Disney is speeding ahead with construction on the new Tropical Americas land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. New aerial pictures show land has been cleared and a crane is already in place to start working on the land’s Encanto attraction.
First, let’s look at an overview of the Tropical Americas land. In the image below, we can see the large chunk of DinoLand USA that has already been cleared out and is ready for construction.
Note that the land clearing stretches outside of the former border of DinoLand USA and into an area that was backstage. We’ll have to wait and see how much of the Tropical Americas extends out into the backstage area when all is said and done.
The remainder of DinoLand USA, including the DINOSAUR ride, will close in 2026. Disney hasn’t announced any specific dates, but we assume it’ll be very early in 2026.
Shifting around to focus specifically on the area that the Encanto ride will call home, we can see a crane has arrived on the scene. The moveable crane is in the bottom right of the image below.
This isn’t one of the massive cranes we’ve seen working on Disney Lakeshore Lodge or even on the Big Thunder Mountain refurbishment, but it’s still notable. This is the first sign that Disney is shifting from land clearing to actual construction on the Tropical Americas.
Concept art (seen below) shows what the Tropical Americas land should roughly look like when it opens. There’s a lot to do! Disney will have to move quickly to hit their announced opening date of 2027.
Do you think Disney will hit their 2027 opening date target?
