Goodbye, Flik, Hello Judy & Nick! “It’s Tough to be a Bug Closed” Permanently at Walt Disney World. Goodbye, Flik! Your calm demeanor and showmanship will be missed. The way you tried to bring humans and bugs together was a noble experience, but alas, it is time to go away. “It’s Tough to be a Bug” is closed forever as of March 17th, 2025 making way for Judy Hopps and Nick Wylde in Zootopia: Better Zoogether!
It’s Tough to be a Bug! is a 3D show with 4D effects in the Tree of Life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It opened on April 22, 1998, the same day the park opened. The show is based on the Disney-Pixar film A Bug’s Life and features Flik, Hopper, and other characters from the film. In the show, Flik tries to teach the audience how tough it is to be a bug, but things go awry when Hopper takes over.
The show is known for 3D effects, animatronics, and 4D effects such as water spray and smells. It’s Tough to be a Bug! did more for human/bug relations than any other attraction. The attraction’s 4D effects would either make kids laugh or scream in terror, and some would even make adults squirm in their seats. I am looking at your little creepy crawlers who get to exit the theater at the end of the show! Our buttocks hate you.
We do not know how this will affect walking around Disney’s Tree of Life and seeing the over 300 animal carvings on the trunk. This makes the second major closure at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 2 months. Disney has just closed Chester & Hesters in Dinoland USA, which includes the shop, Triceratops Spin, and Fossil Fun Games to make way for the Encanto Casita ride.
We did get some images over the past few months, and you can go through our gallery:
Below are some images from the queue, with the bug posters.
When trying to find It’s Tough to be a Bug on the Walt Disney World website this morning, it is officially gone. Stitch has eaten the page and it returns a 404 error.
It’s Tough to be a Bug!: Discover what it’s like to be a bug during this 3D film and live show inspired by the Disney and Pixar movie A Bug’s Life.
Watch an “Off-Bugway” Show – Become an honorary insect as you take your seat in the theater hidden at the base of the Tree of Life and don a pair of “bug-eye” glasses. Enjoy a delightful 3D movie and live show hosted by Flik, the loveable ant from A Bug’s Life, and learn how insects survive in the wild.
Bug Out! During the show, dodge flying quills from a tarantula, feel a harmless spray from a soldier termite and sniff the putrid “defense stench” from a stink bug. When Hopper—the grasshopper villain from A Bug’s Life—unexpectedly shows up, the theater goes bug-wild!
The moral of the story? It is tough to be a bug. With dazzling 3D movie effects, Audio-Animatronics figures, and in-theater 4D surprises, this is one show you’ll be buzzing about for a long time.
The newest show coming to the Tree of Life Theater features Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, and all their friends from Disney Animation’s Zootopia. The show, “Zootopia: Better Zoogether!” will take guests on an adventure through different biomes seen in the film and opens next winter. Zootopia 2 is due in theaters in 2025.
Goodbye, Flik, Hello Judy & Nick! “It’s Tough to be a Bug Closed” Permanently at Walt Disney World
