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DAK 'Encanto' and 'Indiana Jones'-themed experiences at Animal Kingdom
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
- Featured
Disgruntled Walt
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I would expect the jungle to go too, if we’re inside of a temple.
WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
The explanation is very simple and not interesting at all: no one liking Dinoland is a completely baseless claim that keeps popping up for no reason. People lamenting replacing Dinoland liked it.
Or at the very least liked half and wanted them to finish it like they were supposed to.
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ChrisFL
Premium Member
Which is why I always thought the name Animal Kingdom limited them a bit, but I know that isn't a popular opinion.
WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
When it opened they had the entire real animal kingdom, the many centuries of humanity's collective imagination, and millions of years of prehistory to draw on. They weren't limited at all.
It's only once all of that got deemed not worthwhile that it became a problem.
FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
As far as I’m aware, folks simply wanted the Countdown to Extinction/Dinosaur ride retained. Not Chester & Hester’s Dinorama Funny to me so many people now seemingly equate folks liking Dinoland to the part of the land that’s been almost universally hated since it was built rather than the ride that was genuinely enjoyed.
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WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
Is there anything, anything at all, that can prove to you guys that people on here not liking Dino-Rama does not mean everyone hated it?
A ton of people showing up with special outfits and accessories for Muppet Vision's last day is evidence of MV being well loved, people argue over how packed Tom Sawyer Island and the Riverboat were on their final day because it's considered key evidence for how much people cared, but it's well documented in this thread that Rama was packed on its last day with people wearing special stuff and carrying dinosaurs and that doesn't count for anything. I guess we're supposed to assume everyone was preventively saying good bye to only Dinosaur and that's why TriceraTop Spin had a higher wait than it all day and everyone congregated at Rama at night instead of getting in final Dinosaur rides.
People on here showing up and expressing that they liked it doesn't count for some reason. I would present anecdotal evidence but I'm sure that won't count either.
It's okay that you didn't like the theme, but there are people who did. It was a silly theme and that appeals to some people. I'm not saying more people didn't like the more serious half and I'm not saying the number of people who liked it was gigantic, but it wasn't vanishingly rare like people keep saying.
"Well obviously WorldExplorer we don't mean literally no one liked it." Then stop saying it.
A ton of people showing up with special outfits and accessories for Muppet Vision's last day is evidence of MV being well loved, people argue over how packed Tom Sawyer Island and the Riverboat were on their final day because it's considered key evidence for how much people cared, but it's well documented in this thread that Rama was packed on its last day with people wearing special stuff and carrying dinosaurs and that doesn't count for anything. I guess we're supposed to assume everyone was preventively saying good bye to only Dinosaur and that's why TriceraTop Spin had a higher wait than it all day and everyone congregated at Rama at night instead of getting in final Dinosaur rides.
People on here showing up and expressing that they liked it doesn't count for some reason. I would present anecdotal evidence but I'm sure that won't count either.
It's okay that you didn't like the theme, but there are people who did. It was a silly theme and that appeals to some people. I'm not saying more people didn't like the more serious half and I'm not saying the number of people who liked it was gigantic, but it wasn't vanishingly rare like people keep saying.
"Well obviously WorldExplorer we don't mean literally no one liked it." Then stop saying it.
Biff215
Well-Known Member
I agree. Dinoland didn’t close due to Dinorama. It closed due to not having a valuable IP attached to it. The concept itself is popular and helps to tell part of the AK story, and in my opinion was a more complete land at its height than what we’re getting. Disney is simply conceding dinosaurs to Universal and Encanto/Indy is the easy way out.
FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
I’d say it was honestly due to neglect, truthfully. And adding the Dinosaur movie IP tie-in did little to nothing to improve the attraction’s situation at all, since it was the Countdown to Extinction ride itself that stuck with folks, clearly not the IP tie in. Also, by tieing it into a movie the ride had little to nothing to do with, only confused guests that were more familiar with the movie and expected a different type of ride experience, further. Countdown to Extinction made sense, as that’s what the ride literally entails, not the story or a continuation of the Dinosaur film, despite the unnecessary (and quite frankly bizarre) name change. They should’ve taken that as a sign of what was actually wrong, the unneccesary & confusing IP name change and a lack of good enough promotion & continued support for the CTE attraction in&itself through merch and the like.
On the topic of the last day of Chester & Hester’s Dinorama specifically, I think most folks, especially now with the advent of social media and that area in particular’s infamous status of being the cheap carnival/fair side attraction that was attached to an otherwise very well done ride , lots of people flocked there both ironically and unironically to be the last folks to experience the stuff there, for that isolated scenario. And while yes, it certainly had its fans, as does any attraction, regardless of how well rated among guests overall. I’d say it’s more important to take that consensus more into account when it comes to things like that, guest satisfaction levels & why. Also why it may not be getting the ridership & guest satisfaction levels expected, whether that be lack of promotion, signage, merch or something else.
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KDM31091
Well-Known Member
Laziness and cost cutting. But who knows. Hopefully they will start from scratch
KDM31091
Well-Known Member
While it was “cheap” it had a theme and honestly was executed very well with all the Disney style levels of details everywhere. They truly did try. That’s why some liked it I think. It knew what it was and wasn’t trying to be anything else. Personally I didn’t see the issue with it, it was just some light carnival fun at Disney, and it was themed, so… no issue on my end. But I get why people may have felt it was cheap. Dinoland as a whole had a ton of wasted potential and that’s why it’s being scrapped when it could have just been improved. It’s not like dinosaurs are unpopular.
Putting in an Indy ride in 2025 (really 2026) is odd to me, since the franchise is basically dead at this point. Not that it doesn’t still have fans but it’s never going to be as popular as it once was.
FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
Precisely, hence why I figured, you know what, had they added something along the lines of that Donald’s Dino Bash audio-animatronics show concept I proposed to the land as an addition/expansion to the land, rather than just the character meet n greets, you probably could’ve had a much more fleshed out/appealing land. Not to mention, taking the confusing/unneccesary IP tie-in out of the Countdown to Extinction ride and promoting it properly.
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FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
I’ll be honest, I don’t quite see Chester & Hester’s Dinorama the same way you do, but hey, to each is own. I respect your personal appreciation/enjoyment of it. No offense towards its fans by my comments intended
So, interestingly enough, I remember seeing mocking comments & memes surrounding Dinorama for years. If you go back decades when it was new, aswell as following years before it was announced it was closing. It was ‘panned’, and I mean panned. Perhaps the consensus changed a bit over time? That can absolutely happen, I don’t doubt that at all. But I’m pretty positive most aren’t strictly talking about this board when they bring the phenomena of how “folks hated this/thought it was ridiculous” up. Multiple other boards, theme park related sites, and social media sites aswell. I think generally speaking, when most say “everyone”, they actually mean the majority of comments or folks they’ve talked to or seen elsewhere. Pretty sure that definition is most commonly agreed upon, but yeah. Ultimately though, I think we could all agree there was indeed a lot of potential of how Dinoland could’ve been expanded and improved and it’s a shame that didn’t happen. I’m not against the proposal of that Donald show I brought up simply being added alongside the rest of the offerings if need be, depending on space available. But that was just some armchair imagineering on my part, I obviously don’t really expect it to happen unless somehow plans changed at some point or the upcoming Encanto & Indiana Jones attractions gain alot of criticism, similar to the new Zootopia show at the Tree of Life Theatre.
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KDM31091
Well-Known Member
I really just wish they had invested in Dinoland and its potential instead of saying oh it’s unpopular let’s just scrap it. There will IMO be a definite hole in the park without dinosaurs in some capacity. I’m just honestly so tired of the IP hodgepodge everywhere with the loosest possible ties to attempt to make it make sense where it simply doesn’t.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
I think the problem was that they couldn't find a good hook in terms of how to present a dinosaur-themed land in the park. Honestly, I think the route they went was creative and interesting in terms of trying to reconcile the need to have functioning theme park facilities in a land themed around a time before human beings or anything resembling those facilities could exist. That is, without having an IP like Jurassic Park that could explain it away as dinosaurs being brought into the present.
Add into the equation an e-ticket that never quite fulfilled its promise, especially compared to other attractions using that ride system, and I can see why they decided to give up on dinosaurs as a theme. I struggle to see what they really could have done with them other than keep trying to make Dinoland USA work in some form.
Dranth
Well-Known Member
I think most people know that it had its fans as just about everything does. They were just a minority (likely a small minority) that didn't move the needle that much in the grand scheme of things.
Personally, it was an area that we skipped regularly. CoE/Dino was fine, but we weren't often going out of our way to ride it. A dino theme in general is great, but what we got never worked well for most people
As for its replacements, they don't bother me much as long as they are made to fit the park. Admittedly, after the mess that was just put in the Tree of Life... well, let's just say I have more concerns than I did before, but we will have to see how they do and I hope they pull it off.
I can't lie, DINOSAUR has been the only closure lately where my only reaction is "Eh, it had it's run". Everything else had a million questions attached.
Purduevian
Well-Known Member
The simple solution would have used the Dino Institute as the entrance to the land. There they have invented a time portal (think one of the EPIC universe portals) and have set up a base came in what will become Florida but in the Late Cretaceous period. Due to funding issues, the Dino Institute has started allowing tourists through the portal where we can reuse staff buildings and go on Safari's/Adventures.