Disney Rumors for December 2025

I had planned to discuss a couple of other stories this month, but plans changed.

This past weekend, something happened that bears discussion.

For a while, I was hearing about Zootopia plans at an American Disney theme park.

Then, Disney settled on something else. Now, I think those plans are in flux again.

In this month’s Disney Rumors, we’ll talk about how the odds of a Zootopia-themed land just increased dramatically.

The (Old) ‘Zootopia’ Rumor

Three years ago, rumors were rampant that Disney would reboot DinoLand USA.

At the time, several reports, including my own, indicated a focus on two brands.

Disney would swap out the dinosaurs at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in favor of…Moana and Zootopia.

The story didn’t quite break that way, did it? Sure, the broad strokes were correct.

As we all know, Disney took a different approach to the same idea.

We’re definitely getting the Tropical Americas, a replacement for DinoLand USA.

This new themed land should debut in 2027, about 16-18 months after DinoLand turns extinct.

What changed were the brands. Disney went with Encanto and Indiana Jones instead.

Half of that makes perfect sense, as Encanto is definitely an anchor brand for Disney in the coming years.

The other half strikes me as logical since Henry Jones Jr. famously travels the world in search of research.

Alas, Disney chose this path a year before Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny arrived.

In Wall Street terms, let’s just say that the value of the stock has plummeted since then.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m confident that the Indy ride will be brilliant.

Also, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is in my all-time top 20. So, I’m definitely a fan.

Still, I cannot help but wonder whether Disney has regrets about its decision.

In addition to Dial of Destiny failing at the box office, Disney has tracked some other results.

Let’s just say that Moana 2 did very well last year, finishing as the third-biggest blockbuster of 2024.

Also, another Moana movie, a live-action remake, will arrive next summer.

The recently released trailer attained 182 million views in its first 24 hours.

That’s a strong early indicator for a future box office blockbuster, as we’d expect of Moana.

The Rise of ‘Zootopia’

Now, Disney may have decided that Moana wasn’t the right fit for the Tropical Americas.

Geographically, that’s absolutely correct. I suspect Disney warmed to this idea to honor the theming at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

In that scenario, Moana would be better served at some other park, as we’ve discussed.

For a while, one popular rumor suggested a Moana roller coaster at Adventureland.

This ride would have existed in addition to Journey of Water | Inspired by Moana.

That attraction is amazing for what it is, but Disney could and should do a lot more with Moana.

I fully expect that the company will, but any such plans have been pushed to the backburner.

Then, we have Zootopia, which some fans bristled at having at Animal Kingdom.

I’ll never understand it, but the idea is that anthropomorphic characters wouldn’t align with the real animals.

Disney apparently agreed with this philosophy, as it ended the Zootopia plans.

In their stead, Disney introduced Zootopia: Better Zoogether!, the new show-based attraction.

You’ll find the Clawhauser Audio-Animatronic here, which is important to this discussion.

That robot kitty has anchored the Zootopia-themed land at Shanghai Disneyland since it opened.

Disney’s concession of including it with Better Zoogether indicated that Zootopia wasn’t happening.

In just 18 months, that decision already appears questionable, especially after last weekend.

We already knew that Shanghai’s version of Zootopia was performing extraordinarily well.

Anchored by a masterful E-ticket attraction, Zootopia: Hot Pursuit, the land is always crowded.

As the above video shows, Imagineers borrowed liberally from other attractions.

You should notice elements of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, and several others.

A Necessary Pivot

Disney could build that ride tomorrow at any of its American theme parks, but that wasn’t the plan.

Well, plans can change, and they really should here after what Zootopia 2 did last weekend.

The film opened to $556.4 million worldwide. To put that total in perspective, it outperformed Marvel.

We had three MCU films this year, and the best of them, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, finished at $522 million.

Zootopia 2 beat that in five days! It’s a slam dunk to cross $1 billion and also beat Lilo & Stitch.

That’s important because Lilo & Stitch is currently the top Hollywood release of 2025.

Lilo & Stitch needed almost two weeks to manage what Zootopia 2 has achieved in five days.

Demand is obviously outrageous for this franchise, even if we strip out the China part.

Zootopia 2 earned almost half its opening-week take from China, but that matters here.

The sequel’s success speaks to the universal nature of this concept as well as how marketable it is.

I said a couple of months ago in a Rumors article that “should ‘Zootopia 2’ perform well at the box office, we’re getting a ‘Zootopia’ themed land.”

At the time, I was thinking that the film may earn $1 billion. Folks, it’s gonna torch that.

So, Disney is now incentivized to lean hard into the Zootopia brand…and it should be easy!

Imagineers already constructed one version of this themed land. Duplicating it elsewhere would cost less.

I’ve previously analyzed this approach, and we’re witnessing it with Frozen.

Disneyland Paris will become the next park to open a Frozen-themed land next year.

Imagineers could do the same with Zootopia…and they should! Who doesn’t love fuzzy animals?

Disney Should Change Its Mind

During the construction of Zootopia, Disney evaluated how the entire animal world should look.

As I mentioned in my Zootopia 2 review, that effort created a more detailed world for the sequel.

It’s also the reason why Zootopia: Hot Pursuit makes for such a great ride.

Just count how many different backdrops riders cycle through during the experience.

I’m convinced that a Zootopia bible exists somewhere, and it has strengthened the entire brand.

Imagineers could implement a fully realized themed land at Animal Kingdom…or anywhere else, really.

We already know from Shanghai Disneyland that the merchandise would fly off the shelves.

Also, that themed land has evolved into the equivalent of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Shanghai.

People specifically vacation at Disney just because of Zootopia. The same thing could happen here.

As much as kids love interacting with real creatures at Animal Kingdom, fake ones are better.

Disney can control them more and allow for more personalized encounters.

Yes, Animal Kingdom has a petting zoo and a few other interactions, but it’s fairly limited.

Kids playing with Judy Hopps, Flash, and Clawhauser would be substantially different.

I understand why Disney flinched on the idea of Zootopia in 2022. We were six years past that film.

At the time, nobody knew whether the film was a one-hit wonder.

Now that we know it’s not, Disney should change its mind on this subject.

At the next D23, Disney needs to confirm a Zootopia-themed land in America. It should be a slam dunk now.

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