Dinosaur, WDW's most underrated ride?

[Mr_Incredible]

Boy do I love Dinosaur. I remember going on it as a kid when it was named Countdown to extinction....and it scared the hell out of me. Glad it was so dark in there so my family wouldnt see me closing my eyes on some parts.

We have the first picture we ever took on the ride and my brother and I look petrified. Even still, with me knowing whats happening, and as a adult, I feel nervous, and grip the handles tighter than most rides, because its dark, its loud, its fast....I love it.

That and ToT really still get me. I trust the seatbelts on ToT sometimes......but other times, I can't help but to hold the handles next to me :ROFLOL:

 

[Chrononymous]

I like Dinosaur. My husband found it beat him up too much. Since we ask to sit in the middle of the car, he has found it much more enjoyable.

Ah! Perhaps that's the secret! I need to ask to sit in the middle.

Otherwise I emerge with such horrible neck and back pain, I feel like I actually got run over by a dinosaur...

 

[erasure fan1]

I do love dinosaur, and I am looking forward to taking my daughter on it for the first time this year. I do wish they would flesh out the dino institute area more to balance the Chester & Hester area out. Is it an under-rated attraction? Not in my book, I just dont think Disney really tries to market it as a must see.

 

[AEfx]

It's easily the most underrated attraction in WDW among large-scale rides (E-tickets). Up until Potter, it was also the most "thrilling" non-coaster dark ride I'd ever been on. Big loud scary ugly looking dinos coming out of the dark to eat you.

The animatronics are simply the best Disney has done - I always feel bad that so many people miss the carnosaurus chasing after you - it's really something to see an object that large moving that quickly. (Note - if he's out of service for repairs, they just stick a head in there staring at you - which actually freaks me out more, LOL.)

I get the same thrill every time they park you in front of the Carno at the "picture" spot - and imagine my delight on my last ride a month ago when the whole ride shut down just a few feet past there. Could still see that sucker in the dark waiting to jump out - it was creepy and fun and I loved every second of it.

If only they'd make more rides like this.

 

[AEfx]

There are actually tons of details in the land if you paid attention to the 'backstory, shmackstory'. But instead most people act like these things are just by chance or something. There is great attention to detail which is what normally differentiates a Disney attraction.

The difference here is simply the theme doesn't resonate with guests and the asphalt doesn't help in the FL heat.

What's the difference between a real pile of dog poo, and a pile of dog poo that someone has recreated meticulously to look authentic and have the same texture, smell, and overall appearance?

Answer: not much. It's still a pile of dog poo.

I *get* the theme, I just think it's stupid and out of place. And, like it or not, it's cheap - everything about that land (save Dinosaur) is cheaply done. Not just "oh it's made to look cheap!", it's cheap. And if somehow it wasn't cheap, that's even worse, because they spent money to look...cheap, when cheap just looks cheap.

You dig? Cheap.

 

[graphite1326]

Just came back from a trip to WDW about a week ago and when I went on Dinosaur for the first time in a while I noticed how scary and really amazing of a ride it is. Throughout the whole day I must have ridden it about 10 times with a 5 minute wait with or without a fastpass. It's the only ride throughout all of the parks that I was actually mad at that it didn't have a longer line and more attention. Maybe its location in AK confuses people or something but it is just a fantastic ride with no problems. :veryconfu

5 minute wait? I have never ridden on that ride with less than a 20-30 minute line.

However, it's location is a bit out of the way.

 

[akritas]

What's the difference between a real pile of dog poo, and a pile of dog poo that someone has recreated meticulously to look authentic and have the same texture, smell, and overall appearance?

Answer: not much. It's still a pile of dog poo.

Ha! Perfect description of Dino-Rama. One visit I was noticing how the Chester and Hester parking lot was detailed with all these convincing cracks. It really does look like an old parking lot. Then I remembered I was walking around on a fake old parking lot.

 

[AEfx]

Ha! Perfect description of Dino-Rama. One visit I was noticing how the Chester and Hester parking lot was detailed with all these convincing cracks. It really does look like an old parking lot. Then I remembered I was walking around on a fake old parking lot.

It reminds me of something my aunt said to me at the Ice Capades when I was a kid.

There was a performer (I think it was a clown, but I may be mixing up memories) skating and falling all over the ice. You know, flipping around and such and looking like he was extremely uncoordinated. I very distinctly remember her telling me that in order to look that "bad", he had to actually be a very good ice skater.

This situation made me think of that. Yes, it really DOES look like an old, beat-up, abandoned parking lot. Just like you can find in any town in America. It's so sad thinking that people actually laid down hot top, and then how much time they spent weathering/destroying the look of it, just to come off looking like a cheap junkyard.

I don't care what the story is, it's just a terrible eyesore. The fact they intended it to be that way is what makes it sad, LOL.

 

[George]

:lookaroun

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showpost.php?p=4566614&postcount=2

 

[Scuttle]

Dinosaur is hands down the most underrated attraction in WDW. The maintenance issues aren't an issue for me considering how common this is at WDW now. This ride never has a wait over 10 minites unless you go during peak season. In fact Dinosaur and Living with the Land are in a league of their own when I think of most underrated attractions at WDW. I guess CoP is in there to.

 

[britdaw]

I have gotten "Dinosaur" from Netflix twice, hoping to get my kids to watch it with me. I watched it in theaters with my little cousin when it came out and LOVED it, and I cannot understand why my girls have absolutely no interest in the movie at all.
I want to ride the ride when we go, but I don't think either of my girls will be interested in riding with me.

 

[hammysammy59]

I get what they were going for with Chester and Hester. They didn't want their dinosaur area to scream "Jurassic Park knock-off." And not only that, but having a Jurassic Park style jungle-ish preserve would have blended in completely with Asia and Africa, making the whole place a big homogeneous blur of jungle.

But that doesn't mean they couldn't have taken it in a different direction. Imagine a world of volcanoes and tar pits and bubbling swamps and maybe even huge, outdoor dinosaur AAs. I guess that would have clashed with the story of Dinosaur, but... I don't care? I'd kill to see WDW's take on a dangerous, deadly, untamed prehistoric world of dinosaurs, even if that does mean a little theme confusion. Couldn't be any worse than C&H.