When I was there at the end of Sept the walls surrounded the entire tree minus the path across the water between Africa and Asia. My understanding is the construction is to prepare for the new night parade coming sometime next year I believe. Not for sure if that's reason but definitely walls around tree. Sucks but not all that bad. We still enjoyed ourselves there with little ones. 2 and 4 yr olds don't even like dinosaurs but loved Dinoland and Dinoland Dance Party.