Probably the 2nd option, but as Penguin said they're starting TA work this year, so it could be possible Dino makes it to spring but not summer.
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
News 'Encanto' and 'Indiana Jones'-themed experiences at Animal Kingdom
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
josiah mazelin
Member
If Dinosaur truly has to go and be themed after something more "tropical americas," I wish they would do an Emporer's New Groove ride instead. Running from panthers, going to Yzma's lair, exploring Machu Pichu, etc. Nonetheless, why can't they just keep Dinosaur, The Boneyard, and Dino-Bites as a smaller Dino-land USA? They can put Tropical Americas in the old space for Chester and Hester's DinoRama, but still keep some of the Dino stuff. Also, Dinosaurs were known to be in South America. Why can't the two lands co-exist? Dinosaur could remain, and just have a tweak to the storytelling. You could be going back in time to the south american rainforest, or Indiana Jones could be leading you on an expedition in the jungle.
Fantasmicguy2
Member
I'm ok with Indiana and Encanto together. They fit in Tropical America-land as opposed to an Enchanto-land. It's a bit more old school to have a land based upon more than one IP. Pre Harry Potter days
DC0703
Well-Known Member
I disagree. Indiana Jones Adventure in Disneyland opened almost 30 years ago and it is still one of the most popular rides in the park. While some might not like Dinosaur for motion reasons, many others simply find the ride lackluster. Having ridden them both, IJA is vastly superior to Dinosaur, despite the same ride template.
Brer Panther
Well-Known Member
I agree. I think the removal of dinosaurs from the park entirely bothers me more than how little Indiana Jones and Encanto fit in Animal Kingdom.
osian
Well-Known Member
Do you think it's the Indiana Jones theme as opposed to dinosaurs that makes it a better ride in Disneyland, or is it more to do with the execution, i.e. quality of scenes, animatronics? Basically is it a more popular ride because it's Indiana Jones or because it's been "made better"?
DC0703
Well-Known Member
Probably a little of both. Indiana Jones isn't as popular as he used to be, but there is some draw. On the other hand, the ride is definitely executed better. Dinosaur's problem is that it is too dark - it would have been a better ride if you could actually see more of the dinosaurs, instead of quick spotlight flashes before zipping in another direction. IJ has better scenes and animatronics, which will likely be further improved by modern technology in the new ride.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
They can close Dinorama and work on Encanto well before needing to close Dinosaur and starting IJ. All signs are that they are keeping the same ride system/footprint/etc for IJ and they’ve done similar conversions (Maelstrom to FEA, ToT to Mission Breakout) in around 16 months.
I think Dinosaur closes sometime late 2025 to early 2026 and makes an opening in summer or fall 2027 for Tropical Americas. At least that is probably their target.
BlakeW39
Well-Known Member
Indy being more popular than Dinosaur has nothing, or very little, to do with the IP it's attached to. Hence why Splash Mountain was as popular as it was in spite of its IP, or why HM and PotC are as popular as they are regardless of their IP. Indy is just as good an attraction as pirates, I'd wager, so if IP automatically made things more popular then you would expect Indy to have more popularity than pirates does. But this is not the case?
Dinosaurs as a subject are more popular and have a broader appeal than Indiana Jones does as a specific franchise/IP. It's a stupid mistake to remove dinosaurs from the park both for that reason, and because dinosaurs have an important place in the park thematically. But because Dinoland USA as a land sucks and has only gotten worse with time, it does need to go. And Disney does not have any popular dinosaur IPs in its library, so what is put in its place cannot be dinosaur related. So we get what we're getting which, frankly, is better than I would have expected from them but still a far cry from being a great idea.
Last edited:
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Indiana Jones is made WAY better. If they had done the temple scene (with the bridge) with a swinging bridge and meteors falling causing real fire explosions with Dino’s attacking - wow.
Also… if the vehicle went “backwards” to get away from the Dino like with the giant ball.
Dino got very budget cut before all the current cuts.
Quietmouse
Well-Known Member
What is the obsession with dinosaurs? The ride is solid, but the rest of them theming never worked. It could have worked, but I’m really ready to move on and see imagineering do something new.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Are you rooting for cars because kids like cars? Way more kids like dinosaurs vs. Indy.
I don’t think an “all new” Indiana jones ride will be anything like the one in California with fire, smoke, lasers, etc. - we will get one Indy AA and a bunch of screens. Call it “rise of Indy” haha.
BlakeW39
Well-Known Member
What is the obsession with dinosaurs? What kind of question even is that? Dinosaurs are inherently interesting. They are culturally important and awe-inspiring creatures, exactly the type of thing we should want more of in Animal Kingdom. Rather than movie franchises like Indiana Jones or Encanto which focus on nature minimally and only fit in the park through contrived, tangential story treatments. This "obsession" you are referring is more engrained in our culture than any IP that currently exists. Certainly Indiana Jones or Encanto.
DarkMetroid567
Well-Known Member
I think Dinosaur is a very good ride. But I think it has always been far too scary and violent for its core audience. I doubt there’s a way to re-do it to make it more popular without just completely attempting a new concept.
Quietmouse
Well-Known Member
I’m not rooting for anything particular, but I’m always open to new experiences.
I’m rooting for cars because I don’t think TSI and the boat is a good utilization of the land. I also think the River of America is considerably weaker compared to DL in many various aspects.
If anything, Indy being more of a clone to DL
Makes more sense, than imagining it will be something more tame in experience. With that being said, we don’t really have much details, and I am looking forward to learn more.
Quietmouse
Well-Known Member
I never cared about dinosaurs, but that’s just me. I liked the ride though.
That being said, I think the theming of the land could have been exponentially better. I’m not necessarily against dinosaurs, but the theming always felt shoe horned and low string budget.
Maybe I would have been more sentimental if the theming of the land was on point, but it just never did - at least for me.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
Money well spent!
WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
I don't remember where I read it, but Dinoland says really interesting things about our relationship with animals and would act as a great exclamation point to Animal Kingdom's message if it was just a little clearer.
People are notoriously obsessed with dinosaurs; in Digg's County we see how the discovery of some bones (not an actual dinosaur, just the remains) completely transforms a whole town into a dinosaur hotspot where a ton of people make their living off of these remains. Chester and Hester's is nothing special, yes, but that's part of the point; the characters canonically rake in cash from that thing because people will pay for dinosaurs in any form. Something that's very true; roadside attractions based solely on static dinosaurs continue to exist.
Despite this obsession, no one has ever seen a dinosaur. No one ever will. That grounding in reality, the knowledge that these were actual creatures roaming the world at one point, is a large part of what fuels our cultural love of them, but, as the Dino-Institute says, extinction is forever. No matter what happens, no matter how much we all love dinosaurs, we will never really see one.
One day, if we're not careful, that could be the beautiful animals you just got to see in the other parts of the park. Would you rather your children and grandchildren experience the Maharaja Jungle Trek or Tiger-Rama?
I don't expect anyone to give it points for that because it's definitely in the "if I have to read a pamphlet to understand it it's not working" category, but I do think it's a really neat way of emphasizing the importance of conservation. If they were allowed to build what they had originally intended and the Dino-Institute housed a calm dinosaur safari it probably would have come across better.
Last edited:
bwr827
Well-Known Member
It’s a good story but a bad theme park experience presumably due to a slashed budget. Really too bad.