Say Goodbye: Disney World’s Tree of Life Closes Today

March 16, 2025, is the final day of operations for the opening-day attraction inside the Tree of Life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. When the sun sets on Sunday, It’s Tough To Be A Bug! will close its doors for the final time to make way for an all-new show inspired by Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Zootopia (2016).

At Destination D23 2023, Walt Disney World Resort announced that Zootopia would replace Pixar’s A Bug’s Life (1998) in the Tree of Life theater. The new show, “Zootopia: Better Zoogether!”, is expected to open later this year to coincide with the theatrical premiere of Disney’s Zootopia 2 (2025).

Concept art for “Zootopia Better Zoogether” at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. — Credit: Disney

Although details about Zootopia: Better Zoogether! are limited, Walt Disney Imagineering has said that the 3D movie attraction will feature an all-new song performed by Ginnifer Goodwin, the original voice of Judy Hopps. Concept art suggests it will also feature an impressive Clawhauser audio-animatronic, much like the one in Zootopia: Hot Pursuit at Shanghai Disneyland.

Remembering It’s Tough To Be A Bug!

If there’s one thing to say about It’s Tough To Be A Bug!, the attraction was memorable. Whether guests enjoyed the creepy-crawly entertainment or ran out screaming, most Walt Disney World Resort visitors vividly remember getting stung by hornets or attacked by black widow spiders inside the Tree of Life.

It’s Tough To Be A Bug! opened alongside Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park on April 22, 1998–months before the theatrical release of A Bug’s Life. Disneyland Resort later opened its own version of the attraction inside A Bug’s Land at Disney California Adventure Park. In 2018, it closed alongside the rest of the land to make way for Avengers Campus.

Children watching It's Tough to Be a Bug — Credit: Disney

It’s Tough To Be A Bug! didn’t just terrify visitors of all ages. Flik and his friends taught guests about the environmental importance of the world’s millions of insect residents and urged everyone to reconsider killing spiders or using harmful pesticides. In the attraction’s final days, this is how Walt Disney World Resort described the “Off-Bugway” show:

Become an honorary insect as you take your seat in the theater hidden at the base of the Tree of Life and don a pair of “bug eye” glasses. Enjoy a delightful 3D movie and live show hosted by Flik, the loveable ant from A Bug’s Life, and learn how insects survive in the wild.

Bug Out!

During the show, dodge flying quills from a tarantula, feel a harmless spray from a soldier termite and sniff the putrid “defense stench” from a stink bug.

When Hopper—the grasshopper villain from A Bug’s Life—unexpectedly shows up, the theater goes bug-wild!

The moral of the story? It really is tough to be a bug. With dazzling 3D movie effects, Audio-Animatronics figures and in-theater 4D surprises, this is one show you’ll be buzzing about for a long time.

New Residents Inside the Tree of Life

Official poster for "Zootopia Better Zoogether." It features Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, and Officer Clawhauser wearing 3D glasses in front of the Tree of Life. — Credit: Disney

Zootopia 2 premieres in theatres on November 26, 2025. Zootopia: Better Zoogether! is expected to open inside the Tree of Life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park around the same time. Walt Disney World Resort hasn’t announced an exact opening date for the attraction.

Follow Inside the Magic for updates on this and other construction projects around Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park.

What do you hope to see in Zootopia: Better Zoogether!? Inside the Magic would love to hear your ideas in the comments!