The circle of life for a theme park attraction has once again taken center stage. Over the weekend, the popular Dinosaur attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom saw its last guest. It’s set to be replaced with something new that could turn out to be great, but of course there are those lamenting the end of Dinoland U.S.A.
Which is not to say that some people aren’t having some fun with the changes. Universal Orlando Resort is never afraid to poke a little fun at its area rival, Walt Disney World. It did exactly that by throwing some Jurassic shade following the closure of Dinosaur, because there’s no lack of giant lizards at Universal Islands of Adventure.
Universal Orlando Resort is one of those social media accounts from a company that has a sense of humor, and while it's always in good fun, Universal loves to poke a little fun when it can. This isn't even the first time Universal has used dinosaurs for the source of its joke.
To be fair, while Dinosaur was a great ride in its own right, Universal has always had the superior dinosaur attractions. Even before the Jurassic World Velocicoaster became one of the best roller coasters around, the Jurassic Park River Adventure was a top-notch flume ride. If anything, we’ll only see more from the Jurassic Park franchise as even the newest film still did quite well. Dinosaurs have never been as successful at Disney.
The writing had been on the wall for a few years. We knew that Dinoland U.S.A. was on the way out, to be replaced by a new Tropical Americas-themed land. The new area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom will include an attraction based on Encanto as well as a new Indiana Jones ride that’s set to take over from the recently extinct Dinosaur ride.
Dinosaur was, to be fair, one of the few parts of Dinoland U.S.A., though the nearby Restaurantasourus was also popular. Disney World seemed to realize this, as the decision was made a year ago to close part of Dinoland, but keep Dinosaur and Restaurantasourus open for a while longer. Work began on the portion of the new land that will include the Encanto ride back then. It’s now finally time for Dinosaur to become extinct.
The ride is set to be replaced by a new Indiana Jones attraction. While Dinosaur used the same ride system as the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland, we’ve been promised the new attraction will be an entirely new experience and not simply a retread of the older ride.
An exact timeline of when the new land will open has not been announced. We're likely at least a couple of years away, and there's a good chance the new land will open in stages, the same way it closed.
