Where are the Imagineers?

DisneyMusician2

DisneyMusician2

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm, of course, a Disney fanatic, but I just have to say this. Who conceived DinoLand and why does it look like a cheap carnival that someone slapped in the middle of a parking lot? I don't mind the rides as much as the complete look and feel of the area. It certainly isn't up to Disney standards. Does anyone else feel this way? There are other areas too, but none so obvious as this!
 
C

cattle

Member
As the great Marty Sklar said

"Do you know how much money we had to spend to make it look this bad?"


It's supposed to have the look and feel of a seedy tourist trap. I think it does that perfectly
 
pacochran

pacochran

Active Member
DisneyMusician2 said:
. Who conceived DinoLand and why does it look like a cheap carnival that someone slapped in the middle of a parking lot?
Click to expand...

At least from what I read that's exactly what they wanted, so if you think so then they achieved what they wanted. I think that they wanted to bring you to those places in the 50's where you would find these type of attractions of the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.
 
Greenlawler

Greenlawler

Well-Known Member
I like the area and it reminds me of the old Fair Park in Nashville, TN. I had never seen it until our last trip and was stunned that the amazing area was there in the middle of nowhere.
 
KrazyKemp

KrazyKemp

Member
When I took my friend for his first trip to WDW last month, he really enjoyed Dinoland USA...

He loved how "there was an escape from Disney, inside of Disney."
 
brkgnews

brkgnews

Well-Known Member
cattle said:
As the great Marty Sklar said

"Do you know how much money we had to spend to make it look this bad?"


It's supposed to have the look and feel of a seedy tourist trap. I think it does that perfectly
Click to expand...
That's the perfect quote. Reminds me of Dolly Parton talking about plastic surgery... "Honey, it takes a lot of money to look this trashy."
 
mkt

mkt

When a paradise is lost go straight to Disney™
Premium Member
As the great Joe Rohde said with a smile on his face, "This can be torn down in 72 hours."
 
juan

juan

Well-Known Member
one thing you have to notice is the tiny parts where disney spent extra money.
Primeval Whirl is based off a model of roller coaster that has been used before (Exterminator at Kennywood). The difference is that disney has extensive automatic railing systems to aid in an evac that other places with the same exact coaster don't.

I like how the area ties in with the shop that was built years before dino-rama
 
Jessie&Buzz

Jessie&Buzz

Active Member
juan said:
one thing you have to notice is the tiny parts where disney spent extra money.
Primeval Whirl is based off a model of roller coaster that has been used before (Exterminator at Kennywood). The difference is that disney has extensive automatic railing systems to aid in an evac that other places with the same exact coaster don't.

I like how the area ties in with the shop that was built years before dino-rama
Click to expand...

I've only rode Exterminator (and I'm impressed that you know what it is unless you're from the 'Burgh too) once and once was enough. I've never been on Primeval Whirl. They just aren't my type of coaster.

I like DinoLand myself. My kids really like it too. They liked the games and winning a prize. I'm glad that Disney doesn't have them everywhere, but it just reminds us of Kennywood when we are there.
 
Swamp Fox

Swamp Fox

New Member
Dinoland wouldn't be so bad "if":

1. Lucky the Dinosaur was brought back on a permanent basis. He's a perfect fit.

2. They get rid of those cheesy plush midway game prizes and replace them with more Disney themed prizes.

Swamp Fox
 
mandylo

mandylo

New Member
We have always bypassed this section. I thought it was geared toward smaller children. Please correct me if I am wrong!
 
DisneyMusician2

DisneyMusician2

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ok, I'll buy in :cool: I just was curious how others felt about the theming. But if that was the intended effect, well then its exactly right!
 
Pongo

Pongo

New Member
You can't deny the fact that the Dinoland USA story is one of the best and most fluid backstories to any land in all of WDW.

It's probably the most cohesive land in WDW, in fact.

Except for the Theater in the Wild. I don't know how to compensate for that one...
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
Pongo said:
You can't deny the fact that the Dinoland USA story is one of the best and most fluid backstories to any land in all of WDW.

It's probably the most cohesive land in WDW, in fact.

Except for the Theater in the Wild. I don't know how to compensate for that one...
Click to expand...

I agree. But they did lose *some* of the ability to convey the story to the Guests when they got rid of the streetmosphere paleontologist students, and before they added Dinorama there used to be a free-standing bulletin board thing across from the entrance to the dig site play area. Reading the signs and hand-written notes on the board helped bring the back-story of the entire land together even more.

The problem with Dinorama isn't the execution of it. The design is *exactly* what the theme is supposed to be. One of the best examples: Look at the ground. The pavement is an old, cracked parking lot with faded parking space lines. Many people assume that Disney just got cheap and plopped Dinorama down in a former backstage parking lot without any care about what the ground looked like, when in fact that area was never a parking lot. The Imagineers built it to look like that.
(Unlike Six Flags Magic Mountain did with their coaster "Scream", where you can see the pavement and parking lines under it. Couldn't they have at least but topsoil and grass down?)
http://www.rcdb.com/ig2169.htm?picture=27

The problem is that the Dinorama theme itself is flawed and tacky.

-Rob
(I, too, loved that quote from Joe Rhode)
 

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