(C) BoingBoing This story was originally published by BoingBoing and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . DinoLand U.S.A., R.I.P. [1] ['Ruben Bolling'] Date: 2026-02-12 This month, DinoLand USA, the dinosaur-themed land in Disney World's (Orlando) Animal Kingdom ceased all operations, to be torn down to make way for the construction of a Tropical Americas land. It's been running since the Animal Kingdom park opened in 1998, and the lead designer of the park Joe Rohde took the occasion to write some interesting inside stories on Instagram about its creation. Disney Legend Joe Rohde Reflects on DinoLand U.S.A. Closing, Praises Tropical Americas Team www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/… — WDWMAGIC (@wdwmagic.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T17:32:50.339Z Disney historian expert Jim Hill explained last week on The Disney Dish podcast, which he creates with his partner theme park expert Len Testa, that when Disney Imagineers were building Animal Kingdom, a dinosaur land had been planned as a possible later addition to the park. But when word got out that Disney's competitor, Universal, was planning a Jurassic Park ride for its upcoming Orlando park, Islands of Adventure, Disney decided to rush DinoLand into an opening day Animal Kingdom area. So, late in the process, the orders were given to Joe Rohde to create a dinosaur land for opening day (1) quickly, (2) cheaply, and (3) including a thrill ride using the innovative enhanced motion vehicle on which Disney had spent tens of millions of dollars for the Indiana Jones Adventure ride that had opened in Disneyland in 1993. So, for that thrill ride, originally called "Countdown to Extinction," Disney used not only the same vehicles as the Indiana Jones ride, but the same track layout, essentially duping the entire ride system. This assured Disney that the ride would be relatively cheap, but also that there wouldn't be the delays and cost overruns that had infuriated the ride's sponsor, McDonald's, in 1992 when they had sponsored Splash Mountain. (See Disney Dish episodes 401 and 403.) Joe Rohde explains that he and his team came up with the idea that the ride ostensibly takes place inside a giant research institute, in which a time machine trip goes awry, because the ride had to be housed in a big building and they didn't have the funds to hide it with rockwork or other techniques. Dinoland turned out the way it did as a byproduct of the directive to utilize the Indiana Jones ride system in order to capitalize on the newly developed innovation. Because of the timing of this decision and because we had a limited budget in general, we needed to also utilize the same track layout, although we could change the building size and room layout a bit. And that necessitated an entirely different theory of everything that the land was going to be. What could a building that big possibly be, knowing that we cannot afford rockwork to cover it, so, it's just going to be a big building? Out of that question came the huge Dino Institute, the dig, the camp buildings, even the Carnotaurus, the conflict of cultures plot line, etc. Design is not just vision and execution. It's also adaptation, resourcefulness, and business strategy. The result can be fun, but the process is work. Once they had the story behind the centerpiece attraction set, that led to the story for the rest of DinoLand. What if the Dino Institute was there because there had been a giant fossil depository discovered at that site? And what if nearby service station owners decided to capitalize on the tourists coming to the fossil site by setting up a souvenir stand, a snack bar, and eventually even rinky-dink rides. That became DinoLand's Chester and Hester's DinoRama area, including two rides. While The Dino Institute bought much of the area property, a holdout remained. Chester and Hester staunchly refused to sell their service station. They knew there was gold in them thar bones, and once fossil fever took Diggs County, they pivoted from selling gas to locals to trinkets for tourists. — Dinoland Dan is Extinct (@dinolanddan.bsky.social) 2026-01-25T02:23:58.121Z And if things look cheap because the Disney Imagineers were short on funds, that fit the story perfectly! Rohde says: And so we conceived of this funky idea … that we would adopt the theme of a limited budget within the concept of the story, as if we were the operators of the little shop… Chester and Hester, and we wanted to capitalize on tourists visiting to the dig across the road…and we had a modest budget…What then would we do? This is what led to Chester and Hester's DinoRama, a simple roadside carnival fair with a tweaky sense of humor. (I mean how many people picked up on the fact that Primeval Whirl was a parody of the Dinosaur attraction?) We were able to buy rides and modify them, but that was about it. Everything else depended on visual styling. Animal Kingdom is a masterpiece, and if there were compromises made for DinoLand, Rohde and his team worked tirelessly and imaginatively to make it as fun, cohesive and thrilling as they could. I really recommend Joe Rohde's Instagram account, not only for the fascinating recent posts recounting the building of DinoLand — for example, he shows a picture of a gorgeous painting of dinosaurs (below) that he himself painted for the land's Restaurantosaurus restauarant because they were low on money for props — but for his thoughtful, innovative, and progressive views on design and culture. Joe Rohde Shares More Behind-the-Scenes Stories of DinoLand — WDW News Today (@wdwnt.com) 2026-02-02T20:03:46.506Z Here is a ride-through video of the original "Countdown to Extinction" ride (from 1999, before it was re-branded for the movie Dinosaur). Rohde is so detail-oriented and committed to authenticity, he wrote about how it pained him to create dinosaurs that weren't precisely accurate. 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