When Will DINOSAUR Close at Disney World?
As Walt Disney World fans plan to take farewell trips for attractions & areas that are closing in Animal Kingdom, readers are asking about closure dates for DINOSAUR, Dinoland, and Dino-Rama. This explains when the rides, restaurants, shops, and entertainment in this land will go extinct. (Updated January 12, 2025.)
Some of this was already covered Construction & Openings Timelines for New Lands, Rides & Additions at Walt Disney World. That gave a rundown of all projects on the horizon, and our expectations as to when closures would occur and when the reimagined replacements or new attractions would open. This post elaborates on that, offering corroboration and new rumors about the demise of dinosaurs at Animal Kingdom.
The first thing we know so far is that Tropical Americas is the next big expansion (or redevelopment, if you’d prefer) on the horizon at Walt Disney World. Second, we know that Dino-Rama is already extinct. Finally, although the precise date when DINOSAUR will close has yet to be announced, it’s starting to come into focus. Consider subscribing to our free Walt Disney World newsletter, where we’ll share instant updates as soon as they’re announced. For now, here’s everything we know about the end times for Dinoland USA, and when we expect DINOSAUR to go extinct…
January 12, 2025 Update: The Dino-Rama subsection of Dinoland USA is now officially extinct, which means the following is permanently closed:
- TriceraTop Spin
- Fossil Fun Games
- Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures
Construction walls for Tropical Americas will go up overnight and be visible to guests on January 13, 2025. It’s clear Walt Disney World is going to waste no time getting to work on demolish Dino-Rama to start construction of the new Encanto magical casita dark ride.
Just last week, Walt Disney Imagineering filed two ‘Notice of Commencement’ construction permits for the ‘facility demolition’ of TriceraTop Spin and the Fossil Fun Games area in Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama. The contractor listed for the projects is Whiting-Turner, a company that frequently works with Imagineering on Walt Disney World’s large-scale development projects.
The Boneyard, Restaurantosaurus, Dino-Bite Snacks, Trilo-Bites, and DINOSAUR will stay open for now according to Walt Disney World.
If you’re wanting the closure date for everything else narrowed beyond “for now,” Walt Disney World followed that up with a wide-ranging update on what’s coming to the parks in 2025, and that included news about the closing of DINOSAUR. Here’s the announcement:
Last Chance for DINOSAUR! While you’re visiting Animal Kingdom, make sure you “go get that dino” at DINOSAUR. We’ve previously shared this attraction will be closing to make way for the new Tropical Americas land – 2025 is your year to visit before it goes extinct!
Walt Disney World emphasizing that guests have “through 2025 to go get that dino…before extinction” pretty conclusively indicates the attraction is not closing until 2026.
Our original commentary below covers a range of scenarios for the DINOSAUR closing date, including one in January 2026. I’d be shocked if it closes much later than that. It’s likely that Walt Disney World will get through the holiday rush, plus maybe Marathon Weekend and MLK Day Weekend, but not Presidents Day or Spring Break.
In all likelihood, DINOSAUR will close along a similar timeline as Dino-Rama, just one year later (probably plus or minus one day to one week). It stands to reason that the same will be true of the Boneyard, Restaurantosaurus, and maybe Trilo-Bites. Those don’t necessarily need to close earlier. Given their locations and the turnaround time needed to reimagine or replace them, they could even stay open a bit longer than DINOSAUR.
It’ll come down to what makes sense from a capacity and crowd-absorbing perspective. With DINOSAUR closed, will guests really be venturing to this dead-end corner of the park? Even with DINOSAUR open, it’s possible that demand drops to the point that Walt Disney World opts to close the play area or dining options earlier. Again, this is a company big on saving operating expenses whenever possible.
I also would not recommend waiting that long to say your goodbyes to DINOSAUR, regardless. One thing we’ve seen time and time again with ride reimaginings is that, once an attraction is slated for replacement, it stops receiving TLC maintenance. To be sure, Disney will continue doing necessary work on the ride system to ensure it’s safe. But anything non-essential–meaning to the show scenes, lighting, etc–that’s all but over.
DINOSAUR is already notorious for being poorly-maintained (“dinosaur on a stick,” anyone?), and that’s only likely to worsen in 2025. I guess it’s possible that Walt Disney World will want it in its best shape so fans can offer their fond farewells…but does anyone really believe that? Who else rode Splash Mountain in the last 10-12 months of its life, and went through entire scenes with no show lighting or static AAs?
If anything, I’d expect DINOSAUR to be worse than that, not better. Say your goodbyes ASAP. You probably don’t want to remember the ride based on its December 2025 condition. (Really hope to be wrong about this, and not trying to be a debbie downer…just being realistic based on plenty of past precedent.)
Honestly, I don’t love this news. Having more time to say goodbye to DINOSAUR might sound like good news on the surface, but this means a tighter timeline for the reimagining into Indiana Jones Adventure. If you’re a Walt Disney World diehard playing the long game, you should want as much time as possible for that ride redo since it’ll be with us for decades to come.
I also think this takes Tropical Americas opening early off the table. As discussed below, my hope had been that they’d push for a Christmas 2026 opening, as Animal Kingdom needs help sooner rather than later. This increases the likelihood of a Summer 2027 opening for Tropical Americas, which was always the most logical timeframe, anyway.
While it bodes well that Walt Disney World is already filing permits for the demolition of Dino-Rama and will put up construction walls overnight on January 13, it still wouldn’t surprise me if Tropical Americas doesn’t debut until Christmas 2027. This is a big project and that’s still a tight turnaround time, even though it may not seem like it on the surface.
If you’re wondering how this multi-phase closure will work, it’s because there are also multiple sub-lands or areas within Tropical Americas.
The first is Pueblo Esperanza, the hub in heart of the rainforest that’s name translates to “Village of Hope.” (Some fans have started referring to this whole Tropical Americas project as Pueblo Esperanza–it’s our understanding this name is just for the core community up front. It’s kinda like the new EPCOT, which has a bunch of needless neighborhood names.)
The Pueblo Esperanza community will feature a large hacienda, which will be one of the largest quick-service restaurants at Walt Disney World Resort. It’ll also offer a critter carousel as an attraction. Pueblo Esperanza will replace the Boneyard, TriceraTops Spin, Restaurantosaurus, Dino-Bite Snacks, and (presumably) Trilo-Bites.
After leaving the Pueblo Esperanza, guests can venture deeper into the rainforest to find not one but two signature attractions. To the left is the Encanto magical Madrigal Casita dark ride, which is likely to be a family-friendly Omnimover–perhaps like an Encanto-ized version of Mystic Manor.
The Encanto attraction will replace all of Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama, including all of its carnival games, that big roadside dinosaur, Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, Donald’s Dino-Bash, and TriceraTop Spin (again–it straddles the Pueblo Esperanza and Encanto areas).
This is the area of Tropical Americas construction where walls will go up on January 13, 2025.
Finally, there’s the new Indiana Jones Adventure attraction, which will replace DINOSAUR.
I guess there’s also Dino-Sue and some winding pathways with statues back here, but for the most part, this area is simply being reimagined from DINOSAUR to the third incarnation of Indiana Jones Adventure.
Against the backdrop of these three mostly-distinct areas of Tropical Americas, let’s turn to when everything is going to close…
Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro already revealed that work on this new 11-acre section of the park is underway, with construction set to begin later this year. More specifically, Walt Disney World stated the following: “Construction on the land is set to begin this fall and will open in 2027 — but don’t worry, you’ll still have plenty of time to experience Dinosaur again (and get that dino).”
It’s important to draw a distinction between work and construction, as Disney itself has done this. Work is already underway on a lot of these projects or will start soon. That’s a nebulous term, and could mean anything from the filing of permits to installation of trailers to backstage prep to clear the way for actual construction.
By contrast, construction does (or should) mean that guests are going to see closures, walls go up, and stuff happening on the substance of the additions. At least, to the extent this is possible–several of these projects are proper expansions or will occur near or beyond the berm. We probably won’t see much in the way of Villains Land work due to its location.
Anyway, we already knew that construction on Tropical Americas is already underway and that guests “still have plenty of time to experience Dinosaur again.” From that, we previously inferred that this would be a multi-phase project with Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama closing first and DINOSAUR sometime after that.
Since DINOSAUR is not closing ASAP, it’s safe to assume that Indiana Jones Adventure ride reimagining is not being fast-tracked, and also that Tropical Americas will not open in phases. That’s probably a smart move, as the approach did not go well for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. We suspect Walt Disney World wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, even if there’s an urgent desire to give Animal Kingdom a needed/overdue shot in the arm.
If the Tropical Americas land is opening all at once instead of in phases, there’s more work to be done on the Encanto–a brand new build–than there is on Indiana Jones Adventure, which will reuse the existing ride system from Dinosaur. All of these were our fairly-confident assumptions based on Disney’s public statements.
This has now been officially confirmed by Walt Disney World. Dino-Rama will close first, in early 2025, with everything else staying open for now. The only real surprise here is that this isn’t already closed–there had been rumors that Dino-Rama would go extinct late last year, before the holiday season. (The delay is smart–Christmas is busy!)
In any case, the much bigger question is when everything else will close. Even though Pueblo Esperanza and Indiana Jones Adventure are two distinct areas, I’m going to lump them together for the purposes of construction. The reason for that is purely practical–once the front section closes, it’s game over for DINOSAUR. That attraction becomes inaccessible.
Similarly, once DINOSAUR goes down, there’s not much to draw people back to this corner of the park. It’ll all close around the same time unless management feels like Restaurantosaurus is needed as dining capacity for a bit longer. I doubt that, though.
It also just makes sense. Everything aside from the critter carousel is a reskinning or reimagining, and it’s not like a carousel is the pinnacle of attraction complexity. When it comes to these two areas, the time needed to convert DINOSAUR to Indiana Jones Adventure will likely dictate the closure date, as it’s the most complex component of this half (give or take) of Tropical Americas.
When trying to reverse engineer DINOSAUR’s closure date from the planned 2027 opening of Tropical Americas, we have some recent precedent to work with: Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Frozen Ever After. These two projects both took around 18-20 months.
Obviously, those are not perfect comparisons since both are slow-moving boat rides whereas Indiana Jones Adventure is a thrilling high-speed attraction. Splash Mountain and Maelstrom also had work that needed to be done that is likely irrelevant here. Nevertheless, I’d call them “good enough” proxies.
If we assume that Walt Disney World wants Tropical Americas open by Summer 2027, then they can push off the closure of DINOSAUR until January 2026. If they don’t intend to open Tropical Americas until Christmas 2027, they might be able to push off the extinction date until after Spring Break 2026.
I could see DINOSAUR surviving until then…but I view that as unlikely. About the only thing that could cause that much delay is Walt Disney World needing to refurbish other attractions in Animal Kingdom first (so there aren’t multiple simultaneous closures in 2025-2026) or the company anticipating a blockbuster 2025 due to the debut of a drone show.
That also seems very unlikely. Even if Walt Disney World rolls out excellent entertainment in Summer 2025 for DAK, it’s only going to do so much and for so long. It’s much more likely that the company realizes Animal Kingdom is going to be the park hit hardest by Epic Universe, and fast tracks the Tropical Americas project to the greatest extent possible.
Given everything we know, the most likely closure date for DINOSAUR is January 13, 2026.
That’s after the holiday season, after schools go back into session, and also after the 2026 Walt Disney World Marathon wraps up. I really hope Walt Disney World doesn’t delay the date until after Spring Break 2026. The longer DINOSAUR is closed, the more time Imagineering has to do justice to an ambitious reimagining. Everything I’ve heard about this version of Indiana Jones Adventure has me optimistic, including insiders suggesting it has the potential to be the best of the trio.
But that only happens if Imagineering is given the time, resources, and money to make it so. Their ideas and ambition are obviously important, but that only matters so much if they’re hamstrung by tight timelines or limited funding. I’m honestly not worried about the latter–Burbank opened the money spigot at the start of the latest fiscal year.
What’s the bigger concern is Walt Disney World management looking at Animal Kingdom’s already limited ride roster and demanding a faster turnaround for fear of hemorrhaging (even more) attendance. That’s going to happen regardless with Epic Universe, and DINOSAUR is not the outcome-determinative factor. Hopefully lessons were learned with that mentality from Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and Imagineering will have a little less than two years to transform DINOSAUR into Indiana Jones Adventure.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
When do you expect DINOSAUR and Dinoland at Animal Kingdom to close completely? Think DINOSAUR will go extinct in January 2026–or not until after Spring Break? Think the Tropical Americas opening will be moved forward or delayed? Think our speculation is wrong, and this entire land closes all at once? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
why can’t I shop in the dinosaur adventure land gift shop?
I think you’re right Tom about the purposeful loss of playyards. Sad but true :(. My husband has wonderful memories of running all over Tom Sawyer Island as a kid, and falling :), but had such great times.
Glad to see Megatron standing pics – mask is so clever! Bet she’s amazing and loads of fun. Time flies. She’ll be entering school before you know it and then time flies even faster!
Thanks for the update. So, the big question: are Dino chip n dale still meeting and greeting until Dinosaur closes?!
I hope they do the same thing with Muppets Courtyard – begin construction of the door coaster outside the current park boundaries, and keep Muppetvision open for a year until it’s time to put a new show in.
Staggering they arent accelerating the animal kingdom construction.
Such an amazing park … with so little rides.
Its going to be a 2 hour park in 2026. A ghost town.
Was sorry to hear Dinosaur was going extinct in 2025, it was one of my family favorites in Animal Kingdom. We were on the Indiana Jones Spectacular in California and always thought it was similar to Dinosaur at the Animal Kingdom Disney WorldDave & Judy. I think it will receive a great response once the update is completed.
Bring Megatron to the Boneyard! although be prepared to drag her out kicking and screaming,. they have what the cast member called Texas Sand in the play area found by crossing the brontosaurus neck bridge,. little known spot I do believe,..
Normally, I’ve always had competing feelings about any change or refurbishment. One one hand I knew that new technology could mean real improvements. I love Tower of Terror but I have to say the retheming of it in California is a radical improvement. But with Dinoland, I’ve always felt it was below Disney standards for theming. I always felt Dinoland was something Disney just threw in Animal Kingdom because they ran out of ideas and so they just threw in a bunch of generic rides. BTW, that was one of the early complaints about California Adventure. And now with Universal having Jurassic Park material, I’m hard pressed to explain the existence of Dinoland.
The only thing I’ll miss in Dinoland is the G scale train they have running at the top of the store there.
Thank you for the update Tom. I was wondering if they would close Dinoland’s carnival games before our upcoming Moonlight Magic (and the other two MMs) in Q4, to say nothing of the holiday rush, and now we know the answer. I haven’t done the carnival games in several years (my elementary school aged kids have never done them), and it’s my understanding that that whole area gets crowded with long lines during MM– would you recommend doing it? If you have a recent guide for AK MM, can you share it?
Just returned home and replying to my own post in case it’s helpful to others— there were carnival games at moonlight magic, but no prizes — games were free and lines were long. We spent an hour (and a lot of money) collecting stuffed dinos at Dino-Rama before thanksgiving and when we came back for one last final-final visit to Dinosaur (that now probably won’t even be the final ride, lol) the triceratops and iguanadon were gone and replaced with (AFAICT) generic non-Dino prizes.
We also finally made it to Boneyard for the first time and completed are Dinoland wilderness explorer badges. Highly recommend for fellow completionists.
Am I understanding correctly that Triceratop Spin will be closed before I get there on December 9? Trying to figure out if I should move up my trip since it’s my 3 year old’s favorite ride and a big part of the reason we squeezed in a trip before the end of the year.
From a purely selfish perspective, I hope you’re right on the April 2025 closure! I know Dinosaur is not generally viewed as the pinnacle of Disney imagineering, but I do think it’s a ride my partner and I will enjoy, and it would be great to have the chance to experience it on our Jan/Feb trip.
There appears to be a new “border” that’s been added to DinoLand in the MDE app. I don’t believe it was there before. If this is in fact the area that will be closed off Chester and Hester’s will still be open and the DinoLand characters will still be available for meet and greets. And the Boneyard would be open.
That is a huge relief. As a muligenerational family who doesn’t do many of the intense thrill rides, that limits a good percentage of the AK rides. But we love meet and greets and are hoping to meet Donald, Daisy, Chip, and Dale in their Dino outfits before they are gone too.
Thanks for the update Tom. BTW, can you use all of your pull with WDW to get them to cannibalize the scrapped dino animatronics to create an amazing Primeaval World section for WDW Railroad?
I’m guessing Expedition Everest will be the best place to get photos of the construction progress. Glad I don’t have to worry about that…
So bummed about The Boneyard. It’s such a great play area for toddlers/preschoolers. I was hoping for a retheme to keep it, but doesn’t seem likely. Our four year old has loved playing there! WDW needs *more* playgrounds! Not less!
I agree, the removal of both The Boneyard and Tom Sawyer’s Island are a huge loss for kids and families. Both are much more than a playground, they are places that kids can roam and explore, and have an adventure! For as long as they want, without waiting in a line. This is huge to have an opportunity to break up a long day of line…ride…line…ride which can become difficult for kids over a long day. Nothing I’ve heard that is coming will replace that.
100% agree. I thought a light retheming of Boneyard would go with the Indiana Jones vibe pretty well and be an easy win with families. My kids spend at least an hour exploring it every time we are in Animal Kingdom. If they kept Boneyard as an Incan archaeological dig site, they would be making the entire land a true addition at little cost. Instead, we have to give up something that is really great for a carousel that is hopefully a little more than just a carousel.
There’s gotta be a legal liability concern about play areas at Walt Disney World. There’s no way someone at Imagineering didn’t have the (very obvious) idea to keep the Boneyard and lightly retheme it to Indiana Jones. The same could’ve been done with the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” play area at DHS becoming Toy Story.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’re losing 2 major play areas in quick succession, after already losing others. It’s unfortunate, but purposeful.
I’ve seen a lot of speculation/guesses regarding the closure dates of the Fossil Fun Games, Triceratop Spin, and DINOSAUR, but no mention of the Boneyard. I won’t miss the carnival games, but I am hoping the Boneyard survives through the holiday season. The holiday decorations there are fun and my kids love it.
The Boneyard is at/over the entrance to the land, so it’s in the second phase of closures along with DINOSAUR. Once Dino-Rama closes, there’s no way in except “through” (under) the Boneyard.
I’m a bit surprised they are going Indianna jones. I’m 66 and will enjoy and relate to it – but it’s got to be a 5–10-year novelty at this point – Harrison is 82. Raiders time is past with the younger set. You would think there is something better for the 30 and under market they would invest in.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is several decades older than Raiders of the Lost Ark, yet Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is one of the two most popular rides in Magic Kingdom.
Indiana Jones Adventure is a timeless attraction. Even if the franchise fades in the future, this is going to instantly become the second-most popular ride in Animal Kingdom–and stay there for a while. (A lot depends upon execution, but I’d bet right now that IJA has longer wait times than the Encanto ride a decade from now.)
Considering the amount of money that Disney spent to obtain the IP, I would imagine the franchise will be rebooted at some point with a younger actor/actress. I certainly do not think that this last movie was the end.
I was on Dinosaur literally yesterday after having not ridden the ride for years as nobody else in my family wanted to do it again. This trip was solo so I just went on it as a farewell. “Dark the Ride” was an apt description. It used to be better, but now they really can’t close it soon enough for the reimagining!
Well, at least D’Amaro acknowledged the main draw for Dino world is parents with small ones, not big enough to ride any of the rides at WDW, with the comment of winning “that dino” which is exactly what we do. Our little one is just now starting to get to the height for a good majority of the rides but before there wasn’t a lot for him to interact with that wasn’t extremely old and out dated looking (small world, country bear jamboree-still extremely offensive show, Winnie the pooh, with the exception of buzz and some water rides.) Little one has so far risen to the triceratops level, after winning many Mickeys and Minnie’s, but we need to get there asap to collect more. One of my WDW fan friends says they’re the most expensive souvenirs cause of how many fair tickets you have to buy to win but very few souvenirs have the park’s logo embroidered on the animal. I’m a bit happy D’Amaro acknowledged that. But it is impossible to claim with a straight face that Dino World hasn’t been intentionally neglected for about 7 years at this point. Another Communicore is a waste of space and a dumb idea.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the reference to “that dino” is a popular quote by Dr. Seeker in the pre-show of DINOSAUR.
I do agree with you that the prizes they have in Dino-Rama are fantastic–I’m not a huge fan of carnival games in the parks, but I really appreciate how on-theme the options are there! I need to get out there and win a set before those games go extinct.
The good news is that the Encanto ride and the critter carousel should both be great for families with small children. 🙂
We haven’t been on Dinosaur in several years now, but the last time we rode the attraction it seemed like it would have been more appropriate to call it “Dark: The Ride”. I’ll have fond memories of taking the kids on that attraction, but I can only imagine how poor a shape it’ll be from now until closure (assuming only the bare minimum maintenance for safety)..
Dinosaur has had its ups and downs with maintenance. Several years ago (pre-closure), they fixed a lot of broken effects–some of which I can’t recall ever seeing working before that. But in the years since, most have stopped working again.
When I last rode earlier this month, Dinosaur wasn’t in half bad shape (by Dinosaur standards). I don’t think it’ll be a Splash situation where it’s in terrible shape by the time the closure rolls around…but partially because the baseline is lower in the first place.