NEWS: Disney Files New Tree of Life Permit in Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom has loads of big changes happening.

DinoLand U.S.A. is being transformed into Pueblo Esperanza in the Tropical Americas, and we just found out that It’s Tough To Be A Bug will officially be closing on March 17th, 2025 to make way for the new Zootopia show, Zootopia: Better Zoogether. While we know that change is coming soon, Disney just filed a permit that has to do with the Tree of Life and it may give us a few clues about what to expect.

The new permit filed by Disney involves a contractor for an HVAC company, not a demolition company, so while it doesn’t look like any demo will be happening at this time, it is possible that the changes needed in the HVAC system could have something to do with the new show.

If you’d like to see the whole permit for yourself, you can check it out right here. The contractor hired for this is Westbrook Service Corporation, and while it was officially filed on February 3rd, it appears the paperwork was signed, or began to be signed, on January 31st.

This is far from the first permit Disney has filed recently — in fact, they’ve filed over 40 (!!!) various permits last week. Some of those were for a construction company in EPCOT, a permit for working in the former Voyage of the Little Mermaid building in Hollywood Studios, as well as “Provide labor, material, and/or electrical for construction” for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Magic Kingdom, just to name a few.

We don’t know too much yet about this new Zootopia show arriving into the Tree of Life theater other than the name and that we know it’s expected to be open in Winter 2025. We also did get a look at Ginnifer Goodwin, voice of Judy Hopps, doing some voice work for the new attraction.

Officer Hopps reporting for duty! 🎙️🐰 Join Ginnifer Goodwin for a behind-the-scenes making of – singing of? 😉 – the new Zootopia: Better Zoogether! opening Winter 2025 at Disney's Animal Kingdom. pic.twitter.com/3ppylPs5Nh

— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) February 3, 2025