Fans Frustrated as Disney Continues to Give Theme Park “What Ifs?”

Back in September, Disney hosted its Destination D23 event at Walt Disney World Resort. During that huge fan weekend, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro revealed that DinoLand USA in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park would be undergoing a massive transformation. DinoLand USA would be no more, and an Indiana Jones-themed area, as well as an Encanto area, would be coming to the parks. It is being referred to as the “Tropical Americas” experience.

Related: VIDEO: Fans Stunned By Disney’s New Zootopia Land!

Fan reactions were mixed, but most people were not surprised that DinoLand would be going away. Many had expected Disney to create a Zootopia-themed area, as they did at the Shanghai Disney Resort. Then, there were those who were disappointed that Disney had passed on the chance to bring The Emperor’s New Groove to the parks.

But now, those fans are frustrated in a whole new way. They want Disney to commit to something and get moving on the overhaul.

Mr. D’Amaro recently traveled to Hong Kong for the opening of World of Frozen at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. During his trip, he spoke with Entertainment Weekly and the topic of the Animal Kingdom retheme came up. It was then that D’Amaro admitted that Disney Imagineers were still “dreaming” of what to do with the area.

D’Amaro stresses that, while not a final piece of concept art, the image — which showed the aging Dinoland U.S.A. section of the park re-themed to tropical American locales with Encanto and Coco attractions — highlights “where our heads are” as his team continues “dreaming” plans for Animal Kingdom’s next big move.

“We’ve got so many stories to tell, we have so many things we want to make even better in the theme parks. My plan is to continue to share that with the guests… As we make our way through some of these ideas, some of them will become real, and we’ll say that’s specifically what we’re going to do, but I want our guests to be on the journey with us.”

The news that Disney still didn’t have concrete plans for the area annoyed a lot of fans — especially with the memory of waiting five years just to get TRON Lightcycle/Run built in the Magic Kingdom still fresh on their minds.

As much as people hated Chapek, at least he committed to whatever bad idea he had.

Josh needs to stop worrying about not pissing off Disney Twitter, a group that is gonna get pissed off regardless, and commit to something already.

As much as people hated Chapek, at least he committed to whatever bad idea he had.

Josh needs to stop worrying about not pissing off Disney Twitter, a group that is gonna get pissed off regardless, and commit to something already. https://t.co/gsKX83Ct3A

— Disney Hyperspace Mountain Shill (@phantazmick01) November 21, 2023

Disney fans have become used to Disney announcing new projects once they have already been planned out. It always felt like letting fans know what was going on was one of the final steps before new construction projects began. Now, it seems that telling guests about something that might happen in the future is the new first step.

It’s wild, they literally haven’t been planning anything for years if they aren’t ready to announce anything official yet. They are in the very early stages. Expect 6-10 years before anything new is completed.

It’s wild, they literally haven’t been planning anything for years if they aren’t ready to announce anything official yet. They are in the very early stages. Expect 6-10 years before anything new is completed.

— Jake Gee (@JacobTateGee) November 20, 2023

Some pointed out that, while Disney took 5 years to build one ride and doesn’t seem to have other concrete plans in place for its US theme parks, rival theme park Universal Orlando is building an entirely new theme park in just about the same amount of time. Construction on Epic Universe began just before the pandemic, and the new park is slated to open in 2025.

So the plan is to keep not talking about the “Universal is killing us for the next 15years” problem and hope it goes away with dreamy mockups that never come. Got it. 😆 Nothing’s real none of it matters is a heck of a platform to stand on

So the plan is to keep not talking about the "Universal is killing us for the next 15years" problem and hope it goes away with dreamy mockups that never come. Got it. 😆 Nothing's real none of it matters is a heck of a platform to stand on

— Dylan the Film Guy (@dylan_devore) November 20, 2023

In the end, fans just want Disney to commit to something when it comes to either Disneyland or Walt Disney World Resort. Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that Disney plans to spend more than $60 billion on its theme parks over the next ten years. But, as of right now, we don’t have anything confirmed for the US parks.

BREAKING : “Guests can expect an immersive, ground-breaking (or not) update to Tomorowland! Can’t share details because we don’t have any. It may to involve some form of change, or maybe not, at some point in time, possibly. Stay tuned for more concrete ambiguities!” #DisneyParks

BREAKING : "Guests can expect an immersive, ground-breaking (or not) update to Tomorowland! Can't share details because we don't have any. It may to involve some form of change, or maybe not, at some point in time, possibly. Stay tuned for more concrete ambiguities!" #DisneyParks pic.twitter.com/6avDkbU38G

— Beth ✌︎ (@PixieDustVibes) November 21, 2023

The comments made by D’Amaro are similar to the ones he made at the 2022 D23 Convention held in Anaheim, California. During the Parks Experiences panel, D’Amaro spoke about “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain.” He said that Imagineers were looking to expand the area behind the iconic roller coaster. However, he didn’t give anything concrete. Instead, he listed a bunch of things that “could” happen sometime in the future.

In addition to the DinoLand USA retheme, Disney is also planning on a massive expansion of Disneyland Resort — a project called DisneylandForward. Disney has shared the plans that it has for the area, but nothing can be done until Disney gets all the permits that it needs to create the area.

Are you losing patience with Disney and its theme park plans? Let us know in the comments.