Park: Animal Kingdom Tropical Americas

Tropical Americas is the major new land coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, replacing the former DinoLand U.S.A. with an immersive area centered on Pueblo Esperanza. Scheduled to open in 2027, the land represents one of the most significant changes in the park’s history, reshaping an opening-day corner of Animal Kingdom into a lush, culturally inspired environment rooted in the biodiversity, architecture, and storytelling traditions of Central and South America.

The land’s fictional village, Pueblo Esperanza, is being designed as a lived-in crossroads surrounded by rainforest. That framing is important because it allows the area to fit Animal Kingdom’s broader identity. The park has always been at its strongest when its lands feel like real places with history, texture, animals, food, music, and environmental storytelling. Disney has compared the intended level of placemaking to areas such as Harambe, where guests are meant to feel as if they are walking through a community rather than simply moving from attraction to attraction.

Tropical Americas will include two major Disney storytelling anchors. The Indiana Jones attraction will replace DINOSAUR’s ride system with a new adventure set in a Maya temple, giving Animal Kingdom a version of Indy that is designed specifically for this park rather than a direct copy of the Disneyland ride. The Encanto attraction will bring guests inside the world of the Madrigal family, with the story reportedly centered on Antonio and the rainforest. That makes the land especially notable because it marks the first major Walt Disney World ride built around Encanto, one of Disney Animation’s most culturally specific modern hits.

The area will also include a carousel featuring carved Disney animals, along with dining and shopping, including a large hacienda-style quick-service restaurant. Those supporting pieces matter because Tropical Americas is not being positioned as a single ride overlay. It is intended to function as a complete land, with family-friendly capacity, food, atmosphere, and multiple reasons to spend time there.

Historically, Tropical Americas is a major pivot for Animal Kingdom. DinoLand U.S.A. had a deliberately offbeat roadside-science identity, but it became increasingly divisive as the rest of the park grew more immersive. Tropical Americas signals a move toward richer placemaking, stronger franchise integration, and a setting that more naturally supports Animal Kingdom’s themes of wildlife, exploration, culture, and conservation. If executed well, it could become the park’s most important expansion since Pandora – The World of Avatar.

Animal Kingdom Tropical Americas Attractions, Rides, Restaurants, Shows and Shops:

Here is your complete guide to each of the rides, attractions, restaurants and shows, past and present in Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom’s Tropical Americas area.

Below is a rundown of everything you can find in this land. click on a listing to find out a ton more details about it.