Aged rockwork goes onto Tropical Americas' entrance arch at Animal Kingdom as the Casita steel rises
Crews have begun setting crumbling-style rockwork into the main entrance archway of Tropical Americas at Disney's Animal Kingdom, with spray-paint outlines marking where more will go. Concrete now covers parts of the faux mountain range over the Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto show building, and workers are on the Casita's steel frame.
The main entrance archway into Tropical Americas at Disney's Animal Kingdom is starting to look old on purpose. Crews have set rubble-style stones into the arch, with orange spray-paint outlines marking where more rockwork goes next.
Key Details
- Land: Tropical Americas, replacing DinoLand U.S.A.
- Opening: 2027
- Village: Pueblo Esperanza
- Attractions: Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto and an Indiana Jones ride
The Buzz
The entrance arch is the first thing guests will walk through from Discovery Island, so the aging work is the first real look at how Tropical Americas will greet them.
Aged rockwork on the Tropical Americas entrance archway
The arch is getting a weathered stone finish that echoes the land's side entrance.
- Gateway role. The main archway into Pueblo Esperanza will greet guests walking in from the Discovery Island bridge.
- Stone clusters. Rubble-style stones sit in clusters at the base, along the curve of the arch and in its upper corners.
- Paint outlines. Orange spray-paint outlines above and beside the stones mark where crews will add rockwork in the coming days.
- Side entrance match. The look echoes the side entrance, where scaffolding came off to reveal cracked plaster, exposed stonework and moss in the seams.
- How it got here. The steel archway went up in early August, and dark mesh covered most of it by October 2.
At the side entrance, sculpted concrete went on first and the weathered finish followed, and the main arch is expected to follow the same order.
Concrete spreads over the Encanto mountain range
The faux mountains above Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto are turning from wire mesh into concrete.
- Show building. The mountain range sits above the show building for Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto, the land's Encanto attraction.
- Mesh in July. Wire mesh first gave the range its outline in July, and concrete work appeared to start by October 2.
- Two finishes. The upper peaks carry smoother gray concrete, while a few side peaks have a rougher, sandier finish.
- Still to go. Mesh with black marker numbers still shows in other sections.
The Casita's steel frame takes the shape of a house
Workers are on the steel for the Casita, the Madrigal family's house from Encanto, as a rockwork hillside forms behind it.
- Rooflines. Gabled roof trusses run along the top of the lower section of the galvanized steel frame.
- Arch and tower. A curved arch sits low in the frame, and a tall braced steel tower rises above the rest.
- Crews aloft. One worker climbed a diagonal brace while another worked on a lower beam.
- Hillside wall. New mesh framing behind the Casita shapes a large rockwork wall, marked with yellow section numbers.
- Hiding the box. Once finished, the wall should make the Casita appear to sit on a larger hillside and hide the show building.
Our take. Tropical Americas is still aimed at 2027. If you pass the construction walls on your next visit, the arch is the piece to watch, since its spray-paint outlines show exactly where the next rockwork goes.