Disney Quietly Debuts New Characters in Animal Kingdom

in Walt Disney World

Donald duck holds two little boys hands.

Credit: Disney

The Walt Disney Company bought Blue Sky Studios in 2019, eventually closing out the studio that had given us Ice Age (2002) and Rio (2011) over the next two years.

Ice Age is a story that follows Syd (a sloth), Manny (a wooly mammoth), and Diego (a saber-tooth tiger) as they have their first encounters with man. They find a human baby that has been left behind as the group travels on, and work hard to reunite the baby with his father. What follows is a story of friendship, love, and trust as the three main characters also discover what family and friendship mean to them. Scrat, a saber-toothed squirrel, also features heavily throughout the franchise as a comedic relief just trying to catch his acorn. Although Blue Sky Studios shut down in 2021, Disney decided to continue telling Ice Age stories, and in 2022 Ice Age: Scrat Tales debuted on Disney+.

Ice Age
Credit: 20th Century Studios

Now it seems as though the Blue Sky characters have officially been given Disney status within the Parks. A Guest who recently visited Disney World noticed that one of the pressed penny machines in Animal Kingdom now offers a pressing of Sid and Scrat. Considering Animal kingdom is all about animals, from the modern day to the prehistoric, it makes sense for Ice Age to make its in-Park debut there.

The pressing also features the Disney100 logo, as new sets of pennies have been released throughout Walt Disney World ahead of the celebration coming to EPCOT later this year. Other characters on the pennies include several princesses, villains, Orange Bird, Tinker Bell, Stitch, Mickey, Madame Leota, and Indiana Jones. The special edition pennies can be found throughout the property at each Park and resort.

With the inclusion of Sid and Scrat on the Disney100 pennies, it’s possible the Ice Age characters will eventually make their way onto other merchandise. The franchise saw a total of five films before the studio was bought, and with the release of a show on Disney+, it’s possible that fans haven’t seen the last of the prehistoric gang just yet.

in Walt Disney World

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