The 2024 D23 weekend was certainly packed with a punch. Gone was the overindulgent fluffing around Blue Sky concepts, instead replaced with solid plans around the future of Disney Parks around the globe. Not only did Disney announce grand plans for almost every one of its theme parks, including new rides and attractions, but in some locations, entire new lands are now in the cards. Official announcements of a Villains Land coming to Magic Kingdom, Avatar opening in Disney California Adventure, and Monsters, Inc. making a home in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Even so, it seems that you never can please everyone all of the time, with what seems to be the biggest takeaway from the event being a negative one.
Now, you might think that I am referring to the news that a new Cars Land will be taking over Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America—Paving Over Rivers of America to Put up a Parking Lot, as Jackie so eloquently put it. However, that isn’t the topic of discussion that I am seeing get the most negative attention. Some Disney fans are going to extremes, threatening to turn their backs on Disney after confirmation that a new Indiana Jones attraction would be taking the place of Dinosaur in Dinoland, USA, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In all honesty, I am confused.
The Dinosaur ride once had a purpose in the park, especially as part of this pre-historic theme that previously inhabited the area. Ever since Disney began hinting that the ride would be converted into a new and improved Indiana Jones attraction, the writing was on the wall. Quite frankly, not only am I struggling to see where the surprise is in this one, but I am also confused about where the loss is as well.
Shared plans for the attraction’s reimagining sound wonderfully suited to the new Tropical Americas space. However, with the new theme and storyline that will accompany the ride, it’s too early to tell if this attraction will be suited to the Animal Kingdom environment or not; after all, my favorite attraction, Expedition Everest, can only offer a fictional Yeti for its supposed animal theme. Even so, given that the ride structure likely won’t change, I’m having a hard time seeing the disaster here. Here is what we know so far:
Indiana Jones
A new Indy experience is set to arrive in Disney’s Animal Kingdom and will be different from any other Indiana Jones experience around the world.
In this new venture, the man with the hat has recently discovered a perfectly preserved Maya temple, and that can only mean one thing: it’s time to explore it. He’s heard rumors about a mythical creature deep within the temple — and he’s got to see it for himself. So, he brings us along on the adventure… but will there be snakes? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Some comments online are going as far as to call for a boycott of Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park in protest of this reimagining of the original ride; the rest of us, however, are sitting back and asking, seriously? I’ve never been that fond of this ride. Sure, it’s clever, but it doesn’t hold any sort of Walt Disney-era nostalgia, nor is it connected to any of Disney’s classic storytelling icons. It is one of the opening-day attractions for the fourth-born Walt Disney World theme park from 1998, but really, isn’t that about it?
Have we really become so hard to please that we beg Disney for new innovations and experiences but scoff when it comes at a cost? To be fair, I’m finding it difficult to connect to the outrage about the loss of Tom Sawyer Island as well. Sure, the waterway and trees are lovely, but this has to be the single most skippable part of Walt Disney World and Disneyland Park. In fact, most Disney fans that I know have never even been over there. How long should Disney be expected to maintain underperforming areas of the park in the name of sentimentality only?
I’m at a loss. Let me know your thoughts. Is the upcoming permanent closure of Dinosaur a deal breaker? If so, what’s your connection to this attraction that gives you such strong feelings about it? I’m genuinely interested to know if this is something that would be more apparent to me if Walt Disney World were my home park instead of Disneyland.
Zoë Wood is a travel writer from Sydney, Australia. Since her first visit to Disneyland at the age of 6, she has spent her years frequently visiting Disney Parks and traveling around the world.
Join Zoë as she lets you in on all the tips, tricks, anecdotes, and embarrassments that arise from her family adventures.
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