Disney parks head Josh D’Amaro previously told EW the company was “going all in” on transforming parks via a $60 billion, decade-long enhancement project.

Disney World closes iconic Dinosaur ride after 28 years ahead of new Indiana Jones attraction

Disney parks head Josh D'Amaro previously told EW the company was "going all in" on transforming parks via a $60 billion, decade-long enhancement project.

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February 1, 2026 4:00 p.m. ET

Dinosaur ride closes at Disney World's Animal Kingdom park. Credit:

Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park

- Disney World permanently closed its iconic Dinosaur ride after nearly three decades.

- A new *Indiana Jones* ride will open at the Animal Kingdom park in its place.**

- Disney parks head Josh D'Amaro previously told EW that "we've got so many stories to tell, we have so many things we want to make even better in the theme parks."

Dinosaur's countdown to extinction at Disney World's Animal Kingdom theme park is finally over.

The iconic opening-day ride closed Sunday after 28 years in operation at the Orlando-based resort, where it first opened on April 22, 1998, and closed nearly three decades later to make way for a new *Indiana Jones*-themed ride.

Drawing inspiration from Disney's 2000 animated film *Dinosaur*, the ride remained a popular attraction at Animal Kingdom throughout most of its life cycle, though its permanent closure was announced at the D23 convention in 2024. There, Disney Parks head Josh D'Amaro revealed that an *Indiana Jones* ride would take Dinosaur's place, with the Dinoland, U.S.A. area of the park being demolished in favor of a new Tropical Americas land additionally set to include a ride based on the *Encanto* movie.

Disney World concept art for Indiana Jones ride replacing Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom.

Courtesy of Disney Experiences

The attraction was the second in Disney parks history to utilize the company's EMV — enhanced motion vehicle — technology, which first debuted, coincidentally, in 1995 on the Indiana Jones Adventure ride at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. Disney officials have said that the new *Indiana Jones *ride coming to Animal Kingdom will not be a copy-and-paste recreation of the ride at Disneyland, with the upcoming attraction set to feature a new storyline and thematic details, which have yet to be announced. There is no word yet on whether actor Harrison Ford will reprise his role in the Animal Kingdom version.

In a 2023 interview with ** at the grand opening of Hong Kong Disneyland's new *Frozen*-themed land (another of which is set to open at Disneyland Paris in March), D'Amaro previewed the* Indiana Jones *ride set to replace Dinosaur in the coming months.

"We've got so many stories to tell, we have so many things we want to make even better in the theme parks. My plan is to continue to share that with the guests. I know people are like, 'My gosh, I can't believe he's saying this. Is he serious, is he not?' The answer is, we are absolutely serious," he said at the time, pointing to Disney's prior announcement that it would spend $60 billion on its parks over the next decade.

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D'Amaro added, "We know what this business is capable of, we know what our fans expect of us, and we're going all in. You're going to see more and more of that. As we make our way through some of these ideas, some of them will become real, and we'll say that's specifically what we're going to do, but I want our guests to be on the journey with us."

Dinosaur initially debuted with a different name, however, opening alongside the Animal Kingdom park under the title Countdown to Extinction. The ride took guests on a time-traveling journey aboard Time Rover vehicles, beginning at the fictional Dino Institute, where Dr. Helen Marsh (played by Phylicia Rashad in a pre-ride video) attempted to send riders back in time on a tour of a dinosaur-heavy locale.

However, her associate, Dr. Grant Seeker (actor Wallace Langham), went on to hijack Dr. Marsh's plans, hacking into the Time Rover system to reroute guests on a mission to save an iguanodon (known as Aladar in the *Dinosaur* film) moments before an asteroid impacted the planet and wiped out the dinosaurs.

Along the way, guests dodged incoming attacks from velociraptors, pteranodons, and a giant carnotaurus — a giant animatronic figure of which lunged at the Time Rovers in the final scene of the attraction's main story.

Animal Kingdom's closure of Dinosaur and transformation of Dinoland U.S.A. into the Tropical Americas section marks the latest in a long line of improvements Disney has either already made or additionally announced for its line of global parks.

Disney's 'Dinosaur' movie, adapted into a ride at Disney World's Animal Kingdom park.

Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett

Elsewhere at Disney World, Disney's Hollywood Studios park is set to close its storied Rock 'n' Roller Coaster attraction on March 2, to make way for a *Muppets-*themed transformation of the existing ride following the closure of Jim Henson's legendary *MuppetVision 3D* show that closed at the park in mid-2025. In the multi-sensory show's place, the former Muppets Courtyard will also transform into a *Monsters, Inc.*-themed land complete with an indoor inverted roller coaster.

Other planned additions across Disney World include the heavily anticipated Villains Land heading to Magic Kingdom in the distant future, as well as the *Cars*-adjacent Piston Peak area currently under construction atop the former Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island region at the same park.

Watch a POV of Disney World's extinct Dinosaur ride in the video above.

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