Dinosaur / Countdown to Extinction

[Rob562]

Also, what were the Compy effects supposed to be? Were they holograms, AAs, how did they work? :shrug:

The Compys are non-animated figures on thin metal arms. These arms swung the figures above the ride path, while individual shafts of blacklight briefly shone on the path of each Compy. The effect, when working, made it look like these little dino figures were jumping from the brush on one side to the brush on the other, over the ride path and vehicles.

Now, the figures are motionless in various positions over the ride path, and the blacklights simply turn on to light them up as you drive by. It was a MUICH better effect when the Compys moved.

I going back in time to get the Dino was always part of the story? I thought that was added when they switched to the Dinosaur name.

I do recall it being more about the shower versus the dinos. I also recall the front planter being a water feature and not a planter.

I feel like CTX generally had more of an excitement around it than Dinosaur.

No, going back to get the dino has always been part of the plotline.

As for the planter out front, it's still a water feature, but it's not very obvious. (Though there was one stretch of time a while back where it was empty with potted plants sitting in it... That sometimes happens when there's a drought and Disney cuts back on some of the non-essential in-park water features)
Originally, there was a tricerrotop (or maybe it was a stegosaurus, I forget) statue in the middle of the pool of water, not the iguanodon that's there now. The walls around the edge were low and you could sit on them, which were interspersed with little fences where the water in the pool cascaded down in little waterfalls.

Well, the problem with the low walls was that it allowed people access to the fountain itself, and parents often let their children wade into the fountain. The water filtration system wasn't designed to handle people playing around in the water, and the dirt and body oils, etc that people bring along with them. The bottom of the pool also wasn't designed to be safe for little kids' bare feet to be walking around on it.

So, Disney's solution was to add the wall of fern-filled planters around the entire perimeter of the pool, eliminating the seating, and blocking the view of the water inside. You can also just barely see the little waterfall cascades around the edge, because they're now in shadow, and only visible through the little 1'x2' "grates" below the planters...

Sad, really, that stupid Guests had to go and ruin something that was originally quite pretty.

-Rob

 

[ABigBrassBand]

I really wish they would change the name to CtE. I actually went around asking 100 people at my school if they remembered the movie Dinosaur, and approx. every 1 in 5 people remembered it. Is that enough to justify its own ride?

 

[Testtrack321]

I loved that original fountain out front. I really hope they can go back to the old Countdown to Extinction name, it's a much descriptive and impressive name than Dinosaur...

 

[UberMouse]

There was that and also I chipped my tooth on my second ride so there could have been a bit of head trauma as well. On the first ride the jeep did not move it simply stayed level and followed the track. When I got to unload the CM told me that "We lost your signal. Do you want to go around again?" I said sure not knowing what the hell "lost my signal" meant. Boy was I surprised when my jeep began behaving like a bull riding machine set to 11. I was not holding on in the slightest and my face slammed into what could be considered the dash board.

Ha ha! Glad to see I am not the only one to slam face! No one believes that it can be done, but is sure can. I am not sure if the moved the bars or what, but the second time that I ever rode it I slammed my nose into the bar and broke it badly. Blood sprayed everywhere. Once the ride was over I got off and the lady at the exit just told me to keep moving when I was trying to tell her. Once we got to the gift shop we asked where first aid was and they told me to go all the way to the front of the park. Once there we could not find it. We asked a guy at the gate and told me that it was back towards the back of the park iirc. So I do remember having to walk back through the park with my nose gushing the whole way. I was never able to get any help and it finally quit bleeding. My nose is now not as straight, but ah the memories.

-Jeff

 

[Master Yoda]

Ha ha! Glad to see I am not the only one to slam face! No one believes that it can be done, but is sure can. I am not sure if the moved the bars or what, but the second time that I ever rode it I slammed my nose into the bar and broke it badly. Blood sprayed everywhere. Once the ride was over I got off and the lady at the exit just told me to keep moving when I was trying to tell her. Once we got to the gift shop we asked where first aid was and they told me to go all the way to the front of the park. Once there we could not find it. We asked a guy at the gate and told me that it was back towards the back of the park iirc. So I do remember having to walk back through the park with my nose gushing the whole way. I was never able to get any help and it finally quit bleeding. My nose is now not as straight, but ah the memories.

-Jeff

Fortunately the tooth I chipped had already been broken in half years earlier and the nerve had been removed and capped. I just got it re-capped when I got back. I have since then had the entire tooth replaced.

 

[TubaGeek]

Right towards the end you can see the iguanodon trying to keep a tree from falling on the ride path. That wasn't in the original ride, was it? It wouldn't have made any sense...

 

[UberMouse]

I always thought they should have done a pepper's ghost effect when you make that last turn after you return from the past. There is a mirror in that turn and you can see yourself. It just always looked odd to me and like they at one time intended a ghost effect with maybe one dino in the back of the buggy, extra large. Man, I really should be an imagineer.

-Jeff

 

[marni1971]

cool laser effects in the first time travel sequence.

And the last sequence :wave:

All this will be explained and shown in a soon-to-be released video at Mousebits and Martinsvids.net

 

[Dinoman96]

The Compys are non-animated figures on thin metal arms. These arms swung the figures above the ride path, while individual shafts of blacklight briefly shone on the path of each Compy. The effect, when working, made it look like these little dino figures were jumping from the brush on one side to the brush on the other, over the ride path and vehicles.

Now, the figures are motionless in various positions over the ride path, and the blacklights simply turn on to light them up as you drive by. It was a MUICH better effect when the Compys moved.

Are there any pics of them?

 

[marni1971]

The Compys are non-animated figures on thin metal arms.

Arms on a chain system:

Infact, the whole thread is topical:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=321733

 

[matt_taylor1985]

And the last sequence :wave:

All this will be explained and shown in a soon-to-be released video at Mousebits and Martinsvids.net

Can't wait - just downloaded your TOT tribue from Mousebits.

 

[Dinoman96]

The Compys are non-animated figures on thin metal arms. These arms swung the figures above the ride path, while individual shafts of blacklight briefly shone on the path of each Compy. The effect, when working, made it look like these little dino figures were jumping from the brush on one side to the brush on the other, over the ride path and vehicles.

Now, the figures are motionless in various positions over the ride path, and the blacklights simply turn on to light them up as you drive by. It was a MUICH better effect when the Compys moved.

Are there any pics of them?

 

[WDITrent]

^Go back a page.

 

[Rob562]

I always thought they should have done a pepper's ghost effect when you make that last turn after you return from the past. There is a mirror in that turn and you can see yourself. It just always looked odd to me and like they at one time intended a ghost effect with maybe one dino in the back of the buggy, extra large. Man, I really should be an imagineer.

-Jeff

Funny you should say that, as that's exactly what was originally planned for that mirror. But it wasn't to be in your vehicle, but rather the iguanodon would poke its head around the corner from the time tunnel you just came from.

I've heard varying stories about why it was never implemented, from budget cutbacks, to the Imagineers not liking how the effect looked and either disabling it, or never installing it after its mock-up stage in California.

So in its place they just stuck a monitor showing one of the "security camera" feeds that you also see in the post-show/gift shop.

It'd be interesting to poke around backstage there and see whether there's actually any infrastructure installed behind that mirror that would've been used for the effect.


-Rob

 

[Thrill Seeker]

I just found a YouTube video of the original show with the original audio. You can't really see the different finale effect, but it was basically an asteriod in place of the Carno that is there in the current show.

[youtube]SIwvhaHLYes[/youtube]

That audio sucked. The current audio is better, but the motion and effects, as well as the name, from CTX were better.