Dinoland's carnival theme is so bad it both sucks and blows

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DVCcurious

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Let me be clear here. I love dinosaurs. My son loves dinosaurs. I really enjoy the DINOSAUR! ride and I know it's not that popular but I think it's great. We love the boneyard and spend at least an hour there letting our kids dig up some fossils.

But the carnival area. Wow that's terrible. I know the backstory.

http://seeyarealsoon.com/2010/02/26/dinoland/

But having a backstory doesn't change how tacky the carnival games are.

I love the Dumbo ride, it's literally in my top 5 favorite rides. But a triceratops version? Come on, be more original.

Here's my main beef:

Why aren't there animatronic dinosaurs where young kids can enjoy them? The Bronx Zoo has a ride where you ride in something similar to a hay wagon being towed by an SUV and you go through a little wooded area with like 10 animatronic dinosaurs.

Why didn't Disney do that? Everyone would love a ride through animatronic dinosaur country. The only animatronic dinosaurs are in a ride that's unsuitable for young children. And guess who loves dinosaurs the most? Young boys.

Dinoland could've been so cool. Instead it's so terrible. The theming is terrible. The two non-DINOSAUR! rides aren't anything special. The carnival games are low-class.

At least Restauarantosaurus has a lot of air conditioned seating. And you can meet Goofy and Pluto in Dinoland. So it's not all bad. But man it could've been awesome. Instead it's the quality of a state fair.

Lame.
 
I don't like it either, but little kids ( at least mine) seem to. Maybe it's because I am older and see it as "tacky" roadside attraction-like. They don't get that and just see the bright colors, loud noises, etc. I kind of like having some things that are "un- Disney-like" . It makes the experience more varied.
 
The dinosaur statue outside DINOSAUR was my kids' favorite thing about Disney last year. They climbed and slid on that for at least an hour two days in a row. They also loved getting in Triceratops Spin. We never even found the boneyard. I can't say I like carnival games much, but i bet a lot of kids love them.
 


This 56 year old kid still treasures the beautiful spotted dinosaur I won "for my daughter" playing those carnival games (the equivalent of Whack a Mole). That has been one of our treasured family memories! And we loved Primeval Whirl too!
 
Certainly not my favorite, but definitely underutilized and tacky. They used to have this guy and an animatronics Dino walking around...that was really cool. I do love Dinosaur...that's a great ride.
 
Because little kids can't resist carnival games and Disney knows that they'll make money because of that. We have animatronic dinosaurs at Dorney Park and while I agree that they're awesome, I don't think that the carnival area in Dinoland is horrendous. I cherish the time that my daughter and I spend in friendly competition there.
 


I like the dinosaur theme, but not the carnival aspect. I also think carnival rides and midway games are tacky. While I'd choose to be in Dinoland over say, at the dentist, I generally only go to the area to ride DINOSAUR and watch Finding Nemo, then leave. I see no need to ride Primeval Whirl, which in my opinion is the worst ride in WDW.

(I also don't like Paradise Pier at DCA; and I'm not even crazy about TSMM.)
 
Not my favorite, but I don't mind it. My kids do love the games. I think it's a good stop at the end of the day.
 
The high humidity and daily rain in the summer are probably why there aren't any animatronic dinosaurs outside.

I don't mind dinoland. I'm sure the imagineers are capable of much more but little kids seem to love it.
 
I love Dinoland. Even before I knew the backstory, because I grew up in Southern California, taking road trips to see things like the Cabazon dinosaurs. http://www.cabazondinosaurs.com/main.htm I love Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur! I even like the Triceratops Spin. Back when Dumbo used to have the crazy lines, even seconds after park open, I'd tell my kids we could ride the dinos at AKL. same concept, less wait. And the games don't bother me that much. My kids always get spending money for souvenirs. I let them use it for the games so long as they understand it's coming from that pot. They lost interest after a few trips.

Roadside America is wonderful to some and awful to others. Wigwam Village? Been there - my only regret is that I've never actually slept in a Wigwam. http://www.galerie-kokopelli.com/wigwam/ Bibleland in Calimesa no longer exists, apparently. That makes me sad, because the sand sculptures were pretty cool. Some day, I plan to drive to WDW, instead of fly, and make it a true road trip to visit things like the largest 7up can (in Jacksonville). My husband thinks it sounds like a horrible idea, by the way. And he's not a big fan of Dinoland. To each his own. He can fly down and meet us there.
 
DVCcurious said:
Let me be clear here. I love dinosaurs. My son loves dinosaurs.

Dinoland could've been so cool. Instead it's so terrible. The theming is terrible. The two non-DINOSAUR! rides aren't anything special. The carnival games are low-class.

But man it could've been awesome. Instead it's the quality of a state fair.

Lame.
Click to expand...

I couldn't care less about dinosaurs. Neither could my kids.

Disney could easily have taken the cheap route and made Dinoland so terrible. Instead, they spent a lot to make it so cool. Primeval Whirl is straight from the manufacturer's catalog, gussied up with great tacky theming. And the area has low-class carnival games!!! A home run!!!

It's the quality of a state fair. Awesome!!!

I'm glad they didn't do something lame there.
 
It was by far my DS's (9 at the time) favourite part of AK. In fact, without having a point of reference, he actually expected a trip to WDW to be a lot more like a trip to the county fair than it was. The cheap carnival theme of Dinoland was right in his comfort zone. And Primeval Whirl may have been his favourite ride of the entire WDW trip.
 
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