DINOSAUR

Way back in 1988, Disney had toyed with creating a film (then called Dinosaurs) centered on a syracosaurus named Woot and his struggles against a Tyrannosaurus rex named Gronzi. Filmed with stop-motion animation, Dinosaurs would've been gritty and filmed in the style of a nature documentary. In fact, the original script called for Woot to defeat Gronzi, only for both to perish in the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event. Dinosaurs was sidelined by another project in the pipeline – The Little Mermaid. After Ariel's 1989 debut, the Disney Renaissance was underway and Dinosaurs was set aside. 

But after the success of incorporating computer-generated imagery (CGI) into Fantasia 2000, it was determined that the time was right to press forward with a dinosaur film, albeit using CGI rather than stop motion. A new creative team was brought in to develop a less bleak story and setting for the film. That's when the iguanodon and the carnotaurus became the main actors as we discussed, making the 1998 ride and the 2000 film natural and intentional complements.

Eisner was right about one thing: Dinosaur was unlike anything seen before. The film melded live-action backgrounds and location shots (mostly filmed in Venezuela) with CGI animated dinosaurs to develop a "photo-realistic" look. Brilliantly, the film's unprecedented style was expressed by way of a teaser trailer that literally just showed the first five minutes of the film to awe-struck audiences.

What it didn't reveal was the movie's plot. Dinosaur follows the migration of a young iguanodon named Aladar who's orphaned by a devestating meteor shower as he and his adoptive family of lemurs move across the primeval world in search of the Nesting Grounds. Along their epic journey, they're relentlessly pursued by a carnotaurus.

Another thing the trailer didn't reveal? Eisner famously insisted that the dinosaurs speak in order to make the film more "commercially viable." Perhaps famous film critic Roger Ebert put it best when he commented, "An enormous effort had been spent on making these dinosaurs seem real, and then an even greater effort was spent on undermining the illusion."

Image: Disney

From our lofty hindsight perch at the dawn of the 2020s, we know that Dinosaur failed to make much of an impression. The most expensive film released in the year 2000, the film did go on to become a box office success, but likely due to the same, viral, you-gotta-see-it mentality that would later uplift AVATAR, leaving practically no footprint in pop culture whatsoever. Children born after 1998 are unlikely to have ever heard of Dinosaur, much less seen it. And yet, two weeks before the film opened in theaters, Countdown to Extinction re-opened from a refurbishment with a new name and a few changes...

DINOSAUR

On May 1, 2000 – just two weeks before the film's debut – DINOSAUR opened at Disney's Animal Kingdom in the spot once occupied by Countdown to Extinction.

Image: Disney

Of course, Animal Kingdom's dino-themed dark ride had always been centered around an iguanodon and a carnotaurus (albeit, neither speaking, and observably not Aladar and his carnotaurus pursuer), but the name change was a clever bit of synergy between Walt Disney Studios and Disney Parks. Outside of the Dino Institute, the styracosaurus fountain was replaced with an iguanodon (though this one may be Aladar?) and footage of the film was inserted into the pre-show to more closely connect the ride.

Inside, the cat-and-mouse game of the carnotaur's pursuit was re-emphasized as the leading narrative, and as such, the hurtling meteor finale was replaced with a final attack of the carnotaur to close that story. Unfortunately, it comes in the form of one of the most hokey, laughable, and frustratingly unfulfilling forms ever undertaken by Disney: a large, static, blacklight, cartoon-proportioned carnotaur head literally just slides toward guests on a visible rolling rig as they dive beneath it. (Watch for it in the video posted later on on this page.)

Image: Disney

Since the ride's opening, Imagineering had worked to tweak the on-ride audio. Think about it – neither Countdown to Extinction nor DINOSAUR feature any on-ride music (which is actually somewhat odd, even if you wouldn't expect music 65 million years ago). Instead, Dr. Seeker and the voice of the Time Rover's computer narrate the journey. Since Countdown to Extinction (and now, DINOSAUR) is a bleak, dark, scary ride by design, the presence of Dr. Seeker was meant not only as narrative exposition to tell us what we're seeing and why the vehicle is doing what it's doing, but as comic relief.

That can be tricky. One need only look at another Lost Legend: The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter to know just how important tone can be, and how easy it is for "comic relief" to sap that tone and pull guests from the moment.

Over the first two years of the ride's life, careful and fairly continuous edits were made to the narration and audio, with much of the narration ultimately scrapped entirely and re-recorded to be funny, but not distracting; expository, but not annoying; present and helpful, but well-timed between screams and roars.

That's why the ride today features audio that helps explain what's happening in the darkness ("Computer, what's happening?!" Chirp chirp. 'Loss of traction.'), remind riders of and refocus on the mission ("We've got to get in, get that iguanodon, and get out before the asteroid hits!" "Setting Autopilot on homing signal... now!" "Tracking a big dino on the scope; it could be ours!" "Still not our dino..."), and add tension rather than humor ("Forget it! Get them out now!" "You're not going to make it!")

But the changes didn't stop there.

Remember, Disney expected the movie Dinosaur to become a new family classic like Toy Story or A Bug's Life, so the new connection to the film would mean that the DINOSAUR ride would attract families with younger children – those fascinated with dinosaurs and who would doubtlessly fall in love with the new film. As such, the newly re-christened DINOSAUR ride would need a few edits to welcome younger children.

Image: Disney

For one thing, the EMV's motion was relaxed to create a less jarring ride. Sure, DINOSAUR's EMVs would still buck, rumble, roll, and shudder, but reduced motion meant that DINOSAUR's height requirement could be lowered to 40" (versus Indiana Jones Adventure's 46"!) to cater to the new family audience that would descend on the ride.

To go along with the new family audience, Disney set out to make subtle changes in audio, lighting, and more that would remove a little of the terror from the ride. One famous example is the scene wherein the carnotaur takes off in a full-body sprint after the Time Rover. Originally, the EMV's audio would take over from the Animatronic, simulating his approach in the darkness as his pounding footsteps and snarling grew closer and closer as if closing in. After the switch to DINOSAUR, this audio was changed to slowly fade out, giving the impression that the carnotaur was falling behind... just one example of the less overtly terrifying shifts that would make the ride family friendly.

Stop here and watch this point-of-view video of DINOSAUR as it currently exists. As you watch, consider: with a 40" height requirement, an average five-year-old could ride DINOSAUR... but would they want to? Or would you five-year-old get off of DINOSAUR and be done with Disney's Animal Kingdom?

That's the big question, and the answer is that DINOSAUR is still terrifying! Some fans say that, with the shift to DINOSAUR, Disney created the same quagmire it found itself in when Alien Encounter became the Declassified Disaster: Stitch's Great Escape. Their attempts to decrease the ride's thrills only served to disappoint thrillseekers, but the ride is still way too scary for kids, meaning the experience isn't really any "better" for any demographic.

That's part of why most fans agree that – even if the changes are subtle – Countdown to Extinction was in most quantifiable ways a "better" ride than DINOSAUR is. Of course, the other part of the reason is because of what's happened to DINOSAUR in the 20 years since...

Layers of dust

Image: Disney

Like its big-screen namesake and the ancient animals they're named for, time hasn't always been kind to DINOSAUR at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Aside from the intentional "plusses" (that some list as "minuses") that the ride underwent in 2000, upkeep on the attraction has been... well... spotty. A problem with the swooping pterodactyl, for example, meant that the static figure was simply bolted in place, lit by a blacklight (but clearly not moving), as it remains today.

The compsognathus that cleverly "jumped" over the Time Rover by way of swinging arms passing through directed lights stopped moving and again became static figures simply lit in place as if hovering, frozen, over the vehicle. Thankfully, they were replaced by projections after a 2016 refurbishment.

Not only are the ride's 11 Audio Animatronics a constant source of frustration for fans, but some of the ride's effects are known to have simply flickered out of existence and gone years without replacement.

Image: Disney

In the Time Tunnel, the laser portal stopped working after just a few years, and wasn't replaced until 2016 when a simpler laser tunnel effect took its place. The Tunnel's explosive flash meant to literally blind riders for a second to leap between time was discontinued as well. The result is that, now, while entering the Time Tunnel, riders can clearly see the black hallway ahead leading to the jungle and a green laser tunnel being projected from a tree trunk there, removing any sense of being suddenly transported.

Particularly the "return" Time Tunnel tends to be out of sync and thus, visible from the (hokey) finale. That's a shame, because the combination of "We're not gonna make it, we're not gonna make it!," the drop, the flashing, disorienting strobes, and sudden bass "BOOM" of the Time Tunnel's oven lights returning is, when correctly timed, one of the most spectacular, goosebumps-inducing moments in any Disney dark ride.

While DINOSAUR always relied on darkness as its delivery method, most observers note that the ride has grown increasingly dark over the years, concealing missing and aging sets, and Audio Animatronics with reduced mobility. Pessimistic? Maybe.

Lost Legend, Modern Marvel, or Declassified Disaster?

When we started our in-depth exploration into Countdown to Extinction and DINOSAUR, we asked you where you thought it belonged in our Legend Collections – a question we've never before had to ask!

Image: Disney

Is this ride best classified as a Lost Legend – a closed classic, where we ought to be looking back on Countdown to Extinction with memories of its greatness?

Is today's DINOSAUR a Modern Marvel worth celebrating as one of the most spectacular rides on Earth?

Or is the story of this transition and the ride's treatment since a textbook example of our Declassified Disasters, whose story should teach us all an important lesson about what not to do? Would DINOSAUR even be a contender for our Disaster series if it weren't for inevitable comparisons to Disneyland's Modern Marvel: Indiana Jones Adventure and the too-true fact that – but for the set dressings – Disney's Animal Kingdom is this close to their own magnificent Indiana Jones ride?

Images: Disney

And for that matter, what do you make of the growing rumors that suggest that Disney is toying with the idea of turning all of Dinoland into an Indiana Jones themed South America that would officially close DINOSAUR forever to transform the ride into an Indiana Jones Adventure that it's so close to being already? We can't wait to read your thoughts in the comments below.