4 NEW Clues About Disney World’s Expansion Plans

Disney World has a LOT of exciting plans for the future.

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We’re super excited about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure that’s in progress in Magic Kingdom, and earlier this year Disney announced that a massive retheming is coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. But what can we really expect from the new addition? Now we have some clues.

Thanks to a new article from Entertainment Weekly, we have more of an insight into what Disney is planning for this massive project.

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Disney teased a potential Indiana Jones retheme for the Dinosaur ride, which we assumed would make it similar to the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland (since they share the same ride system) at Destination D23 this year, as well as Coco and Encanto themes for other areas of the existing Dinoland U.S.A.

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Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro told Entertainment Weekly that these aren’t final pieces of the concept art, but show where the team’s heads are as they move toward this big change. So, it’s entirely possible that we may NOT see Indiana Jones, Coco, or Encanto theming.

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D’Amaro also shared that Disney is “absolutely serious” about this retheme of Dinoland U.S.A., and that they “know what this business is capable of, we know what our fans expect of us, and we’re going all in.” As for sharing the ideas of the retheme instead of just the final plan, D’Amaro said that “some of them will become real, and we’ll say that’s specifically what we’re going to do, but I want our guests to be on the journey with us.”

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Many fans asked how Indiana Jones would fit into Animal Kingdom’s theming, and on this note, D’Amaro stated that while he wasn’t ready to dive deep into specifics, he’s “optimistic about how that potential move might be received.” Additionally, he said that he thinks “there are a lot of stories that we can stay true to Animal Kingdom and express new properties in there, and that’s what you see us starting to do.”