly known as Countdown to Extinction) once stood, guests will now see an authentic Mayan temple, which will house an Indiana Jones attraction. Even though there are several Indian Jones-centered attractions across the Disney Parks portfolio, this will be a completely new experience that features an entirely original storyline.
Moving to the other side of the land, guests will see the Casita from Encanto, which will house the first-ever Encanto-themed attraction at a Disney park. While not much has been revealed about the ride as of writing, Disney has stated the attraction will revolve around the day Antonio received his gift, which is the ability to communicate with animals.
While this major expansion will surely boost the park’s attendance in the back half of the decade, this brings us to the next question of the piece: what will come next? Will Disney wait another 10 years to bring the next major addition to Animal Kingdom? Where would the next addition go?
What’s Next
While Tropical Americas has taken most of the headlines at Animal Kingdom, and rightfully so, there were two other additions (one of which is on the way) that can tell us the park’s direction.
In November 2025, releasing alongside the box-office hit Zootopia 2, the Tree of Life Theater hosted a new show for the first time since the park’s opening: Zootopia: Better Zoogether! While Zootopia appeared to be a serious contender to play a major role in the park’s future, as discussed above, it was somewhat relegated to a theater experience rather than an elaborate land.
Walt Disney Imagineers have already built a full-fledged Zootopia land at Shanghai Disneyland, and a similar experience at Animal Kingdom would likely have caused a major divide in the community. While any expansion seems to divide the community these days, the park’s grounding in reality would have been neglected by the addition of Zootopia.
Legendary imaginer Joe Rohde, who was the lead creative and designer behind this park, has famously emphasized that any animals “wearing pants” should not be found at the Animal Kingdom. He strives to create a venue that showcases creatures in a realistic capacity and not as anthropomorphic beings.
While the Zootopia franchise was going to find itself in Animal Kingdom sooner or later due to its mass popularity, containing it within a theater suggests the new wave of Imagineering is keeping Rohde’s mission statement to heart.
In the upcoming Tropical Americas expansion, the land will be grounded in reality but will feature nods to mystical elements from the Indiana Jones attraction, similar to how Pandora: The World of Avatar balances the idea of an alien planet while still fitting seamlessly into the park.
The other addition set to arrive this summer is Bluey. Bluey is set to transform Rafiki’s Planet Watch at Conservation Station into Bluey’s Wild World. In this new experience, guests will be able to grab a photo with Bluey and Bingo, participate in numerous activities, and interact with several animals from Bluey’s home country, Australia. Like the Tropical Americas, this overhaul has been designed to fit seamlessly into the park without drastically looking out of place, as guests can directly interact with animals from Australia.
With this precedent set by the new generation of Imagneeers, the future of Animal Kingdom not only looks brighter than ever before but will also stay true to the park’s original message.
Africa Expansion
The one section of the park that has mostly remained unchanged since it opened in 1998 is Africa. Africa is home to one of the park’s major attractions, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and one of the most popular live shows on the property, Festival of the Lion King. Festival of the Lion King began as a temporary offering in the Camp Minnie-Mickey section, but eventually moved to Africa when Pandora: The World of Avatar was being constructed.
With that being said, this land is primed for an expansion and has the perfect IP to lead it.
While the Festival of the Lion King is immensely popular and nowhere near the chopping block, it is time for the Africa section of the park to get its second “ride” and be themed to The Lion King.
Disney Adventure World in Paris (their recently rebranded second gate) is currently constructing the first-ever Lion King attraction as a log flume. However, given that Kali River Rapids (more on that later) already exists, this Lion King attraction will not be water-based. Instead, an e-ticket, slow-moving dark ride would be the perfect and necessary addition for this park. This park needs another headline attraction that can handle high capacity and single-handedly encourage guests to put Animal Kingdom at the top of their vacation plans.
The Lion King IP fits so well into the park’s messaging and theming. It is quite astonishing to see how long Disney has waited to finally give one of their most beloved films as a true e-ticket attraction. While Disneyland Paris is expected to get the first, do not be surprised when Animal Kingdom follows suit a few years down the road.
Asia Expansion
Given that Imagineering seems focused on implementing the original themes of Animal Kingdom while following suit of the IP mandate, the Asia section is primed to host another e-ticket. However, unlike in Africa, where an attraction will be built from scratch, this proposal will follow the trend of re-theming and “plussing” past attractions.
Kali River Rapids is often a forgotten attraction when looking at Animal Kingdom. Since Expedition Everest opened back in 2007, this attraction has been in its shadow, quickly fell down the tier list following the opening of Pandora, and will likely continue to fall after Tropical America welcomes another two major attractions.
However, Disney has the perfect opportunity to add some much-needed life to this attraction with a classic IP, The Jungle Book.
The movie’s story, like The Lion King, fits seamlessly into Animal Kingdom and pays homage to one of the final films Walt Disney himself ever worked on.
With a great soundtrack and iconic characters, this would be a smash hit for Disney, not only to “plus” an overlooked attraction but also to raise those ever-important Lightning Lane sales on a less-popular attraction, which are paramount to decision-making in today’s world.
Tropical Americas 2.0
Lastly, I wanted to spotlight an IP that has had a few experiments at Animal Kingdom but has yet to be given a full-fledged attraction. Pixar’s Up has featured several meet-and-greets throughout the park and was even the host IP for Feathered Friends in Flight for a short period.
However, given the IP’s prominent presence in the park despite the film being 17 years old, an attraction is likely on the drawing board. Fortunately, the film’s primary location, Paradise Falls, is in the tropical Americas region, making it the perfect choice as the first “expansion” of the newly created land.
Additionally, the Oriental Land Company (the owners of Tokyo Disney Resort) proposed a massive overhaul of its Adventureland at Tokyo Disneyland, including an Up-themed attraction. This means that Walt Disney Imagineering is actively pursuing attractions for this IP, and that Animal Kingdom was likely under consideration during the development of Tropical Americas.
As the upcoming Monsters Inc.-themed roller coaster tells us, no good idea ever dies at Imagineering. An Up-themed attraction is highly plausible and could be the next major addition to this park.
Theater in the Wild
The final section of the park that is due for a refresh is the Theater in the Wild, which currently hosts Finding Nemo: The Big, Blue… and Beyond! This musical was originally titled Finding Nemo: the Musical before the COVID-19 pandemic and followed a similar story arc to the current version, albeit with a handful of changes.
Prior to hosting a Nemo-themed musical, this theatre hosted the Legend of the Jungle Book and Tarzan Rocks! However, the time has come for a new show, and Disney has several options to select from, including the franchise’s sequel, Finding Dory.
Disney has not been afraid to invest in live performances, as shown in the two recent additions to Hollywood Studios (The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure and Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After) and a new show in this space would be a great addition to pair with the opening of Tropical Americas next year, as the theater sits right next door to the land.
Conclusion
While the numerous animal trails and simple exploration make Animal Kingdom so magical and immersive, the park desperately needs more attractions to hold its own within the Walt Disney World Resort. Tropical Americas is only the first step for this park.
There are several more ideas on the way, and do not be surprised if the next expansion is announced in the near future, before the end of the Disney parks’ “supercharge” era.
With the story of Tropical Americas designed to fit seamlessly into the core themes park, the future of Animal Kingdom looks brighter than ever.
