Credit: Inside the MagicDisney has wiped away a significant chunk of theme park history in Florida.
Related: Magic Kingdom’s Opening Day Attraction Replaced—Fans Are Not Happy
Things are always changing at Walt Disney World, especially so in 2025, with this year set to be one of the biggest the resort has ever seen. From new rides and attractions to entirely new lands, guests can expect to see a lot close throughout 2025, with Disney’s Animal Kingdom specifically undergoing some intense upgrades.
This week marked the last day of It’s Tough to be a Bug, an interactive 3D show based on Pixar’s A Bug’s Life. Many fans felt sad and nostalgic for the attraction, which has since been removed from Disney’s park map.
Disney Scrubs Traces of It’s Tough to be a Bug from Park Maps
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Disney has debuted a new map for its Animal Kingdom theme park, making several changes that seasoned guests will likely instantly notice. The front now features a new image of a child using binoculars. The animal trails have been reordered, and a “Character Greetings” section has been removed.
However, the biggest change by far is the removal of It’s Tough to Be a Bug. This opening-day attraction closed forever on Monday, March 17, 2025, marking the end of both it as well as an entire chapter of the Disney parks themselves.
Below are the changes seen in the updated Animal Kingdom map:
- New front image
- Different animal trail order
- Removed Character Greetings section
- Added information about how long DinoLand U.S.A. will remain open
Aside from the removal of It’s Tough to Be a Bug, Disney also notes in its new updated map that DinoLand U.S.A. will not be around much longer.
DINOSAUR also opened alongside Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 1998, becoming somewhat of a cult classic over the last two decades. While certainly not as beloved or as popular as Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, and other classics, public opinion on DINOSAUR has grown more and more positive, likely due to the fact that it too will become extinct very soon.
Disney first teased the destruction and overhaul of DINOSAUR at one of the company’s D23 events several years ago, revealing it, along with the rest of DinoLand U.S.A., was on the chopping block. However, Disney originally intended to replace the land with Moana and Zootopia-themed attractions, two franchises that would ultimately get cut from this section of the park as plans changed.
In 2024, Disney revealed its revised plans for DinoLand U.S.A., confirming the land would be transformed into an area inspired by South America. Replacing Chester & Hester’s DinoRama is a new ride based on Disney’s Encanto, as well as a new carousel.
Disney’s intentions for DINOSAUR are a little more interesting. The company will use the attraction’s bones to build a different experience on top of, one inspired by Indiana Jones. This is somewhat of a poetic ending for DINOSAUR, with the ride itself being a near-carbon copy of Disneyland’s original Indiana Jones Adventure.
While half of DinoLand closed in January, DINOSAUR will remain open through the end of the year, closing forever sometime in early 2026.
An exact timeline for Disney’s DinoLand project is unknown, though it is rumored that the new South America land could be open by 2027.
As mentioned earlier, widespread changes will also soon hit Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios as Disney begins its massive 2025 revitalization project. Disney announced last year that not only would it be building a new location based on Pixar’s Monsters Inc. franchise at Hollywood Studios, but it would also be building a new area dedicated to Cars, another Pixar property, inside the Magic Kingdom.
These two new projects have proven to be incredibly divisive among both new and longtime Disney World guests, though it seems like Disney is full steam ahead on both regardless of what fans have to say.
Disney also has plans to bring Pandora – The World of Avatar to its West Coast park resort, another decision that has proven to be quite controversial among fans. While the original version of this land has been a big hit since it first opened at Animal Kingdom back in 2017, Disneyland fans aren’t totally convinced the world of James Cameron’s Avatar franchise fits in California.
At the start of last year, Disney confirmed it would be pledging a whopping $60 billion toward investment in its theme parks over the next decade, with 2025 being the start of an exciting and ambitious chapter in the company’s history.
Only time will tell what the Walt Disney World Resort will look like a decade from now, but given Disney’s plans for both it and the original Disneyland Resort in California, it’s clear guests can expect things to look quite a bit different.
Will you miss DinoLand U.S.A.?