Indiana Jones Land at Animal Kingdom?

Is this a pile of rumors and suppositions? Yep. Is it an entertaining pile of such? Yep.

Just saying .... if I were to compile a list of favorite themed areas at WDW, Dinoland would be at the bottom of the list. An Indiana Jones land would make me very happy.

https://orlandoinformer.com/blog/indiana-jones-land-animal-kingdom/...ntent=Fact

I feel like this is the rumor people want and the fact that Dinosaur is the same ride as Indy at DCA helps it out. But how does Indy fit into the concept of Animal Kingdom? If Dinoland gets the boot Id rather them bring back the idea of Australia to the park.

I wouldn't exactly pitch an alien land in AK either, but there it is. :)

That rumor piece seems like a whole lot of rationalization to me (Niles did the same thing on his own site). Given the amount spent at AK for Avatar and Rivers of Light, it doesn't make sense to me to keep spending there. Dinosaur had nearly an hour wait on a visit a few weeks ago, so it's not like people aren't engaging with it. See how attendance there goes for awhile (and anecdotally, based on parking lot traffic, I'd say it's the highest I've ever seen it).

"Even more importantly, however, it would allow the company to inject Animal Kingdom, the newest and most-consistently-anemic park at Walt Disney World Resort"

Disney nerds have spent the last few years breaking their neck to let everyone know that Epcot is dying. Have they now moved on to AK while the paint is still drying on Avatar?

"all of DinoLand, USA will be remade into Indiana Jones Land (or should we call it Indiana Jones: Civilization’s Edge?), with half of the attractions getting a theming overhaul and the other half being razed to the ground and replaced by brand-new experiences"

I guess the writer thinks if he uses colorful, hyperbolic language, we'll all believe him. If his fan fiction comes true, they'll remove 2 attractions, but \making it sound like Bob Iger is going to tear through Dinoland on an excavator gets people more excited.

I'm amazed that Disney dorkdom and even legitimate journalists don't understand this idea that Disney doesn't seem to be looking to create a massive surge in attendance with new attractions. They clearly have been aiming to even and spread out the crowds. I was there this weekend and we avoided AK because it looked like a madhouse according to the app. And the other parks were as crowded as I've seen them.

Changing the Dinosaursride is not needed because it kinda blends in with the whole theme of Animal Kingdom, if they want to invest in that ark so soon after a big expansion I would say try to retheme the area with the spinningcoasters into what more matches the rest of that park.

But this soon after Avatar and big projects going on for Hollywood Studio and Epcot and Tron for Magic Kingdom I would think that it would take several years before Disney will do something big to Animal Kingdom.

I'm not familiar with this blog or what this guy knows, but I'll play along.

Dinorama comes under scrutiny for what it is- an attempt to inject family/kid friendly rides where it was sorely lacking, which is fine, but it's clearly more of a carnival atmosphere. While it's cute and all, it hardly seems up to Disney's current standard of high theme and immersion. I can ride a Crazy Mouse every year at the state fair, after all. And how many Dumbo based rides can one resort offer?

While Dinosaur is a fine attraction and stands well on its own, I agree with the blogger's opinion that an Indy overlay will be met with great joy by fans and nobody will weep for the lost dinos. Seriously, I couldn't imagine why it wasn't done in the first place. DL's ride is such a huge hit. Maybe they thought Indiana Jones wasn't a good fit for what AK was intended at first, and the park has always been IP-free until recently.

But this seems like someone's made up pipe dream and an unnecessary one at that. (I got rumors, too, but I won't bore everyone) If he's talking waaaay into the 20's for this attraction, I think there's more than enough time for everyone to worry about other stuff.

Jeff said:

I wouldn't exactly pitch an alien land in AK either, but there it is. :)

True. I guess since I don't know much about Avatar I just put it up there with the original idea of Beastly Kingdom so in my mind it fits.

99er said:

I feel like this is the rumor people want and the fact that Dinosaur is the same ride as Indy at DCA helps it out.

Not to nitpick but Indy is at Disneyland not DCA. Interestingly I didn't realize the two rides share nearly the same exact layout in addition to the same ride vehicles. It's surprising because Indy is a far superior ride.

Indy IS the better ride IMO as well. Makes me think this is an "overlay" for Dinosaur...hopefully the rest of that area gets some better theming, etc...

RCMAC said:

Dinorama comes under scrutiny for what it is- an attempt to inject family/kid friendly rides where it was sorely lacking, which is fine, but it's clearly more of a carnival atmosphere. While it's cute and all, it hardly seems up to Disney's current standard of high theme and immersion. I can ride a Crazy Mouse every year at the state fair, after all. And how many Dumbo based rides can one resort offer?

You would have a completely different opinion with 7-year-old eyes. I'm certain half of my time spent at AK has been in that area of the park. Now that my kid will ride Primeval Whirl, I can't get him out.

Mulfinator said:

Not to nitpick but Indy is at Disneyland not DCA. Interestingly I didn't realize the two rides share nearly the same exact layout in addition to the same ride vehicles. It's surprising because Indy is a far superior ride.

Meant to type DLR. But yes it is the same ride layout along with the same vehicle system which is why there has pretty much always been the rumor that Dinosaur would eventually change to Indy. The fact that the last 1/4 of Dinosaur didn't even get finished also helped that rumor along too.

From what I can tell, this rumor originated from a particular poster on a WDW message board. Of course, the blog quoted above does not credit him but the original poster has a very solid track record. Notably, he was the first one to break the news about the Great Movie Ride closing years ago and on that and other things, he was correct.

Other insiders and me have heard otherwise, but I think we're still in the "blue sky" phase for what will happen to Dinorama and that spot in Animal Kingdom.

Where is the person who insisted that the Indiana Jones show at DHS was going to close two years ago? He argued with me, even emailed me, to tell me how wrong I was, even when I pointed out the hours were posted for it well after he said it would close.

That park can't afford to close another show/attraction right now.

The original plan was to put Star Wars Land on top of the Indiana Jones stunt show and surrounding area, just like the original plan at Disneyland was to replace Autopia and the Subs. At Disneyland, they even went as far as closing down the subs and let the ride sit until demolition. When plans were changed to use the new content instead of the original trilogy, the subs were saved, quickly fixed up and reopened as if nothing had happened. The same thing happened at Epcot when cast members were told the Imagination pavilion was closing and had already started getting cross trained elsewhere. Plans changed and the planned closure date came and went by with the Pavilion still limping in its current state.

Even when Disney announce things, its not a guarantee it will happen. Remember Hyperion Wharf? They sent out a grand press release in 2010 that Pleasure Island would get transformed into Hyperion Wharf and concept arts were shown for an amphitheater in the middle of the island. Demolition happened and... beside a new store, nothing happened. In 2013, Disney decided they had never announced Hyperion Wharf and instead put forward Disney Springs, a much grander rethinking of Downtown Disney.

I find that when it comes to Disney, a lot of rumor and conjecture festers into fact, so no offense, but if you weren't in the room where it happened, I don't really believe you.

Despite Indy and Dinosaur sharing very similar layouts, I understand that the buildings are not quite as similar in terms of internal structure. There are walls and things in Dino where there aren't in Indy, and there is a noticeable lack of the giant open central temple space (at least from what I can tell on the ride, maybe if I got to see it with the work lights on it might be there I suppose). Of course walls can always be removed, but if it is more extensive than just knocking down some drywall and new sets I would very much doubt the possibility of it happening.

That's what I thought, at first. Then I rethought it. What if Dinosaur was designed to be changed into Indiana Jones someday. What if the walls that look like they are holding the building up were designed just to seperate scenes?

No one know for sure.

A lot of what looks like walls are just scrims and black drapery. When it comes to dark rides, there's no reason to build an actual wall if nobody is ever going to see it and it doesn't need to support a load. A simple drape hanging from a batten works just fine and is much more cost effective.

Here's a good comparison video, best I could find quickly.

The thing that jumps out to me immediately is the first sequence after the initial ramp. The scene in Dinosaur is very deep on both sides, whereas in Indy it is a narrow temple corridor not much wider than the vehicle path plus room to walk on either side. And then the temple section where you go over the bridge in the middle in Indy appears to be about where you pause for the long neck dino, with a definite solid floor roughly level with the track area on both sides. The second Carno encounter room seems to be about where the dart corridor is for Indy, again, very different scene depths, and some changes likely made to accommodate the AA's mechanisms behind the wall/scrim. Now how much of these differences are serious structural changes that would be more than changing out sets and basic wall work? No clue, but it certainly seems at first glance like it would be more than trivial. There's obviously room to work with if they have a (nearly) identical path but different scene depths/structures, but the question I see is how extensive would it be.