THE LOST VALLEY
Only at Disney's Animal Kingdom
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time,” – Leo Tolstoy
The Lost Valley, or Vale Perdido to some, is a place that has been preserved and kept secret by the hands of time. A tiny pocket of a long forgotten world, where dinosaurs still rule the earth. Having survived the death of their prehistoric world, these magnificent beasts and the surrounding alien fauna thrived in isolation, now waiting to be discovered by the modern world. An intrepid group of scientists, explorers, botanists, and adventurers have peacefully settled in the valley to study, observe, and interact with the dinosaurs and other ancient creatures, and are inviting other travellers to share in their discovery.
For many years, there had been tales and rumours of Vale Perdido, some describing as the location of the long coveted El Dorado. For lead researcher, Dr. Cornelius Tanner, these rumours weren’t just a fantasy – they were fact. Laughed out of conventional education (and some say out of conventional sanity), Tanner became acquainted with the members of both the League of Adventurers, and the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. Time spent with the expedition within the domain of the Arbori in deepest Peru, encouraged Tanner to pursue his own need for discovery. He theorised that the mysterious river beast called the Q’aráq was some form of undiscovered, surviving breed of dinosaur, and it wasn’t the only one of its kind.
Furious research unearthed evidence of similar sightings to a remote Amazonian basin. There had been many Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to South America to find gold and secrets. Tanner uncovered a record of one that all but nearly been erased from history, perhaps deliberately. The poorly preserved document told of the Mendoz expedition to find Vale Perdido, from which only one man returned, half-mad from thirst, and was raving about dragons. This only convinced Tanner that the legendary lost valley of surviving dinosaurs was real.
Convincing his colleagues, and gaining financial support from the Whitmore Foundation, Dr. Tanner led an expedition of brave but curious men and women to find Vale Perdido. With help from local guides and friendly Amazonian head-hunters, the expedition discovered a remote, secluded passage through sheer rock, and wound up in the valley lost in time. Ancient Mesoamerican rockwork and cave paintings depicted the dinosaurs in an ethereal yet menacing quality. The local indigenous tribe, the Valerio, were at first distrusting and hostile, believing the explorers had come to slay the gods that lived in their remote home. But, over time, they grew used to the presence of the outsiders, understanding their mere wish to study and understand the natural wonders of their home.
The Lost Valley is rich with undiscovered life, a vast ecosystem of exotic birds, rare reptiles and other animals close to extinction in the urbanised world. A magnificent river, the Empinado River, runs through the valley, which the expeditions use to go on often risky, watery tours and explorations of the area. Towering over the other end of the valley is the resident, dormant volcano, nicknamed Mount Rohde by the league towards one of their own. The locals referred to it as a sleeping giant, dreading one day it will awaken and devour their home and culture with fire and ash. Though Mount Rohde has erupted in the past, the damage has not been as catastrophic as feared.
The dinosaurs themselves mostly keep to their own groups and lands. The explorers have set up a vast digsite and base within the valley, safe from attack by daring carnivores, but a little welcoming to the curious leaf-eater. Here, visitors can discover the local eateries and shopping establishments, and other buildings dedicated to prepping guests for their journey into the world saved from the ages - the Lost Valley.
Countdown to Eruption
Attraction Listing - E Ticket
Attraction Type - EMV
Duration - 3: 05 Minutes
Instead of seeing a statue of an Iguanodon or a Styracosaurus running from a meteor, the guests are instead greeted by a statue of a man in a Sun Hat and a Vest. Underneath the Statue lays the words 'In Honor of Dr. Cornelius Tanner'. Behind said statue is a large building covered in smooth marble walls, arches rimming the front of the entrance, and a large domed roof.
When they walk inside the guests are addressed with the voice of Bill Nye, playing info about Dinosaurs and the likes that may not even have been known if not for them having survived in a overgrown valley in Peru.
The Guests are met with Carnotaurus fossils and a rugged yet small-despite-it's-impact meteor as a reference to what the ride used to be about. The Queue also has documents detailing the discovery of Vale Perdido and how the legend of Q’aráq helped with said discovery along with credit to, of course, Dr. Cornelius Tanner. Along with it the Queue has a collection of igneous volcanic rocks from Mount Rohde. Then the Guests walk into the Preshow room in both contexts of this being in DAK and the area being a museum.
The Guests are quickly met with Dr. Marsh as she talks about the efforts of Vale Perdido to help revive Dinosaurs and introduce them back to the world that they once towered over. She even shows the guests some brief pre-recorded footage of the Dinosaurs that live here. That is until alarms start sounding and the ground seems to shake in the preshow footage. Dr. Marsh warns the guests that they must leave the area immediately, but then comes Dr. Seeker. Apparently the museum does not have an evacuation team and Dr. Seeker believes that they could use some of the controlled tour vehicles to help evacuate the area, and it would also help get the guests out of here. Plus the guests could help save a descendant of the group of Sauropods that were mistaken as Q’aráq.
Dr. Marsh does not agree with this decision as they are just guests and not employees. After all, they never signed up for this. They don't even know that you would even be a good match for the manual parts of the operation. Eventually the Doctors decide that it could work and allow the guests to board the ride vehicles.
The alarms are still blaring as you board the improvised tour vehicles. The Guests go through what used to be the old track that sent you to the past, now improvised as just a part of the loading area. Most of the earlier ride scenes are the same. The main things change are:
1. All former Carnotaurus scenes are now shots of the Valley burning, and the town being burnt to ashes. Most of these scenes utilize the technology used in Earthquake! in Universal. Fog machines are used to simulate smoke throughout the entire ride.
2. The scene with the Sauropod is now a scene of a rather terrified Carnotaurus roaring and lashing its tail as the smoke is now in it's eyes and at how hot it is for something taller than an elephant. There's a reason why elephants have large ears; to cool themselves down. A Carnotaurus has nothing.
3. The ending scene with Aladar is replaced with the former Sauropod model. The old electric net is reused for this exact moment.
4. The meteor is replaced with a falling, flaming kapok tree. The 'Meteor ahead' message is now replaced with a message of your distance between you and any forest fires on a GPS.
Instead of having the time travel transmission towards the end, you ride through charred trees and piles of now cooled debris flows into the museum.
The ending clip of Aladar is now replaced with said Sauropod and the ride ends as normal with Dr. Seeker congratulating the guests. Enjoy your day at what remains of the rest of Vale Perdido!
The Excavators
Attraction Listing - D Ticket
Attraction Type - Mine Train Rollercoaster
Duration - 3 Minutes
Guests walk into a semi-rotting semi-preserved wooden shack with wicker wood deck bottoms and stripped bark walls supported by brick pillars. In the Queue there are models of Pampas cats, Chinchillas, and of Mountain Viscachas. Along with them are collections of Stone age artifacts and piles of camping supplies. Upon reading some of the articles nailed to the walls in a clatter, it reveals that this station in particular was used in the journey and discovery of Vale Perdido.
Guests board the vehicle and the track swerves to the right. During this Guests can see AA Llama's grazing on the fields nearby. The chain lift immediately takes Guests through a cavern where you can see cave paintings of an early human family eating their dinner around a fire, and paintings of them hunting animals.
The ride now dips forward and as that happens, Guests meet face to face with a cougar who screeches at them as they pass into another cave. The tracks swerves again, but, to the left and guests are met with the sight of more cave paintings, and throughout gaps in the cave, you can see the river below, which has boats going through tours below.
This time the cave paintings now depict said family meeting face to face with a Irritator (Yes, this is a dinosaur) which seems ****ed off now that said family is near it's nest. As Guests pass by, the paintings reveal even more dinosaurs, which now included depictions of Avaceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus, Helioceratops, Oryctodromeus, Scolosaurus, Iguanodon, and Stegosaurus in a similar fashion to the animals of the above. The last cave painting shows them trying to hunt a Diplodocus who is very ****ed off in response. Of course, if they didn't survive we wouldn't have these paintings. The ride heads down a slope, right back to the loading station.
Jungle Journeys
Attraction Listing - D Ticket
Attraction Type - Old Mill Dark Ride
Duration - 14: 51 Minutes
By contrast, Jungle Journeys's exterior is much better maintained than The Excavators. The entire building is made out of dark wood and the docks are supported by single stilts. Like The Excavators, the Queue has articles nailed on the walls talking about Dr. Tanner's use of the facility and his experiences while on boat. The Queue also has skeletons of Troodons, Deinonychus, and Velociraptors collected from around the world with the areas that they were collected from listen on the display cases. The Boats have since been converted into tour boats for the tourist's pleasure. Upon boarding the Boats, like the Kilimanjaro Safari, they list all the animals and Dinosaurs that you will spot on your tour.
For Animals, Guests will see the likes of Jaguars, Tapirs, Capybaras, Capuchins, and Otters.
For Dinosaurs, Guests will see the likes of Baryonyx, Parasaurolophus, Ankylosaurs, and Stygimoloch.
Throughout the tour, the ride will go through ruins, around floating islands, through nesting grounds, near caves that also happened to be used as a source of transportation by Dr. Tanner's expedition crew. The tour has multiple routes that they will switch to, often leaving a different experience every time as different boats will go different paths and thus to different species by using a switch that turns the direction of the boats to a different direction thus a different path when triggered. Eventually you head back to the settlement where you go under a bridge and back to the docking station.
Pteranodon Pass
Attraction Listing - B Ticket
Attraction Type - Spinner
Duration - 1:30 Minutes
As things began to settle in Vale Perdido, Scientists became curious with the Dinosaurs themselves. They wanted to see how much they could selectively breed the previously thought to be extinct fauna there. While Pteranodons weren't exactly dinosaurs, they were a start, and so they began trying to make the potentially dangerous wildlife more docile towards humans because having twelve foot (3.8 Meter) flying reptiles being reintroduced around North America that could be a potential danger is pretty worrying.
In this ride, you will be testing out the flying capabilities of the domesticated Pteranodons. There are levers attached to the gear that you will be mounted to command them to fly higher or lower. The enticement for the Pteranodons is the egg at the top of the Hydraulic Ram. Enjoy the flight!
The Boneyard
Attraction Listing - A Ticket
Attraction Type - Interactive Play Area
Instead of finding Dinosaur bones throughout this extraction project, the bones here are from animals who went extinct in the Holocene era. The main four skeletons for children to uncover in this area are a Smilodon, a Dire Wolf, a Ground Sloth, and a Cuvieronius. Throughout the camp, you can often spy some of the dinosaurs throughout the area and some small exhibits dedicated to them. Said Dinosaurs are interactive like the late Triceratops Encounter at Universal and can even bellow, hiss, growl, and roar at guests. Throughtout the area, they have more skeletons imported from around the world like Sue the T-Rex, fossils of a Columbian Mammoth, and the fossils of an Apatosaurus.
El Arbusto Rancho
Attraction Listing - A Ticket
Attraction Type - Animal Exhibit/Trail
This is the viewing area for most of the wildlife here at Vale Perdido. Like stated above, we mainly have Californian Condors, Green Anacondas, American Alligators, Abdim's Stork, Asian Spurred Tortoises, but also, Hoatzins, African Grey Parrots, Gharials, Mary River Turtles, and Fiji Crested Iguanas. Along with them we have Tyrannosaurus's, Spinosaurus's, Pterosaurs, Brachiosaurs, Pachycephalosaurus, and Galliminus. While walking along the trails you can read up on facts about these creatures on the signs around the area. Towards the end of the trail, occasionally a researcher here will take out one of the dinosaurs for a walk, you may know about this little guy, but his name is Lucky the Dinosaur, and you are allowed to take pictures with him.
Lareira - Restaurant
“
Welcome friends, to Lareira! I’m the owner of this establishment, Jefe. Built into a riverside cave rich with minerals, this ancient place was once a temple, as you might be able to tell from the paintings, carvings, and artifacts that line the walls. Over the years, it evolved into a gathering place for my tribe, the Valerio. In a strange, new Vale Perdido, where pale skinned men live and advanced machinery is used, it is a reminder of our old ways. A place where our beautiful culture lives on.
So join us, eat, drink, and share stories under the light of a torch. You may even catch a glimpse of the brave (or foolish) explorers as they head down the river! Whether you’re a scientist, an artist, an explorer, young or old, you’re welcome at Lareira anytime. As long as you brought money.”
Power Play
CALIFORNIA CONDOR EXHIBIT
Over months of observation, Dr. Tanner realized that Vale Perdido was a protective Eden for endangered birds and reptiles. These majestic creatures, so threatened elsewhere, survived and even thrived in this secluded valley. Here, the evolutionary threads connecting dinosaurs with birds and reptiles were inescapably obvious! Pterosaurs and parrots lived side-by-side. So too did anacondas and brontosauruses, and many other combinations!
Dr. Tanner theorized that the Vale Perdido could serve as an oasis for many other endangered species. He introduced new foreign creatures into this environment, from the Abdim’s Stork to the Asian Brown Tortoise to the American Crocodile. Dr. Tanner took great care to isolate these species from the Vale’s existing population, for fear of disrupting the delicate ecosystem.
The crown jewel of Dr. Tanner’s conservation project is the magnificent California Condor!
The California Condor (
Gymnogyps californius) is critically engendered. Thanks to Dr. Tanner’s efforts, the species has successfully integrated into the Vale Perdido wilderness. Ten condors – 5 males and 5 females – call the Vale home. They roost in rocky cliffs and coniferous firs, occupying a niche similar to the continent’s native Andean Condor. The dinosaurs of Vale Perdido coexist with the condors, who scavenge the carrion which pterosaurs leave behind. Fossil records in the valley’s shale cliffs visually depict how Cenozoic pterosaurs gave way to Pleistocene condors.
In real world terms, Disney’s Animal Kingdom is a participant in the California Condor Recovery Program. They work alongside conservationists at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo to breed and care for these critically endangered treasures. Animal Kingdom’s ten condors make up a significant portion of the known 463 individuals worldwide. The condors are provided with a private, climate-controlled habitat (the “Condor-Minium”) far from Orlando’s climate and tourists, with a priority placed on the birds’ comforts and needs. Select specimens who are not a part of DAK’s breeding program are visible to guests along Cume do Condor (Condor Ridge).
This majestic thunderbird is a proud addition to Disney’s Animal Kingdom!
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Ultimately - Team Red hopes this Lost Valley overhaul of Dinoland U.S.A. embraces the roots of Disney's Animal Kingdom by adding depth and detail to this majestic theme park. From all of us, thank you and enjoy!
