DINOSAUR closed for refurbishment July 25 - November 20 2016

Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
JakeSpadaro said:
Oh that sounds like it would've been really cool! Thanks for sharing! :)
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This is my favorite piece of concept art ever because I can totally remember striking the same "therapod" pose as the kid in the foreground.

ak_excavator1.jpg
 
garagely

garagely

Active Member
I used to draw caricatures in Dinoland USA full time, about 10 years ago. Dinorama is a loud, poorly themed eyesore. I know the story of the area, but I don't think it's very apparent to guests coming in for their first time. It just looks cheap. I would have loved to have seen the Excavator instead of Primeval Hurl.

To this day, I can still hear the soundtrack to the TriceratopSpin in my head. All day, 5 days a week. Shudder.
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
garagely said:
I used to draw caricatures in Dinoland USA full time, about 10 years ago. Dinorama is a loud, poorly themed eyesore. I know the story of the area, but I don't think it's very apparent to guests coming in for their first time. It just looks cheap. I would have loved to have seen the Excavator instead of Primeval Hurl.

To this day, I can still hear the soundtrack to the TriceratopSpin in my head. All day, 5 days a week. Shudder.
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But did you stand up before exiting?
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
The permit could mean literally anything. The only potentially good sign is that it isn't one of those short 1-2 week closures where they never really address show issues and it's always behind the scenes stuff. Though it also isn't a 4-6 monther like Pirates either.

I do know they could potentially get the ride in good shape again with this amount of time if they wanted. Splash Mountain's miraculous 2013 refurb was less than 3 months and was actually in infinitely worse condition than Dinosaur. Every animatronic was removed and cleaned/fixed (pretty much all of them were damaged in some form or another), the entire ride was repainted in and out with a lot of repair or rebuilding done to the rockwork (they also fixed mechanical aspects, water jets and replanted dying vegetation). They even fixed sound issues. It was a horrid mess and they somehow got it looking like new in such a small time frame.

Dinosaur has some larger and more complex animatronics than Splash, but there are far fewer of them. I would think they would have enough time there. The scenery is a lot less complex than Splash, much being in the dark. Dusting, repainting and other efforts should be fairly easy and quick. There isn't a lot of interior rockwork to deal with in comparison, and none on the outside or queue. They even fixed the fog and laser effects overnight already, any other lighting or similar effects should also go quickly.
 
KingOfEpicocity

KingOfEpicocity

Well-Known Member
MerlinTheGoat said:
The permit could mean literally anything. The only potentially good sign is that it isn't one of those short 1-2 week closures where they never really address show issues and it's always behind the scenes stuff. Though it also isn't a 4-6 monther like Pirates either.

I do know they could potentially get the ride in good shape again with this amount of time if they wanted. Splash Mountain's miraculous 2013 refurb was less than 3 months and was actually in infinitely worse condition than Dinosaur. Every animatronic was removed and cleaned/fixed (pretty much all of them were damaged in some form or another), the entire ride was repainted in and out with a lot of repair or rebuilding done to the rockwork (they also fixed mechanical aspects, water jets and replanted dying vegetation). They even fixed sound issues. It was a horrid mess and they somehow got it looking like new in such a small time frame.

Dinosaur has some larger and more complex animatronics than Splash, but there are far fewer of them. I would think they would have enough time there. The scenery is a lot less complex than Splash, much being in the dark. Dusting, repainting and other efforts should be fairly easy and quick. There isn't a lot of interior rockwork to deal with in comparison, and none on the outside or queue. They even fixed the fog and laser effects overnight already, any other lighting or similar effects should also go quickly.
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I hope they've made some of the improvements you mentioned. Even if they just replaced some parts in the AAs and got them to move fast again. Also I'll honestly say the last Carnatarus (the flash one) has my least favorite paint job, so maybe they'll fix that too!
 
Fantasmicguy

Fantasmicguy

Well-Known Member
AndyMagic said:
Despite the problems this attraction has had over the years, it has remained one of my all time favorite rides in Orlando. I know a lot of the talk regarding the quality of the ride has been about the effects being turned off or the dinosaurs malfunctioning but my biggest gripe remains the CTX to DINOSAUR re-branding back in early 2000 and the drastic ride profile changes that accompanied it. Let's not forget that the EMVs were toned down to bring the height restriction from 48' to 40' in an attempt to make it more accessible and bring it in-line with the demographics of the film. Most of the "it's too dark and nothing happens" complaints stem from the lack of thrill that accompanies the darkest portions of the ride. The old ride profile had very intense side-to-side movements during the pitch black show scenes. The, "LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT!" sequence where the ride vehicle is supposed to be dodging incoming meteors was truly exhilarating and distracted from the fact that there wasn't much to look at.

Long story short, all the ill-advised changes they made to the ride profile and the audio cues to help bring in more kids didn't do much to actually prevent kids from finding the attraction absolutely terrifying anyway. It also didn't increase the popularity of the ride like they had hoped and for the last 15 years we've been saddled with a gimped attraction with a ridiculously unnecessary tie-in to a film IP that no one even remembers or cares about.

I know it will never happen but I say, make those EMVs do what they were intended to do and BRING BACK COUNTDOWN TO EXTINCTION!
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I agree. Honestly no body even cares about the dinosaur movie anymore so what's even the point of catering to this young demographic? Also avatar is getting a fairly tame boat ride for all ages so they should just change it back already!
 

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