Photo credit: Brittany DiCologero, Inside the Magic

On Saturday, August 10, the highly anticipated “Disney Experiences” panel took place at the 2024 D23 Expo. Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Experiences, revealed over 50 announcements for projects across the Walt Disney Company, including the Disney Cruise Line, Disney parks, and collaborations with Fortnite. Among the biggest surprises was Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park at Walt Disney World Resort.

The most significant renovations include the addition of a Tropical Americas area to replace DinoLand USA with attractions inspired by Magical (2021) and the Indiana Jones Franchise. The new Disney Park site, Pueblo Esperanza, will be located between Discovery Island and Asia.

But that wasn’t all D’Amaro had planned for Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. He revealed that a previously announced Zootopia (2016) The 3D movie at the Tree of Life is scheduled to open in winter 2025. Disney also announced the official title of the attraction: “Zootopia Better Zoogether.”

Walt Disney Imagineering first revealed plans to replace the current Tree of Life show “It’s Tough To Be A Bug” at Destination D23 in 2023. The big crawl (1998) The attraction premiered parallel to the grand opening of Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park in 1998.

The Walt Disney Company has released the official poster and concept art for Zootopia Better Zoogether. The artwork for the Tree of Life attraction features beloved characters from the 2016 Walt Disney Animation Studios film, including Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, Gazelle, Chief Bogo, Flash and more.

Officer Clawhauser is featured prominently in the attraction’s concept art and poster, as shown below.

Zootopia Better Zoogether is expected to feature an animatronic of the character in place of the Hopper animatronic from It’s Tough To Be A Bug. The audio-animatronic will likely be similar to the one used in Shanghai Disney Resort’s Zootopia theme park.

“Zootopia Better Zoogether” will include familiar biomes Zootopia fans and new, never-before-seen animated areas. Walt Disney Imagineering has not revealed any details about the story.

D’Amaro did not announce an official end date for It’s Tough To Be A Bug. The Walt Disney Company had previously stated that the show would end sometime in 2024.

Related: Disney fans could lose a popular attraction to make room for ‘Monsters, Inc.’

Follow Inside the Magic for updates on Zootopia Better Zoogether and other projects announced at D23 Expo 2024, such as Avatar A franchise-inspired attraction is coming to Disney California Adventure Park or Villains Land is coming to Magic Kingdom Park!

Which of the upcoming changes at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park are you most excited about? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments.