Animal Actors on Location Has Three Weeks Left at Universal Studios Florida, Ending a 36 Year Run
One of the last shows left from the park's 1990 opening takes its final bow on November 2. Here's the history, what's leaving with it and what we know about the space.
The clock is running on one of Universal Studios Florida's oldest attractions. Animal Actors on Location will give its final performance on Monday, November 2, 2026, and then close for good, ending a run that started on the park's opening day in 1990.
That leaves about three weeks to catch the show. If it's a family favorite, or you've just never gotten around to seeing it, now's the time to put it on your plan.
What Universal said
Universal announced the closure in early September. The company said the show is closing to make room for a new experience, thanked the team members who have worked on it over the years, and said details about the future of the space will be shared later.
There was a personal touch, too. Adam Kingsley, who now runs park operations for Universal Orlando's original two parks, started his own Universal career about 30 years ago as an attendant at this very show.
What the show is
Animal Actors on Location is a live show in a covered outdoor theater. Trainers bring out dogs, cats, birds, pigs and other animals to perform tricks and short skits, with video segments mixed in and a host explaining how the animals learn their behaviors.
Kids get pulled into it. Audience volunteers, mostly children, help out with some of the training bits, and after the show guests can often meet some of the animals. Many of the performers over the years have been rescued from shelters, which has always been one of the show's nicest parts.
It's also a covered, seated show, which has made it an easy midday break on hot Florida days. For families with younger kids, it has long been one of the gentler stops at a park that's mostly built around big rides and thrills.
The cast has changed a lot over 36 years. Otters, horses, orangutans and skunks have all been part of the rotation at different points, and the show has long leaned on the idea that its animals are the same kind of performers you see in movies and on TV.
Three names, one show
The show opened on June 7, 1990 as Animal Actors Stage, one of the original attractions at Universal Studios Florida. It started out in the park's Expo Center area, and in 1999 it moved to a theater in Woody Woodpecker's KidZone.
In 2001, it became Animal Planet Live, with theming from the cable channel. That partnership lasted until 2006, when it got the name it has today, Animal Actors on Location.
It also survived one of the park's biggest makeovers. When most of Woody Woodpecker's KidZone was replaced by DreamWorks Land in 2024, the animal show stayed put. Universal's app now lists it in the Hollywood area, while its web page has still listed it under the old KidZone name.
One of the last originals
Universal Studios Florida has changed almost completely since 1990. Jaws, Back to the Future The Ride, Kongfrontation and Twister Ride It Out are all long gone. Animal Actors on Location is one of only three opening day attractions still around, along with E.T. Adventure and Universal Orlando's Horror Make Up Show, which is in the middle of its own big update.
Once this show closes, that list gets even shorter, which is a big part of why the news has hit longtime Universal fans hard.
E.T. Adventure, the other remaining original, is still running and still a fan favorite, and the Horror Make Up Show is coming back with a new partner in Blumhouse. But a show built around live animal performers is a different kind of attraction, and there isn't anything else quite like it left at Universal Orlando.
The other versions are already gone
Florida's show is the last of its kind in the Universal parks. Universal Studios Hollywood had the original, which opened back in 1970 as Animal Actors School Stage. It also picked up the Animal Planet theming in the early 2000s and later ran as Universal's Animal Actors before closing on January 8, 2023, on the same day as the Special Effects Stage.
Universal Studios Japan opened its own Animal Actors Stage in 2001. It became Toto and Friends in the Land of Oz area in 2006 and closed in 2011 to make room for Universal Wonderland.
What's next for the space?
Universal hasn't said. The only official word is that a new experience is coming. Because of where the theater sits, fans have guessed it could tie into DreamWorks Land, the Hollywood area or the Springfield section next door, but none of that has been confirmed.
It's also one more change at a resort that's in the middle of a lot of them. Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift is under construction at Universal Studios Florida, the Horror Make Up Show is getting its overhaul, and over at Islands of Adventure, Jurassic Park River Adventure is still down for refurbishment.
How to see it before it closes
The show runs several times a day, and the schedule is in the Universal Orlando app. Arrive a bit early, sit closer to the front if your kids want a shot at volunteering, and stick around afterward in case there's a chance to meet the animals.
Don't expect it to make the holidays. Universal Orlando's holiday season starts November 14, almost two weeks after the final show, so this year's Halloween season is the last stretch it will play.
The final day is Monday, November 2, so expect the last few shows that day to be packed with fans saying goodbye. We'll update this story when Universal shares what's coming next to the theater.
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