Walt Disney World looks to debug its Animal Kingdom

February 3, 2025, 3:23 PM · Walt Disney World has confirmed the closing date for another attraction.

Guests will get their last chance to see the It's Tough to Be a Bug! show at Disney's Animal Kingdom on March 16. Disney confirmed today on its website that the 4D movie will be closing March 17.

It's Tough to Be a Bug! is one of a dwindling number of opening-day attractions at Animal Kingdom, which debuted on April 22, 1998. It is going away to clear space for the new Zootopia: Better Zoogether! show that will take over the Tree of Life Theater late this year.

A second installation of It's Tough to Be a Bug! closed in 2018 at Disney California Adventure. The Disneyland Resort later used that show building for the WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure ride in the new Avengers Campus land.

That land replaced A Bug's Land at the California park, which was a kiddie land also themed to the Disney and Pixar film "A Bug's Life." With the closing of the Animal Kingdom show, Pixar's second feature film no longer will have an attraction specifically dedicated to it in any Disney theme park.

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Replies (3)

February 3, 2025 at 3:39 PM

It’s probably for the best that this attraction is replaced, though I’ll always have a soft spot for it. I remember going to the passholder previews for AK and discovering that this attraction was actually “inside” the tree was pretty cool. It was a blast snaking through the queue and discovering all of the carved animals hidden in the tree roots that weren’t visible elsewhere. And the Hopper animatronic is still one of the coolest ones they’ve built IMO. I hope the Zootopia show is able to capture the same balance of humor, thrills and jump scares that this show did.

February 3, 2025 at 4:08 PM

I don't have an issue with this, but I do think fans need to set the bar low for this reskinning given how quickly it's being done (probably not longer than 6-8 months). I would expect the effects, pacing, and flow of the show to be pretty similar (if not identical) to what we saw with It's Tough to Be a Bug.

Personally, I think if you're going to use a completely new IP on an attraction like this, it should be completely new, but I wouldn't be surprised if all they do is redress the theater and animatronics and create a new film. I do hope that at least they maintain the conceit of guests entering the attraction through the Tree of Life and figure out a way to elegantly transport you to Zootopia instead of just plopping the IP in a redressed theater.

February 4, 2025 at 10:09 AM

i didn't know ITTBAG was on the chopping block. this makes me sad as, although it could use some updating and some TLC, it's still an enjoyable show with some great surprises.

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