Zootopia: Better Zoogether! will open to the public on Friday, November 7. On November 5, I attended an Annual Passholder Preview. Here are my thoughts, without giving away anything major.
You’ll find Zootopia: Better Zoogether! inside the Tree of Life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It’s replacing It’s Tough to Be a Bug, which closed back in March. Head to the right when you enter the park and you should find the entrance.
The Annual Passholder Preview is using a Virtual Queue, but that’s only for the previews. Both Lightning Lane and Stand-by will be the norm. The line when we arrived after our group was called was pretty long, but it moved quickly.
I didn’t see any changes in the outdoor queue. Once inside, it was a different story. It was all about Zootopia and the first “Zoogether Day”. I would have loved to have been able to spend some time in the preshow area, it was filled with posters and information. But we were packed in and there wasn’t a lot of time.
You’ll use 3D glasses for Zootopia: Better Zoogether!, they call it “CarrotVision 3D”. There’s a vague excuse for why you need the glasses to help celebrate Zoogether Day.
I’m not going to give any details of the story. I will say that it’s fast-paced, and it will probably make a lot more sense after seeing Zootopia 2. I’m not saying that it’s hard to follow, but a lot happens in ten or so minutes! There are sensory elements to the new show, so be aware. You also might get wet.
I have two major shoutouts for Zootopia: Better Zoogether!. First, the 3D was crisp and clean. It wasn’t filled with cheap tricks (they saved those for the sensory parts), instead it just made you feel like it’s all right there in front of you. Second, the Clawhauser audio-animatronic is incredible. He’s there for most of the show, and is really well done. He reacted to almost everything on the screen. I think sometime I’ll go and just watch Clawhauser the whole time instead of the movie.
Overall, I thought that Zootopia: Better Zoogether! is cute and well done. That said, it’s not going to be something that I need to experience each time I go to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. And it’s missing something. There’s no real message. It’s Tough to Be a Bug was outdated, but it gave some good information. Zootopia: Better Zoogether! would work better, in my opinion, if there was some type of conservation tie-in. As it is right now, it’s just a well made commercial for Zootopia 2. That’s not a complaint, just my opinion.