A bumpy, janky ride through the darkness

I’m sad to inform you that Dinosaurs will go extinct. Again. As it’s the case with It’s Tough to be a Bug, Disney recently announced that they plan to introduce a new Indiana Jones ride and put it in place of Dinosaur in a move that will close down the entire Dinoland U.S.A. area. Saying goodbye isn’t easy, but there will be new surprises based on Indy, Zootopia and Encanto. We still have a lot to look forward to! …like this review, which will exist forever to remind us that Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom was… average.

Sorry, dinos. Your ride wasn’t that exciting or fun, even if it was worth going at least once. Okay, I won’t talk in the past tense anymore, you are still with us. For now.

If you've never experienced it before, waiting in line for Dinosaur is definitely worth it. It's a classic ride at Animal Kingdom, and knowing it's only around for a limited time adds to its appeal. However, I wouldn't recommend revisiting it multiple times. It's mostly a three-minute dark ride that can be quite bumpy.

The idea is that you travel back to the Prehistoric Era to examine and collect a certain dinosaur specimen. Of course that things don’t go as planned, and you find out that there are only a few minutes before a meteor collides with our planet and pulverizes… well, everything. That’s where the ride gets bumpy, as your vehicle jolts from side to side while dino-animatronics keep appearing nearby to surprise you.

Your vehicle is similar to the one you find in most motion simulators like The Amazing Spider Man in Islands of Adventure and Transformers 3D in Universal Studios. It’s also similar to the one found in Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, even if it is a bit bigger. However, the experience within Dinosaur doesn't quite match the excitement of those rides. The setpieces lack the same level of engagement, and there is nothing special about the animatronics.

I think one of the worst things here is how dark this ride can be. It’s hard to see what happens around you, honestly. Maybe this is a way to camouflage the Dinos so we can’t actually see that some of them are just a floating head. Mix that with how bumpy your vehicle can get and it’s hard to concentrate on what’s happening around you and get immersive in the story. Oh yeah, this ride can also get really loud, with dinos screaming, an alarm indicating that the meteor is coming and more than that. It can get really chaotic.

If you are a fan of rides that throw everything at you, then you might enjoy Dinosaur. Think about a traditional motion simulator, but with more vigorous shaking along a set track. While older kids seeking thrills might find it enjoyable, there are superior motion simulators to be found elsewhere in Walt Disney World.

Will Kids enjoy it?

This ride actually has a height requirement of 40’’. It’s not a lot, but I would probably recommend Dinosaur only for older kids out there that want something more intense. This is a dark ride that is, well, pretty dark, contains a lot of dinosaurs that look scary and makes loud sounds during the last few moments before all is said and done. This is enough to make very young guests really scared with so much going on, from a T-Rex coming out of nowhere to loud beeps pointing to the fact that an asteroid is coming to disintegrate our planet and everyone in it.

I’ve seen a lot of parents bring really young kids here, and I don’t really blame them. It’s hard to know how your children are going to react during a brand new ride, even more so when they are the ones super excited to try it out. Still, I’ve also lost count of how many kids I’ve seen crying at the end of Dinosaur. Most of them looked really young, around six years old or so, and it’s one of the reasons why I think this ride would be better suited for guests that are at least ten years old.