Animal Kingdom’s Boneyard Headed for Extinction on September 2, 2025

It’s the end of an era at Animal Kingdom, as Disney has announced that The Boneyard play area will be closing on September 2, 2025. If you’ve got kids, their last opportunity for some happy hours here will be on September 1.

The closure is part of the reimaging of Dinoland U.S.A. into a brand new land themed to the Tropical Americas. The new land, Pueblo Esperanza, will be anchored by signature attractions themed to Indiana Jones and Encanto.

Good news for parents is that Pueblo Esperanza will also include a themed play area for kids. This is no surprise to us if you check out Len’s article analyzing the construction permits. We think the new playground will be directly in front of the new Indiana Jones ride – pretty useful if you’re waiting for someone using Rider Switch to experience Indy! And Len thinks it will have Mayan theming to match this attraction.

You can also look for a critter-themed carousel and a hacienda-style Quick Service restaurant. A first round of closures earlier this year in January marked the beginning of construction on the carousel, and at that time, Disney implied that the Boneyard would remain open through the end of 2025. After The Boneyard closes in September, DINOSAUR and the Restaurantosaurus Quick Service will be the last major components of Dinoland still standing.

Disney’s current statement about DINOSAUR is “even after it closes in 2026”, which you would think definitely implies it will not close until at least January of 2026. But of Restaurantosaurus, the word is a sketchier “you’ve still got time in 2025”, which really could mean anything.

Have you spent time at The Boneyard? Are you looking forward to Pueblo Esperanza? Let us know in the comments!