Walt Disney World has announced the permanent closing date for It’s Tough to Be a Bug at Animal Kingdom, which will be replaced by the new Zootopia: Better Zoogether. Here’s everything we know about when this 3D stage show will go extinct in 2025, along with thoughts on what this means for DAK project timelines and everything else.
Let’s start with basic background. During last fall’s D23 Expo, Disney revealed that the new show inside the Tree of Life will be called Zootopia: Better Zoogether show, and will open in Winter 2025 at Walt Disney World. This was shared along with attraction poster art during a quick-fire segment–maybe a grand total of 5 seconds was devoted to the new show.
Prior to that, Disney originally announced the show during Destination D23 the previous fall, coming as an out-of-left-field surprise for many fans who were expecting Zootopia Land in Animal Kingdom. From that, we also know that the concept for Zootopia: Better Zoogether has guests visiting the different biomes you only glimpse in the film, traveling along with Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde and other characters.
Up until February 2025, that’s all that had ever been shared about Zootopia: Better Zoogether.
Over the course of ~18 months, Walt Disney World has shared surprisingly little about the upcoming production. The focus, understandably, has been on Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom, and really the biggest news was that land and not Moana and Zootopia Land being built in DAK.
Now, we also know when It’s Tough to Be a Bug, the show that Zootopia: Better Zoogether is replacing, will permanently close.
According to an update posted on the attraction’s official Disneyworld.com page:
“It’s Tough to be a Bug! will close permanently on March 17, 2025, to make way for Zootopia: Better Zoogether! coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park in winter 2025.”
If the calendar of hours is correct, the last day to experience It’s Tough to be a Bug will be March 16, 2025. The show will be permanently closed as of March 17, 2025. It has hours for the 16th, but none for the 17th.
(Even though Winter 2025 ends on March 20, 2025, we do not expect this to be a 3-day changeover. At this point, it seems likely that Walt Disney World is intending to open Zootopia: Better Zoogether in November or December 2025. Typically, they would refer to that as “Late 2025” or “Holidays 2025,” but that doesn’t appear to be the case here for whatever reason. That or it really is a 3-day turnaround, which would be incredibly impressive…and mildly concerning.)
It’s Tough to Be a Bug invites guests to become honorary insects and don a pair of “bug eye” glasses. Enjoy a delightful 3D movie and live show hosted by Flik, the loveable ant from A Bug’s Life, and learn how insects survive in the wild. During the show, dodge flying quills from a tarantula, feel a harmless spray from a soldier termite and sniff the putrid “defense stench” from a stink bug.
When Hopper—the grasshopper villain from A Bug’s Life—unexpectedly shows up, the theater goes bug-wild! The moral of the story? It really is tough to be a bug. With dazzling 3D movie effects, Audio-Animatronics figures and in-theater 4D surprises, this is one show you’ll be buzzing about for a long time according to Walt Disney World.
And they’re probably correct. It’s Tough to Be a Bug is an opening day Animal Kingdom attraction that’s been performed since April 1998. It’s had a good run by 3D show standards.
I have mixed feelings about It’s Tough to Be a Bug closing.
On the one hand, I think it holds up shockingly well for a film from 1998. Like MuppetVision, I don’t think it’s aged all that much. It’s better than many newer attractions, and it does reasonably well (for what it is) on our Rankings of All Attractions at Walt Disney World.
But as much as I’ve enjoyed It’s Tough to Be a Bug over the years, I do not view it as a classic like MuppetVision. I fully feel for those who do and will lament its loss. I can only speak to my personal experiences, though, and the fact is that we seldom make an effort to see It’s Tough to Be a Bug anymore–even with a shortage of things to do at Animal Kingdom.
Conversely, Zootopia: Better Zoogether is a new show based on a movie I love. It may not be a perfect fit for Animal Kingdom, but it’s close enough for me, and I’d also much rather have Zootopia in Tree of Life than its own land in Animal Kingdom. That metropolis of anthropomorphic animals is much better suited for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and there’s the perfect parcel for it there!
Zootopia: Better Zoogether is something we’re looking forward to enjoying as a family–and probably will dozens more times over the years to come than we would It’s Tough to Be a Bug. Given all of that, I don’t really have a dog in this fight. To each their own, but I’m much more optimistic about this than a few of the other upcoming changes at Walt Disney World.
With that said, Zootopia: Better Zoogether has got be an actual upgrade over It’s Tough to Be a Bug. Because, again, It’s Tough to Be a Bug is very good by 3D show standards. It’s a lot like MuppetVision in this regard, in that it blends together an array of effects and punches above its weight. So I do have some worries about Zootopia: Better Zoogether not being able to live up to its predecessor.
However, I also renewed optimism in Zootopia: Better Zoogether because of just how soon It’s Tough to Be a Bug is closing.
If I had to predict a closure date yesterday, I wouldn’t have guessed mid-March 2025. That’s way earlier than I would’ve expected, to the tune of several months. The timing there is honestly a little perplexing. That’s before the busy Spring Break season, at a time when I would’ve thought Animal Kingdom would’ve needed the capacity.
The earliest I would’ve predicted would have been the Wednesday after Easter (April 23, 2025), which is also after Earth Day and Animal Kingdom’s anniversary. The latest I would’ve predicted probably would’ve been sometime in September. Maybe right after Labor Day.
My expectation was that this wouldn’t be a lengthy project requiring multiple months of downtime.
Unlike Country Bear Musical Jamboree, for example, it didn’t seem like this would be an involved process requiring a bunch of theater updates and replacing several Audio Animatronics. It’ll be a matter of swapping out the film, making a light refresh to the theater, and (hopefully) installing two AAs.
On top of that, Animal Kingdom is already down capacity with the closure of Dino-Rama, so I would’ve guessed that Walt Disney World would’ve done everything possible to avoid additional closures. Having the Tree of Life theater closed for over 6 months is not what I would’ve expected.
With that said, I’m not complaining about a longer closure! Quite the contrary.
As frequently mentioned, we’re playing the long game. The lifespan of a Walt Disney World stage show is usually measured in decades, so I’d rather a longer closure by a few months if that ensures the end result is better for generations of guests for years to come. From this perspective, I’m always in favor of Imagineering having more time to do things right. (Assuming that’s the actual motivation, and not dragging out timelines due to cost-savings–but I doubt that’s the case here.)
In this case, it’s also mildly reassuring that It’s Tough to Be a Bug is closing before Spring Break. This strongly suggests to me that Imagineering pushed for more time to get the project done, and working backwards from a desired opening date. Between this and the lengthy Big Thunder closure, it seems like park operations is finally not fighting for shorter closures (or they still are, but being overriden).
This also makes me wonder, yet again, whether something else is planned for Animal Kingdom in 2025. Walt Disney World has something else up its sleeve for Summer 2025, and I refuse to believe Disney Dreams That Soar was the end game for drone displays at Walt Disney World.
If a drone show doesn’t come to Animal Kingdom, it’s going to be a rough couple of years for the park. Attendance is significantly lower at Animal Kingdom than any other park at Walt Disney World. The park is in urgent need for additions, and there’s a good chance that the other parks start cannibalizing Animal Kingdom attendance until that happens.
Despite claims to the contrary, Epic Universe will “steal” some park days from Walt Disney World (even if it does benefit Magic Kingdom and DHS), and the first place people will cut is Animal Kingdom. A bit beyond the scope of this post, but maybe that is the other reason why Walt Disney World is okay with so much downtime for the Tree of Life theater. I guess we shall see fairly soon!
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Your Thoughts
Sad that It’s Tough to Be a Bug is closing in mid-March 2025? Disappointed that more notice isn’t being provided so you can plan a farewell visit, or are you at peace with the decision? What do you think of the Zootopia: Better Zoogether show coming to Animal Kingdom in Winter 2025? Wish Zootopia were getting a full land, or do you prefer the Tropical Americas concept with Encanto and Indy? Or, are you in wait and see mode with this? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
