Walt Disney Imagineering has filed three Notice of Commencement permits for addresses resolving to the Tropical Americas construction site at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Two addresses are near or at the former Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures gift shop, and the third address resolves to a backstage area that will be near where the Encanto-themed attraction is built. Here’s a closer look at the permits.
Tropical Americas & Encanto Ride Permits Filed by Walt Disney Imagineering
All three permits were filed by Walt Disney Imagineering, and all three permits list longtime Walt Disney World general contractor Whiting-Turner as the contractor for the work. Whiting-Turner is Walt Disney World’s go-to contractor, having worked on other large projects such as the EPCOT overhaul of Future World, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, TRON Lightcycle Run, Beak & Barrel tavern, Toy Story Mania, and now the Tropical Americas project, among other work.
Encanto Ride Permit
The first permit that we’ll look at is for an area that has historically been backstage, but will now house part of the Encanto-themed ride building. The address listed is for a backstage trailer that has since been removed.
As seen in the June 13th aerial photo below from Bioreconstruct, the area in question is at the very top of the photo, where we spotted the first crane on site. While the address resolves to a trailer that used to only sit on a portion of the site, it is possible that this is the address that Walt Disney World will use for the entire Encanto-themed ride. We’ll have to keep an eye on future permits to see if that’s the case.
Either way, there is no listed expiration date, so the permit will have a standard expiration date of one year from the June 24th filing date. In terms of the work to be completed, the only insight we have is the listed scope of “General Construction and Area Development”. If we had to guess, the work will include infrastructure requirements for the Encanto-themed ride. While we certainly hope that there will be vertical construction of the Encanto ride sometime in the next year, I’m not ready to attach that work to this permit just yet.
Gift Shop Permits
In addition to the permit discussed above, there are two more permits for the Tropical Americas project, both listing “General Construction” as the scope of work. The first permit address resolves to the former Dinosaur Treasures gift shop, which is expected to remain standing throughout the work. A second address resolves to a nearby pump building next to the former Dinosaur Treasures gift shop.
It’s possible that this work will be related to a retheme or repurposing of those buildings for the all-new Tropical Americas land, set to open in 2027 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
For everything you need to know about the Tropical Americas retheme project for DinoLand USA, check out our article below!
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