Eeyore, Pua, and a Capybara: Animal Kingdom's Tropical Americas Carousel Lineup Has Fans Buzzing
Walt Disney Imagineering revealed four new animal figures for the Tropical Americas carousel at Disney's Animal Kingdom: Eeyore, Chispi the capybara from Encanto, Pua from Moana, and Nigel from Finding Nemo. The painted maquettes join the Kevin figure announced in 2024, and the in-story premise says a local wood carver built the ride.
The carousel coming to Tropical Americas at Disney's Animal Kingdom just got a lot more interesting. Walt Disney Imagineering showed off four new rideable animal figures at this year's D23 fan event: Eeyore, Chispi the capybara from Encanto, Pua from Moana, and Nigel the pelican from Finding Nemo. They join the Kevin figure from Up revealed when the ride was first announced in 2024, and fans have been picking their mounts ever since.
Key Details
- What: Four new carousel animal figures for the Tropical Americas carousel
- Who: Eeyore, Chispi (Encanto), Pua (Moana), and Nigel (Finding Nemo)
- Where: Tropical Americas, the land replacing DinoLand U.S.A. at Disney's Animal Kingdom
- Revealed at: D23 fan event, shown as painted maquettes at the Imagineering Horizons exhibit
- Previously announced: A figure inspired by Kevin from Up, unveiled at D23 2024
The four new animals
The lineup leans into animal sidekicks rather than headline characters, which fits a park built around creatures. Eeyore brings the Hundred Acre Wood to a tropical setting, his saddle carved with forest flowers. Pua, the pot-bellied pig from Moana, gets tropical blooms across his back. Chispi is the capybara from Encanto, a natural pick since the new land draws heavily on the world of the Madrigals and capybaras actually live across the tropical Americas. Nigel, the helpful pelican from Finding Nemo, rounds out the set, a small nod of continuity for a park that hosted "Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond!" for years.
A hand-carved look with a backstory
What Imagineering displayed are maquettes, the small painted study models used to lock in a design before full-sized ride figures are built. Even at that scale, the direction is clear. Each animal has a carved-wood look with a colorful saddle themed to its character's home, and the whole ride carries an in-story explanation: according to the Tropical Americas backstory, the carousel was built by a local wood carver. That framing matters. Rather than a generic fairground ride dropped into a theme park, the carousel is meant to read as something the land's fictional community made for itself, the same storytelling approach that made Pandora and Harambe feel like real places.
Where Tropical Americas fits at Animal Kingdom
Tropical Americas is the land replacing DinoLand U.S.A., the biggest change Disney's Animal Kingdom has seen since Pandora: The World of Avatar opened in 2017. The headliners are an Encanto attraction set in the Madrigal family's Casita and an Indiana Jones adventure, with the carousel serving as the family-friendly anchor in between. Imagineering has also shown models of the Encanto ride's scenes, vehicles, and animatronics, so the D23 exhibit gave fans their most complete picture yet of what the finished land will hold. A carousel is a meaningful addition on its own: Animal Kingdom has long had the thinnest lineup of little-kid rides of the four Walt Disney World parks, with TriceraTop Spin carrying much of that load before DinoLand closed.
The Buzz
- Fans have turned the reveal into a pick-your-mount debate, with Eeyore and Chispi emerging as early favorites
- Capybaras are an internet-beloved animal, and Chispi is the first chance to ride one at Walt Disney World
- Character carousels are rare at Disney parks, so a lineup of film sidekicks instead of traditional horses stands out
- Every new Tropical Americas detail lands with extra weight because the land is the park's first major expansion since Pandora
Why fans are buzzing
Carousels are usually the quietest news out of a theme park project, but this one keeps generating conversation because the character choices are so specific. Eeyore has a devoted following that Disney rarely serves with attractions. Chispi taps both the enduring popularity of Encanto and the internet's affection for capybaras. And a five-figure roster that so far includes a giant tropical bird, a donkey, a pig, a pelican, and a capybara suggests plenty of reveals still to come before the land opens. For families, the practical takeaway is simpler: Animal Kingdom is getting a classic ride-together attraction with no height requirement, in a park that has needed one for years.