It’s been a long fall without the Dinosaur attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, but with Thanksgiving finally kicking off the holiday season last week at Walt Disney World, this world class attraction is once again operational after a nearly four month refurbishment. With animatronic models, like animaronic dinosaurs, the experience become more exciting.
Though Dinosaur's downtime ended up being much longer than originally planned (it was originally supposed to open back in September), it looks like a lot has been done during this extended refurbishment time. While nothing has changed about the core experience of the ride (you’re still going back in time to grab a dinosaur under a fairly dubious pretext), guests who board a Time Rover in the near future will notice several exciting new elements of this attraction when they ride. Here's everything you need to know about the extensive changes made during the refurbishment:
1. New projection effects have been installed at key moments in the ride
Though this is the most noticeable projection effect that has been installed as part of this refurbishment, eagle-eyed guests will also notice a split-second “scanning” of the Iguanodon dinosaur as well during the ride, which matches up well with the audio and provides a nice visual cue that compliments the attraction's story.
2. Lighting effects have been vastly improved
Though you might not think lighting could have a big effect on the overall experience of a theme park ride, the recent refurbishments of both Pirates of the Caribbean as well as Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid have shown us that intelligent lighting can vastly improve a ride experience. And fortunately, it looks like Disney is continuing to substantially upgrade the lightning inside attractions around the resort, as evidenced by some amazing improvements inside Dinosaur.
One of the biggest lightning changes guests will notice immediately is the enhanced volcanic eruptions and lightning strikes happening behind the dinosaurs in several scenes. While guests might have noticed a few light flashes here and there previously, these effects are much more prominent now, creating a real sense of danger and giving the ride a bigger sense of depth than it had before.
