Interestingly, dinosaurs used to be a connective tissue that tied all the Disney parks together around the world, sort of a precursor to the hamfisted attempt to put SEA into every park. Off the top of my head, it’s the only non-Disney-branded subject matter that’s had a presence in all the Disney parks worldwide:
DL and TDL have the primeval world diorama on their respective railroads; DL, MK, and TDL have dinosaur bones on Big Thunder; DLP has the bones in the geyser area along the river; Epcot had them in Universe of Energy; DHS has Dinosaur Gertie; DCA had Dinosaur Jack’s Sunglass Shack; TDS has a triceratops skull on some shipping crates in the American Waterfront; WDSP had the Dinotopia set along the tram route; and of course DAK has/had Dinoland USA with Chester & Hester’s Dinorama. To my knowledge HKDL didn’t have a permanent dinosaur presence at opening, but Lucky the Dinosaur was there for a while, and there’s a fiberglass Rex statue in their Toy Story Land (duplicates of which are also in SDL and DHS).
Strangely, it seems like they’re slowly but surely removing many of these elements, often taking out the more prominent and story-integrated ones (Universe of Energy, Dinoland, Dinosaur Jack, Dinotopia) and leaving the ones that are little more than set dressing (BTMRR, American Waterfront). While I don’t think they are actively trying to erase dinosaurs from the parks, it is curious that so many dinosaur-related elements have been removed worldwide. It’s odd to think that in the span of a few years, WDW will go from having 4 parks with dinosaurs down to 2, with both the full land and standalone major attraction being removed, while only the seasonal snack bar and set dressing remain.
Similarly, at opening DAK had two “lands” based in the US (Dinoland USA and Camp Minnie Mickey), both of which have been/will be removed. While the replacement lands will probably feel more exotic compared to the daily lives of most guests, it’s hard not to notice that it leads to park that feels less diverse overall, with all the lands relying heavily on “jungle” components, rather than highlighting other ecosystems and environments of the natural world that could create a more varied park atmosphere for guests to enjoy over the course of a day.
I’m not sure what to make of the significance of these changes, but in a way it seems like a certain era of the parks has been quietly coming to an end.
