It’s not even fair to compare them. There is a wide gap in the budget for Dinosaur to Indy, and because of that, there is a clear victor. The only way you can say Dinosaur is better is because of nostalgia or history. The ride experience from the story, to the defects, the theming, the queue, the implementation of the hydraulics, are all so much better done in Indy. Indy is I guess you could say a super-headliner like WDW’s Splash Mountain or Radiator Springs Racers, while Dinosaur is merely a standard E-ticket like Soarin’ or Rock n’ Rollercoaster. Indy also happens to be one of the only rides at Disneyland that has on average longer waits than WDW’s rides, but to me, it’s worth the extra wait every time.
Yes, Dinosaur is still cool, but from the preshow, to the boarding room, Indy is the unrivaled, most realistic, screenless dark ride ever built in America (which means most realistic as well). Using mega sets and effects like the lava bursts also cost a LOT more money than simply using screens, but the result is something special. There’s something said too about having epic music playing through the ride to some maniac yelling.
It could be your opinion that you prefer Dinosaur to Indy, but there was a clear objective by the budget of each attraction, to have Indiana Jones Adventure as the superior attraction.
Dinosaur will always have a soft spot for me. I find the darkness actually adds to the creepiness of it and really appreciate the enhancements they made with the refurb. While I will admit that Indy is probably stronger, I love Dinosaur so much. I go on Dino much more often than Indy too, so it does feel more “thrilling” to me now just because I have been on Dino 100 times, but Dinosaur still gets my vote.
Indy is a rougher ride anyway. Height requirement is also 6 inches taller, so I’d assume at least part of the increase is the wider range of vehicle movements. The hydraulics are also synced far superior, and it blows my mind how even with a much smaller budget they did not include a single good sync on Dinosaur. The ride tech was wasted as it’s full potentiometer was never realized, and there’s frankly ZERO to look at in except for the first 2 scenes. I know it’s called a dark ride but come on! Yes, it does help a bit with the suspense to the Dinosaur story, but Indiana Jones has 2 dark scenes, but they work sooooo well. Another case of Indy incorporating things better. But again even theming aside the thing that bugs me the most is that they COULDN’T INCORPORATE THE MOVEMENTS INTO THE SCENE AT ALL ON CTX. Budgets suck. The CTX days really could never compare to Indy anyway. And I understand you like it because it still is a decent ride, but what on Earth makes it a better ride? Having virtually no show scenes? Having an annoying narrator guide you? It just does not make sense.
