Today's breaking news is an announcement we've been anticipating for quite some time now. Today, Disney announced the closing date for It's Tough to be a Bug over at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The show will have its final day of operation on Sunday, March 16th, 2025 and will close permanently the following day on Monday, March 17th.
For those that are unaware, It's to be a Bug was announced to be getting a reimagining back at the 2023 Destination D23 event, but details were scarce. Disney only provided us with one piece of concept art as seen below.
After receiving extremely vague details in September of 2023, Disney was pretty silent on the project for almost an entire year. That all changed come this past August at the 2024 D23 Expo, where Disney reconfirmed that the project was in fact still happening, providing us with a new piece of concept art, name, and an opening season.
Here's everything we know so far. The show will be called "Zootopia: Better Zoogether!" and will premiere in the Tree of Life Theater at Disney's Animal Kingdom this Winter. Here's the official statement from Disney:
"The newest show coming to the Tree of Life Theater features Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, and all their friends from Walt Disney Animation Studio's Zootopia. The show, “Zootopia: Better Zoogether!” will take guests on an adventure through different biomes seen in the film and opens Winter 2025."
Again, not really much for us to work off of here. I'd expect more details to be released probably around the time of this year's Destination D23 event in late August.
In the grand scheme of things, this isn't really going to be what I'd consider a "major" new offering at Walt Disney World. However, considering how long it's been since we've gotten anything new over at Animal Kingdom, it's certainly something. For context, the last notable addition we got at the park was an updated version of the Finding Nemo Musical over in Theater in the Wild... which was all the way back in 2021 for Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary. By the time this new show debuts, it will mark a whopping 4 years since we've gotten anything of substance at Animal Kingdom, which is pretty crazy to think about.
As far as the timing goes of when this new show debuts, Disney is aiming for "Winter 2025," which really means either November or December. I could see the show debuting either month, but I'm personally betting on a November opening date due to the fact that Zootopia 2 will hit theaters Thanksgiving week, and Disney will want to create plenty of synergy around the film as a marketing tool. Expect to see a surplus of new Zootopia lines of merchandise roll out around the film's debut. It's all part of Disney's plan.
As far as my thoughts go regarding this new show, I'm kind of indifferent. It's Tough to be a Bug is an original attraction that opened alongside Animal Kingdom on April 22nd, 1998, so it's got quite a legacy. A cool fun fact is that the attraction actually debuted before the A Bug's Life film in November of 1998, meaning that the show is actually older than the movie. Nevertheless, the show has been outdated and lacked proper upkeep for years, and it's not a very family-friendly show, especially for little ones (IYKYK).
So in one breath, yes, I'm looking forward to see some new life breathed into the Tree of Life Theater (see what I did there?). The A Bug's Life IP is also fairly weak this day in age, and Zootopia is far more popular and marketable. My skepticism lies in the IP choice and potential storyline of the show. As popular of an Intellectual Property as it is, Zootopia has nothing to do with the theme or message of Disney's Animal Kingdom, with that being man's connection and responsibility to the natural world. Now, if the story of the show can somehow tie into this theme, than we're all set. But I'm keeping my hopes on the down low.
For the most part, I'm eager to finally see something new come to the theater, I just hope it attempts to somewhat "fit" within not just the theater, but the park as a whole. Guess we'll just have to wait and find out until it debuts later this year!
But now I'll turn it over to you. What are your thoughts on "Zootopia: Better Zoogether"? Will you miss It's Tough to be a Bug? Let me know in the comments below, and thanks for reading everyone!
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