New aerial photos from Bioreconstruct give fans its clearest look yet at just how big Casita is going to be once the Encanto ride opens inside Tropical Americas at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The photos, captured from above the Tropical Americas construction zone, show a tall, rough outline of poured concrete walls rising on top of a constructed berm, and a building roughly 60,000 square feet (which is just larger than a football field)
This is where Casita, also known as La Casa Madrigal, will eventually stand as the centerpiece of the new Tropical Americas at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Surrounding the main structure are lower walls, along with active grading, steel framework for a queue building, and the rooftop mechanical work associated with the show building that will house the ride system. Full credit for these images goes to bioreconstruct on X, whose regular aerial flyovers have become one of the most reliable ways for Disney fans to track construction progress at Walt Disney World.
The Size of Casita – What stands out most in these photos is the height of the walls already in place for Casita. Disney has built the footprint on top of an elevated berm, a technique familiar to longtime park fans from the Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom, where the mansion itself sits atop raised earth with lower retaining walls in front. The tall walls mark where Casita will rise above the surrounding tree line, while the shorter walls closer to the pathway will likely support landscaping, queue elements, or facade work leading guests up to the attraction entrance.
Given how much vertical wall is already visible at this stage of construction, Casita is shaping up to be one of the more visually striking show buildings in the new land, matching the scale fans have come to expect from a Tropical Americas centerpiece attraction.
For the full announcement details on Casita, the Indiana Jones attraction, and the new Esperanza carousel, you can revisit our original coverage from D23 in 2024: Disney Animals Carousel, Encanto, and Indiana Jones Announced for ‘Tropical Americas’ in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Meet the Imagineer Leading Tropical Americas: Joan Hartwig – The Encanto ride and the rest of Tropical Americas are being brought to life under the creative direction of Joan Hartwig, executive creative director for the Tropical Americas project at Walt Disney Imagineering. Hartwig has been with Imagineering since 1990, giving her a 36-year career that has largely centered on Disney’s Animal Kingdom itself. Her past credits at the park include serving as art director on Avatar Flight of Passage, along with work on Kilimanjaro Safaris and Harambe Market.
Hartwig has described Tropical Americas as inspired by a part of the world where nature does not just surround communities but shapes them, and she has spoken about the project’s roots reaching back years earlier through conversations with Disney Legend Joe Rohde, the Imagineer widely credited with shaping Animal Kingdom’s original design and who spent years advocating for a Tropical Americas style land before his retirement. With Hartwig now leading the project into its construction phase, her decades of hands-on history at DAK add an extra layer of authenticity to how Casita, the Indiana Jones attraction, and the rest of Pueblo Esperanza are coming together. Tropical Americas remains on track for a 2027 opening.
The Part We Are Most Excited About: The Disney Animals Carousel – Of everything visible in these new aerial photos, the piece we are most excited about is tucked into the bottom left of the frame, where steel framework for the Disney Animals Carousel is starting to take shape. This carousel will feature intricately carved wooden animals from Disney stories, all created by a fictional Esperanza resident as part of the Pueblo Esperanza storyline, and it is set to become a fresh, family-friendly take on a classic attraction type.
At D23 in 2024, Disney confirmed that the carousel will include characters like Kevin the Bird from Pixar’s Up, but the full lineup of animals has not been revealed. We cannot wait to see the complete list of characters once Disney shares more, and we will be first in line to cover it the moment those details drop. For more on everything confirmed for the new land, visit our Disney’s Animal Kingdom Guide
First Real Look At How Towering Casita Will Be At Animal Kingdom
