This Ride Is Permanently Closing in Disney World – Here’s What Crowds Were Like on the LAST DAY of Operation

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Disney’s Animal Kingdom is a FLURRY of change right now.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

DinoLand, U.S.A. has already started its phased closure to make room for a new land, Pueblo Esperanza (but don’t worry, Dinosaur should be open throughout 2025). Over at the Tree of Life, it’s the FINAL day for the It’s Tough To Be A Bug attraction, which is moving out to make room for Zootopia: Better Zoogether! Well, we decided to pay our final respects to this Animal Kingdom opening day attraction and see what things look like on its last day.

It’s Tough To Be A Bug opened with Animal Kingdom in 1998. The show takes place INSIDE the Tree of Life and features characters from Pixar’s 1998 movie A Bug’s Life. From a historical perspective, the show was important because it was the FIRST Pixar presence in a Disney park. Yep, it was a big deal!

The show is INSIDE the Tree of Life

The 3D movie uses lighting, audio-animatronics, and various other special effects, featuring Flik, the protagonist of A Bug’s Life, leading a presentation on the importance of insects in the lives of humans. Interestingly enough, Disney California Adventure in Disneyland also had a version of the show, but it closed with A Bug’s Land to make way for Avengers Campus.

We visited It’s Tough To Be A Bug in Animal Kingdom today to see how things were going and to say goodbye to this classic attraction. So let’s go!

Let’s go!

Despite this historic occasion, the closing day crowds weren’t very large. Good news for us — we had a short wait til the next show.

The one thing that makes the queue for the ride so cool is that it takes you THROUGH the Tree of Life, and you get a chance to get a closer look at some of the tree’s details with animals carved into its trunk and branches. We don’t think these details will change once the new ride moves in, though.

Walking through the queue

However, the fun, bug-themed movie posters will most certainly be gone the next time we walk through this way.

Last time to see these

We’re also not so sure if the new Zootopia attraction will be quite as scary (or as stinky — if you know, you know). But goodbye sign warning us of the dangers.

Ride warnings

We picked up our 3D glasses and were surprised to see that the old bug-shaped glasses were back! We haven’t seen these in forever. We guess they dug the old ones out for the last day. Better late than never, right?

The bug glasses!

We filed into the theater…

Taking out seat

…and the show began. We sat through Flick’s presentation one last time — and maybe we even got a little sentimental (at least until the stinkbug came in).

Hey, Flik!

We also noticed that Animal Kingdom Cast Members were also offering up their tribute to the ride. How sweet!

Cast members are magic! pic.twitter.com/u4tzoFTCSt

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) March 16, 2025

It’s been fun, It’s Tough To Be A Bug, but it’s time for something new! We’re looking forward to seeing Zootopia! Better Zoogether when it opens this winter.

Stay tuned to DFB for more.

Everything We Know About Zootopia: Better Zoogether!

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Did you always make time for It’s Tough To Be A Bug in Animal Kingdom? Let us know in the comments!

The post This Ride Is Permanently Closing in Disney World – Here’s What Crowds Were Like on the LAST DAY of Operation first appeared on the disney food blog.

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