Crews are prepping the concrete foundation for a new Maya temple facade at the former DINOSAUR ride. It’s being transformed into an Indiana Jones attraction as the extinct DinoLand U.S.A. becomes a new Tropical Americas land.
Below we’ll share some of our own photos taken at Disney’s Animal Kingdom on Tuesday, March 31, as well as aerial photos shared by @bioreconstruct on X this weekend.
Indiana Jones Ride
After the DINOSAUR marquee was removed, work has progressed to transform the former Dino Institute into a Maya temple. The existing building is expected to remain but the temple facade will be installed in front of it.
Crews recently poured concrete in front of the existing building, where there were previously reflecting pools, planters, and an Aladar statue. These were torn out and the courtyard was leveled. Wooden frames for the temple’s foundation were installed a few weeks ago.
Above is concept art for the new facade. Guests will follow Indy into the temple in search of a mythical creature.
Encanto Ride
The entrance for the Encanto ride is taking shape. It’s a lower framework than the show building and has a triangular wedge shape. This will hold part of the ride’s queue, while the Casita façade will go in the empty space between the triangle and show building. Compare to the Tropical Americas model below.
The queue and show building will be hidden by trees and rolling green hill facades. The nearby gift shop, formerly Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, is expected to be re-themed into a new store.
Carousel
A new crane has arrived at the Tropical Americas construction site. A tower crane was installed near the Encanto ride building back in September but this smaller crane is being used for construction of the “wood-carved” carousel at the opposite end of the land.
Scaffolding went up near the carousel last week. As seen in bioreconstruct’s photos and our pic below, the scaffolding surrounds a small concrete building.
This may be part of the carousel’s queue or a support building.
Not far from the carousel is the outline of a larger building foundation. This is for one of the long buildings framing the main entrance of the land, as seen in concept art.
Concrete has also been poured in a thinner section of foundation on the right side of the above photo.
When we peeked around construction walls, we saw several tall poles surrounding the carousel foundation. These will likely support the canopy cover of the ride.
More Tropical Americas Construction
Crews are developing the land between Restaurantosaurus and Dinosaur Treasures. Like the shop, the restaurant will be reimagined and the Airstream trailer was marked for demolition a few weeks ago. This land between will hold a fountain and the land’s new playground.
A white frame curves out of the trees next to Dinosaur Treasures, meeting up with temporary net fencing that surrounds holes in the ground. There are some concrete elements in those holes.
The playground is not featured on the Tropical Americas concept art, which was released before the play area was announced. Filings later revealed its location where Cretaceous Trail used to be.
Compare the concept art to bio’s aerial photo below, which looks at the land from a similar angle.
On the upper right is the DINOSAUR/Indiana Jones building. The upper left is the Encanto show building. The circle of concrete in the lower left is the carousel. And the buildings clustered near the lower center are Restaurantosaurus. The playground will be in the center.
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