Today we decided to check out how things were going over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We were particularly interested in the progress being made with all the construction going on at the park entrance. The last time we checked in on this project not much had been done. The project began this past May, and may have even stalled as there was grass growing on dirt mounds!

We specifically tracked the progress of the parking lot tram drop off / pick up loop. It seems with all of the construction, the transportation drop-offs have been adjusted. For reference, the Uber/Lyft drop off and pick up used to be adjacent with the drop-off from the tram.

Pictured above is the old walking path from the right parking lot area to the bag check & Joffrey’s stand. This entire area is now behind a fence and still remains untouched!

This is the current makeshift parking lot tram drop off pick up area for the Animal Kingdom guest parking lot. It is now located significantly further away than its original location at the very front of bag check. It actually lines up with the current disability parking section on the left.

For reference, this is the old tram drop off and pick up area, located in front of bag check at the park entrance. This area is surrounded by chain-link fences covered with scrim. As you can see, this area mostly looks the same. Grass has been removed from the center, and the pavement has been stripped, but that is all that has really happened in this area. Even the original railings for the tram loading rows are still intact. All in all—no real progress here, this area seems to be stagnant.

This hot mess over here on the right used to be the public guest drop off and pick up area. As you can see its all torn up. Its basically a prairie dog exhibit at this point. You can see plenty of supplies and materials are around so that’s not the issue, most of the construction workers appear to be on break at the moment, we can check back later.

Here is the area that used to be part of the tram drop off pick up loop adjacent to the cast parking lot and Disney bus stops. All gone now—looks like all that has happened is the moving and flattening of some dirt.

This above is just another view of the old tram drop off pick up area by bag check, very strange that the railings are still intact. Usually, Disney likes to just tear everything down and rebuild it all, not build new aspects around old ones, so the fact that these remain is a bit confusing.

This is further back towards the parking lot, on the right side at old public drop off / pick up area. This is the only area where you can see some real progress. There is some sort of place holders for what looks like the beginning of actual foundation for some sort of future structure in this area. Possibly a shaded area for a tram stop or ride share area? Heck, it could be a vending machine area for all we know at this point…no one is really sure.

All and all, this project is moving slower than a Disney bus, and there is no real explanation for this slow rate of progress. Disney has a reputation for being slow with construction but this is a bit ridiculous. Stay tuned for more updates, probably not any time soon, but just stay tuned!