Jumping Junction opened to guests at Conservation Station as a cast-member-guided walk-through habitat home to Western Grey Kangaroos, Red Kangaroos, and Red-necked Wallabies, replacing the retired Affection Section petting zoo.
Everything that changed here
across the land, newest first- 2026
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Successor Jumping Junction opened to guests on the same site in a limited keeper-guided test, a five-to-ten-minute walkthrough past red kangaroos, western grey kangaroos and red-necked wallabies with no petting or touching permitted.
Access was capped at fewer than 100 guests per hour; as of a follow-up in June 2026, Disney had not announced when the unguided walkthrough would open to all guests. -
Bluey's Wild World opened at Conservation Station (reached via the Wildlife Express Train) at Disney's Animal Kingdom, an interactive walkthrough play experience themed to the animated series Bluey featuring games such as Keepy Uppy and Magic Asparagus and character interactions with Bluey and Bingo.
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The area reopened on May 26, 2026 as Bluey's Wild World at Conservation Station with a Jumping Junction animal area, and Habitat Habit! was not among the returning offerings.
TouringPlans' current Animal Kingdom index lists Conservation Station, Bluey's Wild World at Conservation Station, Jumping Junction and the Wildlife Express Train under the area, and no longer lists Habitat Habit!. Attractions Magazine gives the May 26, 2026 opening and describes Jumping Junction as animals native to Bluey's home country, Australia. Blog Mickey named the veterinary treatment room, animal nutrition window, amphibian/reptile/invertebrate windows and science center as the retained animal-care offerings, without the tamarin walkway. -
Bluey's Wild World opened at Conservation Station, taking over the building the drawing class had used since 2019.
Wikipedia's Animation Academy entry names Bluey's Wild World as the replacement. Attractions Magazine gives an official May 26 premiere with a virtual queue required through June 2, while BlogMickey reports it began operating a day early on May 25; no source describes the room-level footprint, so the overlap is recorded at building level only. -
The petting yard was rebuilt as Jumping Junction, an Australian marsupial habitat where guests are not permitted to pet the animals, and the surrounding area's Rafiki's Planet Watch name was dropped in favor of Conservation Station.
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The Animation Experience at Conservation Station closed permanently, ending the last daily live-artist drawing class at Walt Disney World.
BlogMickey reported February 23, 2026 as the final day live artists would be present at Walt Disney World, daily or seasonally. The Hollywood Studios successor, Olaf Draws!, replaces the live instructor with pre-recorded animator videos and an Audio-Animatronic Olaf, and rotates through nine characters; it had not opened as of this writing and sources date it differently, with BlogMickey saying summer 2026 and Wikipedia listing a projected September 14, 2026. -
Habitat Habit! operated for the last time on February 22, 2026 and did not return when the area reopened.
TouringPlans records February 22, 2026 as the final day of operation, marks the attraction permanently closed and presents its page for historical reference; Blog Mickey's area closure effective February 23, 2026 is the same last operating day. Permanence rests on the area reopening on May 26, 2026 with the Wildlife Express Train restored but Habitat Habit! absent from the attraction index. Disney's own page for the trail could not be checked - the URL times out - so it is not cited here. -
Disney announced that Conservation Station, the Affection Section, the Wildlife Express Train and The Animation Experience would close on February 23, 2026 for a Bluey adventure arriving in summer 2026.
Blog Mickey's February 3, 2026 report framed the shutdown as temporary - "Conservation Station will temporarily close on February 23, 2026, to make way for a new Bluey adventure coming Summer 2026" - and did not name Habitat Habit!. That temporary framing is why permanence for this trail rests on the later reopening rather than on this announcement. -
Disney announced that Conservation Station, the Affection Section and the Wildlife Express Train would close temporarily on February 23, 2026 for the Bluey overlay, and that The Animation Experience would close permanently the same day.
BlogMickey reported Disney's notice as billing the other three closures as temporary; only The Animation Experience was described as permanent, with the drawing class said to be relocating to the Walt Disney Studios Lot at Disney's Hollywood Studios later in 2026. The same report noted that earlier coverage had expected the Affection Section to close permanently. -
Affection Section closed in February 2026 for the Bluey overlay of Conservation Station, never reopened as a petting zoo, and its resident farm animals were relocated to other facilities.
Disney announced a closing date of February 23, 2026 for Conservation Station, the Affection Section and the Wildlife Express Train, and billed all three as temporary closures; no source confirms the final day of operation, so precision is held at month level. Permanence is established by the successor rather than by the closure announcement, since the petting zoo name and format were both retired. - 2025
Disney announced that a Bluey experience would come to Conservation Station in summer 2026, including an outdoor area with animals native to Bluey's home country of Australia.
20212 changes
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When Disney announced the 2022 return of guided tours, the Animal Kingdom lineup resuming February 6, 2022 covered Caring for Giants, Wild Africa Trek, Up Close with Rhinos and Savor the Savanna, with Backstage Tales absent.
Confirms the tour was already gone well before the March 2020 park-wide shutdown and did not return with the post-shutdown tour restoration. -
A tutorial teaching guests to draw Tuk Tuk from 'Raya and the Last Dragon' joined the class.
From an advance announcement dated February 15, 2021 giving a February 22 start; recorded here as positive evidence the class was operating again after the 2020 park-wide shutdown rather than ending in March 2020. Held at medium confidence because no source confirms the session ran on that exact day.
20194 changes
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Disney added animal-inspired villain tutorials to the class, letting guests draw Bruce, Hopper, Shere Khan and Tick-Tock alongside the existing Scar and Ed sessions.
Announced October 11, 2019 for an October 18 start; the source spells the Peter Pan crocodile 'Tic Toc'. -
Rafiki's Planet Watch reopened on July 11, 2019 with The Animation Experience added inside Conservation Station.
Blog Mickey's report was published the day of the reopening and states that the section had been closed since October 2018. It does not mention Habitat Habit! or the cotton-top tamarins, so the trail's own return date is undocumented; TouringPlans tracking it in operation until 2026 establishes only that it did come back at some point. -
Rafiki's Planet Watch reopened on July 11, 2019 with the new Animation Experience at Conservation Station, the Affection Section and the Wildlife Express, and Song of the Rainforest was not among the offerings that returned.
Spectrum News gives the reopening date and the returning lineup without naming Song of the Rainforest; Disney Dining and Inside the Magic confirm it stayed closed after the renovation. This is the beat that establishes the closure was permanent. -
The Animation Experience at Conservation Station opened as the centerpiece of the reopened Rafiki's Planet Watch, an instructor-led class where guests drew Disney animal characters such as Simba, Zazu, Pumbaa and Timon.
Debuted the same day Rafiki's Planet Watch itself reopened. Sessions opened with how live animals influenced the animation of The Lion King, and Disney said each session would differ.
20185 changes
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Rafiki's Planet Watch had its last day of daily operation on October 20, 2018 and stayed dark for roughly nine months.
Blog Mickey's closing-day photo tour, published October 20, 2018, calls it the last day of daily operation for the section; the September report had given October 21. The tour does not photograph or name Habitat Habit!, so the trail's own dark period is inferred from its location inside the closed area. -
A Disney spokesperson said Rafiki's Planet Watch would not close permanently and was expected to reopen in spring 2019.
Attractions Magazine carried the statement on September 29, 2018, reporting that a Disney spokesperson confirmed the section would not be closing permanently despite the original reports. Blog Mickey published Disney's fuller line on October 1, 2018 - that it anticipated reopening Rafiki's Planet Watch and the Wildlife Express for guests in spring 2019, with more details to come. -
Blog Mickey reported that Rafiki's Planet Watch, the section containing Habitat Habit!, would close permanently on October 21, 2018.
The September 21, 2018 report names the Animal Encounters Stage, Song of the Rainforest, the veterinary treatment room, the Nutrition Center, the amphibian, reptile and invertebrate windows, the Science Center and the Affection Section, but does not name Habitat Habit!; TouringPlans places the trail on the path inside that section. Disney never confirmed a permanent closure and publicly contradicted the report eight days later. -
Backstage Tales had been phased out by February 13, 2018, when Disney was testing a free 30-minute backstage walking tour that checked in at Rafiki's Planet Watch ahead of the park's 20th anniversary.
No source gives an exact final operating date. BlogMickey reported on 2018-02-13 that the three-hour paid tour had already been phased out, and Disney Food Blog carries a standing "no longer offered" notice, so early 2018 is the corroborated point by which the tour was gone rather than a confirmed last day; an end in late 2017 is not ruled out. The free 30-minute test tour was marketed under the same Backstage Tales name but was a substantially shorter, free offering, not a continuation of the ticketed tour. -
Song of the Rainforest closed in 2018 during the extensive refurbishment that shut Rafiki's Planet Watch that October, and it never operated again.
Inside the Magic states the attraction 'closed in 2018 during an extensive renovation at Rafiki's Planet Watch' and Disney Dining that it 'was closed in 2018 as part of a larger renovation'; Spectrum News, reporting on June 10, 2019, dates that land-wide closure to 'last October.' No source gives a closing month or day for the attraction itself, so the year is recorded without finer precision rather than assuming it went dark on the same day as the land.
20162 changes
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Gi-Tar Dan performed his final sets outside Conservation Station at Rafiki's Planet Watch and left Disney's Animal Kingdom permanently.
Pre-COVID closure, so the March 2020 shutdown trap does not apply. Four sources agree on 2016-03-11: WDWMagic (posted Thursday March 10, 2016) - "Gi-Tar Dan will be leaving Disney's Animal Kingdom this week, with his final performances on March 11 2016. You can catch his performances at Rafiki's Planet Watch, with show times of 11am, 12pm, 12:45pm, 1:50pm, 2:50pm and 3:50pm"; Laughing Place's next-day farewell giving March 11, 2016 as his last day; WDWKingdom's present-day page, re-verified this pass, "This attraction closed permanently on March 11, 2016"; and The Mouse For Less on March 14, 2016, "Gi-Tar Dan is no longer performing at Disney's Animal Kingdom." No source shows a return, and no successor act was named - WDWMagic's editor wrote in the article comments, "I would expect no direct replacement." -
A fan news site reported that the Gi-Tar Dan act appeared to be cut from Disney's Animal Kingdom, with a last performance expected Friday, March 11, 2016.
Dated March 8, 2016 on the page. Verified quotes: "It appears that Gi-tar Dan, the beloved musical comedian act will be cut from Disney's Animal Kingdom soon" and "It appears that his last performance will be on Friday, March 11, 2016." Wording kept hedged to match the source's own hedge. Impact set to minor because this beat reports the same event as the closed beat below, which carries the weight; counting one closure as two major beats would overstate the record. The WDWMagic article previously cited on this beat was removed because it is dated March 10, 2016 and cannot support a March 8 date; it remains on the closed beat, which it does support.
20152 changes
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Backstage Tales opened at Disney's Animal Kingdom as a paid backstage program running roughly 7:30 to 11:15 a.m., taking guests to backstage animal housing areas, the Animal Nutrition Center, the veterinary hospital and the Animal Programs Administration building.
WDWNT described it as an enhanced version of Backstage Safari and TouringPlans, reviewing the operating tour, called it a mashup of Backstage Safari and Wild by Design weighted heavily toward the former. Chip and Co listed different hours (Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.) and is not cited here; the 7:30-11:15 a.m. window is what WDWNT announced and what TouringPlans documented on the operating tour. -
Disney announced in January 2015 that the Backstage Safari tour would be retired on February 27, 2015 and replaced on March 1 by an expanded tour called Backstage Tales, open to guests ages 12 and older.
Date held to month precision: Chip and Co reported the announcement on 2015-01-11 and WDWNT on 2015-01-29, so no single announcement day is established.
20141 change
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Camp Minnie-Mickey, where Gi-Tar Dan had performed for most of his run, closed to make way for Pandora - The World of Avatar, and the act continued outside Conservation Station at Rafiki's Planet Watch.
Both cited sources state the land's closing date explicitly: Wikipedia, "The area closed on January 5, 2014, and was replaced by Pandora - The World of Avatar"; Walt Dated World, closed "on January 5, 2014 to make way for Pandora." WDWKingdom supports the new location: he "was typically found outside of Conservation Station in Rafiki's Planet Watch." KennythePirate corroborates the move: he "entertained guests in Camp Minnie Mickey for many years before being moved to Rafiki's Planet Watch."
20131 change
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A Walt Disney World news roundup reported that Gi-Tar Dan would be relocated to Rafiki's Planet Watch as Camp Minnie-Mickey prepared to close.
Dated to the source's publication date, December 23, 2013, which is what is documented; the underlying announcement date is not established. Verified quote: "Musician Gi-Tar Dan will be relocated to Rafiki's Planet Watch." Kept as a report rather than "Disney announced" because the cited source is a fan news roundup, not a Disney release. The same post gives Camp Minnie-Mickey's closing as January 6, 2014, one day later than the two stronger sources used on the next beat.
20121 change
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Disney's official panelist site answered that Gi-Tar Dan was still appearing in Camp Minnie-Mickey on a Monday-through-Friday schedule of six sets at 11 a.m., noon, 1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m.
Page is dated Jul 10, 2012 and carries Disney's own disclaimer that the answer predates the rename to planDisney (then the Disney Parks Moms Panel). Verified quote: "He currently appears in Camp Minnie-Mickey. While schedules are subject to change, he's currently making multiple appearances Monday through Fridays at 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, and 4 p.m." A Flickr photo of the act in Camp Minnie-Mickey (https://www.flickr.com/photos/21652490@N06/4023136516/) was dropped as a source here because it was taken in August 2009 and cannot support a 2012 date.
20002 changes
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The surrounding area was renamed from Conservation Station to Rafiki's Planet Watch in late 2000, while the petting zoo continued to operate under the Affection Section name.
The rename applied to the surrounding land, not to the petting zoo itself. -
The area holding the booths was renamed from Conservation Station to Rafiki's Planet Watch in late 2000, changing the name guests used to find it.
Wikipedia states the section 'originally opened under the name Conservation Station before being renamed in late 2000 to Rafiki's Planet Watch'; no exact date is given, so the year is recorded alone.
19984 changes
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Gi-Tar Dan was performing as a roving improvising guitarist in and near Camp Minnie-Mickey in Disney's Animal Kingdom's opening era.
Year-only by design; no source documents an exact debut, and the sentence deliberately says he was performing by this era rather than that he began then. Laughing Place's 2016 farewell says he performed for "almost 20 years" and that the writer first met him "in the late 90's", which brackets a start no earlier than the park's April 22, 1998 opening. Walt Dated World independently places the act in Camp Minnie-Mickey: "The performer Gi-Tar Dan, who would improvise songs using an amplified acoustic guitar, could often be found performing in or near Camp Minnie-Mickey." -
Habitat Habit! stood on the pedestrian path between the Wildlife Express station and Conservation Station, in the park section that opened with Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998.
No source that could be opened documents Habitat Habit!'s own debut, so the date is given as the year the containing section opened rather than the trail's own opening day. The widely repeated April 22, 1998 day-precision date traces to a Disney Wiki infobox that returns HTTP 402, and Wikipedia's Rafiki's Planet Watch article never names the trail. Wikipedia records that the section opened with the park in 1998 as Conservation Station, renamed Rafiki's Planet Watch in late 2000; TouringPlans places the trail on the pedestrian path inside it and describes it as a small collection of wildlife signs and a few animals. -
Affection Section opened with Disney's Animal Kingdom as an outdoor petting zoo of domesticated animals in the Conservation Station area.
Wikipedia places the Affection Section within a section that opened with the park in 1998 but gives no day-level opening date for the petting yard itself, so the date is left year-only. -
Song of the Rainforest opened inside Conservation Station at Disney's Animal Kingdom as a set of listening booths where guests wore headphones and heard rainforest nature sounds narrated by Grandmother Willow from Pocahontas.
No source gives a date for the attraction itself. Inside the Magic dates Conservation Station's own opening to April 1998, DisneyTips says the booths ran for more than twenty years before closing in 2018, and the park did not exist before April 22, 1998, so 1998 is recorded as a year without day precision rather than assuming an opening-day debut.
That's every change on the record in Conservation Station since 1998.
The spotters in our Discord catch the next one first — and the record only grows when someone notices.