Disney's Animal Kingdom, Part 6
Dinoland U.S.A.
|
| Click to go directly to the slideshow |
Dinoland U.S.A. is the...yes, that's right...the Dinosaur 'Land' of the park. It's
not too out of line for an animal park when you consider an area of AK that was
"announced", but never built, was Beastly Kingdom, a land of dragons,
Unicorns, and other creatures of fantasy.
Animal Kingdom and Dinoland opened 11 months before Island of Adventure and Jurassic Park. Coincidence?
At the time AK opened, Dinoland was not yet complete. There was Dinosaur Jubilee. It was a temporary tent, filled with museum dinosaur exhibits, and some incredibly lame animatronics. I saw this right around the time I was making a return to Disney Parks, and I was not impressed. :-)
Also in Dinoland is a place where kids can dig for dinosaur bones, and a couple of counter service food venues. One used to be a McDonalds, which I thought served better than average McDonalds food. But the health zealots got McDonalds kicked out of the parks, and it was replaced by a another counter service place that serves... Burgers and hot dogs with fries.
Dinosaur
For years, I would go straight from Chester and Hester's, through the souvenir store and to Dinosaur, before someone pointed out to me that the "proper" way to enter was by going around and walking another couple hundred yards, during a time that I hadn't walked enough anyway.If you actually do that, there's an actual entrance to Dinosaur, along with several dino models and a reproduction of "Sue", the largest Tyrannosaurus ever dug up. The real Sue is less than 20 miles from me, but I've never seen it. But I have seen the repro 1200 miles away.
Dinosaur is a Dinosaur audio animatronic dark ride. A rogue tech sends you back in time just before the asteroid hits, to save a dinosaur. Of course, your timing is just a little bit off. It wouldn't be a fun ride if everything went as planned, now would it? It's rough, loud and so dark it might be a better ride if you do this at night, when your eyes are already somewhat conditioned for dark.
Interestingly, this attraction was called "Countdown to Extinction" until just before the Disney movie "Dinosaur" came out. The attraction was renamed "Dinosaur", and the dinosaur that saves you near the end of the ride looks suspiciously like Alodar, the main character in the movie...
Hmmmm... Coincidence?
Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama
Chester and Hester's is themed after the parking lot carnivals from my childhood, without the shady, transient, carny felons of yore.Okay, maybe the rides aren't as transportable (nor as unsafe). But I do like the themeing. A lot of people don't. Too cheesy. Too gaudy. Of course, that's the way it's themed...
Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama
TriceraTop Spin
TriceraTop Spin is essentially Dumbo replaced with Dinosaurs. How the Dinosaur ever figured out how to fly is beyond me. The front seat can play with the height of the vehicle, the back seat the tilt. Wheeee!
Primeval Whirl
This was the roller coaster of Animal Kingdom until Expedition Everest opened up. In Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, this was classified as a steel spinning mouse coaster. Think part tilt-a-whirl, part roller coaster, part really corny themeing. (I wonder if I could build it in RCT2...)
Lucky the Dinosaur
I was lucky enough to see...Lucky, the first self-contained mobile animatronic. Unfortunately, I was heading for the bathroom when he came out from backstage, so I got some pictures, and by the time I got out of said bathroom, I didn't see where he went. Bummer...
End Disney's Animal Kingdom - Part 6.
| Jump to: | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 |
|---|
- 05/15/2010 - Page rewritten, images added and upgraded
- 05/18/2012 - Complete replacement
- 12/31/2012 - Update to v3.1
- 09/01/2014 - Update to v3.2
- September 2022 - Upgrade to v5.0.
| Help! | About This Site | Contact Me |