NEW Look at Construction on Disney’s First-Ever ‘Encanto’ Attraction

Construction is a major part of life at Walt Disney World right now, with projects across the resort, including at Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and — our focus today — Animal Kingdom.

DinoLand U.S.A., a fixture of the park since its opening day in 1998, is being replaced with a new Tropical Americas themed land. While some parts of DinoLand — specifically Dinosaur — will still be operational until February of 2026, construction on other areas of Tropical Americas is going strong, including the land’s Encanto attraction.

Disney hasn’t released many details about the attraction based on the hit 2021 film quite yet, other than a description which reads, “Inside the Casita, Antonio has just received his special gift — the ability to communicate with animals — and his room has transformed into a rainforest. It’s time to go explore alongside him, and you never know what member of the family you might bump into…”

While further details about the ride are still sparse — outside of concept art hinting at a boat ride — construction is moving at a quick pace.

On a recent trip to Animal Kingdom, we took a trip into what’s currently left of DinoLand to catch a glimpse of the ride coming together.

As you can see, the structure of the Casita facade has gone vertical. As with the majority of Disney attractions of this type, most if not all of the attraction itself won’t be located within the facade, but rather in a disguised showbuilding behind it (think Haunted Mansion, amidst a slew of others).

With a supposed opening date of 2027, work on the village of Pueblo Esperanza — the setting of Tropical Americas — is moving quickly. There are even beams moving through the air!

While work is well underway on the Encanto attraction, work has yet to begin on the Indiana Jones attraction, as it will be a refurbishment of Dinosaur, which is still operating until February 2nd.

As the Tropical Americas project continues to race towards its opening, we’ll continue to monitor visible changes to Animal Kingdom’s landscape. Stay tuned to AllEars for further coverage of Disney World’s construction projects.

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Are you excited to see changes come to Animal Kingdom? Let us know in the comments below.