Casita is mostly steel for now. A new ground-level photo from Tropical Americas at Disney’s Animal Kingdom shows the Madrigal family house as a tall frame of bare, silver-gray beams, with crews working high up on lifts.
Hola, Casita.
— Drew Smith (@DrewDisneyDude) October 23, 2026
Drew Smith shared the photo on Friday, October 23, with a simple greeting for the house. Our recent looks at the land have mostly been aerials, and this one was taken from the ground, just outside the construction wall.
What The Photo Shows
The frame rises in layers. Lower sections of crisscrossed steel form a wide base, and a square tower of beams and cross bracing climbs well above the rest of the structure. Crews are working from a green lift platform near the middle of the frame, another worker stands on a platform to the left, and a yellow scissor lift sits inside the lower framing. There are no wall panels, rockwork or paint on the frame yet, so the Casita you will eventually see is still a long way off.
Earlier this month, aerial photos showed Casita getting its hillside, with a waterproof barrier going onto the concrete walls at the base of the frame to mark where dirt will be piled. Once that is filled in, the house will sit up on a rise. Drew’s photo shows what is going up on top of that base.
The Ride Inside Casita
Casita is more than a facade. It is home to Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto, the Encanto attraction Disney named in August. According to Disney’s expansions page, it will be the first ride-through attraction based on the film at a Disney park, and it takes place inside Casita on the day after young Antonio receives his gift of communicating with animals.
The house is one part of a much bigger build. Tropical Americas replaces DinoLand U.S.A. and will also bring Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent and El Carrusel de los Animalitos, a carousel with 22 animals from Disney stories, to the village of Pueblo Esperanza. Disney still lists the land for 2027 but has not given a specific opening date.
The steel gives the house its shape, and we will keep sharing new photos as Casita starts to look less like a building site and more like the Madrigal home.
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