Tropical Americas News Update: New Permits, Dinosaur Closed, and Indy Rumors

All of DinoLand USA has officially closed at Disney’s Animal Kingdom as the large building for the Encanto ride is already starting to be enclosed. The 11-acre Tropical Americas land replacing DinoLand is currently set to open next year in 2027, and with the Dinosaur ride closed work can begin on its reimaging into a new Indiana Jones ride.

Let’s check in on recent construction for this upcoming land, as well as new permits and ride rumors, in today’s news update. See the video version of this story below for additional visuals.

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After breaking ground on the new Tropical Americas land one full year ago, the rest of DinoLand USA has finally closed. While construction has been well underway for the Encanto ride in the year since groundbreaking, work on the land’s carousel ride only recently began. And with Dinosaur now closed to guests, work can finally begin on the upcoming Indiana Jones themed dark ride that will be replacing it.

The now shuttered DinoLand area has seen its location on the park map replaced with the logo for Tropical Americas.

Despite an opening year of 2027 being formally announced, it is only listed as the “Future Home of Tropical Americas,” with no timetable given in the official map.

In the days following the closure of the DinoLand USA area, all mentions of the land have been removed from in-park signage. Directional signs have been replaced or removed.

The main entry gateway arch was covered with black scrims the day after its closure, and then the arch was completely removed just a few days later.

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Dinosaur Last Day

Fans of the Dinosaur ride braved the actually freezing temperatures to get one final ride on Sunday, February 1st, 2026.

With limited ride capacity, ride breakdowns, and a few evacuations, the queue reached a wait time of 265 minutes at one point, the longest ever recorded for this opening day attraction.

A large group of fans celebrated the attraction by all dressing as Dr. Seeker, the ride’s original character.

The actor behind the real Dr. Seeker, Wallace Langham, was one of the ride’s final riders, as he attended a special Cast Member only event the following day.

I just got to witness Dr. Grant Seeker (Wallace Langham) take his final ride on Dinosaur.

He was all for the “Seeker Seeker” chants and thunderous applause he received when arriving back in the station.

Not my usual content, but absolutely surreal and too cool not to share. pic.twitter.com/7q6XY8XUkt

— Jacob from Carey (@hhn_jacob) February 2, 2026

The Dinosaur ride was not the only thing to close on February 1st, as Restaurantosaurus saw its last guest served in DinoLand USA Sunday. Guests and Cast Members alike celebrated the final day with an impromptu flash mob.

Restaurantosaurus flash mob!! pic.twitter.com/SDisg1LxL9

— Drew Smith (@DrewDisneyDude) February 2, 2026

Harambe Market in the Africa section of Animal Kingdom reopened the day after Restaurantosaurus closed. This outdoor dining location has come back from its brief refurbishment now offering some of the menu items that had previously been available at Restaurantosaurus.

The updated menu now includes cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, and French fries, in addition to a couple Harambe Market returning favorites.

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Encanto Ride Construction

Thanks to recent aerial views from Bioreconstruct we can see how the large ride building for the Encanto ride is already receiving its roof.

The tallest part of the structure is see its roof installed now.

This section at the back of the building is expected to contain the largest show scenes for the ride, featuring Antonio’s room, themed as a tropical rain forest.

The maintenance and utility portion at the very back of the building has also received its roof, (seen on very left side of building in next photo). This part of the structure is slightly lower than the tallest point of the ride.

A concrete pit can be seen near the front of the footprint for the ride itself. This part of the structure has not yet received its steel framing.

In front of the building’s footprint a small pad of foundation has appeared. This section of the project looks to be just about where the entrance to the interior queue will be located.

A big section of the queue for this ride will be set in front of the main ride building, in a covered queue out front.

Updated permit images from January 30th show how plans for this exterior queue have been rearranged, with a section of the front of the ride building changed slightly as well.

The ride building is planned to be hidden within green hillside theming, located behind the casita facade.

A pile of earth is being created now where the magical casita house will someday sit.

Permits show a gap behind the casita house, creating a bit of distance between the house facade and the ride building.

This open space will be filled with real plants to help sell the illusion of a building standing on its own.

Disney says the Madrigal’s magical house will feature moving doors and shutters which guests will be able to spot as they approach the ride entrance.

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Carousel Construction in Pueblo Esperanza

Towards the front of the future Tropical Americas land, the attraction replacing the former Boneyard play area, a new carousel, has just started construction.

Conduit can be seen running between new footings scattered across the footprint for this future covered outdoor carousel.

Additional connections can be seen standing up within this square of future foundation forms.

Disney says the carousel, which will set within the fictional village of Pueblo Esperanza, will be themed as if it was created by a local woodworker.

The ride seats for the carousel will be themed as various Disney animal characters, all hand carved out of wood.

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Staged Mockups and Samples

Located directly behind Animal Kingdom, and staged in an area near the temporary Imagineering offices, we can spot multiple test materials

These mock ups and samples are here for testing various materials, not only against the elements, but also to see how they appear at different times of day out in the Florida sun.

This includes several different types of pavement and courtyard tile theming, as well as various wall sections like aged brickwork, clay themed structures, and more.

These mock ups may also act as reference for artists and builders who will need to create the full scale structures based on these samples.

This small section of samples include green cliff and hillside theming.

This is likely a mock up of how the large Encanto show building exterior will be themed, not only helping it to disappear behind the casita facade, but also acting as the backdrop for the Tropical Americas land.

Larger sections of rockwork panels appear to be in development nearby, and other in progress tests can be seen scattered around this area.

Disney Imagineering recently shared a close up look at some of the early tests for wood carvings that will be seen within the Tropical Americas land.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Walt Disney Imagineering (@waltdisneyimagineering)

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Playground Permit Plans

New permits filed with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have confirmed the location of the previously announced playground for the new land.

As expected the play area will be placed where the former Cretaceous Trail was located in DinoLand USA.

Plans for this upcoming area show climbing structures, slides, and other elements.

The entrance and exit placement for this upcoming play area appears to be in a similar spot as the former Cretaceous Trail entrance, so it will be facing the village section of the land.

While there have been rumors and speculation that the play are may be themed to Indiana Jones, there has not been any concrete information to verify that.

Some are wondering if what is visible at the top part of this image could be another dig site, similar to the former dig site for kids in DinoLand… Only now it could be themed to archaeology instead of paleontology.

Zooming very closely into the plan image, it does appear that there could be some sort of snake statue visible, perhaps?

Whether or not this part of the play area ends up being something similar to the dig site or not, it does appear as though it may be covered, just like the former dig site was.

We will just have to wait and see until construction on the play area begins now that the area is closed to guests.

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Indiana Jones Ride Rumors

With the Dinosaur ride now officially closed, work can begin on its transformation into a new Indiana Jones adventure.

Despite the former attraction utilizing the same ride system as the existing Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, this new attraction has been confirmed to feature an all new story.

The concept for the ride has us visiting a recently discovered and perfectly preserved Mayan temple, found hidden off the outskirts of the village.

Imagineers visited the Yucatán Peninsula on research trips, and are incorporating much of what they learned into the design language of this temple exterior and the ride.

Disney says we will be exploring the temple alongside Indiana Jones, in search of a mythical creature.

Many fans have theories on what this mythical creature could be, like Quetzalcoatl, which comes up often on fan forums, but how the story of the attraction could be tied to the themes of Animal Kingdom is another topic of discussion.

Clues to the creature on the ride might be found on the temple face itself, as shown in slides by Disney Imagineering from an archaeology conference from last year.

These slides show very early concepts for the temple facade replacing the museum facade of Dinosaur.

The early concept for the temple includes Mayan elements that represent things like a celestial bird, the tree of life, and the Witz Monster featuring what could be a doorway to the Under World.

The tree of life motif shows up again in an official rendering for the interior of the attraction.

This official concept art also contains bats in the background. We have also seen a type of bat on the work walls around the area surrounding the Indiana Jones exterior concept art.

Going back to the early version of the temple seen in the slides from last year, it also included stairs flanked by two serpents.

It’s worth noting that the snakes seen in the early concept facade looks eerily similar to the snake-like object visible in recent plans for the playground.

The snakes seen in early versions of the temple facade may have been a reference to the Maya god Kukulkan, the serpent companion of Chaac.

Chaac is the Mayan god of rain, thunder, and lightning. And according to Len Testa, who took these pictures of the slides, he may play a role in this attraction, as might water.

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New Land Timing and Bluey

The Tropical Americas land is still set to open next year in 2027, but an official timeline has not yet been announced.

So far it is still expected that all three new attractions will open at the same time, as well as the new hacienda dining location replacing Restaurantosaurus.

While we await further official details for thew upcoming land, Joe Rohde, former head of development for all of Animal Kingdom recently had this to say on closing day for Dinosaur:

“…I want to make that clear I have, from afar, been watching the development of the new land, Pueblo Esperanza, and I can assure you that that team is doing an excellent job with the challenge at hand.”

Also at Animal Kingdom, Bluey and Bingo are set to arrive to the park this summer. They will find their home at Walt Disney World at the Conservation Station.

The Conservation Station, as well as The Wildlife Express Train, will close beginning February 23, 2026, and then reopen later this summer with Bluey and Bingo meeting guests inside.

The Animation Experience inside of the Conservation Station will not return when it reopens. A new animation experience is expected to open at Hollywood Studios along with The Magic of Disney Animation opening later this year.

Despite earlier reports, The Affection Section is expected to return this summer, but when it does it will feature new animals native to Australia, because that is where Bluey and Bingo are from.

That’s all for now, but be sure to see the video version of this story for additional visuals. See our latest update from Epic Universe for the full rundown of permits recently posted for expansions to that park.

Subscribe to the news feed or enter your email address below to never miss an update. Original Photos: Alicia Stella | Aerial Photos: Bioreconstruct | Official Images: Disney | Other Images as Captioned