New aerial photos from X user Bioreconstruct show the temple facade now installed on the building that will house Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent at Tropical Americas, and the images finally give a real sense of just how massive this pyramid structure actually is. We haven’t covered the full D23 2026 reveal for this attraction yet, so with the facade now visible from above, this is a good moment to tie both together.
At D23 2026, Imagineers Chris Beatty and Michael Hundgen took the Horizons stage to confirm the attraction’s official name for the first time, Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent, and shared new story details straight from the temple’s construction site. The bigger surprise came before either of them spoke. Disney Legend Harrison Ford sent a recorded message to the D23 crowd confirming he is the actual model for the new Indiana Jones Audio-Animatronics figure, the first time he’s lent his likeness to a Disney attraction anywhere in the world.
The storyline puts guests alongside Indy as he explores the temple near a cenote, a water-filled underground cave that local legend says leads straight into the Maya Underworld. That passage is guarded by a serpentine creature called the Tsukán, and once riders get pulled through a portal into the Underworld itself, they’ll have to make it past monstrous bats, oversized scorpions, and fire before a final confrontation with the Tsukán itself. Disney showed off the animatronic for that creature at D23, and by every account it towers over the Imagineers working on it, hand-sculpted rather than mass produced for extra detail.
Authenticity has been a running theme on this project. Imagineers have worked directly with archaeologists, anthropologists, and Maya cultural experts throughout development, and research trips to Honduras, including the Copán site, one of the best-preserved ancient Maya cities, directly shaped the temple’s design. This attraction is part of what Disney is calling the largest slate of expansion projects in Walt Disney World’s history, alongside the rest of Tropical Americas, including El Carrusel de los Animalitos and the Encanto attraction next door.
Seeing the facade up in these aerial shots makes the ambition Disney described at D23 finally feel real. Renderings can only tell you so much, and watching a structure this size actually take shape over Animal Kingdom’s treeline is a different kind of confirmation that this project is being built at the scale Imagineering promised.
Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent: Temple Facade Revealed at Animal Kingdom
