A Peek into the Past: The History Behind the Ride "Dinosaur" at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
With Disney revealing the Countdown to extinction of Animal Kingdom’s classic
Dinoland with a brand new land called: Pueblo Esperanza, we thought it was time to
take a peek into the past of Dinoland’s infamous and soon to be extinct ride, Dinosaur.
What does the ride Dinosaur entail?
Dinosaur is a thrill ride located in Dinoland in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. A paleontologist recruits you for a secret mission to bring a 3.5-ton Iguanadon back to the present. There’s just one problem—the giant meteor that wiped out life on Earth is on the way! Board a rugged Time Rover vehicle and set off on a thrilling adventure through a primeval forest filled with life-like dinosaurs. Careen through unpredictable hairpin turns. Dart around a fearsome Velociraptor hunting for prey. Avoid the clutches of a Cearadactylus soaring overhead! As the clock counts down, fiery meteors crash down around you. Will you make your escape before the dinosaurs—and you—become extinct?
The Past
The Great Contenders
To understand how Dinosaur became Dinosaur, we have to start our journey before Animal Kingdom was greenlit.
It’s the late 80s and Disney World just grew in size with the opening of MGM Studios and Downtown Disney’s Pleasure Island. Profiting off of three theme parks, six resorts, and a shopping and entertainment district all on 27,520 acres in Orland, Florida, Disney’s CEO Michael Eisner and Imagineers set their sights on creating another new theme park. Joe Rohde, having just designed The Adventure’s Club on Pleasure Island, a club centered around world travelers and explorers in 1937, believed Disney’s next theme park should center around the wild animals and cultural adventures of the world.
Image: Alex2424121, Disney Wiki
But as the 90s rolled in, Disney was presented with huge financial issues. While Walt Disney Studios was in the midsts of its Renaissance, the Disney World Parks were experiencing a financial failure with the opening of Disneyland Paris in 1992. While a beautifully themed park, Disneyland Paris wasn’t designed to adapt to the culture of France and even Europe as a whole causing Michael Eisner, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, to seriously consider halting theme park projects. In comes Joe Rohde. With the idea for Animal Kingdom already in mind and beginning to physically conceptualize the park, Rohde only had one job: convince Michael Eisner. After Rohde presented the concept, Eisner had his skepticism as Animal Kingdom would be a massive project to undertake so soon after the massive failure that was Disneyland Paris. But Eisner had an almost bigger question. Would guests drag their families to Orlando, FL just for the “mere sight” of animals? As impossible a task as convincing Eisner for the need of Animal Kingdom seemed to be, Joe Rohde simply had to escort a live tiger into the conference room to change Eisner’s mind and the project to officially begin design in the Autumn months of 1992 with a budget between 600 to 800 million.With the project officially greenlit, it was time to make some magic. Seeing how people could go to a zoo anywhere in the world, Imagineers decided to create a park where animals were not in traditional barred cages, but had the space to roam. The theme behind the park: human kinds interaction with the “real, ancient, and imagined” animals of our world. And the “ancient” is where Dinoland stomps in.But before it could continue on in its creation, Imagineers and Eisner realized just how expensive Animal Kingdom was becoming. Imagineers sadly needed to push a land to the second phase of the theme park. There were six lands slated at the time included and Imagineers had to say buh-bye to one of them: Discovery Island - the central hub with the park’s icon: The Tree of Life
Africa - a land focused on the fictional East African port village of Harambe with discovery trails and the E-ticket attraction, Kilamajro safaris
Asia - a land showcasing the fictional kingdom of Anandapur featuring one of the most famous Disney rides: Expedition Everest
Conservation Station/Rafiki’s Planet Watch - a land where guests can learn more about conservation and how Disney’ conserves
Dinoland - A land all about dinosaurs in Diggs County, placed somewhere between Florida and Texas on Highway 498 with a coaster called the Excavator and a
relaxing family ride
Beastly Kingdom - a fantastical land featuring the imagined animals of the world and an immersive, interactive walkthrough dubbed the Quest for the
Unicorn
Discovery Island, Africa, Asia and Conservation Station were deemed as safe. Though Asia was on the map at park opening in 1998, the land didn’t open until a year later in 1999. This left Dinoland and Beastly Kingdom to compete for an Animal Kingdom opening spot. And while Beastly Kingdom was and still is one of the most desired project to be built by Disney fans all over, there was one reason why Dinoland came out on top.Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye
It’s now 1995 and Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye just opened at Disneyland in California. A ride revolutionary in bringing guests into the journey rather than observing the journey. And it was all due to the ride system: EMV or an Enhance Motion Vehicle. Themed as a World War II Jeep, the motion base of the tracked vehicle was carefully crafted to tilt, sway, shift, and pivot guests, contrary to the speed and direction of the vehicle, in a specialized effort to immerse even further. Essentially, the EMV could replicate any terrain through programming its motion base. With Disney’s latest ride system literally changing the game, Imagineers in charge of Dinoland’s future saw it as the perfect opportunity to place above Beastly Kingdom. 
Image: Wikipedia
By replacing the family ride and thrill coaster slated for Dinoland with a dark ride utilizing a system and layout already successfully tested by Disney, Dinoland Imagineers would be able to introduce a thrilling ride system to Florida that was cost effective. Research and development was already completed with the Indiana Jones Adventure version and Imagineers just needed to reskin the ride with a new story in a safari through a pre-historic jungle. By saving so much money, Dinoland was greenlit and opened with Animal Kingdom in 1998.Countdown to extinction
It’s now the 22nd day of April 1998 and guests anxiously wait to be the first people to ever experience Animal Kingdom. Rushing into Dinoland, guests find themselves immersed in Diggs County, a tourist destination that began in 1947 when a fossil was found. With the promise of excavation, college professors and paleontologists rushed to the site (much like guests at rope drop). They moved into the fishing lodge and transformed it into a dorm and cafeteria. As professors and paleontologists dug up more fossils, the residents of the town decided to turn it into a tourist destination and opened the cafeteria also known as Restaurantosaurus and their digsite known as the Boneyard to tourists.
Eventually, the paleontologists and the professors created the Dino Institute, dedicated to “Exploration, Excavation, and Exultation.” The Dino Institute transformed into what it is today when Helen Marsh became the Institute’s leader and traveled down to Diggs County. Just a few days after arriving, Marsh broke ground on the Dino Institute’s newest facility transferring those within the institute from working in the fishing lodge to working in a new state-of-the-art lab. But the Dino Institute wasn’t the only company she took over. Marsh also obtained Chrono-Teck Inc. The combination of a new lab and the technology from Chrono-Teck Inc. gave guests their favorite terrifying ride in Animal Kingdom: Countdown to Extinction.
The queue of the ride, both then and today, takes guests through two wings: the museum and the underground lab. Entering the building, guests travel through the museum first where they get a glimpse into what awaits them on the ride. The main space of the museum is a circular room where a giant Carnotaurus fossil looms over guests. Along the walls, paintings depict the meteor that crashed into earth and ended the Creatacious period. And as an educational perk, Bill Nye the Science Guy narrates the process of the extinction of dinosaurs with a small demonstration of the impact.
Guests are then ushered into one of two pre-show rooms. Inside, guests have the honor of meeting the woman herself, Helen Marsh. She explains the guests are about to experience “a breathtaking journey through a prehistoric world where you’ll witness the most spectacular creatures to ever walk the Earth.” And it’s all thanks to the Time Rover, “an amazing vehicle that will literally transport you to the age of the dinosaurs,” created by none other than Chrono-Teck Inc. Before going back in time, guests must attend a “comprehensive safety briefing” by none other than the man, the myth, the legend himself:
Dr. Grant Seeker
Due to Dr. Grant Seeker and the Imagineer who wrote his lines, the pre-show became more iconic than the ride itself for many Disney fans. With a plucky attitude, sarcasm, and a disregard for safety (ironic considering he’s in charge of the safety briefing), Dr. Seeker plans to send guests to the end of the Creatacious period where they’ll find, and bring to the present, an Iguanodon. Of course, Dr. Seeker would go with guests but he’s currently restricted due to already taking an “unauthorized” trip to tag the Iguanodon.
Dr. Marsh arrives “just in time to correct a little misstatement.” Guests are supposed to be traveling to the early Creatacious period as to avoid the meteor that destroyed all life on Earth. She leaves soon after Dr. Seeker assures her the locked coordinates won’t be changing by showing he can’t even log in. The moment Dr. Marsh is gone though, Dr. Seeker quickly log ins to the computer and changes the coordinates. He quickly goes over the few safety rules, like seatbelts, “Plug them in. Use them,” and “Flash photography? I wouldn’t,” before assuring us just as he had Dr. Marsh.And don’t worry about that asteroid. You’ll be in and out of there before it even breaks the atmosphere. Trust me—what could go wrong?
Image: Disney
Guests are then ushered into the second and newest wing of the Institute, the underground lab, where they board their time rover and set off into the past on a very bumpy and pretty terrifying nighttime adventure. At park opening, guests and their Time Rover would find twelve animatronic dinosaurs as they navigated through the meteor shower in the Creatacious jungle, including, a Styracosaurus, an Alioramus eating a Brachychampsa, a Hadrosaur, a Raptor, a Sauropod, a Pterodactyl, a Compsognathus, an Iguanodon, and Carnotaurus.
Guests are consistently thrown around as they avoid meteors and the Carnotaurus tracking them for their next meal. But not to worry! Communicating through onboard audio, Dr. Seeker continuously talks to guests, and gives instructions to the computer controlling the vehicle, during the experience. Just as guests (and Dr. Seeker) believe either the Carnotaurus or the meteor is going to get them, they find the tagged Iguanodon and make it back to the present, Iguanodon in tow. After Dr. Seeker thanks the guests "for everything," guests exit the ride and into the gift shop where they can watch “live” footage of Dr. Seeker trying to find the Iguanodon in the lab before Dr. Marsh does.Closed for refurbishment
So if this classic ride opened as Countdown to Extinction, how did it turn into Dinosaur? Two years after opening, Countdown to Extinction went down for refurbishment for a brief time. When it reopened, it not only had an Iguanodon standing in the front of the building instead of its opening day Styracosaurus but also featured a new name on the marquee: Dinosaur. So why the change? It all goes back to 1988.
Despite its 2000 year release, Disney began work on the movie "Dinosaur" in 1988. Back then, it used stop-motion animation to create a documentary styled world. The movie focused on a Styracosaurus as the protagonist and a T-Rex as the antagonist. But before production on the movie could take off, it was pushed aside after the success of the beloved film "The Little Mermaid" as the Disney Renaissance began. With Fantasia 2000’s success with the help with CGI and in the midst of a dinosaur craze with Jurassic Park having come out, Disney finally decided to bring back "Dinosaur" but this time with CGI. So as Imagineers were hard at work designing an entirely new theme park, Disney’s Animation Studio was also hard at work creating "Dinosaur." Thus it made sense for some collaboration between the two studios to occur. Since "Dinosaur" the movie would be released after the ride though, the ride could not be based off the movie, giving it its own unique story. But they did create their main dinosaurs together, bringing to life an Iguanodon protagonist and a Carnotaurus antagonist.
Image: disney
Speaking of Carnotaurus. With the first Carnotaurus fossils discovered in 1984, Imagineers wanted to have their own version of Universal’s Jurassic Park T-Rex with the Carnotaurus. Imagineers took great lengths to design scientifically accurate dinosaur animatronics, even hiring Science Liaison, Casey Brennen to make sure their animatronics moved and looked like real dinosaurs. That wasn’t possible with the Carnotaurus though. These massive animatronics required similar dinosaurs and the Carnotaurus was everything but. A sleek and small dinosaur, Carnotaurus had to be remodeled to fit. Joe Rohde clarified why the dinosaur was not historically accurate in a post on Instagram:The steel in the legs needed to be thick. Once the legs were that thick, the dinosaur needed to be thick to match. Once it was that thick, it needed to be
bigger proportionately, and once it was that big it needed more profound skin texture to read proportionately. Plus… we could not sell the “no
arms” thing. By the time we were done, we had a huge and somewhat new animal. Not utterly implausible – but not Carnotaurus sastrei. We basically
invented a Carnotaurus robustus.
This redesign of Carnotaurus even influenced the movie to have the same redesign within it.Countdown to Extinction reopens
When Countdown to Extinction reopened just a few months before the release of "Dinosaur" the movie, several aspects of the ride changed. For one, a whole new name took the place of Countdown to Extinction on the marquee to correlate with the movie. Now named Dinosaur, the main character of the movie, the Iguanodon, Aladar, greeted guests from the reflecting pool in front of the ride.
The changes inside get a bit more specific from there. Let’s explore how the interior of the ride was changed and refurbished:
The biggest change of the ride was the ending. Just after Carnotaurus number two roars at guests and their fear is captured in picture format, they turn the corner in their EMVs to see a ginormous meteor hurtling at them. This effect was accomplished through a vortex generator. The ingredients for it? Giant bellows, smoke, and light. The perfect recipe to make guests feel like a meteor is hurtling towards them. In order to better align with the plot of the soon to be released movie though, the effect was replaced with another Carnotaurus animatronic. This one rushes towards guests to chew them up as a midnight snack just before Dr. Seeker sends them back to the present. The replacement better simulates the “cat-and-mouse” chase between Aladar, the Iguanodon, and the Carnotaurus from the movie.
The pre-show video also got an update with footage of Iguanodons from the movie being played as Dr. Marsh explains the adventure guests are about to go on.
The script and voice overs, while not rewritten to align better with the movie, did receive a rewrite to give Dr. Seeker a bit more tension near the end of the ride. Dr. Seekers character also explains more of what is happening throughout the ride with lines like, “Computer, what’s happening?” And the Computer responding with the answer, “Loss of traction.” And lastly, Dr. Seeker reminds guests of the “why” behind their mission throughout the ride.
Lastly, the ride itself was toned down to be more family friendly, specifically the EMV. If you think the ride is rough today, it was even rougher on opening day. By reducing the motion of the EMV, the heigh requirement lowered to 40 inches so younger, shorter children were able to experience one of the most scarring rides of their childhood. And with the reduction of movement in the ride, that meant a few, minute changes to audio, lighting, etc. to maintain the newer family friendly experience.The Present
While many Disney fans love Dinosaur, the maintenance of it has significantly decreased. Two main issues seem to be the most prevalent: animatronics and lighting.
Many animatronics have become stationary with backlights framing them to be scary. It’s simply easier to light the dinosaurs than to spend thousands of dollars to repair them. And the Alioramus animatronic was recently removed from the ride all together.
Guests believe the lighting within the ride is also getting darker as to hide the no longer working effects. It’s becoming increasingly harder to see anything that’s not a dinosaur. And with several lighting effects being replaced like the laser tunnel or simply taken out all together like the flash of blinding light that took guests to the Creatacious period, Dinosaur seems to have lost its flare. And Imagineers took notice of the ride hanging on by a thread.the future
While there are always rumors of new rides and lands in the works at Imagineering, it was confirmed in August of 2024 at D23 of Dinoland’s closure. Guests are able to enjoy all of Dinoland one final time between now and January 13th of 2025 when certain parts of the land officially close.
So what’s taking Dinoland’s place? Pueblo Esperanza.
Image: Disney
Themed to the Tropical Americas, this new land will feature Encanto and Indiana Jones. With three new rides, Animal Kingdom will definitely be seeing more love in that area of the park. There will be a carousel, a ride themed to the Casita from Encanto and an Indiana Jones ride. Remember how the vehicles and the track layout for Dinosaur are the same as Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye? Most fans agree that Dinosaur will not be fully extinct but simply receive a retheme to Indiana Jones with a brand new Indie adventure.
The story centers around Indiana Jones discovering a new Mayan temple deep within a jungle. Inside lies a mythical creature and who better to find it than Indie and his crew.
The Encanto ride, on the other hand, will be built from the ground up with a trackless ride system. “Inside the Casita, Antonio has just received his special gift — the ability to communicate with animals — and his room has transformed into a rainforest. It’s time to go explore alongside him, and you never know what member of the family you might bump into.”
Image: Disney
So what’s closing on January 13, 2025?
Not all of Dinoland will close in January. Due to capacity (and a shortage of rides), the land needs to close in phases. The aerial carousel TriceraTop Spin, the carnival games Fossil Fun Games, and the store Chester & Hester's Dinosaur Treasures will all be closing come January. Dinosaur, along with Restaurantosaurus, Trilo-Bites, Dino-Bite Snacks, Dino Diner, and The Dino Institute Shop, will remain open until further notice.