Chester and Hester are officially being erased from Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Thursday morning's construction activity made that clearer than anything that has happened at the site since DinoLand U.S.A. closed in January 2025.
The iconic yellow explosion backdrop for the Chester and Hester dinosaur sign at Dinosaur Treasures was removed on April 9, along with the last Restaurantosaurus sign at Disney. These recognizable features of DinoLand U.S.A. are now gone, as the structures beneath are being transformed for the upcoming Tropical Americas, set to open in 2027.
Chester and Hester deserved better than this. But Tropical Americas is moving fast, and the construction activity visible on Thursday tells you everything about the pace of what is replacing them.
What Was Actually Removed
Chester and Hester's Dinosaur Treasures closed in January 2025 when DinoLand U.S.A. shut down and sign removal from the property began that same month. But the yellow explosion flat, one of the most visually distinctive exterior elements of the original store, survived that initial wave of removals and hung on the building through months of surrounding construction activity.
That changed Thursday. Crew members removed the yellow explosion background featuring the pair of cartoon dinosaurs on April 9th, taking down one of the last surviving pieces of the original Chester and Hester visual identity from the building's exterior. An arrow sign and some billboard supports remain on the rooftops but the most character-specific element of the store's exterior identity is gone.
Through tarps covering the hole left by the previously removed Airstream trailer, the last Restaurantosaurus sign has also been removed, along with wall paneling. Significant exterior paneling has been stripped from the gift shop structure in sections, leaving black sheathing exposed where the old gas station conversion aesthetic previously defined the building's appearance.
Both buildings are being converted rather than demolished. Chester and Hester's and Restaurantosaurus will survive as physical structures but rethemed to match Tropical Americas. The characters themselves, the specific DinoLand U.S.A. fiction that made these buildings feel like places rather than retail spaces, are being stripped away entirely and will not carry into the new land in any recognizable form.
Chester & Hester Sign Finally Being Removed for New Tropical Americas at Disney’s Animal Kingdomhttps://t.co/RZJffPoF35
— WDW News Today (@WDWNT) April 9, 2026
The Disney Construction That Is Rising Alongside the Removals
While crew members were taking down the last traces of Chester and Hester and Restaurantosaurus on Thursday, other crews were simultaneously building the structures that will replace what DinoLand U.S.A. represented.
The carousel, being constructed as one of Tropical America's anchor experiences, has reached a phase now visible above the construction walls for the first time. Block walls and steel framing around the site are rising several feet above those walls, giving observers the clearest sense yet of the structure's scale.
Active welding was underway Thursday morning, with bursts of sparks visible every few seconds as crew members worked on the steel framework being erected around the carousel foundation. The framing appearing alongside the circular foundation appears to be for a covered queue structure that would provide shade for guests waiting to board.
The simultaneous removal of old character identity and construction of a new structural framework happening on the same morning is the clearest visual summary yet of where the Tropical Americas project stands. The old world is coming down. The new one is going up. Both are happening at the same time and at a pace that is consistent with a 2027 opening that Disney is clearly taking seriously.
What Chester and Hester Actually Were
The yellow explosion flat represented more than a sign; it featured Chester and Hester, original Disney characters created for DinoLand U.S.A. Their backstory—two locals turning an old gas station into a tourist shop after dinosaur bones were discovered—added depth and charm to the area. This kind of detailed storytelling is essential for Tropical Americas to connect with visitors in a similar way. The new carousel framework hints at ambition, but whether it will capture the character-driven essence that made Chester and Hester special remains to be seen by 2027.
