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The Top Is Going On Disney World's Tropical Americas Carousel, and It Will Spin Hand-Carved Disney Animals Instead of Horses
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The Top Is Going On Disney World's Tropical Americas Carousel, and It Will Spin Hand-Carved Disney Animals Instead of Horses

Michael Travels
·
Published

Disney's Animal Kingdom just crossed a milestone you can actually see over the construction wall. Crews at the Tropical Americas site swung a boom lift over the land's future carousel and lowered the framing for its roof into place, with workers perched on top guiding the prefabricated section down and securing it. After months of dirt and bare block walls, the future carousel is finally growing a silhouette.

A green boom lift lowers the roof framing onto the Tropical Americas carousel at Disney's Animal Kingdom as workers secure it, with a Tropical Americas sign on the construction wall below

Photo: WDW News Today

What went up

WDW News Today, which photographed the work on a visit to the site, reports that the beams for the outer section of the carousel roof went up the week before. A boxy steel framework ringed by short posts also appeared, which the outlet says is the support system and the start of a second, smaller central roof. Concept art for the carousel shows that upper tier, so the shape you can see now is only the first layer of what will eventually be a two-tiered roofline.

Angled wooden roof beams radiate from the center of the Tropical Americas carousel over its block walls, with a tower crane behind the construction wall

Photo: WDW News Today

An aerial pass over the park, courtesy of a WESH 2 helicopter, made the geometry clearer. The wooden beams fan out every few feet from a small steel circle at the center, slanting upward like the ribs of an umbrella. A separate framework to one side is expected to become the carousel's queue, and an overhang nearby may end up as its entrance and exit.

A carousel of Disney animals, not horses

This is not your standard midway spinner. When Tropical Americas opens in 2027, the carousel will carry wood-carved Disney animals instead of horses, including Kevin, the colorful bird from "Up." It sits at the heart of Pueblo Esperanza, the fictional village that ties the whole land together.

The rest of Tropical Americas

The carousel is one piece of a much bigger makeover of the old DinoLand U.S.A. Tropical Americas will also bring an "Encanto" dark ride, and the long-running DINOSAUR attraction is being reimagined into an Indiana Jones ride inside the same building. A new playground is planned as well. Nearby, crews have started repurposing the former Chester & Hester's Dinosaur Treasures gift shop for the new land, recently stripping the "Souvenirs" lettering off its roof.

One caveat

Disney has not put out any official announcement about the carousel milestone, and there is still no opening date more specific than 2027. Everything here comes from what park photographers and a passing news helicopter can see from outside the walls.

Sources

WDW News Today: Top Installed on Tropical Americas Carousel at Disney's Animal Kingdom
WDW News Today: Carousel Progress and Dinosaur Treasures Roofing Removed in Tropical Americas
Attractions Magazine: Tropical Americas construction photos

Image credits

Construction photos: WDW News Today.

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