So I first visited Animal Kingdom a few months after it opened and my favorite ride was Countdown to Extinction, on the next visit it was called Dinosaur but it was still my favorite ride. Living only a 2 and half hour drive away I made frequent visits to the parks in the 90's through the mid/late 00's and when it came to Animal Kingdom it was all about Dinosaur. As the years went on though I became aware that out in California there was an Indiana Jones ride that was similar to Dinosaur and this became a bit of a dream ride for me, a combination of one of my all time favorite rides with one of my all time favorite film series, and in 2019 I finally got to go to Disneyland and ride Indiana Jones Adventure... and I was disappointed. It's not a bad ride for sure but after around 15 years of building it up in my mind I was certainly disappointed, it lacked the energy, thrills and scares of Dinosaur and it was also a bad representation of Indiana Jones without Ford's likeness and a bad impression buried in the quiet audio mix.
This disappointment with Indy was so at odds with conventional fan wisdom that in 2021 I decided to go back to Animal Kingdom to see if my memory was cheating, but no Dinosaur still blew me away and even with the new Avatar additions it was still my favorite ride in the park, and as soon as I got off I immediately got back in line to ride it again. On my 2nd visit to Disneyland in 2022 I re-rode Indy, and now with my expectations in check enjoyed it more, but my opinion on which is the better ride has not changed.
I believe that Tropical Americas will be an overall improvement for the park from a lot of metrics. but I can't help but predict that my personal enjoyment of the park will be greatly reduced by the removal of Dinosaur.
I hope Disney proved me wrong.
This disappointment with Indy was so at odds with conventional fan wisdom that in 2021 I decided to go back to Animal Kingdom to see if my memory was cheating, but no Dinosaur still blew me away and even with the new Avatar additions it was still my favorite ride in the park, and as soon as I got off I immediately got back in line to ride it again. On my 2nd visit to Disneyland in 2022 I re-rode Indy, and now with my expectations in check enjoyed it more, but my opinion on which is the better ride has not changed.
I believe that Tropical Americas will be an overall improvement for the park from a lot of metrics. but I can't help but predict that my personal enjoyment of the park will be greatly reduced by the removal of Dinosaur.
I hope Disney proved me wrong.