Credit: Inside The MagicDon’t miss out on this ferocious Disney World attraction.
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Walt Disney World has closed some absolutely iconic attractions over the last decade. This year has been especially hard for the resort, with fan-favorite experiences like Muppet*Vision 3D and Tom Sawyer Island both closing forever as Disney enters an exciting, but uncertain, new era.
However, one of Disney World’s biggest closures is still on the horizon, and it will either go down as a big mistake or another example of Disney knowing best.
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We’ve already discussed how Disney’s losing its dinosaurs seems like an unforced error, but losing DINOSAUR itself is a big blow, one fans may never recover from. DINOSAUR has been part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom since the park opened in April 1998 and has served as one of the most terrifying and exciting rides in all of Walt Disney World.
The frightening thrill ride will end its time-traveling tours once and for all on February 2, 2026.
We can agree that DinoLand U.S.A. is corny, tacky, and always felt cheap. This isn’t to say the land didn’t feature some incredible theming and cheeky Easter eggs for eagle-eyed visitors, but all in all, DinoLand did feel out of place at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a park that is often praised for its singular vision and aesthetic.
However, we believe there’s a world where DINOSAUR can live on even without DinoLand, but unfortunately, this isn’t the world we’re living in.
Disney first teased the idea of transforming DinoLand into something new during a D23 conference in 2022. The news was both unexpected and unsurprising, as fans have argued for many years that DinoLand should be replaced with something more fitting.
Disney’s original plans for transformation included Zootopia and Moana, two franchises that would seemingly anchor this new vision for DinoLand.
However, when Disney gave an update on the project a few years later, Moana and Zootopia were gone, and in their place were two new popular IPs, Indiana Jones and Encanto.
This new land, officially called Tropical Americas, sees DinoLand transform into a new South America-inspired hub filled with all kinds of fun new experiences, rides, and attractions.
Tropical Americas officially opens in 2027, so guests will have to deal with construction walls and blocked-off areas of the park for the next few years. Whether or not this turns out to be worth the fort is up to fans, though we can’t help but feel the closure of DINOSAUR is a major misstep by Disney.
We highly recommend that you check out this attraction before it closes, whether for the first time or the millionth.
Will you miss DINOSAUR?