Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we are doing a type of article that I've not done in ages. And today, we will be looking at Dinosaurs At Disney World. Why are we only doing Disney World? Simple, I am more familiar with that park than the others, yes even Disneyland and while this type of blog is similar to my In The Parks series, we are at looking at species of animals vs. the typical format in which I look at how a film franchise is represented in the various Disney Parks. With that out of the way, let's begin and we will be starting at Hollywood Studios.
Dinosaur Gertie's Ice Cream - Hollywood Studios
Dinosaur Gertie's Ice Cream is an ice cream shop at Hollywood Studios. There isn't much to it other than it's just that. Though I swear every time I've gone to Hollywood Studios, it never seems to be open. And if you know anything about animation history, you probably know where this dino got her name from as she is named after one of the earliest animated characters and the very first animated dinosaur, Gertie the Dinosaur
Though I've heard mixed reviews about the ice cream but again as I said, I've never had any because every time that I've gone to Hollywood Studios, it seems to be closed. We have three more things to look at here in Hollywood Studios. First up, let's head to the world of Toy Story.
Toy Story Mania - Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Mania or Toy Story Midway Mania is a ride that I haven't been on... at Disney World. During my last trip to Disneyland, I went to California Adventure and rode it. And they seem to be the same exact ride as it's a carnival themed ride in that Andy got a new carnival playset and around the time of Toy Story 3's release, a new game, Rex and Trixie's Dino Darts was added. It's simple enough as you go around in your little 3D moving vehicle, you stop here at this game like many others and try to be your opponent by popping the most balloons. There's really all there is to that. Next up, we will be taking a look at a couple of characters.
Dinosaurs Live! - MGM Studios
You may have noticed that I'm using Hollywood Studio's old name. Well, that's because this show is from it's old days. Dinosaurs Live! according to The Muppet Wiki was a show that took place in front of The Great Movie Ride and featured the characters from this beloved '90s sitcom as they sang a couple of songs and the Sinclairs were the Guests of Extinction. I'm not saying much as there's not really much to say but they were also part of a surprise parade in the same park. You can see them here in this video.
It's kinda silly and the costumes are giving me flashbacks to the Goosebumps show that The Second Opinion & I looked at. Why is it that Hollywood Studios, always seems to get the kitschy stuff? I mean, they've also had shows based on The Muppets And Doug and from what I've seen of those, yeah...
Dinosaurs Live! doesn't seem so bad as it just looks like a silly little parade, where the characters would stop and dance around to a song but I'm sorry, I still say that Earl Sinclair looks awful. Though I'll take him over the live action iterations of Doug, Patti and Porkchop in that image. Next up, we will be staying in this park as we head to the world of Power Rangers as It's Morphin' Time.
White Dino Thunder Power Ranger - Hollywood Studios
Is this one a stretch? Maybe but Power Rangers: Dino Thunder was dinosaur themed season of Power Rangers and at the time, Disney owned the rights to Power Rangers. And yes, Power Rangers fans, I know that's not the right call phrase for Dino Thunder. It's just the most iconic. The correct phrase is Dino Thunder, Power Up. The White Dino Thunder Ranger would appear in Hollywood Studios for Meet & Greet's and along with other Power Rangers was also featured in the Stars and Motorcars Parade.
Let's see, you've got the Green Samurai from Ninja Storm, the Pink Ranger from Time Force and the Red Ranger from S.P.D. and one of the Rangers from Wild Force but I don't remember what this color was. Now for some more iconic Power Rangers, the costumes from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie were at Hollywood Studios for a while. No idea, if they are still there or not.
Next up, let's head to EPCOT.
Universe of Energy/Ellen's Energy Adventure - EPCOT
Universe of Energy is a pavilion in EPCOT that is all about... Aladdin. I kid, it's pretty obvious, what it's about. It's focus is on energy and it is actually a combination of multiple films and a dark ride and after the first film about the various types of energy would be taken to the Primeval period as you saw a Primeval diorama as pictured up above. However in 1996, the attraction was rethemed. It's still about Energy but it appears to less EPCOT esque if that makes any sense of Ellen DeGeneres was added to the ride as the main character alongside Bill Nye The Science Guy. It's now a dream of Ellen's as we follow her and Bill as she learns about energy to one up her old college roommate, Stupid Judy on an episode of Jeopardy.
And yes, that is Jamie Lee Curtis as Stupid Judy. Ellen apparently called her that because she hated how smart Judy was. Okay, so you have an attraction that has Ellen DeGeneres, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bill Nye The Science Guy and Alex Trebek. Weird. And just like the original, the first scene after the first film is of the Primeval period but now you have Ellen fighting off one of the dinosaurs. An Elasmosaurus to be exact.
So, Johnny Depp wasn't the first celebrity to have his likeness done for an Audio-Antramontic. Neat but the Ellen Antramontic hasn't aged well at all. And while the dinosaur section of this attraction is fun, I which I could say say the same about the rest of the ride. It's too long. The entire attraction is 45 minutes. And Ellen is funny and I enjoy Bill Nye The Science Guy but I'd rather be riding Test Track or Spaceship Earth and that would take less time. Honestly, I think this is the only ride, whose ride time longer than it's wait time and I don't think that this ride offered FastPass and it doesn't seem like it's listed for FastPass+. (And yes, I do realize the irony of complaining about the ride's length in this rather lengthy blog).
And really, the big reason for that is because of the fact that your vehicle stops in multiple rooms to watch different films to teach guests about energy. You go in, stop watch the film or view the diorama and rinse and repeat. It gets to be kinda boring after a while. When I went on it, I actually saw people fall asleep on the ride. Also, do not drink anything before going on this ride or better yet, don't go on it. Next up, let's head to the park that has the most Dinosaur theme material, Animal Kingdom.
Dinoland U.S.A. - Animal Kingdom
As mentioned up top, Dinoland U.S.A. is a land unto itself that is dedicated the world's curiosity of dinosaurs and in it, you'll find such things as...
Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama
It's a rather tacky carnival looking area that was apparently set up by a couple named Chester and Hester as to bring in money. You can read about it here. These are Chester and Hester btw and to be honest, this is the first that I've ever seen of them.
From what I understand, it's meant to be a roadside attraction that was going to bring in money for the couple with things like a Triceratops spin and rides like Primeval Whirl and the Restaurantosaurus. Which is where the image of the couple came from btw. Now I mentioned one of the rides, Primeval Whirl and well, that ride and I have a history.
As a kid I love this ride, I was obsessed with it because I found it really fun. It's a wild mouse coaster in which your vehicle spins around on the track. Sure, as I got older, the charm wore off but I still enjoyed it as a little kid. Looking back, it's not a great ride. It's like cotton candy, there isn't a substance to it but that doesn't mean that I didn't find it enjoyable, even if it is considered one of the most reviled rides in Disney World along with Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama as a whole. Though, I do think that part of the reason that Dino-Rama is looked down upon is because compared to the rest of Animal Kingdom and Disney World as a whole, it's subpar. And not to mention, this area was originally meant to be the awesome looking Beastly Kingdom.
Yeah, looking at the concept art here, it's not hard to see why so many Disney Parks fans would prefer Beastly Kingdom.
The Boneyard - Animal Kingdom
The Boneyard is a fossil dig site that is also a play area for kids, where they can run around and dig and go down some slides.
There really isn't much to say about it except that The Boneyard was featured in an episode of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, where Hilda discovers a caveman and they bring him back to life and that is really one of the biggest focuses of the episode.
An episode that Richb and I looked at in our ABC and Disney World cross over during my A Look at Disney World event. Also, be on the lookout for another crossover with Richb during this event but yeah, there really isn't a whole lot to say about The Boneyard. Moving onto our final attraction here in Animal Kingdom, I'm not going to spend too much time on it as I did an entire article on of it's characters and explained the ride yesterday.
Dinosaur - Animal Kingdom
To keep this short and simple, I'll just be quoting from yesterday's Meet & Greet.
The ride, Dinosaur is a sated in Seeker's Pre-Show Appearance is a time travel ride that is a dark ride. It is rather intense and there are a lot of frights as various dinosaurs pop out while you travel back in time. The setting of the ride as stated is The Dino Institute.
The Dino Institute's mission is to study dinosaurs and learn from the past about how to make a better future. Now originally, the ride was titled Countdown For Extinction.
And it was a more intense ride but around May of 2000, the ride's name was changed to Dinosaur to tie in with the film of the same name and the dinosaur that Seeker wanted to go and bring back was changed to the star of Dinosaur, Aladar.
But that's about where the tie-in to the film ends. The vehicle as mentioned above is the Time Rover.
I enjoy the scientific look of it as it does really look like something that scientists cobbled together and hey look, you can buy a toy of it for the kids.
The Time Rover is an enhanced motion vehicle, which uses the motion to move the vehicle around and the best comparsion would be Disneyland's Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of The Forbidden Eye.
I will say that after going on both Forbidden Eye and Dinosaur, I prefer how Indy handles the Enhanced Motion Vehicle as it is more intense and puts you more in the action but again that goes back to changes that were made to tie it into Dinosaur as to get more kids on the ride, they lowered the intensity.
I still stand by saying that Countdown To Extinction is a better name.. But something that I didn't mention is that Bill Nye The Science Guy can be heard via voice-over in the queue line talking about dinosaurs. I've also mentioned in one of my oldest Disney World articles, when I took a look at 3 Attractions Featuring Bill Nye The Science Guy. Next up, we will be stopping by Magic Kingdom for a brief visit.
Big Thunder Mountain - Magic Kingdom
I've been on Big Thunder Mountain numerous times and while I've known of the dinosaur skeleton for quite some time, I've never actually seen it but it is something that a lot of Disney fans know about with this ride.
T. Rex Restaurant - Disney Springs
T. Rex Restaurant is a dinosaur themed restaurant in Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney). I've never been in it but it seems like something kids would enjoy as it filled with dinosaurs all over the place and every few minutes, there's a meteor show. Yeah, I have a feeling that I wouldn't like this place as that is giving me nightmarish flashbacks to Rainforest Cafe and the animals going off there sent me crawling up the wall due to it being a sensory overload and made it near impossible for me to focus on the menu or my meal. And it sounds like T. Rex Restaurant would be the same. There's apparently also a shop and a Build-A-Dino by Build-A-Bear here as well.
Lastly, we will be looking at where you can find one of the most beloved Disney Dinosaurs and it'll also tie in to our next blog.
Rex - All-Star Movies Resort
In the Toy Story section of the All-Star Movies Resort, you'll find Rex. Seems like it'd be a good opportunity and they did a decent job of capturing the look of one of the most iconic dinosaurs from Disney ever.
There you have it, my look at the various ways that you can find Dinosaurs At Disney World. I hope that you enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. Join me next time as we head to the world of Toy Story as I countdown my...
Top 6 Rex Moments
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