Ahead of the permanent closure of the It’s Tough to be a Bug attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom next month, Walt Disney Imagineering has filed a permit for the demolition work that will take place in the Tree of Life theater. The permit, which lists longtime Disney World contractor Whiting-Turner, will expire at the end of this year and lists a property address matching the Tree of Life. Here are more details on what to expect.
Permit for Demolition of It’s Tough to be a Bug
The permit calls for “Facility demo, general construction, electrical, and area development” for an address matching the Tree of Life. While we don’t expect to see any changes to the exterior of the Tree of Life, the interior will likely see some demolition as Disney is forced to change the theming a bit.
Thankfully for Disney, a lot of the theming is rather generic to make guests feel like they’re in the root system under the Tree of Life. Theming includes faux dirt and tree-like structures – all of which can likely stay if Disney want to. Some smaller details like that of termite damage could also probably stay.
In fact, it’s not exactly clear what sort of demolition will need to take place. but there will likely be some changes required. We can’t imagine much of a theme change between It’s Tough to be a Bug and Zootopia: Better Zoogether, which will open this Winter.
From the concept art below, there doesn’t appear to be a significant shift away from the exposed wood tree theming in the theater, although there may be some adjustments to how the Audio-Animatronic is presented.
Currently, Hopper appears almost out of nowhere for a short period during the show. The Officer Clawhauser Audio-Animatronic that will seemingly replace him appears to have computer screens in front of him – suggesting that he might have a permanent presence throughout the show.
It’s Tough to be a Bug will have its final day of operation on March 16th. For a list of all upcoming refurbishments, closures, and construction projects at Walt Disney World, check out our page below!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
