Dinosaur ride at AK

[damo]

We had our little 5 year old niece on it in September and she adored it. She went on it 4 times. It really depends on the child. She loved all the coasters but didn't like Tower of Terror.

 

[Robo]

Dinosaur is, by far, the ROUGHEST indoor ride at WDW.
(Space Mtn. is right in there, but not for ENTIRE ride!)

Its certainly "tied" for the absolute LOUDEST
bellowing sound effects.

And there is nothing that comes close in the category of

pitch-blackness...

then FULL-BRIGHT LIGHTS illuminating

GIANT DINOS with razor-sharp spiked teeth

LUNGING out straight AT YOU

with DEAFENING-ROAR sound effects."



Then,

more VIOLENT shaking,

jack-rabbit ACCELERATION,

sudden hard BRAKING...

and REPEAT.


All that said, I really ENJOY riding this attraction, and do so every trip.

Dinosaur is based on the same ride technology that is used on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.

 

[ammag]

Oh I love dinosaur! One additional note about the movements...it feels like you are about to drop like in a roller coaster but you never do so that adds to the excitement or fear. I don't do thrill rides but find this one just so much fun it's not scary for me like. A roller coaster is. That said I haven't put my kids on it yet, I think my daughter will go next fall she will be 8.5.

 

[KimWDW]

I think it's the scariest ride in WDW. The only thing that topped it, for me, was the old Alien Encounter (before it turned into Stitch). I didn't let my son ride until he was 10. And I let him ride the Tower of Terror at age 5, so that's saying something.

 

[lily2521]

I think it's the scariest ride in WDW. The only thing that topped it, for me, was the old Alien Encounter (before it turned into Stitch). I didn't let my son ride until he was 10. And I let him ride the Tower of Terror at age 5, so that's saying something.

Yeah - I'm trying to convince myself to ride ToT - still not convinced! I'm going to try to get the guts to do it, but I just don't know if I can...

 

[CAS239]

Dinosaur is nowhere near as bad as some people make it seem lol. I love the ride. It's a must for us everything we're in AK.

 

[Puffy2]

I'm perplexed when I read some of these descriptions. Have they changed the ride in the past 3 years?? I have always found Dinosaur to be very dark (would be better if there was more light and better visuals), kind of jerky but not bad (the seats are padded and although I'm very prone to motion sickness - I'm fine on this ride. ). I don't think the dinosaurs were scary at all.

Took my 5 and 8 year olds on it years ago. they both did fine.

One ride I won't go on again - Space Mtn. definitely made me feel sick and was very jerky with ancient, unpadded seats.

 

[pharaoh]

I rode it once and don't remember being scared at all -- and I'm a weirdo who at age 9 sobbed and screamed through Jurrasic Park until my parents finally left with me in the middle of the movie!

I do remember being nervous and annoyed because my cellphone (a Razr -- this was 2006) somehow fell out of my pocket into the depths of the dinosaurs during the ride.

 

[Josh Hendy]

Ditto what the PP's said about the noise and scariness. This is the only ride in WDW where I've seen young children bawling outside on the path after experiencing the "thrills"

Personally I wasn't bothered by the scariness or loudness (much) but I found the movement of the car to be really annoying. Everyone knows what a car feels like when it's racing or bumping along a road (i.e. like Test Track). But Dinosaur doesn't feel like a racing car or even a decent simulation of a car ... it feels like sitting on a slightly faster than normal Omnimover that violently bucks up and and down and lurches from side to side in a random, pointless way.

DW and DDs didn't like the scariness of the ride or the bumpiness but they did ride it twice, on 2 different trips. The secret was to keep their eyes tightly closed and hang on to each other for dear life.

While I'm quibbling about the ride I have to add that I don't really understand how the story of the ride works. (spoiler) You're making an authorized journey back in time to capture a dinosaur and bring it back to the present day. Someone keeps yelling at you over a loudspeaker about grabbing an animal but you can't see the person and it's not clear how you (or the voice) could grab a dinosaur or do anything with it since there are no nets or snares or anything and you're in a passenger car not a truck. Overall I would rate this as an interesting failure with respect to story, theming, motion, and thrills.

Jurassic Park at Islands of Adventure on the other hand is beautifully themed, has wonderful music, the story is crystal clear, the motion of the boat follows the laws of physics, and it ends with a big thrill rather than a noisy "lurch".

 

[SplashMo]

I've read it's scary...what about it is scary, never been, so trying to get an idea of if we'd even want to attempt it with DD (6) or not?

I would pass. Was with a group of teenagers and the final photo showed them all very scared. unusual for a ride. Not the best ride either...

 

[Robo]

I don't really understand how the story of the ride works. (spoiler)

1. You're making an authorized journey back in time

2. to capture a dinosaur and bring it back to the present day.

3. Someone keeps yelling at you over a loudspeaker about grabbing an animal

4. but you can't see the person and

5. it's not clear how you (or the voice) could grab a dinosaur or do anything with it since there are no nets or snares or anything and

6. you're in a passenger car not a truck.

7. Overall I would rate this as an interesting failure with respect to story, theming, motion, and thrills.

SPOILER:

1. You are making an UN-authorized journey back in time,
something that is made very clear during the ride's pre-show video.

2. Our "host" (See #3) wants to bring a real dino back to the present-day.

3. The "someone" is our host and "mission controller" (portrayed by actor Wallace Langham, who also plays David Hodges on TV's long-running CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.)

4. You can't see him because he is back in the lab watching the progress of our journey, remote-controlling our vehicle, and coaching us (via audio communications) as to our
status... Where he has sent us: It's the last few minutes before a massive meteor storm destroys the entire area, (or continent? or hemisphere?) dinosaurs included.
Without "him" being in control, we would not be able to time-travel (either direction) or steer our vehicle.

5. He can't grab the dino because he's not in the vehicle.
One of "us" is supposed to grab the dino for him.
If we can't do so, well, that's the breaks. We just happened to be the group
taking the tour at the time he was ready to "procure" the time-travel vehicle.

6. Maybe you consider yourself just a passenger. Others, using their imagination, might consider themselves
a part of the story.

7. Noted.

 

[jmkjr72]

Like has been said the worst part of the ride is the jerkeyness

 

[tcherjen]

My youngest is a dinosaur fan. It is one of her favorite rides. She has been riding it for a few years now.

 

[CapnJacksGirl]

I would suggest having a grown-up in your group ride first and check it out. I wish I had done that years ago instead of allowing myself to be frightened off by the "it's too scary, it's too loud, it's too rough" reviews here. Those comments were so seemingly unanimous that we made six trips to WDW before riding it. My DS7 and I rode it in October and LOVED it. Had I gone on myself several trips ago, our whole family would have been riding it all this time. We loved the theming and the ride itself. Is it for everybody? Definitely not. But I think it's worth a test-run to see how you think your family would fare.

 

[Marnm02]

My 5-year-old DD when on everything she could at 40 inches, and Dinosaur is the only thing she said she would not go on again. She loved TOT, and went on that two more times, and can't wait to do it again. She wasn't so scared of Dinosaur that she was crying or yelling during the ride, but it was scary enough that she said she doesn't want to go on it again.

 

[Miss Whimsy]

It's my favorite ride at DW lol. I get really into the story and scream at every dinosaur as if I've never seen it before and think it's about to eat me. If the lines are in my favor we'll get off and run around to the front and get back on again. (The CMs are like, "welcome back!")

That said, it is as previously described super jerky and bumpy and rough to ride, and can be REALLY scary for small kids mostly because it is so immersive and entirely in the dark. I would just think about what your daughter's like and what scares her and what kind of make-believe she enjoys and what parts of movies she gets scared of. Is she scared of the dark and monsters under the bed? I'd skip. I wouldn't have liked it when I as 5, I was a delicate child. I've seen little kids flip out with terror because they were too young, but I've also seen little kids get really into it. It's all about your child.

 

[kaybird]

Granddaughter's 4 and 8 LOVED this in December! Who doesn't want to ride a range rover and go back in time? Think the pre-show on this is one of the best, and most people miss the post show in the gift shop, which is hilarious! The traveling dinosaur show that tours the country in malls, etc, is not nearly as good, and costs 1/4 the price of your full day Disney ticket. Ride it, don't ride it, it's supposed to be a little scary. Most rides are.

 

[North of Mouse]

The ride is rough. The first time I rode I had a brken humerus with my left arm in a sling. It was hard holding on.

It's the roughness of the ride that keeps us off - they didn't have to make it quite so 'jerky' IMO

 

[CAS239]

It's a rough ride because back in the cretaceous period there wasn't paved roads and cars. It's simulating you're driving through the terrain that your passing. Hills, logs, plants, grass, etc.

I can say I do think it can be a little too jerky for elderly people. But I would find the ride pretty boring if it was just a smooth ride.

 

[Dis703]

I'm perplexed when I read some of these descriptions. Have they changed the ride in the past 3 years?? I have always found Dinosaur to be very dark (would be better if there was more light and better visuals), kind of jerky but not bad (the seats are padded and although I'm very prone to motion sickness - I'm fine on this ride. ). I don't think the dinosaurs were scary at all.

Took my 5 and 8 year olds on it years ago. they both did fine.

I'm a little surprised at the complaints of how loud it is too. I suppose it may be but I never noticed it was any worse than other rides. It was jerky and the first time I rode I was tense and nervous because I get motion sickness and didn't know what to expect. Never felt sick but my neck hurt by the end. The next ride I found that being more relaxed the jerkiness didn't bother me at all. I took my oldest on it at 4 and 5 years old and he loved it. Of course I told him roughly what to expect and remind him that it's all pretend and that always seems to help.